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Landscaper accused of cutting corners, bailing on project

Posted at 6:32 PM, Oct 03, 2019
and last updated 2019-10-03 18:32:35-04

HOLLAND, Mich. — A landscaper in Holland is accused of bailing on projects and failing to do the work he was paid for. Multiple customers have reached out to the FOX 17 Problem Solvers for help.

Homeowner Paul Turner says the beautification project at his home turned into a big headache that forced him to fork out even more cash.

“They seemed like trustworthy people at first. I feel kind of dumb for paying upfront, but you’d like to think that you can trust people nowadays,” he said.

He paid $3,200 for landscaping work in his front and back yards. The project started July 12th and was supposed to take two weeks. However, Turner says Joseph Molina of Molina Landscaping didn’t stick to the schedule and eventually stopped working entirely.

“So I would say he probably did about half the work,” Turner said.

“Yea, they just quit doing it. They quit coming, and I tried giving them outs. I tried saying, ‘Hey, give me a little bit of money back so I can get it done and we’ll call it good.’ But he just won’t respond back to my text messages now,” he explained.

Months later, Turner says he’s had to shell out more cash to hire a neighbor and to buy materials to try and finish the landscaping. He feels $1,600 is a fair refund from Molina.

“Me and my wife saved up quite a while to get this done, and it sucks when someone takes your money and essentially runs,” he said.

So Turner reached out to the FOX 17 Problem Solvers. Joseph Molina told FOX 17 he didn’t leave behind $1,600 work of work. He says the two had made a deal that Turner could have a couple of chainsaws he left behind. Molina also says his company has shutdown due to lack of workers and says its hard to find good workers these days. He says he bought Turner a waterfall and will throw in some extra bushes and bricks to square things up.