Using Plant Emporium was an expensive mistake

During 2023, Plant Emporium was contracted to design and populate my suburban residential garden in Krugersdorp with shrubs and plants. It proved to be a mistake. Kaitlyn, the landscaper/owner-manager of the wholesale nursery, was experienced as unreliable and undependable. There were endless delays, endless disappointments and endless excuses. She was always in a great hurry - the excuse she used most frequently was that she was too busy to do all the work she had undertaken. Whose fault is that, I wonder? At no stage was there any supervision whatsoever of her workmen or a review of their work,. There were no apologies - only excuses. Once Kaitlyn had been paid it proved to be extremely difficult to get her to return to the site. I cannot recommend this service provider. During 2023, this service provider sold and planted many thousands of rands worth of small plants in a large (25 square meters) flower bed in my garden. She assured me that they were frost, drought and heat-tolerant, however, at the beginning of summer, all the plants were scorched by the heat and every one died. Every single one. When I told Kaitlyn I wanted to be compensated she told me that spring was warmer than expected (refusing to acknowledge that it gets hot in South Africa!), and refused to take any responsibility for having misled me. There were other nasty experiences where she had provided me with information that was not true. Dealing with her was a deeply offensive experience. If I had had any idea of how much time, money and energy I would have wasted on dealing with Kaitlyn of Plant Emporium, I would have found someone else. Matters deteriorated even further when the poor quality 'topsoil' she used to level my garden in spring sprouted ****s that within two months were knee high and so thick that the ground could not be seen. Kaitlyn did not return to the site but told me to use herbicide (it would have taken litres and litres of the stuff) and would have made it impossible for new grass to grow. I had to have the ****s and 'topsoil' removed at a cost of R10 000 and will be taking legal action against her if she does not refund me.