Sod farm messed up my baseball fields

[txhorns 2409]

I run a little league baseball organization.  At the beginning of the summer I called a requested a quote from a local sod farm to get sod for two infields at our complex.  I wanted to use sod on the infield and then overseed with Bermuda grass seed in the outfields.  When they came to quote, an employee not the owner who lives out of town, they told us that we should sprig the fields instead of putting sod down.  It would be roughly the same cost to sprig the entirety of both fields as it would be to put sod down on just the infields.  Eventually we decided to sprig it and hired them to do so.  They can in early July and did the work.  When they finished, I was at the fields talking to the employee of the sod farm and told him exactly how I planned on watering the fields.  He agreed it was a good plan and nothing else was said about it.  A couple of days later another guy and I walked around both fields and were worried that one fields was not done correctly as it seemed like their machine had not properly done the job on only this field.  We expressed this concern but were told that there was nothing to worry about.  Originally we were told that grass would start coming up in about a week's time and then spread throughout the fields with both fields being mostly flush green grass after a month.  Seven days in we expressed concern that we were not seeing any improvement and were told to water the fields more, so we did.  It was about 2-3 weeks in until one of the fields started turning green.  That field now looks great except for right around the fence where the machine can't get close.  The second field never turned green and no grass came up.  The sod farm employee stopped answering our calls about 3 weeks after they had planned.  Mid-August we went and put down grass seed on that field to hopefully get something to come up.  So one field now looks great and the other looks dead except for weeds.  This weekend I am going to put out Rye grass seed to hopefully get some grass.  We only ever dealt with the one employee at the sod farm, who traditionally handles all of customer stuff. 

Now the owner is requesting payment and specifically stated, "It's a shame that the one field did not have the water coverage to make it grow."  Which is a lie because both fields have full coverage from our sprinkler system, which definitely works because I put $20k into getting it fixed last fall.  The full bill is $6,800.  The field that grass grew on is about a 4th the size of the field that has no grass.  Would I be in the right to offer to pay $2,500 for the work that was done but not the full amount because we do not feel like they properly did the bigger field?  I don't understand why it would work on one field but not the other unless something went wrong in the planting process.  Both fields had plenty of water, I can prove that from city water usage.  We had almost immediately expressed concern specifically for the field that did not grow.  What are your suggestions for what to do in this situation?  

[Updawg 2266]

Try and talk to the owner more. Hopefully there are companies you can threaten to use in the future

[hookemATL 11701]

I would tread lightly. These sod farms have deep pockets and know what palms to grease. 
 

you don’t want to get involved in a…turf war. 

[Gil Bang 25913]

There's gotta be a sod lawyer on here, right?   Right? 

[immamac 42835]

I would tell this guy to go fuck himself. 

[hookemATL 11701]

23 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

There's gotta be a sod lawyer on here, right?   Right? 

“Your honor, HIS ass, is grass. I rest my case” 

then I put on my shades and moonwalk out of court. 

[Gil Bang 25913]

24 minutes ago, immamac said:

I would tell this guy to go fuck himself. 

this guy knows his grass

 

 

[thunderlounge 7813]

@cactusflinthead may know somebody. 

[Damor 1236]

Select/tournament teams?

Just tell him you're putting up a giant QR code at the field so all the daddyball parents can post Google reviews of his turf business.

[MonkeyDoughnut 10227]

I'd talk with the owner directly and throw the salesman under the bus and get a discount on what is owed or better have them do the one field again.

The salesman screwed up by not coming out to look at it again after being notified.

[wild_turkey 3159]

I would pay for the smaller field only. You had the expectation of getting grass to grow, you presented this to them and followed their recommendations at every step along the way. You expressed concerns and they shrugged them off. They basically delivered a faulty product that failed to meet expectations, and they’ve made no effort to fix the problem.

It sounds like they don’t have the money yet. In a worst case scenario, what are they going to do? A sod company is going to take a little league to small claims court? How is that going to look for them? In a small town, consider your business ruined at that point.

[cactusflinthead 27598]

Oof. This doesn't sound good at all. 

Is there any warranty provision? 

Can you prove that you followed their watering procedure?

The rye grass option isn't bad. Just be ready to spray it out next spring and reseed or re-sprig the bermudagrass.

On the money side I will have to let the lawyers take over. 

This is the kind of stuff that loses people jobs.

[ROFL BOX 6647]

6 hours ago, immamac said:

I would tell this guy to go fuck himself sod off.

 

[ROFL BOX 6647]

What are the terms of the contract?  What exclusions are listed & that your organization may have agreed to re: performance of product (seed / sprigs), limitations regarding temperature / heat / proper germination, naturally occurring water (rain) etc. & other "uncontrollable circumstances" that might be "out of sod installer's control", etc.?

If contractual disputes arrive, does the contract specify anything regards to mediation or where a court case has to be filed for civil suit?  @wild_turkey, a JP court judge is supposed to be impartial & listen only to the facts (not saying that always happens, but... y'know...).  Doubtful this would move to a jury trial, but what do I know?  If it DID, then THAT is where BIG SOD, Inc. suing Happy Kids Community Baseball .org is gonna easily be presented to a jury of local citizens with a defense of "won't someone think of the children?"

 

[Deej 76754]

21 hours ago, txhorns said:

hat field now looks great except for right around the fence where the machine can't get close.

Bitching about getting a warning track thrown in? 

[RPM 26316]

Unless there was some sort of written guarantee, I think you're fucked. 

[thunderlounge 7813]

File a complaint with the Attorney General? 

[Celery Man 20931]

 

shoot’em, hang’em, burn’em imo 

[Iceman 2692]

8 hours ago, RPM said:

Unless there was some sort of written guarantee, I think you're fucked. 

[ROFL BOX 6647]

21 hours ago, RPM said:

Unless there was some sort of written guarantee, I think you're fucked. 

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