Marc Abbot is someone whom my husband and I have known since 2003. He used to do good work, but our last experience with him was terrible.
First of all, he killed my aloe plants by spraying them with Roundup. He mowed down a little fir tree on my property that was struggling to survive - just plowed it right down with his riding mower WITHOUT asking me first!
Secondly, his pool service left me with a dry hole in my back yard and a torn liner. I had watched him clean our pool before, and had literally BEGGED him to be careful - we have a liner pool that has been patched in a few places, and he was scrubbing over those patches with enough force to dislodge them. He didn't listen, probably because I am a woman whose religious and political beliefs are the opposite of his, and therefore not worthy of his respect.
We had paid him extra money to watch our house while we were out of state visiting family for the holidays. To me, "watch the house" means that you come every day, check the doors and windows, and look around. Our house is on his way to and from his regular job, so it wouldn't have been out of his way. However, according to our neighbors, who are retired and always home, he came ONCE in the four days that we were away. We came home to a pool in which the water level was low, and in the morning, we had a dry hole! He didn't bother to show up again for a week and a half, and when he did finally come, stated the obvious - we had a problem with the pool. Later we found a three foot tear in the liner, which he caused by using the wrong chemicals and the wrong cleaning technique for the pool. Of course, he denied causing the problem, but WHO ELSE was back there working? It cost us $100 to have the liner repaired by someone else, which was better than the $3500 that Marc wanted us to spend on a brand new liner.
The worst part of the whole thing was his abusive and belittling behavior towards me. He would walk up to my office window and peer in, like a peeping Tom while I was working (I telecommute and work from home). He harangued me about my religious beliefs, that I should embrace the Fundamentalist Christian beliefs that he espouses - and he has known us long enough to know that this is not our belief system. He would call me names such as "Big Lib" because of my political views. He felt free to abuse me, the person who was putting money in his pocket. There were many other hurtful, abusive, belittling comments that came out of his mouth during the time he worked for me. Finally, I stopped the insanity, and stopped coming to the door when he banged on it (he never called first or made appointments, just showed up when he left like it). I cut off the flow of my hard-earned money into his pocket.
So, residents of Highlands County, Florida - BEWARE and STAY FAR AWAY! If you are a woman, lock your doors and cover your windows in case this Peeing Tom / Lookie Loo is in the neighborhood; better yet, call the Police! Woman or Man, the quality of his work leaves a lot to be desired and so does his unprofessional manner. Hire somebody ELSE!
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