Advice appreciated on dealing with neighbors
I bought a house last August. The neighbors next door have a lot of children, ranging from college age down to about 9 or 10, I would guess. Many years ago, the oldest kids started a landscaping company, mostly mowing lawns in the neighborhood, cleaning up leaves in the fall, trimming shrubs, etc. They used the money to help defray college costs. They have made a big investment in equipment, as they seem to have almost everything a professional landscaping company has.
The former owner of my house had them do the yard for years, as do a few others in the neighborhood. The neighbors across the street have these kids do their yard, and they've taken care of it for years. It looks like a country club, just beautiful. It could be on the cover of an exclusive magazine it's so beautiful.
On Friday, I asked them to do my yard. We've been having lots of storms lately, and they had to work it in between other neighbors and the next storm which was coming that night. Yesterday, I noticed that a planter I have sitting in the front yard by two concrete benches had been scratched by a weed eater. The planter was just purchased in April, and is a black composite material made of recycled paper and wood products, very green, and more expensive because of that. The material is a actually a light beige color, so the area where the weed eater hit it really stands out as you can see the light beige scratch on the black exterior surface. I had gone out to clean grass clippings off the planter that were stuck to it when I noticed the damage. The mark is about five inches long and there's another damaged part on the back side on a corner.
I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it, but I did plan to mention it the next time they did my yard. Then, last night, when I went to the side of the house to take the trash carts out to the street, I noticed that the air conditioning condenser unit had been moved on the concrete pad it sits on. There is a dent in the side of it. I think they hit it with the big riding mower.
I had new central heat and air installed when I bought this house, so the unit isn't even a year old yet, and in fact was only used for a month and a half last year before it got cold outside. It was hit hard enough that it was actually moved about 12 inches, sitting slightly sideways.
My concern is that they knew they hit it and said nothing. They do wear ear protection when they work, so perhaps they didn't hear anything, but this unit is heavy and I would think they would have noticed that they hit something. If they didn't, it concerns me that they aren't paying enough attention to notice they're causing damage.
The A/C is still under warranty, and I'm afraid that with the unit being dented, if I have a problem the warranty will be void since it doesn't cover damage of this nature, and really shouldn't cover it.
They've generally done a good job, except for not cleaning up clippings from trimming hedges along the driveway a few weeks ago. I felt they should have done a better job, as I spent a couple of hours picking dead branches out of the hedge after they were done. Also, I put fresh mulch around a tree in the back yard earlier last week, and when they used the weed eater they covered the new mulch with grass clippings, making it look bad. I realize it's difficult to control where the grass goes when using a weed eater, but I spent a lot of time cleaning out the bed around the tree, which is lined with stone mortared in place.
What would be reasonable on my part? I haven't talked to them yet, as I didn't notice the A/C damage until last night, and it was too late to call. It took two people to move the A/C unit back into position, and the metal on the condensing unit that's damaged is pretty thick, so it took a good whack to dent it and move it as much as it did.
I'm going to turn the unit on to see if it still works, but the dent is going to bug me every time I walk by, because it represents a lot of money, and is still virtually brand new, and now looks beat up.
I'm planning on telling them they need to be more careful in the future, and that I want the damaged metal cabinet piece on the A/C unit replaced at their expense, if that's even possible (not sure if parts are available separately).
I will have to get touch up paint and touch up the planter myself.
Is this reasonable? I plan on just calling the son to come over, he's a teen ager and is very nice and seems to be responsible. Should I ask him to have his father come over as well? The father isn't normally involved in the business, as I always deal directly with the kids.
I don't want to create a big stink over this, as they are neighbors and pretty much everyone on my block has lived here for at least 35-40 years, so I'm the lone newcomer and don't want to disrupt the peaceful community atmosphere. The former owner of my house owned it for almost 48 years before reluctantly selling it due to health, and was the last "original" homeowner in the neighborhood to sell.
I would appreciate any advice, specifically am I being reasonable in my expectations?
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