Legal Question in Consumer Law in New Jersey

Landscaping contract

Am I responsible for services not contained in a very specific contract for lawn services? The landscaping company is sending invoices. I have sent two letters; I received one reply back stating I am responsible for the extra charges. The charges were for pesticides applied though not ordered, a lawn cut that was verbally cancelled, and surcharges for fuel. Thank you.


Asked on 2/21/06, 11:41 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard West The Law Office of Richard A. West, LLC

Re: Landscaping contract

Regarding pesticides: if there is no reference to the use of this product then you should not have to pay for it. Regarding cancellation: recheck the agreement and see if there is any requirement that you provide a certain amount of notice in advance (like 48 hours) and see if you complied with that. If there is no requirement then you should not have to pay, although you may want to compromise with them on that since you did get the benefit of the cut (this differs from the pesticide application where you never even asked for it). Finally, regarding the fuel surcharge, look to your agreement and see if there is anything in there that allows them to pass this on to you. If not, you are not responsible but may wish to compromise if the fuel surcharge goes back to when prices were going really crazy. I think you are probably on solid ground, particularly given that you provided a written explanation for disputing the bill.

Good luck.

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Answered on 2/21/06, 2:22 pm


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