It turns out, the truth was in the videotape.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw this. It was crazy," said Wayne Washington as he showed us the tape.
Washington has a backyard pool. He has been plagued by mosquitoes.
"This summer's been sort of brutal. I mean, mosquitoes were killing me," he explained.
Washington was planning a backyard party, so he hired Green Island Tree and Lawn Care to do three "skeeter d'feater" treatments. After the second one, very little had changed.
"I get home, and I see the flags that they sprayed. I sit outside that evening and we are just getting eaten alive," Washington said.
What Green Island didn't know was that their client, Mr. Washington, owns a security company. He has cameras at his house that record everything in his front and back yards.
"He has the lawn signs, these little signs. He's planting two in front of the house," Washington said as he watched the video.
Washington had recorded Green Island's visit on August 6th. It shows the tech pulling up, going briefly to the door, planting flags in the front yard and back, and then leaving after only a few minutes on the job.
"They hadn't sprayed anything. They hadn't touched the hose on the truck. They spent five minutes at the house. And I'm paying for this service," he said.
So we paid Green Island a visit and showed the videotape to one of its corporate officers.
Tappy: Walks back, gets in the truck, leaves. No spraying.
Jerry: Wasn't there.
Tappy: No spraying.
Jerry: Okay, did something happen in the back yard?
Tappy: Nope. We have video from the backyard, too.
He promised to take care of it.
Tappy: So you're going to look into this?
Jerry: Of course.
Tappy: You going to give him a refund if he's entitled to one?
Jerry: If he's entitled to one, sure.
Hours after we left, Washington got a full refund -- $263.00. He cancelled his contract with Green Island.
Green Island told us the employee told them the work had been done an hour earlier and he came back later to put in the flags. We reviewed the video of the entire day and we saw nothing. They said they offered to respray, but Wayne says they didn't show up. Green Island tells us they have suspended the employee and want to review the entire video disk themselves. They say if they find that the employe did lie about servicing Mr. Washington's property, he will probably be dismissed.
----
STORY BY: Tappy Phillips
WEB PRODUCED BY: Bob Monek
----
Click here for more New York and Tri-State News
