Nelson & Pope Engineers and Surveyors

My complaint is with Nelson & Pope Engineers and Surveyors, 572 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, NY. 631-427-5665.

I contacted them in April, 2008 to survey my property for the purpose of installing a perimeter fence. I was quoted $1,300.00 to stake out along the property line. In June a surveyor Jim and his female partner arrived to perform the service. There was no call to say they were arriving, however, I was home at this time. I explained the issue of fencing the property and pointed out on the south side a difficult neighbor.

The fence has been ordered and in trying to run lines from one stake to the next, on the south side there is a problem. This area (about 100 yards back) has arborvitaes bushes on our side and the neighbor has bushes backing to them. I had assumed there was a stake somewhere in there between the bushes and assumed wrong.

So it is very difficult to try to run a straight line and not cut in between. This is the rub since this neighbor is uncooperative and I may well be cutting back as I should, but, it is not very clear.

I spoke with Jim Fontana of Nelson and Pope in person at their Melville office on 7/21/2008 to explain all this. He was not helpful and showed no interest since I didn’t have the Job #. I could furnish information of my address and that it was done last month. I left and called the next day leaving a voice message as to the Lot # xxSection xxx and Block x, in Huntington and Nelson job #. No return call. I called again on 7/24/2008 and spoke to Jim Fontana and explained in detail the situation and that I needed ONE stake on this south side area. He quoted me an additional $325.00 for the one stake and that is a bargain. (By the way, my bill is paid in full so I have no recourse)

My bill only says to stake the property. NO stakes were run in front of the property and a total of 13 stakes were provided. This is a service and one would hope that I could get at least a service of satisfaction.

I would not be this insistent is circumstances were different.

Please check and see if you think I am being unreasonable.

I did check another survey Company after my call and they could do the entire side for a bit more than his quote for one stake.

Comment On This

You are not being unreasonable at ALL.

* For one thing, my entire property ost less than $1,300 to survey in October 2008 (from another, more reputable surveyor).

* For another thing, they should have told you when they would come - out of sheer respect for clients, if nothing else.

* Then, to charge you on top for what should have been done the first time, is wrong! If 2 people who make maybe $70K a year, they make $35 an hour, and bill at about 2.5 to 3 times that amount - it should not top 1 hour, and it should not top $210.

* And lastly, surveyors should know how to get information about every job, with or without a "job number." And if they can't, they should at least have the decency to say, "I don't know the job you're calling about, but I will find out for you." Good customer service at least.

So to summarize, you got gyped, and you are not being unreasonable. Sorry to hear of your trouble.

Comment On This

It sounds like you expected the surveying team to place a stake in an area where access is restricted by vegetation which is not something that I would expect them to do. Their offer to do this at additional cost seems reasonable. To quote a line from your complaint "I am being unreasonable", yes- you are