Mt. Pleasant woman claims she was taken advantage of by pine straw company

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCSC) – With warmer weather just around the corner, a Lowcountry woman is warning people to remain cautious before accepting any offers for yard work.

Mount Pleasant resident Sheryl Frost says she was at home when a group of men in an unmarked car showed up to offer yard work.

“So, then I realized it was probably a scam,” Frost said.

“They said, ‘Hey, we just did some of the neighbors with pine straw and we have all this left over,’” Frost said. “‘So, we can go ahead and do yours for $6 a bale.’ And we were like ‘Yeah, okay. That sounds good.’ And he said, ‘No labor,’ and we said, ‘Yeah, that sounds great.’”

She says she was fine with the agreement until things changed.

“And the guy came up and said, ‘Well, there was 250 bales and it’s going to be $2,500,’” Frost said.

Frost says with the small area they filled with pine straw, there was no way they used 250 bales. She says she gave them $300 because that was the original agreement. She then says they got really aggressive.

“I said, ‘I’m going to call the police,’ and they couldn’t get to their cars fast enough,” Frost said.

Mount Pleasant Police Sgt. Ashley Croy says the elderly are one age group that could be more at risk of being taken advantage of. She says this is because some might assume they’re not thinking clearly.

Croy says they haven’t heard of any other reports similar to this. She says without knowing if there was criminal intent in this situation, Frost would have to file a civil suit. Croy does say it is odd the group left so quickly.

To avoid paying too much for services, Croy says it is important to check for a business license, a business card and do your own research on a company before they come on your property.

“I still felt like I didn’t want to be someone who’s taking advantage of someone else,” Frost said. “Even though they were trying to take advantage of me.”

Frost tells me the group of people didn’t have business cards on them, but that they were based out of Walterboro. The company they say they were with has not responded to a request for comment on whether they did business at Frost’s house.

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