Retiring and celebrating
It’s September 27, 2017. I’m retiring in a few days and what better way to celebrate than to dig the pod that we have been wanting for a long time. We’ve waited for that right person and right price to come along for many years. ……..Enter a man with a bridge ……. (a big mistake).
We conversed with him at the local grocery, he is the butcher. A very nice and personable man. Somehow we spoke of digging a pond and he volunteered that had a side business of digging ponds and could come and look at what we had. We extended the invitation and on that day he said “I can dig this for you”. We told him the problem is 
we did not want the dirt and would rather it be hauled off.
The pond digger said: “No problem, I have use for the dirt”.
Great! How much are we looking at?
“$3,800”;
We gave the pond digger $1900 to get started. He and hubby signed a contract.
We set about doing everything legally.
The township said we did not need a permit to dig a pond but may want to check with the Department of Environmental Quality. We contacted a nice woman in Kalamazoo 
and set up a day and time for her to visit. She checked us for marsh lands and told us we were free to dig the pond.
In October the man brought his digger and began our pond. So far so good, he dug a trench and it rained a few days later. The trench held water, a good sign!
We wanted a berm created between our property line and the neighbors. The idea was that it would keep our pond full in the event of heavy rains; it would not overflow into our neighbors yard. Since the ditch filled with water he dug in a new location. This one was round and in close proximity to the ditch.
Several months are passing
with the pond digger showing up less and less. The rainy season passes, winter comes. The digger said he liked to dig in cold weather because he sat on top of the motor in his digger and it got very hot. But he did not come.
Spring is upon us. My husband starts inquiring about the production of our pond with the pond digger. The pond digger says he has to finish another job he is on. My husband text him “Not cool!” The pond digger says “I have a full-time job you know!” When the digger came he was gone in an hour.
It’s a hot summer
and no digging is getting done. My husband is wearing thin on patience for the progress. When the digger shows up he says “I never meant to haul the dirt for that price. For $30
The round hole now
a load I will take the dirt. A few loads later his truck is stuck in the yard and he has had to dump most of the small load he had in our yard. Hubby says this isn’t going to work. 
Then no digger.
Hubby begins expressing to the pond digger his frustration. The pond digger says moving dirt could go quicker. For $50 an hour I will bring [my] skid steer over and move the dirt. It will go much faster. A new contract was drawn up only this one had a 4 week time frame listed for completion. The skid steer promptly broke down, 4 weeks came and went, my husband Gave thought to all that has happened. When the pond digger came back hubby told him no more skid steer. Hubby intended on moving the dirt himself with his tractor. This worked for a while then the pond digger quit showing up. When hubby asked why, the pond digger said “you haven’t moved the dirt”. Hubby said never mind that; if the dirt is in your way push the dirt to the side, or dump it out of your way, and keep 
Summer is coming to a close
We are seeing less and less of the pond digger. When Hubby finally got the pond digger to pay us another visit, he would dig about an hour then he was gone. Then the track broke on his digger. That took time to fix. He brought another guy out with him who helped him fix it, took video of him digging for about 30 minutes, then they left. All the while he tells us, “I’ll get it done”.
Hubby constantly reminds him that we are looking at fall coming. Another rainy season is at hand and it would be nice to get it done. The digger never came.
September 14th, 2018
Hubby has reached the end of his appreciation for the pond progress. We have 3 various sized holes in different locations, and a tore up yard in another location, production has virtually stopped. The pond digger is invited to stop by our house. A day later he shows. Hubby tells him “your fired, we want our money back”.
The pond digger says, again, how his father in law could use some of the dirt. “Your fired”.
The pond digger says “I’ll give you half of your money back”. Not good enough. Hubby told him that he figured out how long he spent actually working on the pond. It came out to a grand total of 3 days over a period of a year; after which time we did not have anything resembling a pond, only property damage.
If if you pay within two weeks
Hubby told the pond digger if he paid within two weeks he could keep $100 for gas. Even though we have never seen him bring gas to the digger, as he probably never went through a tank of gas! If the digger doesn’t pay we go to court for our money.
On September 27, 2018, exactly a year later and the day of the dead line, the pond digger came for his digger while we were at work. The next day we filed papers.
It’s not the first time we’ve been duped, and probably not the last. It doesn’t make it any easier.
I’ll keep you posted
lam0beaner
I'm faithful, foremost. A blogger since 2017. Interested in photography, painting, anything crafty. I am not afraid to tackle the unknown and if I get stuck, there's always the internet. I consider myself to be young at heart in an aging body.
