Landscape contractor ordered to repay customers, stop fraudulent practices

Lee Rood | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption How to avoid falling prey to scams Take these steps to make sure opportunists don't get the best of you when hiring someone to provide a service.

An Ankeny landscape contractor has agreed to stop fraudulent practices in Iowa and repay 13 customers $25,253 following court action by Iowa's Attorney General.

A Polk County consent decree prohibits Eric J. Mitchell, 27, from owning, operating or advertising a home-repair and landscape services business after numerous customers complained he took their money and didn't finish the work.

Assistant Attorney General Ben Bellus accused Mitchell in a civil suit of misrepresenting when he would complete projects, failing to inform customers of their legal right to cancel, and accepting payments without performing the labor.

Mitchell was the focus of a Reader's Watchdog column in October 2016.

A 2009 graduate of a Michigan high school, the then 25-year-old had businesses called E'NA Landscaping By Design and Residential Services. He described it on Craigslist as “family-based” with “cheaper rates than anyone around.”

But John and Pam McDowell said they gave Mitchell $2,500 to take down a tree and he failed to show again after one day's work.

Jared Christensen said he talked to the contractor about grading his West Des Moines backyard. After, Mitchell showed up when he wasn’t home and persuaded Christensen’s wife, Megan, to hand over a down payment of $1,800.

Several months later, after no work had been completed, Christensen and several other customers received texts saying he had to be flown to a medical facility for an emergency.