Question
A couple of months ago we had our backyard completely landscaped.  It is a Large sloping property and it needed to be tiered twice.  The landscaper only put a little drainage behind part of the large wall and only two dead men.  The top wall has no dead men and from what other people have said the ends of the timbers are to close to each other.  One of the walls is already bowing and the stairs are coming apart.  I had the landscaper back over and he said the wood will bow over time and he didn't put all the drainage because we were trying to keep the cost down.  I was wondering if this is something we should fix ourselves he wants to charge us another few thousand and I am already a little leary since it wasn't done correctly the first time.  I have had three people at our house mentioned that the wall would never last and was done wrong.  We were trying to keep cost down but not at the cost of the walls only lasting a few years plus if the price of our backyard was going to be more than we wanted to spend we were going to to it in stages not all at once.  Our landscaper sWears the wall is fine and probably will not fall.  What should we do?

Answer
Hi Carmen, from your description, it does sound like the walls were not correctly installed.  You should expect any project like this, that requires some special knowledge, to be done correctly.  The landscaper should know the correct installation techniques, and any local building codes, and should refuse to take any "shortcuts" to save your money that would compromise the safety and stability of the retainer wall.  That would include properly anchoring the wall and calculating the surface runoff to install drainage that would be able to handle a worse case scenario rain.  In my eyes, given the facts as stated, the landscaper is totally responsible and should immediately fix it.
Hopefully he gave you something is writing that outlines what he planned to do. Start documenting conversations and make pictures often to show any changes in the bowing or gaps opening up on the backside of the wall. If you believe the wall may fall, rope off the area to protect yourself physically and financially.  
I'd first voice my concerns again to the landscaper and ask him if he would pay half of an independent inspector #you pick# to ease or justify your concerns. If it is determined that there is a problem, ask him to correct it at no cost you.  
If he refuses, you should consider either hiring an attorney or turning loose one of these "watchdog" reporters that goes after unresponsive businesses.
Good Luck,  Jim