TRUE LAWN

Lawn service deception/disaster. We purchased our home in Fl about 5 years ago. We found much to our dismay the lawn (although new) was brown and weedy and had both cinch bugs and fire ants mounds about. We self treated for about a year with very little success. A lawn company named Lawn Supreme came to our door one day and offered to treat our lawn, shrubs, trees and fire ants with a guarantee that we would not have any problems or they would return and re-treat for free. Within a few months our lawn and shrubs looks wonderful and the fire ants were history. Then a year or so ago Orkin purchased Lawn Supreme. They offered to keep our same contract at the same price which was $49 for Lawn weed and insect control and $35 for tree and shrub service. About two months ago I called Orkin to complain about the number of weeds in my flower beds. They explained that the only thing they could do for the weeds in the flower beds was to spray them with Round- Up, but that because Round-Up was an accumulative chemical and would stay in the soil it would eventually kill all of our plants and shrubs. Well we just spent $1000 replanting our beds this spring so did NOT want that. We had intended to call around to some other lawn companies to ask if they had any different chemicals for treating flowerbed weeds but had not yet done so. Then a young man named of Andrew from TRUGREEN came to our door. He said his company had just been given the go ahead to treat shrubs and flowerbeds with the same chemicals they treat the lawn with for weeds. I no longer had a red fire ant problem at the time but wanted to make certain that we wouldn?t, so I asked him about the red ant treatment and guarantee. He said that usually the treatment did not include red ants, but right now they are running a special that will include treatment for red ants guaranteeing we would not get them back. I showed him a newer problem I was having with some of my house plants on our rear enclosed patio. They appeared to have mold. Andrew assured me those would also be treated in our regular shrub treatment service. Then Andrew told me that his company employees a horticulturist who would visit our home within 2 weeks of our contract to look and see exactly what all our yard, trees and shrubs might need, and then order specific treatment and chemicals for our needs. That all sounded awesome! Then he gave me their prices which were $56.95 for Lawn service and $49.95 for Tree and Shrub service. His price was $7.95 more for lawns, and $14.95 more for shrubs which is a total of $22.90 more than I was already paying with Orkin. So YES it was more money, but we believed it was worth it for a LOT more service. A few days later a TRUGREEN truck came to our home. My husband works from home and sits next to a window that looks out to our front yard. A guy got out of the TRUGREEN truck and carried a bucket from the truck to the side of the house. He never entered the enclosed rear patio area and my husband never saw him get near any trees out front. Then he put a bill at our front door and left. My husband retrieved the bill which said that he treated all of our Palms and trees and shrubs. I called Andrew?s cell. Andrew said not to worry that as soon as he got to the office he would make sure that guy was reprimanded and send out another guy to treat everything as promised. Then about an hour later another guy showed up. I thought this was the re-do service. I explained to this guy about the one who was there prior and asked if he came to treat the weeds in my beds. He was actually the lawn service coming to also to treat. Lawn and Shrub services were supposed to treat separately about every other month each. Then he told me that they do NOT treat flower beds for weeds because it will kill all of my shrubs. I argued explaining that the service I bought did indeed treat the flowerbeds for weeds. Feeling very frustrated I got out our contract which did NOT say they would control weeds in our flower beds or guarantee against fire ants. I immediately called Andrew, who didn?t answer this time. Then I called TRUGREEN asking to speak to a manager. The guy who answered insisted I explain to him exactly why I want to speak to a manager first. Finally he gave me to Cindy who was supposedly a manager. I asked to speak to a district or regional manger. She kept insisting I could cancel the service if I was unsatisfied but they do not treat flowerbeds for weeds AND also that I did NOT have a guaranteed treatment for fire ants as promised by Andrew. I wanted to speak to a manager because THAT was the service I purchased. She didn?t understand why I would be upset that I had just canceled my service with the old company and now signed up with them to pay $22.90 MORE for a lesser service. Less because they would NOT TREAT FOR OR GUARANTEE against red fire ants. I requested several times to speak to a district manager. She finally said she would have Shawn who is Andrews?s manager call me back within the next few hours. He never called. Two days later I called a number I found for the TRUGREEN corporate office and spoke to Jason. I explained the whole story again and asked to speak with a district manager. Jason assured me that a manager would get back to me. Then the same day, that same Cindy called me. She offered me a deal. She said ?as a courtesy? if we got red ants in the next year, they would come out and treat for me as a onetime courtesy for free but I?d be charged their regular contracted rate of $22.90 a month more than I was paying to Orkin. I asked her to explain HOW I was supposed to be happy about paying MORE for a service which now you are giving me a courtesy service IF I need it for one year when I had that contracted guaranteed indefinitely before for $22.90 less? She insisted that they were offering me a great deal and asked me what I wanted. I told her that I wanted to speak to a district manager. She finally said she would have Shawn call me. Shawn did call a little while later and he too asked what I wanted. I explained that felt that they should not only match what I had with Orkin but because of the false promises on their part, AND the week of undue stress trying to get it straightened out, they should give me a discount of actually charging me LESS than I was contracted for with Orkin. He said he did not have authority to approve that and would have to talk to a district manager. WOW! We agreed! Finally the next day, Ron, a district sales manager called me. He was rude and quite blunt. He said multiple times that any service contract between a client and TRUGREEN would need to be beneficial on both parts, but that our relationship thus far would NOT fit that bill. He insisted that Andrew, though improperly trained by them, needed to be given grace for his mistakes and that I as a customer should be more than happy to accept or decline their service now. I asked him to please explain EXACTLY what they were now offering me and WHY did he feel that it should be me who paid for his improperly trained salesmen mistakes? He finally offered to give me THE EXACT SAME TREATMENT AS I HAD FROM Orkin, for the same price that I paid to Orkin for a 1 year period, after which I would be charged their full rate. WOWOWOWWW what a deal! On top of that FIREANTS started breeding thru out the yard again. We figured after 4 years with no fire ants now they couldn't have been treating for them. In short. TRUGREEN came to my door soliciting my business offering me a service which my current company did not offer. It cost more, but was worth it! After canceling our old service, then they say ?oops, we made a mistake? and could not deliver the goods. Now they want me to be happy to receive LESS service than what we had with our prior company for MORE money. After a week full of stress and explaining and complaining to 5 different TRUGREEN people, they finally agree to give me the same service I had with the old company for the same price for 1 year then pay the full rate... Gee thanks!