Marcello Lawn & Landscaping Inc

.

The owner is very responsive. His laborers do a thorough job, are punctual and friendly. The result is a park-like yard treatment. You get what you pay for and this service is not inexpensive. So, if you are seeking a first class yard, Marcello is strongly recommended.

Marcello cut my lawn approximately 5 times while I was away. When I returned to RI, I received a bill for approx $148 for "fall cleanup." I did not authorize Marcello to perform this service as I was out of work and only wanted to maintain a cut lawn while away. He took me (and a neighbor who he did the same thing to) to small claims court claiming that he sent out flyers and it was out obligation to essentially opt out of the service. He testified that since he didn't hear from us, he went ahead with the fall cleanup. My neighbor won the case, but I had to pay for the mowing and his court fees because he falsely testified that the $148 included mowing and I hadn't paid that. I was still recovering from spinal surgery and didn't have all my receipts, so the judge awarded him the mowing fee and court costs. He lied as I later found the receipt with the mowing charge, which I paid. I know this happened some time ago, but thought it worth the warning in case he's still employing this very sketchy "opt out" policy.

Our experience with Marcello Lawn and Landscaping started well enough. The previous owners of our house had used them, and they seemed to be a well-established local company with a good reputation, so we contacted them when we moved in 3 yrs. ago. The owner, Greg Marcello, came over promptly and provided helpful information about the property and the fertilization program that the previous owners used. We ended up doing most of our own lawn care, but hired Marcello a few times to cut the grass when we were out of town. This May, we hired Marcello to restore a dead patch in the front lawn over a septic cover, plus two small spots in the back yard – about 15-20 sq. feet in total. The cost was $200. Marcello sent out a crew, which put down grass seed and told us to water 2x/day. We set our sprinkler system accordingly and made sure it was watering as instructed. The grass in the front yard did not take; after a few weeks, we informed Marcello. He sent out a crew to scatter some more grass seed, and this time told us to water 3x/day, which we did. By now it was mid-July. We had paid the $200 bill in full when it arrived, as a gesture of good faith that the job would be completed. The spot in the front yard was no better. (The ones in the back had filled in.) We informed Greg Marcello and suggested that it would need sod (which, frankly, we thought he would have done at the start). He said that he would install it but that “such a small job” would have to wait until he had another sod job in the area. Weeks passed with no word; every morning we looked out the bedroom window at the ugly bare patch in the front yard. Finally, I e-mailed Marcello to ask that he give a definite date when the job would be completed. We were frustrated that we had hired him in May to fix the lawn, followed the care instructions, paid the $200, and now it was almost August and the front yard looked worse than ever. Marcello responded indignantly: • he accused us of not watering properly and said that we had to “take responsibility” for the failed patch (we followed the instructions we were given to the letter) • he blamed the problem on “sun conditions” (he knew from the start that the front yard is quite sunny, and that the spot was over a septic cover; we assumed that, as a lawn care professional, he would know how to deal with this, and that if reseeding didn’t work he would try something else that did) • he said that “a job like this is not a money-maker but a courtesy to customers” (a $200 courtesy?) • he said that if we wanted a sod patch for the front yard, we would have to pay extra for it We responded that we considered the original job unfinished and expected it to be completed at the agreed-upon price. We heard nothing back. In retrospect, we were foolish to pay in full; but we trusted that Marcello took pride in the results of his work, regardless of the size or profit margin of the job. In the end, we did some Internet research and patched the spot ourselves with a piece of sod, some topsoil, and fertilizer – for about $12. Lesson learned.

No issues very professional. He came twice to discuss and will come back in March to begin.

He has done an absolutely fantastic work. He's not the cheapest person but the quality of his work is equal to what he charges. We have been recommending him to our friends because of his great work.