Complain about a product or service

Inside TruGreen ChemLawn

TruGreen ChemLawn • New Jersey Sues TruGreen Chemlawn --- Consumer Complaints • Too Much Service • Not Enough Service • Pricing • Happy Insider • Unhappy Ex-Insider --- • What You Can Do

George of Arlington TX:
I worked for Trugreen and Chemlawn for about 8 years. The problem for the consumer is that Trugreen doesn't tell the customer what all they have in store for them down the road.

First is eight applications a year at 6-8 weeks apart. Well, they are still selling 8 applications in March and Early April. It just ain't possible to get all the chemicals down in time to stop the weeds that late in the year.

Next the customer gets bombarded with a bunch of pitches for tree and shrub service, aerations, grub control and brown patch control. The funny thing is that if you have active grubs or brown patch, they take care of it free of charge.

I understand the customer's frustration when a tech runs across their lawn and is done in 3 minutes. Well, the equipment is set to put out the right amount even though they were only there a short time. If you get a lazy tech who doesn't want to treat your weeds or look for any other signs, you're up a river.

It's easy to push a spreader all day long if that's all you have to do.

It's all about customer expectations. The new sales people have no idea what weeds are what, and what products are used. All the sales people want to do is sell you the most expensive stuff to make your lawn look nice. Once they have your phone number they will call you for the next five years, unless you ask to be taken off their list.

And that's just to sell you new stuff. It doesn't include the number of times they call you for applications, and other efforts to sell you products and services. They call from 9 AM to 9PM and now they are going door to door.

Just beware that the service can be good if you know what you are getting into, and you know what you need to do.

Neal (city withheld) writes: (4/10/03):
I worked for TruGreen for 3 months. I enjoy dealing with customers, that's my second favorite part of the job. My first of course is to give you a great looking lawn, but not perfect, hardly the case with TruGreen. I have a family, and love being with them. Working six, seven days a week and getting paid 450.00/wk is ridiculous. I had to bring in a certain amount of profit each day to get the weekend off.

TruGreen made it impossible, it got so bad that I hate to admit this, but the applications weren't going down. I hated my self for this, I had to get out of there.

I work now for a mom and pop lawn company. I am so proud to work for them. OUR lawns now look great, I am proud to work for this company, we may be small, but we do HONEST work. I want to say sorry to the customers that I cheated myself. Please forgive me as a person.

Joseph of Graham WA (11/15/03):
i worked for this company for 3 years had been employee of the month 4 or 5 times, was always in the top ten in earnings and was always one of the best customer retention people at this branch. I also never had any disciplinary action against me. In fact I even flew to Idaho during my vacation to pick up a company truck and drive it to the branch in Washington on my time with no compensation.

But because i was injured on the job and was told by the doctor I would be on light duty for 8 to 10 weeks I was fired -- not laid off not put on disability but fired. The reason I was given was that I couldn't finish my route on a Saturday (aug.30th 2003) due to my wrist injury. I was suspended till Sept 2nd. They made sure I didn't get paid for the holiday and my customer retention bonus for the month of Aug. I went back in on Sept 2nd and was told I was fired for insubordination for refusing to work with an injury even though I had a note from my doctor.

This has caused me to fall way behind on house payments and car payments because i couldnt even get unemployment for five weeks due to the fact the company was fighting me on it. This is a fine way for any company to treat a person that has given their all for the company.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Back to the top |

Home | Rogues Gallery | Good Guys | Complaint Form | News | Recalls | Search | Site Map | FAQ |
Consumer Resources | Small Claims Guide | Lemon Law | Newsletter | Contact Us
Advertise With Us | Testimonials | Newsroom | RSS Feeds | Video | Job Postings

Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use

Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the FAQ for more information.

Company Response Welcome If complaints about your company appear on our site, we welcome your response. Please see the Response Form for more information.

For more information, see the FAQ and privacy policy. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice.  ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. 

Copyright © 2003-2008 ConsumerAffairs.com Inc.  All Rights Reserved.