TruGreen ChemLawn - Unauthorized Services

On February 9, 2012 I received a telephone call from a Chemlawn/TruGreen sales representative regarding lawn service for the summer of 2012. I informed the rep that I had already contracted with another company because I was extremely unhappy with Chemlawn/TruGreen's service the year before.

The rep kept telling me that I could cancel the contract and how Chemlawn/Trugreen had greatly improved the formulations for their lawn care products. I told the rep that I was not interested in his service. At that time, he became very abusive, argumentative and downright rude. I finally had to hang up on the rep. Because of his rude behavior, I will never use Chemlawn/TruGreen's service again.

I started a lawn maintenance program with TruGreen in March 2011. My lawn was thriving. Then after six applications, my lawn is a desert.

Two weeks ago, I cancelled service for providing poor service and not living up to what they advertise. I received a call today that they were coming to do a service next week. I immediately called and spoke with Bonnie or Connie and cancelled the service again.

When I originally called to cancel, I was transferred to speak to the manager (Jeff) and he was to come out the next week and discuss my problem with TruGreen's service. I never heard from him.

I do not want any of my money back, I just want to make sure my service is cancelled and my credit card will not be charged.

I found a bill under my front door mat. My wife and I were both home all afternoon and neither heard nor saw anyone from TruGreen. The service summary said they had spread fertilizer on the front and back yards. They sure must be quiet workers.

I called to talk to the local manager, Bill **. I was put on hold for over 5 minutes and then told to wait another 10 minutes. Upon talking to **, he was nothing but defensive and was erroneous in his assumptions and statements. He tried the old dodge of you are the only complainer.

You need a new manager and send this one back to where he came from. He did say he would cancel the bill and service. How gracious of him. Also I received a "welcome" letter from him today (13 days after I called for service). He blamed everything on Dallas and said they didn't know S.C.

On Friday, July 22, 2011, I was standing on my front porch and Henry, an employee of TruGreen lawn service, approached me. He was servicing the lawn of my neighbor across the street. He asked me if I would be interested in a one-time lawn service for $60, indicating that there were no contracts involved. He serviced my lawn, and when he gave me the paperwork, he asked me if I would be interested in tree and scrub service to which I replied, "no." He said, "Well, your trees and scrubs look good."

Later that afternoon, I was contacted by telephone by a representative of TruGreen confirming that the service had taken place. She indicated that I had a double service and the amount would be $120. I protested indicating that their service person said nothing about a double service and nothing about $120-- something that I would have turned down. She further indicated that their full program was 11 services at $60 each. I protested indicating that their services were ridiculously expensive based on my past experience using lawn services, which typically charged $300 and some odd dollars for a yearly service. I asked her when the next planned service would be and she indicated that it would be the end of August.

Later I was called by Henry, the person who did the lawn service, and I told him that he never said anything about $120, just $60. He apologized for the misunderstanding, indicating that $60 would be removed from my bill and I would get one free service.

Today, July 27, I happened to go outside only to find a TruGreen rep performing a service. I asked him what he was doing, when I was clearly told the next service was scheduled for the end of August. He said that it was a tree and scrub service. Obviously, there was no point arguing with him so I called the local servicing office in Oldsmar, FL, 813-855-4887, and spoke with Sharon who could not have been less accommodating.

She would not listen to the logic of the fact that I was told that the next service was not until the end of August--continuously arguing that the service was for tress and scrubs. I told her a service is a service and I was told the end of August. Bottom line, she couldn't care less about my arguments and simply was not in the least sensitive or caring about the customer's needs.

I told her to remove my name from any future service. I further indicated that I would happily pay a bill for the amount of $60 and not a cent more. I told her that if she insisted on incorrectly billing me, I would choose to pay nothing and let them turn the account over to a collection agency and that I was not about to be bullied into paying the incorrect amount.

I would avoid these derelicts. They couldn't care less about their customers.

We had a contract with TruGreen for our fertilizing and lawn pest control for a year. We began to notice that our lawn was thinning and beginning to die. I called an independant contractor to come look at my lawn and he said it appeared to have been sprayed with too many chemicals. I immediately called TruGreen and advised them what the lawn man had said and their reply was that it just needs to be aerated.

The complete lawn eventually did die and I lost both my front and back yard grass and a lot of topsoil due to the rain run off. I called TruGreen back and cancelled my contract and told them that we did not wish to be contacted by them again. They kept calling (at night) to set up our next appointment for treatment.

Finally after being told never to contact us again, they sent a truck and a workman who sprayed our bushes without our knowledge. We found his sign in our front yard when we got home from work. I immediately called TruGreen and the woman I spoke with acknowledged that we had indeed canceled our contract a full year before this latest incident and that there was a note in our file not to have any further contact with us.

I sent the local office a formal letter of complaint regarding the actions taken by the company and said that any further contact would be considered harassment and that legal action would ensue if it continued. I also told them that if there was any damage caused by their illegal spraying, legal action to reclaim damages would also ensue.

This was approximately 2 months ago, March 11, 2005. Yesterday, 4 May 2005, I received a letter from the company TruGreen, requesting that we contact them to reestablish our contract and that we would receive a discount to do so. I can't believe they are persisting like this.

We had to completely re-sod our front and back yards and add topsoil. The cost was in excess of $5,000.

My wife and I contacted TruGreen Chemlawn to eradicate a Cinch Bug problem we were having. Our lawn was serviced several times and when we decided we no longer wished to have our lawn treated, the problems began. We began receiving phone calls asking us how they could get our business back. When they met with negative results from myself, they began asking to speak with my wife. When they called and my wife answered, she asked that they no longer call us ever again ... to which the manager said "Fine" and hung up on her.

We would have let it go at that ... until I received another phone call from the manager today asking me how TruGreen could get my business back again! I told them I would NEVER hire them again because of many reasons, the least of which is that THEY DON'T LISTEN TO THEIR CUSTOMER! Let's face it, if you are hiring a company, the least they can do is listen to you and do as you ask.

I have really HAD IT with this company. Last spring I paid them over $400 for four or five treatments to my lawn spaced over a six-week period. They said my weeds would die and my lawn would be looking great which is what I wanted for my daughter's baby shower in Aug. I was out of town part of the summer and when I returned, my grass was dead but the weeds were still thriving. I complained to the Branch Manager who turned me over to the Operations Manager. He came by and looked at my lawn and agreed that the weeds should have been gone. He assured me he would treat my lawn and make it up to me.

Nothing happened. When I got calls to have this and that done in the fall, I said, No thank you, don't even call me again. This is January and last week I find a flag in my lawn that it has been treated by TruGreen. I called them and asked them to explain. She tells me that the contract AUTOMATICALLY renews each year! WHAT? I was never told that. I only agreed to pay for what I was SUPPOSED to get! Today I got the bill in the mail. I told her I will NOT pay them another dime. They have not kept their word and given me my money's worth.

TruGreen came on my property and put an application on after I cancelled. When I called to complain, the woman I spoke to said I cancelled after the application was applied. She basically called me a liar. They forwarded my account to a collections agency which is now harrassing me.

I told them on approximately 5 occasions that my lawn did not need eight treatments per year and that they were to call me before each treatment. They called on 2 occasions, but after that, they started treating the lawn monthly. I called them again, on several occasions complaining about a $36.00 bill. My complaints fell on deaf ears. I have received 4 bills this month already. They have been trying to intimidate me with these bills but I will complain and complain until this intimidation stops.

Then on Feb 2 she died tragically in a house fire. Her house was destroyed. Imagine our anger when Chemlawn called us to find out if we wanted to continue Service. My husband was so upset and asked Darrel if he had crossed the Police Tape to apply the chemicals on the lawn. He wanted to know why they were still calling us after we had repeatedly told them to cancel service and stop calling. It seems like ChemLawn preys on the elderly and takes advantage of them. They should be investigated.

We contracted with another service and have to worry that they will put something on our lawn too and kill it with a double aplication. Hopfully we will catch them and let them know we have something on already, and I have to worry about being harrassed for the $30 from Chemlawn.

I contracted for service for 2003. After all my applications had been applied I received a call from someone in their organization wanting to know if I wanted a special winter treatment to which I replied no, that I was done with Trugreen Chemlawn and would not be using their company anymore. He then told me that he couldn't guarantee that my lawn would even make it through the winter or come out nice next year if I didn't continue their service to which I replied again, that I was done with their company.

2/23/04 I noticed someone in my backyard, when I got closer I realized it was a Trugreen employee applying fertilizer to my lawn. I stopped him and said that I did not recontract with the company for this year to which he replyed that I needed to call the office to cancel my service. I told him that I had cancelled last fall and he again said that I needed to call the office and then he continued to apply the fertilizer. I called Trugreen the next day and told them I needed this service stopped and that I had verbally cancelled with someone last fall.

She said that they just automatically restart service each year and wanted to know who I was going to be using to take care of my lawn. I told her that I did not authorization any new service for the year 2004 and they were not authorized to even be on my property to which she replied that they had clearance to come on my property last year so they just showed up and went to work.

I sent the $44.00 bill back to TruGreen with a letter stating that I had verbally cancelled my service last year and that I would not pay this bill for services that I did not contract for or authorize. I received a phone call today from a Shannon in the TruGreen office informing me that it was too bad that I didn't want the service that I was going to have to pay for it.

When I told her that I had cancelled with someone over the phone last year she wanted to know the cancellation number, which they did not give me. She then wanted to know why I didn't stop the employee from applying the application to my yard and I told her that I had but because he said my service hadn't been cancelled, he just kept going even when I told him I hadn't recontracted with them for service in 2004.

At the start of Jan.2003. Trugreen Chemlawn sent me a letter stating lawn service would begin in 2003. I accepted service for 3 session. Then they called want to do shrub sessions. At first I said yes, but the next day I called spoke to a Vickie and said I declined. I payed for the services rendered, even receiving a refund for early payment. In June of 2003, a tech comes to my home for spraying. I say no service was approved by me. In July, 2003 I receive a bill for $200 stating sessions for lawn service and shrubs. I have called the office and talked to Vickie and Manager. They refused to be reasonable and stated "do what you have to and we will to". Now a collection agency has contacted me for the $200.

Four days after receiving cancelation letter they came to my house again to treat my lawn. My wife saw them in process and told them to get off our property. They left. My wife called me at work to advise me of the situation. I called Chemlawn and spoke to Mike (Supervisor) and explained the situation. He said it was a follow-up to the original call that I cancelled. I told him that I told Trish to make sure no one from Chemlawn ever come to my house again. He said it was standard practice to re-treat lawn. He said I still owed Chemlawn $60.00 and if I didn't pay in 60 days I would be reported to the credit bureau.

On May 9, 2003 I received a bill in the amount of $79.00, for lawn services they claim was performed on 4/30/03. The services performed was without my knowledge and without my approval. I consider the services a violation of a STOP NOTICE and a clear incident of trespassing on private property.

Colleen should send a certified letter to the company, telling them they do not have permission to enter her property and that any further lawn treatments will be treated as trespassing. If her daughter's condition worsens, she should retain an attorney and sue the company.

I am concerned that if I do not pay for this service (even though I did not want it)that I will have a blemish on my credit report. I have excellent credit, and I am planning to purchase a new home in 1-2 years.

Miraculously, our account had reopened itself and TruGreen had scheduled themselves to come over. So we closed the account again. Now, we are worried. If they perform a service without our presence, we will owe them for the service. How do we stop them? Do we have to see a court injunction to prevent them from setting foot on our lawn?

He stated that they send out some card to confirm that they will be coming out, but I did not receive this card. He stated that sometimes people receive them and sometimes they don't, but they still go ahead and perform the work anyway. The company is charging me $200 for a service I did not authorize. They entered my property without me knowing it and without my permission.

My wife is 8 months pregnant and we need to relax, but it is impossible when we get called every day asking for our money and continuously receive bills in our mailbox for a service we didn't order.

After I cancelled services my lawn was treated twice without my approval. I called after each instance to complain as well as to verify the account was cancelled. I am now getting bills and collection notices. I did not sign a contract with this company.

When I call to complain they ask who I spoke to about cancelling. When I give them the info the say they will check into it and call me back. They never call back. I am concerned that this is going to go to a collection agency and possiblly to court.

I received unsolicited lawn analysis. TruGreen ChemLawn not only inspected my front yard, but also my back yard without my permission. My name, address and even telephone number was typed (preprinted) on the form. Included in the lawn analysis was a "program estimate" and recommendations on improving my lawn.

Well, this looked so official, I almost sent them a check! Then I thought, hey, I didn't request a lawn analysis! You may laugh at this, but I have a large green rubber snake on my back porch, to keep birds out of the cat food. Well, the day TruGreen came out, the snake was moved onto my front porch. Consequence? Gee, do I need to lock my gate now? (gate to back yard that is)

If TruGreen's little green men are indeed inviting themselves into people's back yards they could technically be charged with trespassing. Maybe worse, they might eventually blunder into a backyard with something meaner (and livelier) than a rubber snake.If Barbara wants to press the point, she can send the company a certified letter denying them permission to enter her property ever again. She could also post a small "No Trespassing" sign at her property's entrance.