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We signed on with Trugreen 3 years ago. We were told that if we prepaid for the year they could offer us

a 15% discount and a free shrub service, so we did. We prepaid for 8 lawn treatments. This was in October of 2009. In August of 2010, we received a notice that our account was in arrears by about $130.

We called the office and asked how this could be since we prepaid for the year. We were told that the annual billing went from January to January. They took the amount we prepaid, then from October to January we were charged the full amount for treatments, and the discount did not apply until the treatments after January. So when August came, the prepaid year was spent. (Plus I never did get the one free shrub service.) I told them that none of this was told to me when I signed up, I was only told that if I prepaid a year, I would get a discount. They said no, their billing was from January to January. So from August til January, I had to pay the full, undercounted amount for yard service. In January, the rep called and asked if I would be interested in prepaying for the year and receive a 20% discount on services. I asked if I was paying January to January and he said yes, that was how the billing went, and it would be immediately. So I prepaid for the year. I also reminded him I had not received the free shrub service as promised and he said that they would come out that week to do it and apologized profusely for the oversight. Again, when

August 2011 we got another notice that our account was in arrears. They claimed now that they had done

yard and shrub service and deducted it against my prepay. I told them I never authorized shrub service, I was supposed to get one free service and that was it. They said they were doing it all along as per my request. I told them to credit it back as I never asked for, nor did I receive shrub service according to the receipts left in my door by the technician. They said they credited it back, but in October, I was notified again that I was now $186 in arrears and if I did not pay, I would be turned over to collections. They said prove I didn't receive treatments, their tech would swear he did the treatments. I told them I had the receipts left in the door that did not indicate those treatments were done. I was turned over to collections. Previously we had passed out two coupons to referrals that the office told us were worth $50 per referral to be credited to our bill. But it was not. I deducted the $100 from my bill and paid the $86, but the company is still not satisfied and has refused to notify the collections agent that the account was paid. The local office says as long as I am in collections they cannot talk to me directly, I have to talk to Transworld Collection Agency. TransWorld does not have a phone number and insists that all correspondence be in writing, but will continue to proceed with collections while the matter is disputed. Trugreen is dishonest

and disreputable.

Location: Washington, District Of Columbia

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Guest

Yup, we were quoted 70 a treatment twice over the phone using their "map" tool where they use google maps to view your yard. I prepaid for the year, after the first treatment they increased the price to $114.

This year they are coming out several times in the month saying they are doing different treatments, however, have only come out one time (we work from home). Getting very close to ditching TruGreen, they are driving me nuts.

Guest

Last spring I was looking for a lawncare service and decided to go with TruGreen. Their representative was very friendly and I was able to negotiate a fair deal for the yard plus a few extra weeds treatments.

And even a free lime treatment. For the first few months things were great, then things went downhill. The problems all started when TruGreen called me one night. A "courtesy call" is what the gentleman referred to it as.

A then he asks if a want to buy a lime treatment. So it wasn't really a call to make sure that I was satisfied...It was a sales call! :? And he wants to SELL me a lime treatment, as a lime is currently not on my account he tells me.

To get some sort of clarification, I then asked to speak to our original rep that I had signed-on with, and was told that he no longer worked there. So I tell this guy about the free lime treatment, and of course he says he doesn't know anything about that. He does ask if I would still like it. I say "yes".

And he says "Great, that'll be $49." I tell him that I was supposed to get it for free. He again says he doesn't know anything about that, and if I would still like it, then it will be $49. I firmly reiterate that the original agreement was to have the lime treatment at no charge. At this point I end the phone call and ask to have the manager call me.

Later the TruGreen manager called and apologized for the confusion that they had left me with the impression that they had promised me a free treatment. I told him that they did....A FREE lime treatment. Then the manager told me that he can't just give somebody a free treatment just because that want one. And in a nice way, esentially told me that I was a *** liar.

(I was a retail store manager for several years and I learned a lot about customer service. One of the rules was never insult the customer or imply the customer made a mistake.) TruGreen's whole approach, (unbelievable as it is), is a sure fire way to lose a customer. At this point I said I needed him to either give me the lime treatment at no charge, as was promised when I signed on, or cancel my account immediately. Of course he never cancelled my account.

Those bastards still snuck in one more treatment, so I had to call corporate to cancel. And getting corporate's REAL phone number 901/597-**** is no simple task. As their toll-free numbers actually rings to a nationwide call center, or goes full circle to the local office. And I didn't trust them anymore!

In the end I successfully cancelled. Fast forward to now; TruGreen still calls me. Their method of operation is to apoligize and offer me a FREE treatment...ironic?!? I say "NO" and they act coy & play dumb, saying that they don't understand why I'm not on board with them.

Well..."no means no" pal. They came around just recently and hung flyers on the doors in my neighborhood.

The flyer said, "Under New Management" in bold print!! My email: Marco@***y-engineer.com

Guest

It has been a month since I posted, this is followup to original post.

We ended up paying the amount in arrears as it was not worth our credit taking a hit with the credit reporting agency, and TruGreen refused to speak to us directly or provide the print out they had promised, showing how the money had been spent. We were getting nowhere with this, so we were forced to pay or our otherwise excellent credit rating would suffer, but I still feel that TruGreen got away with something here. Since that time, I have been contacted DAILY by their office, asking me to return to their service as I had been an "excellent customer." Funny, this was not their position when they turned me over to collections. I have since gone with Home Team who is quite good and well thought of in our area, but the dunning calls from TruGreen continue to come. I wrote them a letter and told them they were fired but their marketing director has said that they will not take no for an answer, that they are determined to get my business back. They even sent my former yard technician to our door to ask us what it would take for us to come back to TruGreen, I told him I wanted TruGreen to stop this harassment as I had no intention of returning and I was going to tell everyone what they were now doing. The marketing manager maintains he is "clueless" as to why I left TruGreen, said that being turned over to collection was an "oversight" and that they had not intended to do that. I told him I wanted the daily calls to stop and I didn't want to hear from TruGreen again, and I would not recommend them to anyone either. He said they merely wanted to "accommodate" me, were trying to be "friendly" and what could they do to get me to come back, and he wanted me to know that everyone we had referred had dumped them, too, but if I came back he would personally see to it that I got those credits and he could offer me an "extremely attractive" package.

Well, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. I have written a letter to the Attorney General in our state telling them of this whole situation, but I was informed that unless the phone calls are threatening, there was little they could do. Evidentally harassment is not against the law in Florida. They asked if I had caller ID and could I just let the calls from TruGreen go into the answering machine. ??????

This is why companies get away with so much, the agencies and laws in place refuse to do anything about it.

Guest

What does TruGreen have in common with Gypsies? They're both beggars, thieves & cheats!

:grin

What's the difference between Trugreen and the carnival?

The carnival leaves town once everyone is on to them! :p

Guest

I started with TruGreen lawn service in 2010 as I wanted my lawn looking good. Shortly after I started with them, I also took advantage of their "TruFriends" Customer Referral program.

It was explained to me that with every friend, neighbor & relative that I got to sign-on with TruGreen; I would get 1 free application for EVERY person that I referred to TruGreen, and took TruGreen's service. I referred a total of 8 people that took TruGreen's services. So, under the arraingment this meant 8 free lawn applications to me for the season.

In reality, I only ended up gettting 2 applications for free, and got billed for the remaining 6. I have found that TruGreens internal communications are awful.

No one seems to keep good records or talk to their co-workers about the accounts they service.

I had to keep calling to explain the same problems over and over again! It is unfortunate that they have the need to defraud and avoid their own clients just to make money.

Meanwhile, all 8 people that I referred have since cancelled TruGreen, due to poor service results, constant pressure to buy more Trugreen services, or problems with their billing.