Complaint / Review
Trugreen
Chemlawn Bait and Switch - Signed up for one lawn treatment, got billed for two

I made the mistake of doing business with Trugreen.

One of their area sales reps knocked on the door and pointed out that the lawn had Chinch Bug damage, which I already knew about, and had already sprayed the lawn with Talstar, a commercial pesticide.

Since the lawn had not responded quickly to the treatment, I decided to give Trugreen a try with the caveat that This would be a one time treatment for $44.00, and If I decided to continue the treatments, just keep paying the bills as they came. David the Trugreen Sales person.

David, insured me that if I decided, for whatever reason, to discontinue their services, all I needed to do was call them and that would be that.

It sounded simple enough, and that's what should have tipped me off.

I received their first bill, and instead of being $44.00 as stated to me in person by their salesman, standing on my front yard: It contained two bills, at $44.00 each for a total of $88.00; One for Chinch Bug treatment and one for Lawn Service 5, whatever that is.

So, I called the 800 number listed on the statement for billing inquiries.

My intent was to pay the bill over the phone by credit card, once the confusion was cleared up, as the lawn now was recovering from the damage. I was actually satisfied with the service at this point and planned to continue with regular treatments.

What I got instead, was that the lawn received two treatments and I owed $88.00 instead of what their representative told me to my face a few weeks back.

I should have known not to deal with Trugreen, as I have been warned by folks I know, of Trugreen's practices and read about Trugreen Consumer Complaints.

I told the person I spoke with to Cancel the contract and discontinue all services on my property, and that I would be sending a check for the $44.00 I had agreed to.

Her reply was "It will go to collections." Not, how can we make this better? Or how can we keep you as a customer? Or would you like to speak with a Customer Service Representative? Nope, they went straight to threats of collections.

I then called the Customer Service number (not an 800 number) listed on the web site, to find myself on eternal hold once I asked to speak to someone at the Corporate Customer Service Department.

I guess it shouldn't surprise me that they discourage customer service calls by placing them on eternal hold until the caller gives up and drops the call.