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TruGreen lawn care: done business with them?


Joe Frickin' Friday

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Joe Frickin' Friday

A couple of weeks ago I called TruGreen to ask what they could do to make my lawn look better. It was infested with moles this summer, and then with grubs. Then while we were on vacation last month, the skunks and racoons dug up the grubs one by one; it looks like a thousand tiny landmines went off.

 

Over the phone they proposed what I'm guessing is a standard lawn treatment program plus aeration and reseeding to help repair mole/grub damage. Then, because I asked about treatment for some pine trees we have that are suffering from a blight, they also proposed comprehensive shrub care. This part of the proposal went far beyond what I was interested in; I told them I'd think about it. In fact I told them several times in the space of a minute, because he was very anxious for me to commit to the whole shebang right then and there.

 

Fast forward to today. I've received several phone calls from them over the past two weeks (I recognize the number), but they don't leave messages. I called back this afternoon to inquire about a reduced tree care plan, but they're still trying to sell me on something far greater than I want (a previous landscape company charged a total of $150 for two tree blight treatments; these guys were initially offering a package of 7 treatments for $95 apiece).

 

After scaling back his tree care proposal, I explained that it still exceeded my previous experience. He then knocked 15% off of everything. I told him I had to talk it over with my wife and would call him back later this week. He asked me what was holding me back. (um, the fact that I have to talk to my wife...:eek:)

 

Whatever. Some high-pressure sales stuff, which is turning me off. OTOH, they service my neighbor's lawn across the street, and it looks damn good, as opposed to my No Man's Land Theme Park.

 

So does anyone here have experience with TruGreen, good or bad? Did they do a good job with your lawn? Did they leave you exhausted from fending off their sales efforts? What would Marty Hill do?

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Google "TruGreen problems" and it will spit out the common complaints from most large service companies and franchises.

Satisfaction will generally boil down to finding a good technician working for a company that does decent billing.

The salesman is probably not the tech.

You need to inquire locally

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I imagine this is their slowest time of year and the salesman is getting pretty hungry.

 

My understanding is that the moles are there because the grubs are there. Until you get rid of the grubs, other efforts are wasted. There are dry chemicals you can spread but I don't know how effective they are. My cats like the moles, voles, chipmonks, etc. and most of my weeds and moss are green so I just go with the natural look in landscaping. I tried a lawn service for a couple of years, but didn't see any improvement; they were doing a one size fits all round of treatments without regard to the amount of shade I have surrounding my house or even the type of soil I have. I think that if they'd gotten the wrong address, they would have sprayed a parking lot every month and left a little note on the bottom of the slip, "now is a good time to re-seed."

 

----

 

 

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I had Tru-Green for a few years. It's cheaper if you DIY so I terminated service. I sprayed insecticide on the grubs and the lawn stayed green last summer.

They call me back occasionally to resume service but you can buy a lot of fertilizer and poison for their cost of service. The tech was often only at my house for 10 min.

With the poor economy, lawn service is the first luxury to go away.

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I bet the grubs were there before the moles and all the other grub eating animals.

 

We've used True Green for years without a problem. They've always been quick to reapply any areas with necessary weed killer or fertilizer. However, I've never used them for "extra" services, like grub killing. If I feel the need I can spray for those critters should they pop up.

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Personally I have fired them twice, and have no intent to let them anywhere near my property a third time. Let's just say - non-performance, poor performance, non-communication, overtreating, then non-treating, then overcharging. Not again!

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Hey Mitch

 

I have used them on and off for a few years they are back on again.

Each outlet is idependently owned. I hate their phone call automated system. I hate breaking in a new guy. We have dogs and a gate. The dude must call before he gets to the gate. He has to come between 9 and 4 on Friday. If not I tell him to go away. It sometime takes three or four weeks for them to figure it out. I tell them over and over again. Every month they try to sell me on somethin that I have never heard of or just plain do not want. After awhile I tell them to leave me alone. If they don't I fire them again. I wait till Spring and we start all over again, because it is cheaper than buying the stuff myself and their stuff works better. Every fall we get brown patch. This year I spent $500 on assorted stuff I read about online. None of it worked. I hired them back and after a few back and forths to get the schedule down again they made one treatment and it all went away.

 

If ya have patience and don't mind working with them a bit, it is prolly a good thing. If stuff like this gets to ya, like it does me......

 

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Don't have experience with the TruGreen (or any lawn company) but for my trees, I would dismiss them in favor of hiring a Certified Arborist in your area to first determine the exact problem with the trees, then to prescribe the treatment. Most of these guys know what they're doing around trees, but a lawn tech/salesman? Not so much.

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I signed up with Tru-green a year ago because the local tech does several of my neighbors and does a good job. He came to me while I was working on the lawn and we dickered price. I've been really happy with the service and it looks a lot better than when I did it myself.

 

Unfortunately the tech everybody likes is no longer with the company, so we'll have to see how the new guy pans out this spring.

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I use True Green and have the best lawn on the block.

 

I would have to buy the chemicals myself and take the time to spread them.

Next year I will treat it myself and see if it remains as green and weed free as it is now.

There man is here, does a good job and gone in 20 minutes and 67 bucks.

 

Now I want a 4x4 quad and a large yard spreader ( 5000 bucks ) just so I can save 67 a month for 4 months..

 

True Green makes sense here.

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if you research them online, you will find good and bad.

 

Price was good but.... I cancelled them this past September. I then had to reseed my entire lawn.

 

 

 

 

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Mitch,

 

Forgetaboutit! Free yourself from the 'keep up with the Jones’ syndrome and this urban obsession with defining our status in a neighborhood by a few million tiny pieces of blue-green vegetation all exactly the same height, colour, spacing and dominance. You’ll feel like a great weight was lifted off your shoulders when you come to terms with the fact that it doesn’t really matter.

 

Besides, the environmental impact of the chemically induced lawn is brutal. It huge source of urban water polution. In many cities in Canada (including Edmonton) the use of herbicides and pesticides for cosmetic purposes has been band. And you know what? The whole city/country hasn’t sunk into anguish over it either.

 

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Mitch,

 

I applaud your efforts to get ahead of the Joneses. :grin:

 

I used the local TruGreen franchise long ago, before we moved to a townhouse. They did a good job and I was happy with their service, but I found that they were pretty inexpensive, relative to the cost of buying the lawn treatments myself. Scott's sells a four-application system that does an excellent job of fertilizing and zapping the unwelcome flora and fauna that keep you beneath the Joneses. The benefit, apart from cost savings, is that you know exactly what's being applied and you can be assured that the quantity is appropriate to what's really needed.

 

You probably know all of this, but fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides are only part of the equation. I've found that aeration and dethatching goes a long way toward improving a lawn, fixing issues that can't be dealt with merely with the application of lawn care products. Once you get to the point where your grass is thick and lush, it actually becomes more self-sustaining, crowding out the weeds, and you can cut down on fertilizer and pesticides (ultimately, I found I used almost none of the latter).

 

Nonetheless, while I wouldn't put it in quite the terms that Ken does, I agree to an extent with his sentiments. Over the years, I gradually extended our beds of shrubs and perennials and whittled away at the amount of grass on our property. I think it offers a nicer overall appearance and ultimately becomes less expensive and time-consuming to maintain.

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TruGreen always tries to get you to sign up for the whole shebang. I have a local (professional) guy I know do pre-post emergent only for the weeds and I do the rest. My neighbors are alway complimenting me on my yard.

 

No keeping up with the Jones here... I like a well trimmed abode. Some people hunt and fish, my wife and I garden etc. Oh and ride.

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I have a 4 acre lot with a 1/3 acre lawn. Most of it is woods and I plan to keep it that way. Great bird viewing, pretty much right next to the windows of the house. I see cardinals, bluejays, titmice, lotsa woodpeckers, hawks, chickadees, warblers, sparrows, etc. The trees provide so much shade that I rarely turn on my air-conditioning.

 

The lawn has weeds but I pick them by hand rather than use chemicals. No chemical fertilizer either, all free and organic compost from my town. No watering either, I let nature take it's course since my lawn sees a lot of shade, it doesn't burn out. Next year I might water it once mid-summer to avoid that August brown spot.

 

I use well water and I just don't get how we put in all these chemicals into our water supply. America's obsession with lawns make no sense whatsoever.

 

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