Evidently I am not alone in being duped by these Scotts Lawn Service rip-off clowns. Read what other people had to say:
Scotts Lawn Service
"I used Scotts Lawn Service for 4 months and have never seen so many weeds. I used their Complete Care Program and had an aeration done along with 2 treatments and my yard looks like a jungle afterwards. I never saw the guy and could never speak to anyone to find out what the problem was. Neighbors said they were in and out in 10 minutes when they were here. All I every saw was weeds and a bill." - SFCRAMER
Scotts Lawn Bogus Care
"I signed up for the Total Lawn Care service and spent almost $400 into the deal with Nutsege, dollar weeds and God knows whatelse growing like never before! The guy would be on a 10,000 square foot lawn less than 15 minutes each time and gone before I could ask questions. I have had retreatments to no avail. I was told that the service guys are expected to fill a daily quota of between 11-15 residences/day to make their money and that explains the 'fly by's I have seen. I canceled my service and have been put into collections for something I know nothing about. I would advise Fellow Floridians to avoid Scotts Lawn Service at all costs! Tropicare did a much better job for $20 less per application." - DLPJIM
Weeds
"I ordered the Scott's complete package as well at the beginning of the year. It cost me over $600. It is now the end of summer. The lawn is, and has been, full of crabgrass, nuts edge, clover, etc. I've had to call several times to tell them about it. I am cancelling my service after the fall aeration and seeding. I have used TrueGreen Chemlawn in the past with much better results. I will go back to them next year. They are also about 30% cheaper than Scott's." - STEEVIN
Scott's Rip-Off
"After years of taking care of my lawn and trees and shrubs I decided to try Scott's. The first year of lawn I saw no improvement in my lawn. I also tried the tree and shrub service. I noticed that my Alberta Spruces were getting spider mites and started to kill the shrubs. I called Scott's and just happened to be home the next treatment. I have roughly 19 Crepe Myrtles, 5 different japanese maples,and 10 assorted trees ranging from snow-fountain weeping cherries to yoshino cherry and red-maples, kwonzon cherries, etc. I also have every square inch of my yard bedded and landscaped. It used to take me most of a weekend to spray for diseases and insects. After informing Scott's of my problem it took them all of six minutes to spray my entire yard. I had one Alberta Spruce die entirely and I insisted on a replacement and a cancellation of the service. I had to on my time buy and replace the Spruce. They credited my account instead of my money. Like I don't know that it costs them little to spray. They then convinced me to give them another try. We were square on the account so I said o.k. like an idiot. Since then I have lost 2 more Alberta Spruces and likely to lose 2 more as well as 2 large evergreens. I have been billed for 187.00 while losing 2-3 hundred dollars in trees. I have contacted Scott's 15-20 times to resolve this issue per the managers instruction but he is conveniently out of the office or on the phone. They did not hesitate to put a collection agency on me for their billing though. What a crock. This is the Memphis, TN Scott"s Lawn Service." - JLJENKINS60
BYE BYE
"I had Scott's for maybe 8 years now. Each year I had HOPE for better results. No such luck. Last year I had burn-out in my yard, and the only answer from Scott's was "your yard has poor drainage." I have watched them when they do an application..... and have been amazed that the "technician" will take only 10 minutes per yard, before hanging the bill on the front door knob and then quickly departing. Here's the best part, to show you how they handle their customer satisfaction issues: I left 2 voice-mails and 2 e-mails asking them to cancel my service and request a call back about my service-related issues. The only response I got was 1 e-mail auto-reply, saying they were "Sorry to lose me as a customer." That was it, and still no HUMAN has called me on the phone to even ASK why I want to end my service! My advice: STEER CLEAR. In 8 years, I have watched the service of Scott's home lawn care steadily decline and deteriorate in quality. (Their seeds from Lowe's are pretty good though). Me? I just hired an independent, someone who has actually expressed an interest in actually taking multiple soil samples, establishing a program, and making my lawn BETTER.CYA SCOTT'S." - TBARDANCERS
Your Posts Have Been Helpful
"Scotts Lawn Service is new to me. Decided to give them a try, felt they were honest and going to do the best for me. They can cover my 5000 square feet in less than 10 minutes, do the paperwork, make phone calls to their next customer and have a short conversation with me. Talk about fast. I too have noticed I have weeds I never had before. Getting a good ground cover of all kinds of weeds and watering them in as requested for about $30.00 per watering. Results so far have been anything but good. I am also going to join the others and say see you Scott after I pay this bill." - trinker123
Scotts is BOGUS
"I've had them for two years. Each year they have billed me for treatments I never agreed on. They constantly call and "recommend" extra-cost treatments....and if you push, they will confess that NO ONE HAS LOOKED AT THE LAWN to come up with these recommendations. They are all about gouging you, any way possible. I would rather have weeds than Scotts." - AGLAZEN
Scotts Disgruntled For Life? Ripped off and can't cancel
"Early in 2006, I was in the market for a company to handle lawn care (exclusive of mowing and watering) at my residence After a little research, I had narrowed my search down to three companies, two local independent providers and Scotts Lawn Service, Hagerstown, Maryland. Before making a final decision, I made telephone calls to various Scotts’ representatives on at least three occasions asking the same question concerning their various services. On each of the three occasions a different Scotts’ sales rep strongly recommended their Turf Builder Pro Complete program to ensure I would have a nice full, green lawn with no weeds. Being skeptical of any of the three companies blanket promises, I decided to trust Scotts since they seemed to know what they were talking about (they even promised a comprehensive turf / lawn analysis). Additionally, I recognized their name more so than any of the competitors which I was considering at that time. Looking back, it never occurred to me how any company could promise such wonderful results BEFORE any analysis or before even seeing my lawn!
Therefore, on March 6, 2006, Scotts Lawn Service Hagerstown was contracted to provide lawn service for me using their Turf Builder Pro Complete program at a net cost of $514.10 (ten services @ $55.58 per service less a prepayment discount of $41.70) for the 2006 season. At the end of the treatment season, I could detect no improvement in my lawn compared to its quality prior to Scotts providing its service and I have many time stamped photographs as evidence. For example, crabgrass, chickweeds and bare spots were still in abundance, and the grass that was growing did not seem to be any healthier than the same grass prior to Scotts doing their ten service treatment program. In summary, I was not pleased with the results and came to the reasonable conclusion that Scotts Lawn Service program was a waste of my hard earned money.
Had the story ended there, I probably would not be writing this letter and would have simply consider the Scotts rip-off a lesson learned in the school of hard knocks. But lo and behold, on Saturday, January 13, 2007, I received a new Scotts Invoice in the amount of $585.00 for the 2007 season! I immediately phoned the Scotts office to complain and protest that I did not authorize any service after the completion of the 2006 season. I reached an automated answering service that stated, “the office was closed and to call back during normal business hours.” After a bit of consternation, I immediately wrote ‘PLEASE CANCEL’ on this new invoice and put it back into the mail in the Scotts provided mailer. After getting over my anger, I considered the matter closed. Unfortunately, this was not the end of the story. Two weeks later upon returning home from work on Saturday, January 27, 2007, there was a door hanger on my front door stating I now owed $58.50 for today’s initial service! I could not believe my eyes. My lawn had been treated while I was away. Furthermore, my lawn had been treated by a company with whom I had no agreement and by a company that did not have permission to even be on my property. I immediately phoned the local office and again the recorded message. So the following Monday, January 29, 2007, I phoned again and finally spoke to a phone rep who explained to me that Scotts annual service renews automatically as a service to me! Thanks, but no thanks. Still fighting them today" - KENJOGEMCOINS
Scotts Lawn Service
"Six weeks ago I received free a soil test of my yard from mailer sent out.
I called to make the appointment and requested to be contacted prior to coming so they would be allowed access to the back yard. That didn't happen! I was sent the results for the "Front Yard" in the mail and was then contacted by Scott's at 8:30 PM to start a lawn service. I told him on the phone I would contact him if I decided to use your services. He called back! I asked him why the urgency. He states that the initial treatment must be done before the weather gets warmer. He called again! And again! All late into the P.M.! Finally I told them fine. Let's do it! I then called Manager of local provider and told him I do not want to be called again after hours period. A week went by and then the service was scheduled to begin. Again I requested that I would be informed as to when they would come so I could allow them access to back yard. The day came when they were supposed to arrive between 12 PM & 4PM. They called! I waited! They called back at 4:30 PM to state they ran out of time. It would have to be re-scheduled. That was two weeks ago yesterday and I have now cancelled service. This is to advise you that Scott's are highly recommended by me as a "Stay Away Company". - MYOPINIONOHYEA
Keep the comments coming, folks. No wonder Scotts Lawn Service revenues are down 10% from last year. With products and service like this, they don't deserve to stay in business!!
