Anyone use TruGreen ChemLawn?

[PneumaticTransit]

Just wondering if anyone has ever used TruGreen ChemLawn before and what were your experiences with them?

My lawn was one of the most beautiful in the neighborhood... and then it began to rain... and rain. The grass turned black in some areas and eventually died and now clover has overtaken everything! All within 2 weeks time. I have no idea where to begin to fix it so I thought I would call the professionals for a free analysys.

Are they good? Overpriced? Could I fix it on my own?

 

[Minnesota!]

We have them. We bought a fixer upper, and the lawn was the same story. We had no time to do it ourselves. For $70 a pop ( I think they come 5 - 6 times a year) we have a beautiful lawn, now. I think it is highly worth it. Could you do it yourself? Probably..but to me, family time was more important than that..

 

[Papa Deuce]

Just wondering if anyone has ever used TruGreen ChemLawn before and what were your experiences with them?

My lawn was one of the most beautiful in the neighborhood... and then it began to rain... and rain. The grass turned black in some areas and eventually died and now clover has overtaken everything! All within 2 weeks time. I have no idea where to begin to fix it so I thought I would call the professionals for a free analysys.

Are they good? Overpriced? Could I fix it on my own?

We fired them because they HOUNDED us all the time for tons of treatments.The final straw was when they called to recommend grub treatment becasue "this is going to be a really bad year for them". When I asked why, the woman admiited that she didn't know; it was just what she was told to say!

So, as of this very minute, we have Scott's doing my yard, as I type.

 

[Crankyshank]

My parents used to use them but stopped after several years because they got sick of arguing with them about whether or not this month's special service was needed.

 

[elgerber]

My parents used to use them but stopped after several years because they got sick of arguing with them about whether or not this month's special service was needed.

Our neighbors, all of the houses on our cul-de-sac, use them and they are all having this same struggle with them. Year after year. Funny thing is, we have the best lawn on the cul-de-sac, and my husband does it all himself.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

We had them for two years. We finally fired them. They drove US CRAZY!

We pre-paid for the whole season so we wouldn't have to mess with invoices, etc. And they CALLED us several times weekly. I kid you not. They constantly harassed us about this and that and the other. Oh, they heard it's going to be a bad year for this and that and couldn't they sell us something "extra" and no, they didn't know that we needed it, on and on. Finally, DH asked them to QUIT calling. They ALWAYS called during dinner time and when we didn't return the call, they'd call back several times a day until they reached us. Even after he asked them to quit calling or we would cancel their service, they continued to call. I would never recommend them to anyone.

 

[lovetheparks]

I would go with Middleton - at least the last time we used them they were great. DH used to work for them years ago so we know they use good products.

 

[ZachnElli]

My parents used to use them but stopped after several years because they got sick of arguing with them about whether or not this month's special service was needed.

Add me to this list! I HATED them and their darn phone calls! I have caller ID and I would try to screen them, but they keep calling if you don't answer. I just couldn't take it anymore, I had them for just 1 year. They are salespeople, not lawnpeople! Go with someone local, we did.

 

[Brianne]

Yep, we use them and like the others, they're driving us freaking CRAZY. They call almost weekly---the last time they called, DH said if they didn't quit calling, we'd cancel right there & then. Amazingly enough, they have backed off on the calls a bit.

One salesperson told us that they come out to treat the lawn within a week of you paying the invoice. Therefore, I quit paying the invoice until I was ready for them to come out.

We actually did try to fire them once; they ended up calling us back twice in the same night, with the manager practically begging us to stay. They dropped the service down to $35/treatment, so we've stayed with them for now because it is cheaper than doing it ourselves. DH hates doing yardwork, so we're putting up with it for now.

But honestly, find someone else---I haven't noticed that much of a difference overall, and I'm tired of their "scare tactic" phone calls. They keep telling us we have fireants in the yard because everyone else in our neighborhood does, so we must have them too, and therefore need their special treatments at more $$$ a pop. Um, I haven't seen a fireant here yet (amazingly enough) but that's what our pest control service is for, not our lawn care service!

 

[clarabelle]

Ditto on the HOUNDING
Called at dinner time to offer us specials
I asked them repeated to put us on their no-call list
I had to get really nasty (a year or so after we quit using them) to get them to quit calling
oh -yeah -the lawn was not that great either -I am not blaming that all on them -but it certainly was not an amazing cure- all

 

[minkydog]

TruGreen Chemlawn did my front yard in the spring. It has looked great all summer, very lush. Of course, with all the rain we had it has been growing like crazy. The only thing was--we didn't ask for the lawn treatment. My neighbor did.(We called the company and told them of their mistake. The manager said that happens sometimes.)

 

[Laurajean1014]

You can easily get them to "not call you," by telling them to put you on the "non soliciting list." I've had them for 6 years. They are very reasonably priced! However, they do "miss" areas. We had them last year give us an extra treatment because the technicion was missing corners and other areas. They did it, but charged us. It took over 3 months to have them take it off the bill.

This year, same thing. We have the account rep calling us to pay for the extra treatments (because of missing areas).... we are going to resolve it with him and cancel the service.

We'll try Scott's and Lawn Doctor. I want organic, but the cost is too high for us right now.

Hope you make your decision.

 

[disykat]

Our lawn needed help so we called them, thinking we would use them temporarily. We still use them several years later and are happy. We told them exactly what we want (less than their recommended amount) and that's what we get. They call and offer us other services and we say no. I figure they have the right to call us since we are their customer. We just say no and that's it. I'm willing to answer the phone a couple of extra times a year for my beautiful lawn with no effort.

 

[cheerful chickadee]

we've never used them but our next door neighbor has and they hated it! They had the service for about a year and finally got fed up with the solicitation at all hours for more expensive treatments and cancelled. Their lawn looked great while they received services but afterward it looked terrible, it had big patches of dead white straw looking grass, crabgrass and clovers all over the place. They decided to do their own lawn care and repaired what happened after they stopped services, looks great now. They ended up having to tear up all the dead patches and re-seeding the grass there.

FWIW if you're getting a lawn care service I think I'd look into a local company before going to a chain.

 

[cats7494]

I never have used them...I called them once to ask about pricing and they hounded us for months! It was obnoxious -they kept trying to convince us we "need" the services and we would have the best lawn in the neighborhood. I finally told them that if they called me again I would make a formal complaint to the police and to the city attorney! They left us alone after that..it was just awful!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I have used ChemLawn when I had a HUGE yard, it was more cost effetive to pay them. I also can take care of my lawn myself, I know how to do lawn care.

PD grubs KILLED my lawn so don't be too quick to not treat for grubs yearly. In fact if you do anything to your lawn do grub treatment. When you see dieback during the hottest parts of your summer that is grub damage. In the spring you know how bad it is when you see the beetles flying over your lawn at night. If you have June Bugs at your lights, you have grubs.

I would tell you that you can repair your lawn with a fungus control and weed & feed. It isn't cheap to do your own lawn. I think ChemLawn is less expensive. However it is a water-based treatment and granular is much more effective but also more $$$.

Just go to SCOTTS (look at the treatment times for your area, it is easy to follow) or your local nursery and they can help you.

 

[Allie322]

WOW, I am so glad someone started this thread! We've had ChemLawn for about 4 years now and I am soooooooo sick of them badgering us about additional treatments. I'm sorry that a lot of us have had to deal with their irritating phone calls but I sure am happy that it's not just me!
We are looking into another company for next year. Not sure what's available but anything has to be better than ChemLawn.

 

[SeaSpray]

When we bought our house 7 years ago we inherited a beautiful lawn. DH and I took care it ourselves for the first year or so, then decided to give TruGreen-ChemLawn a try. All these years later and we still use them. And we've *never* gotten a phone call to sell us other services. We do get mail to let us know of other services (we just got something in the mail yesterday about potassium or something), but we've never gotten a phone call or been hassled in any way whatsoever.

As for grubs, our next-door neighbor's yard is dead because of them. In the entire 7 years we've lived here he's tried to fight them himself, but to no avail. We have no fence in our backyard on that side of the house and it's funny to see the line where our green, thick, healthy lawn ends, and they're sickly, scraggly lawn starts. lol I should go take a picture of it! LOL

P.S. We get the yearly service where they put down fertilizer and weed & feed a few times, plus we have them do the grub control once a year.

 

[DawnCt1]

I haven't read any of the answers to your post yet, but I have Chemlawn and overall, I have been happy with them. Don't call them from a position of "weakness" however, it is always better when they approach you. In the meantime, go to a garden center and find out what happened to your lawn; leave spot mold, etc? and find out what the "cure" is. Chemlawn originally quoted us $128 per round. I said, "why should I pay you twice as much as I can do it myself for, and its not that hard?". They lowered their price to exactly what it was costing me; $68 per round. They will also call you for aeration, which is a good thing to do. The quote? $600. My response? I can rent an aerated for $70. They called back and offerred it for $240. I did it myself anyway. I had one problem this summer, as did most of my neighbors. We had Cinch bugs. That wasn't covered in the lawn care that I had, it was an add on. I was so angry that they lawn guy sprayed for nothing to prevent further spread and then he dropped off 50 pounds of grass seed. I rented a de thatcher, than an aerator and lastly an overseeder. We fixed everything for about $250 including extra grass seed that I bought. Good luck.

 

[clarabelle]

You can easily get them to "not call you," by telling them to put you on the "non soliciting list." I've had them for 6 years. They are very reasonably priced!

Hope you make your decision.

I disagree. I promise you Laurajean that I could NOT I told them EVERY time they called to quit calling and they would not. I threatend them with the BBB I got really nasty and it still took about a year