ComplaintsforMarshall Lawn Care, Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/25/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Company trespassed on my property and spot sprayed a chemical which killed my grass. I do not have a contract or have had service with this company since April 2022. I've never had a contract with them. After they admitted they did spray there was no effort made to make the situation right. No apology. No nothing.I will be taking them to small claims court for destruction of property and unlawful trespass. If they would have just tried to make right what they did and even apologize for spraying the wrong yard things may have turned out differently. As it stands I have heard nothing from this company in response for what they did. I have video evidence and also a text confirmation from them that it was them who sprayed my yard by mistake.

  

  Business response

  09/14/2022

  I did NOT receive earlier complaints/ first receipt was today 9/13/ 

  Since this  complaint was filed we have met with customer . I will be submitting further details & written communication that goes back to well before complaint was filed .

  Customer response

  09/16/2022

   
  Complaint: 17767341
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I hired them for a one time treatment in April.    Not an ongoing lawn maintenance contract.    Since April they have never come back except for this time.     They were sent a letter from my attorney so not sure how they were never notified.   As for this complaint filing to BBB I didn't think I was to notify them before filing the complaint.    I am going to *** under small claims court.    

  I did not verbally request lawn care services on a long term basis.   They never treated my yard after this one and only treatment.    Plenty of weeds to treat after this treatment.     Even if I had a contract which I do not I would complain about their inability to control the most basuc weed in my yard so their claim of verbal agreement is not valid as is the claim of not being notified.    I am traveling and do not have my attorneys letter to them but can provide when I return home in 3 weeks 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business response

  09/27/2022

  I previously responded to this complaint.  This prior customer sent a text message to on of our employees recently stating that I was not telling the truth and that she would "get her in court on the witness stand and under oath prove that she is lying".   So due to this statement I have no further comment on this complaint;  as I stated to the BBB in a earlier response - I am not lying, I do not have a reason to lie nor do I ever lie, I was simply stating the information that was provided to me.  

  Customer response

  10/01/2022

   
  Complaint: 17767341
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Marshall Lawn Care stated to you they invoiced me for the service in the complaint and I paid it.   That is false.  I never initiated the service was never billed for the service and never paid for the service.   So their representation to you is false.   

  I think their confusion lies in the original complaint and their one treatment in April of which I was billed and paid constitutes a binding contract for future service which it does not   They are assuming this 10 week later service is part of that and said they billed me for that and I paid which is false and a miss presentation of events.

  My resolution I desired in asking the BBB to get involved was to have Marshall Lawn Care contact me because that was required before filing a suit with small claims court.   That was one of your questions on why I was filing a complaint with BBB as a resolution.  
  

  Marshall lawn care has contacted me.  
  

  As for this company I hope my complaint stands and will be taken into consideration in your rating service with hopes others may be educated when making a purchasing decision for lawn services.  
  

  My desire to seek restitution with the court system does not involve the BBB.  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  

  Business response

  10/05/2022

  see my attached response; this is the end of my communication regarding this complaint.

  Customer response

  10/07/2022

   
  Complaint: 17767341
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

   
  Complaint: 17767341
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  
  The work in ******* was for *************** LLC for drainage work.  They billed *************** and *************** paid for it.  As for my satisfaction with the work, I told their employee in April  months later I had to dig up one of their drains because it was running uphill and not draining.  He said "we were not sure about that one and were going to come back and check it".  Obviously that slipped their mind until I hired them to plant 20+ ***** small ***** trees.   I did pay that invoice and was not satisfied with the work because I was promised they would dig the hole to my specification and put new potting soil in the holes.   They did not and replaced the hard **** back in the holes with the plants with a soil amendment.  Even though the plants may have been fine, that is not what I hired them to do.  So I had them come back to replant the trees and I actually helped dig the larger holes and plant the trees myself reducing their time and labor costs.   I was very glad I was done with them and told several people I would never work with Marshall Lawn Care again.  So witnesses know there is no confusion with me having any kind of verbal long term commitment for turf services.

  
  I have never denied paying for services rendered.  If Marshall Lawn Care will go back and carefully read my responses to you.  I was billed for those services in April.  Not sure what service she is talking about I had done in June.  Invoices are attached. This is the only invoice I have ever received from them and it was paid in full.    I understand the BBB is not a court of law and they can provide whatever "proof" if they want to.  A small claims litigation is not earth shattering and they are not breaking any laws by providing to you whatever they desire.  This is not the *** investigating high crimes and misdemeanors.   
  However all that "proof" is not necessary.

  
  They do not have any proof of a long term turf management agreement.  The only "proof" they have is a text from me asking when are they finally going to come treat my lawn for the one and only treatment I agreed to.  They do happen to engage in long term agreements for turf management treatment as my neighbor has a written contract for just such service.  My professional background is contracting with physicians and hospitals for the 3rd largest insurance carrier in AL  plus I had my own business providing work for physicians and I worked through a contract with my customers. I only do business with a written agreement.   So if they do business without a written agreement it is to their peril not mine.  Their response to me was "we have contracts with some people and not others".   So their business practices are not my concern.  After this incident they may want to have written contracts with all their customers to avoid this unpleasant interaction in the future.

  
  It is apparent that Marshall Lawn Care does not want to accept any responsibility for the confusion over the long-term agreement vs a one-time treatment.  They could have responded to my attorney first for a resolution but decided not to act when contacted.  They did not have to respond directly to me.  I think that more than anything was what drove me to continue on with this nonsense.   There was no apology of any kind...only excuses.  No effort to make things right.  Again they could have responded to my attorney.  I was so angry after having worked on my lawn all summer to get it looking half way decent and then they came and killed it.
  

  The owner ************************* did come to my house.  They asked for the meeting. He called me "hon" the whole time which is quite condescending.   They acted like they were doing me a favor to come out there.  I didn't care if they showed up or not.  It was a prerequisite to try to resolve the issue before filing small claims and I told them so.  Hence that is why I contacted the BBB when they would not return my calls or respond to my attorney. 

  
  As for the quality of their work which they seem to want to stand behind.  They killed my grass that I had been working so hard to green up over the summer.  Yes in spots but lots of spot none the less.  Their response was they were spraying for nutsedge.  Well, they didn't spray all of it...thank goodness or my whole yard would have been destroyed and they left the other weeds.    As for the killing of the grass they said they had to burn it to destroy the nutsedge.  They actually killed the grass and I still had nutsedge growing out of the dead places they sprayed.    Photos attached don't do it justice, but yellow is where they sprayed...I have a video showing whole destruction of entire yard.  Another photo shows nutsedge growing in a dead spot and another photo where their guy sprayed my ******* and turned it brown when he was "spot" spraying for nutsedge. 

  
  I have returned from a long 3 week camping trip which I had some time to pray on this matter.  I am moving on from this.  As **** said in her response, I will not be communicating anymore.   You, the BBB, have facilitated dialogue.  It is apparent there will not be any resolution to this matter from Marshall Lawn Care.  They only want to make excuses and have never attempted to resolve this from the beginning except when they felt they might be going to court.  But when they did show up they only wanted to treat me with disrespect and started off the conversation with excuses which I told them if they wanted to make excuses we would let the judge decide.

  
  It is a shame that a company with a long standing history in this community could respond to me the way they did and handle this how they have.  But I'm only one person and they have plenty of business.
  I am moving on.  I wish them much success and many blessings to them, their business and their family.
  I will not be reading or responding to any further communications.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Customer response

  10/12/2022

  Better Business Bureau:

  I would like to reject the offer of Arbitration for complaint ID ********.

  Just close the complaint.  BBB has no power to enforce Marshall Lawn Care to do anything to resolve my complaint and since they have never made an effort to do so or even acknowledge the miss understanding in our "he said vs she said" debate, I think it would be unwise and a waste of everyone's time and energy.

  Sincerely,

  *************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩