LawnSavers Plant Health Care Inc

I signed up for a package with Lawnsavers in the summer of 2012 and they made six visits that summer. I was very dissatisfied with the results and had no interest in using this company again. This summer they returned to apply fertilizer without my knowledge and I received an invoice from them charging me $40.00. I never expected them to continue services after I had paid for, what I understood as, a ONE TIME package. I called and explained that I would not pay the fee for a service I never requested. They explained that they operate like a cable company; I have to cancel the service or it continues each season. I am still receiving bills demanding the original $40 plus interest. This company operates in an extremely dishonest manner and I would not recommend them to anyone.

I used Lawn Savers service for the summer of 2012. I paid upfront for the whole summer. I was not interested in their service for 2013 so I did not contact them. They came back in 2013 and sprayed my lawn and invoiced me. I called them that evening to reverse the charge and clarify the situation. They refused to reverse the charge and told me that I should have called earlier to inform them about my decision.

I considered this tactic fraudulent. I think that all the consumer of Lawn Savers should know about their policies and consider a different company to maintain their lawn. As of today, there is still no agreement about the fee reversal. I wrote a review on BBB and it is now "closed" and impossible to access online.

In early June I decided to bring my weed infested lawn back to health and called several companies for quotes. Most believed new sod was the way to go but as it was more expensive than overseeding, I chose to believe the wonderful Homestars reviews of Lawnsavers and went with overseeding, and weed and grub control applications. Lawnsavers was the only company that did not actually come out to evaluate the lawn. They evaluated my lawn based on pictures, ever confident that it could be brought back to health. In theory, overseeding works but in practice, it can be too labour intensive and prone to variables that the homeowner has no control over: watering in a drought is expensive and if the overseeding is not intensive will yield you a lawn full of crabgrass or Creeping Charlie; after a flood, grass seeds and seedlings may be swept away especially on slopes, and you always have the birds to take their share; mowing – how and when depending on your turf (seedlings, weeds and healthy lawn all have best practices) and if you have a mulching lawnmower be sure to pick up the clippings, even though the city of Toronto wants you to mulch and doesn’t want your clippings in yardwaste; weed control – their blanket applications work best but the spot checks were completely ineffective as my Creeping Charlie just bounced right back; if you decide to pull the crabgrass as recommended, be prepared to look at bald spots for some time as there will be a best time to overseed for the second time, and with that comes the expense of watering religiously again should the weather not cooperate, and hoping that more weeds will not rise from the lawn, as opposed to grass seedlings. I learned a great deal from this experience: do your research prior to purchase and know your lawn – do it yourself is probably the best way to go and avoid the frustrations of depending on a company that can’t possibly meet your lawn’s individual needs. Don’t waste your time or your money following their schedules.

Lawnsavers has well-trained customer service reps who will dazzle you with “horticulture speak” and confusing service notices but thus far have not allowed me to speak to the owner.
Aug 29, 2013: My original intention was to inform the reader that your renovation package may work in an ideal world but that people might be wiser to do it themselves, and while we seem to agree on many points, you chose to blame the victim, or at least my tenant. To be clear, my tenant did not provide primary maintenance for this project – I did! As I’m sure you can understand, any landlord is responsible for general maintenance of their property. My tenant was on holiday the week after the renovation and most weekends throughout the summer. He was primarily responsible for turning on the sprinklers I set up, if I wasn’t there. He also mowed three times, later in the summer. I enlisted family and friends to mow, water and pull weeds and all of this was done to your company’s specifications on my watch. I put in hours and hours of hard work to try and make your service worth the cost. Although you state you have “premium” products, I have used an appropriate and sufficient quantity of store bought grass seed and organic topsoil to fill in some of the bald spots with great success; a $2.00 roll of sod has been successfully laid on a slope with a layer of organic topsoil underneath and 10 days of minimal watering in a drought. At no time did your company offer me sod. Customer service recommended against it as “the sod could be contaminated with weeds!” Ha! The sod is the healthiest piece of my lawn! Doing it yourself allows you to concentrate on small problematic areas; doing it yourself avoids emails and phone calls to a company that doesn’t respond effectively when needed, possibly because they are top heavy on marketing and customer service while clearly less concerned about adequate product and service delivery. Oh, and by the way, according to our service agreement, you not only need to overseed again but also, as stated by customer service, provide the following: “Late Summer/Fall visit including fertilizer + Fiesta weed control - we will also touch up seed/top dressing LATE AUGUST/MID-SEPTEMBER -Nematodes grub control - late August to mid-September -Late-season visit including winterizing fertilizer, Fiesta weed control, and soil conditioner - we will also touch up seed/top dressing MID-LATE OCTOBER.” Doing it myself, would have avoided writing the 27 emails I wrote requesting everything from after service information, to another weed application, to my air miles, to a return phone call from you, to a time to meet with the technician who was doing the weed application. To be fair, I finally got my air miles and you finally agreed to speak with me.

Buyer beware: I bought the "Protector Package" ($418) for LawnSavers to weed and feed my front lawn, which is just over 1000 s.f. I made clear in my initial phone call that my primary concern was the quantity of weeds in my front lawn. I now have much more weeds than when I started. Each LawnSavers visit of fertilizing AND deweeding lasted 10 minutes at the most. (When I called to inquire, the LawnSavers office informed me that a 1000 s.f. lawn only requires 5 to 10 minutes to complete!) The deweeding consists of a guy walking around with essentially a big spray bottle spraying at random individual weeds. I told him a number of times that the lawn required blanket applications of weedkiller, and he agreed. What LawnSavers failed to mention upfront was that each blanket application of weedkiller costs an extra $89 per treatment; this is on top of the $418 that I had already paid. LawnSavers also informed me - after they took my money - that the product they use, Fiesta, does not work well on creeping weeds and crabgrass - both of which I have on my lawn. When I called the office, the administrative person I spoke with was extremely unhelpful; there was no attempt on her part to address the concerns of an unhappy customer. I do not expect a guarantee against weeds. However, I do expect my lawn company to provide excellent service and to be honest and upfront if the service they're selling me will be minimally effective for my lawn or if costly extras are required.

We hired LawnSavers for mainly two reasons.
1. Getting rid of weeds
2. Fix the unhealthy spots on our gras.
Our package included 7 visits, including aeration, overseeding, weed treatment and fertilization.

We have been following their instructions religiously and after more then half a year of treatment can say that it's not really worth it's money.

While the lawn definitely looks healthier now, the weeds are on a rise and a lot worse then before. The better growth seems to be mainly a function of the over-seeding and fertilizing which you can do yourself in an afternoon for way less then what we payed for the package. The weed treatment is verydisappointing. While right after the treatment the weeds go down by around 10%, 1 or 2 weeks later they are back more then before, spreading even further.

I would not recommand this company although i would still give credit to the customer service lady. She did reponded all my email at least. Prepaid $270 dollars for the package, but after their first visit, my mother in law spot someone quickly ran though my backyard and that was it. So i decided to cancelled the service and i was being charged for more than $200 dollars for the very first visit. Anyway, at least i learned my lesson, when it comes to taking care of your lawn, you better do it yourself

So i was contacted by Neil, man of his words, i got my money back and even offered me a free service which i turned down. I was never a big fan of free stuff. Anyway, customer service was never truely reflect when there is an issue, i guess Lawnsavers does care about its reputation which is a good sign. Thanks Neil for your help, i have revised the rating just for you

I would not recommend the service from this company.
They are overbooked and the treatments have never been applied on time.
My lawn is overgrown with weeds. I called customer service to raise an issue with the last weed management treatment which did not kill any weeds whatsoever, they said they would come and inspect. Never showed up. Called again and they said there is no note for inspection. Then they tried to blame it on crabgrass. I got so frustrated calling back a three or four times and never felt like I am being taken seriously. Currently I'm trying to get a refund for the rest of the season.
I'm especially disappointed as they brag so much about their customer service. I'm not one to usually complain, I have never written a negative review before.

UPDATE:
Customer service did contact me and they reapplied the weed treatment. The weeds have started to die off. They called to follow up on the treatment done. I have decided to continue with the services.

LawnSavers were very efficient and courteous. They came when they said they would. The fellow even provided seeding and raked my lawn for me. As well, he raised my lawn mower wheels to the appropirate level - who knew there was a special height to cut grass?
I would recommend using these guys - they are good.

We hired LawnSavers to take care of our front and back yard this year for the first time and we are more than impressed with their professionalism and service. Not even two months into caring for our lawn we can see a noticeable difference and are extremely happy we hired them!

Stephanie in the office is beyond professional and has gone above and beyond to take care of us.

Simon takes care of the yard and he's such a hard worker and very pleasant to deal with.

Our yard has always been a challenge between sun, bugs and weeds. Seems every year it is a battle and I personally replaced it 3 times on my own, only to have it die a slow death. Last year it became a patch of dried weeds and dirt, not one blade of grass. Part of the problem was a neighbour that purchased soil from a composting depot and you know what you get when you buy that stuff huh? Yup everybody elses weeds. Cinch bugs and grubs also loved the lawn because of the sun exposure. And of course the skunks left the evidence of them trying to rid me of a few of those bugs by tearing up what little was there. At the Newmarket Home Show, Lawnsavers said they could make it like a golf course. I was sceptical but at my wits end. Well a few weeks later and I am very satisfied. Great knowledge,service and follow through. Look at the photos and you will believe. People once laughed when they walked by our house. Property values went down and neighbours started passing a petition. But today they want to walk barefoot across my lawn with the grass stimulating tickling their toes. If you are a golfer you are allowed to come over and practice putting, but NO CHIPPING, I don't want to deal with divots. Another lawn saved by LawnSavers.