The Grass Isn't Always Greener!

I don't know what exactly made me so mad this morning, but oh wow, it did! 

I came home from dropping Lydia off at school and there was something hanging on my front door.  I was squinting from the road when I noticed the stake in the yard noting our lawn had been treated. 

Tick...Tick...Boom! 

Again, I'm not sure why this made me so mad, but it did!

I have to give a little history of our Scott's Lawn Care relationship.  Early spring last year, we got a call from Scott's telling us that we needed lawn treatment.  We agreed, our home had been vacant for nearly two years before we bought it so the grass had been neglected and was in terrible shape.  Scott's offered us a great deal so we jumped right on board with them.  The deal was solid and the salesman honestly admitted that year one we probably wouldn't be able to notice the difference but in year two we'd see a return on our investment.  Having somewhat of an agriculture background and having Keith be all scienc-y we understood that and agreed.

The treatments started, they came out on the scheduled time, the guy applying the product was super friendly, and it seemed to be going smoothly.  We were hooked! 

Then...the calls started coming in.  A Scott's salesman called and suggested we add something onto our treatment plan.  We declined.  The following week, a salesman called again with another suggestion, we declined.  A few days later we got another call with yet another suggestion.  I ignored the next call when it came in and didn't answer-so he called back, immediately!  Keith answered, and the guy was so high pressure that Keith ultimately had to hang up on him because he would NOT take no for an answer.  The calls kept coming, two to three times weekly, until I completely lost my cool and told the salesman (loudly) that I didn't want their service and I didn't want to deal with them.  I told him he was nothing more than a thug and I refused to be harassed by him any longer.  When the last treatment of the season is sprayed, it will be the last treatment for our family!  I hung up, he called back a few times but we ignored it and assumed our relationship had ended/

Which brings us back to today when I saw that Scott's had sprayed my lawn with a pre emergant.  I should also mention that we over seeded our lawn this weekend and I'm feeling pretty sure that the pre emergant probably sterilized the seed.

I called Keith and asked if he'd agreed to this treatment plan again this year.  I said "I'm about to make a fool of myself so before I do that I want to make sure that you didn't sign a contract or something."  He didn't so I had a green light!

I called Scott's and layed into the poor woman who answered the phone, and I have to admit, I feel really guilty about that.  As a former secretary, I know that you aren't always responsible for the on goings in the office; but I did it anyway.  She was amazing with me though!  Seriously, that secretary deserves an award for her patience!  She took my info and had the manager call me back. 

When the manager called me back we spoke and I explained (more calmly) my irritation with Scott's.  He profusely apologized and explained that that is not their policy to harass customers like that.  He was also a good salesman but at this point, I'm already done with their company.  He then tells me he'll have his guys drop off a 50lb bag of seed so I could reseed the lawn (again).

I replied "I already seeded the lawn, I don't want to do it again and I wouldn't have to if it weren't for your company so why don't you send out one of your employees to seed the lawn."

He stuttered and stammered around a bit and tried to come up with reasons he couldn't but ultimately he agreed to have his guys seed our lawn in May and to leave a bag of seed for us to sow again in the fall.  He also through a tag in there, one last time, for his service to come back this year.  I said "I'll have to turn that over to my husband to decide, he's much more level headed than I am so mad at you guys that if I never hear your name again I'll be happy.  You'll have better luck with him."  He thanked me for my time, apologized again and we hung up.

Right now, as I type, the phone is ringing and it's Indiana Newspapers calling, another salesman who I've rejected and since I used up all of my pissed off on Scott's I'm just going to let it ring!  If only they knew how lucky they are today!  Ha!