Business ProfileforWeed Man

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Summary of issues of concern with Weed Man Canada lawn care

To Whom It May Concern at Better Business Bureau:

In 2022 my family and I were Weed Man Canada lawn care customers (henceforth ‘Weed Man’) in Mississauga, Ontario, that entailed weed and grub control as well as granular fertilization for a total cost of nearly $1000.

In short, we were not satisfied with the lawn care services, especially in terms of the weed control application results.

More specifically, an unreasonably large number of weeds, including dandelions, kept sprouting from May to October 2022 which required an undue amount of additional time, effort and energy for us to remove by hand on a frequent basis over these months.

The continuing excessive number of weeds was witnessed and recognized by a Weed Man service technician and acknowledged by the company in their October 26th, 2022 email (********* ***** ** ********* ** ******.)

Weed Man offers ‘FREE’ Weed Control Reapplication as necessary for satisfactory results.

A weed control reapplication was completed on September 9th, 2022, which did not sufficiently reduce the problem.

Further, we noticed that our lawn was merely partially treated after the initial few lawn care services which we reported to the company. As the season progressed, we felt compelled to remain present during the lawn care services to observe and ensure that the full property was treated instead of only a partial application.

The documented poor weed control results and partial lawn care applications underpinned our decision to cancel Weed Man’s services by phone and via email on October 11th, 2022, for the upcoming 2023 season (********* ***** ** ********* ** ******.)

Please note: We would not consider the email offer for additional weed control service on October 26th, 2022, to be ‘FREE’ in the usual sense of the term since we, as customers who paid in full and in advance to achieve a reasonable degree of weed control results, did not receive a satisfactory outcome according to the company’s own acknowledgement.

The reapplication offer was made 15 days after we had cancelled the company’s services on October 11th, 2022.

Unfortunately, Weed Man neither fulfilled their written offer to reapply weed control nor honoured their verbal promise last year that if they could not complete it within their 2022 season, they’d do so in the spring of 2023.

Around half a year later we phoned Weed Man on April 21st, 2023, to enquire about the status of their promised weed control reapplication.

An initial representative informed us that a reapplication would not be possible since we were no longer customers: she stated it would only apply to current customers.

This claim, however, contravenes the fact that we were offered a reapplication of weed control service 15 days after we cancelled their services last October and their verbal promise that if the reapplication could not be done during their 2022 season, it would be completed for us in the spring of 2023.

Later that afternoon we spoke with another representative named Shannon who was helpful but instead offered us a free aeration plus service which is not needed or wanted since we recently had aeration done.

After requesting to speak with a Weed Man supervisor, we received a phone call shortly thereafter from Michelle on April 21st.

Michelle began by stating she was aware of the background issues.

She said that a weed control reapplication was completed on September 9th, 2022, which is correct.

As indicated, though, the results were clearly not satisfactory as acknowledged by their technician’s subsequent on-site appraisal and written offer to reapply lawn weed control along with their verbal promise to complete the task in spring 2023 if they could not do so during their 2022 season.

Weather issues prevented the weed control reapplication on October 27th, 2022.

Michelle then claimed their company had phoned us on October 28th, 2022, and spoke with “a daughter” at the residence — this claim is factually incorrect as there is no daughter in the household.

The supervisor added that during that purported phone call we allegedly did not allow Weed Man access to our property. Michelle stated that their company’s “hands were tied” because they could not gain access to our property for a weed control reapplication service on October 28th, 2022.

This assertion is untrue.

We do not have any knowledge of a phone call from Weed Man on that particular day (no reference or record of it), no daughter ever answered the phone, and we never denied or prevented access for their lawn care service on that day or any other occasion.

Michelle mentioned that a reapplication could not be done beyond October as their lawn care season ends with the change of climate/weather.

While we understand that lawn care services cannot commence after a certain point given seasonal changes, we request the reapplication to be done as offered in writing on October 26th, 2022, and verbally promised to us for this springtime if it could not be completed last year.

Likewise, the supervisor said they would have completed the reapplication in late October 2022 (even when we were no longer customers) because it was within their 2022 season but they cannot do so now since it is their new 2023 season.

To reiterate, we never prevented Weed Man from accessing and completing the reapplication at any point for which they had the opportunity to do so even near the end of their 2022 lawn care service season.

The supervisor remarked that if they did the reapplication now and it did not turn out well, they would be responsible for it.

We relayed that we simply request the reapplication to be completed as unequivocally offered and promised to us.

Michelle also made the same offer as the previous representative for a free aeration plus service if we signed up for their 2023 season while she said the special offer would be worth more than $500.

Once again, we declined the offer and re-stated the reason: our recent aeration meant there is absolutely no need for it.

Also, we do not wish to re-sign with Weed Man for another year given the outlined problematic experiences in 2022.

The offer for free aeration plus valued at more than $500 suggests to us that Weed Man’s management may realize that a significant amount of compensation would be warranted in our particular case as a result of their acknowledged unsatisfactory lawn care performance and outcomes.

Lastly, Michelle said we would receive a phone call from a local branch manager regarding our issues of concern.

A local Weed Man manager has not phoned us as the supervisor had stated but instead we received a company email on April 25th, 2023, describing the aforementioned aeration plus offer (********* ***** ** ********* ** ******) which we had already plainly declined.

At this time, we request one of the following two options as a resolution:

1-Either a reapplication of the weed control service as offered in writing on October 26th, 2022, and verbally promised to us for this spring which has not been fulfilled to this day while we never denied access for Weed Man’s lawn care service; or

2-Reimbursement of a single application of the weed control service fee of $ 135.31 (2022
            season invoice) as these lawn care treatments clearly did not meet satisfactory standards
            as acknowledged by Weed Man’s on-site technician (********* ***** ** ********* **             *******)

Thank you for your attention in this ongoing matter of concern.

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April 27th, 2023