ComplaintsforM.A. Souders Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  07/15/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  We've been using this company for a while now. Lately their company has been getting worse. Last year we were treated for Amy worms. Now that patch of grass is dead. This year weeds started popping up. I called once and the person (who was new) they sent out took pictures. Never heard back. Then I called again. Mr. Souders and an employee came out. He saw the problem and said he would come out personally. Never showed up. Now my lawn is getting worse. I never heard from him again. Very poor customer service and very poor service in general. I would not recommendthis companyto anyone.

  Business response

  07/15/2022

  On 6-16-20122 Mr ******* ****** called our office stating that the lawn technician did not treat his lawn. ( account is actually in ******** ******* name, his mother) When the call came in to the office staff I was informed and since I, M****** Souders and our supervisor ***** ***** were here we decided to both take a look to see if it was treated. (we take this kind of call very seriously). We arrived and spoke to ******* about the lawn and walked all areas to see if the lawn was treated, which it was, ******* also showed us an area that he said he was told was last years army worms. No record of treating for or evidence of army worms in the lawn. The small bare area in back which he stated was army worm damage was actually a small low area which was shaded and had been holding some water and had moss starting to grow there. We pointed this out to him. He then stated he had numerous weeds which in fact he did mainly around the bed areas. The difficulty here was that the bed areas were filled with weeds and not being maintained at all. ******* did acknowledge that his mother used to care for the beds for years but was unable to now due to her age. He did not offer a solution on his part for resolving that issue which was in large part making it difficult to treat with many perennials hanging over in the lawn. However we mentioned that problem and told him we would do our best at getting closer but some areas would be difficult until cleaned up. We also pointed out that there were some Violets in the lawn and explained to him this needed to be controlled with a different herbicide and we would schedule this when the weather was more conducive, (cooler and more moisture). However, with the extreme heat and dry weather many lawns are under stress which his lawn was also, (he does not water). This makes using that type of product risky. All this was explained to him and our solution while talking to him was we would return to treat for the violets when the weather was better and we would provide some seeding to the bare areas in back also when the weather was more conducive to seeding. We also gave him info on changing some of his cultural practices such as changing mowing directions and water during dry weather, which by the way is on all communication with customers after each service. I am a bit surprised by this complaint as ******* said we never showed up when we in fact did show and then discussed the parameters for a solution with him in person. M.A.Souders is more than willing to follow through with the commitment to his mothers' lawn however, weather will be a factor. The bed weed problem will continue to migrate into the lawn however we will do our best to treat but with caution to plants on bed edges. Mr ****** is more than willing to reach out to me, M****** Souders to correct these problems at his convenience.

  Customer response

  07/18/2022

  The email that you received is not completly true.

  A.  I did call about the issue about the army warms and was told it was treated. in fact someone actually came out and treated it. it did not work so i told them again. This time when I called about it the person told me that the technician they were sending was new and he would take pictures then get back to me. They never contacted me again.

  B.  when i told them that i didn't think the next technician treated my lawn because all i saw is them setting in the truck drinking a Dr.Pepper and that was it. they placed a flag over by my other neighbor's lawn then left.

  C. when i called about this issue I stated that I didn't see them do anything. They told me they would send someone right out. they did just that. Now when they inspected my lawn ( I was there for it) the supervisor actually got down on his hands and knees, pulled back the grass in different areas like he was looking for lice in someone hair. He never showed me proof of treatment. When the owner was looking around he did find some treatment by the fence line. I told him we had just had our yard and around the house treated for mosquitos, fleas, and other bugs that had been found in the neighborhood. So that debunk that theory.

  D. The owner told me that they would be out the following Tuesday June 21st because of the holiday. No call No show. He did see the thistles and other weeds through out 9 not just by the flowerbeds0 the yard because i physically showed him the different weeds.

  E. For the mowing direction when they asked me, I told they that I do mow different directions periodically. I also told them i water periodically. I told them I don't water every week because that would be a waste of water and I don't live on a golf course!

  F. He never said they would reseed my lawn. He pretty much said it wasn't there fault so they didn't have to fix it. 

  G. I told Mr. Sauders that my Mom is older and has health issues and that he would be dealing with me. I thought he understood this. I do have a power of attorney and was given authority to hand situations like this.

  It is a shame that this is the second company that has tried to take advantage of the elderly (my mom). She is very distressed about the whole situation. We have paid this company upfront for years. We just want it fixed not excuses.  

  Business response

  07/18/2022

  In view of the customers response and his refusal to have us correct the issues as offered i feel that we are too far apart on the series of events leading up to this complaint for an amicable solution. The response in our view is also not what actually was discussed but we did offer to correct all of the customers complaints regardless of what was the cause of theses issues. At this point we can do one of two things. We can treat and correct all weed issues and seed bare areas at no charge to customer or we can refund his last application and prepay money and cancel his account allowing customer the opportunity to find a company he is more comfortable with.

  Customer response

  07/19/2022

  All we want like I have stated before is to correct the issues with our lawn. I accept the business's response to resolve this complaint.
  

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