Yup, I got Ripped Off Again

[Blue Collar Guy]

This is why Im bitter, Im always getting ripped off, robbed, rooked, scammed, lied to, and gypped. I decided to have a lawn service do my 857 sq feet of green. I pay almost 500 bucks. They are going to come I believe 8 times, mind you they dont mow it ,they just put down the feedings, weed killer, seed, aeration, etc. All scientifically timed. Yeah The money I blew on the Kentucky Blue grass sod is all down the drain. These guys ruined my lawn. Apparently today's technician agreed with me that my grass is brown and burnt from too much weed killer. I told him the last tech who was a "kid" was spraying that stuff like Lysol. He told me to call and ask for the general manager, tell him your grass is dead, its beyond burnt". Nice right? I have zero idea how Im going to get the grass going again, might have to re sod the place. Then Ill go back to buying the 4 or 5 of the different Scott lawn treatments that I applied my self during the season, It looked like a golf course. I tried to farm this out to someone else to avoid having a massive coronary or stroke during the dog days of summer. I want to thank this nationally know lawn care service for not disappointing me in continuing my loss of faith in most things.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

I pay $100 cash for "Weed Man" who comes 6 or 7 times a season and fertilizes, sprays for weeds and grubs, etc. Lawn looks outstanding but part of that is due to sprinkler system and reel cut mower. My neighbour pays about the same as you and his lawn looks terrible.

 

[Nemo2]

My neighbour pays about the same as you and his lawn looks terrible.

Yabbut, it looks expensive terrible, not cheap terrible.

 

[SonofCohoes]

This is why Im bitter, Im always getting ripped off, robbed, rooked, scammed, lied to, and gypped. I decided to have a lawn service do my 857 sq feet of green. I pay almost 500 bucks. They are going to come I believe 8 times, mind you they dont mow it ,they just put down the feedings, weed killer, seed, aeration, etc. All scientifically timed. Yeah The money I blew on the Kentucky Blue grass sod is all down the drain. These guys ruined my lawn. Apparently today's technician agreed with me that my grass is brown and burnt from too much weed killer. I told him the last tech who was a "kid" was spraying that stuff like Lysol. He told me to call and ask for the general manager, tell him your grass is dead, its beyond burnt". Nice right? I have zero idea how Im going to get the grass going again, might have to re sod the place. Then Ill go back to buying the 4 or 5 of the different Scott lawn treatments that I applied my self during the season, It looked like a golf course. I tried to farm this out to someone else to avoid having a massive coronary or stroke during the dog days of summer. I want to thank this nationally know lawn care service for not disappointing me in continuing my loss of faith in most things.

If you're still in NYS improper application is a really big thing. Go back to the co that's applying your fert and have them replace the sod or notify DEC of the over application. This IS a big deal. They will want to correct it ASAP.

 

[SheitlQueen]

If you're still in NYS improper application is a really big thing. Go back to the co that's applying your fert and have them replace the sod or notify DEC of the over application. This IS a big deal. They will want to correct it ASAP.

+1
Definitely make sure the company that killed your lawn replaces it.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

I pay $100 cash for "Weed Man" who comes 6 or 7 times a season and fertilizes, sprays for weeds and grubs, etc. Lawn looks outstanding but part of that is due to sprinkler system and reel cut mower. My neighbour pays about the same as you and his lawn looks terrible.

Lol. he must have my company

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

If you're still in NYS improper application is a really big thing. Go back to the co that's applying your fert and have them replace the sod or notify DEC of the over application. This IS a big deal. They will want to correct it ASAP.

Thank you, I completely forgot about that. Before they came for the first visit, they sent me so many notices from the state about application rates and such . Im sure they violated the permitted amounts. Im going to mention this to the general manger when he calls me. Thanks again

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

+1
Definitely make sure the company that killed your lawn replaces it.

Im going to try, if I wanted dead grass, I could have killed it myself for 50 dollars worth of roundup

 

[ERD50]

T ... I decided to have a lawn service do my 857 sq feet of green. I pay almost 500 bucks. ...

This is hard to fathom. 857 sq feet is 0.0196740128227 Acre.

For that size lawn, can't you just pull weeds by hand? A standard sized bag of fertilizer would last 10 years ( I need 4 bags to do the single fall/winter feeding for my yard)! Or weed & feed with one of those hand spreaders.

https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Easy-Hand-Held-Broadcast-Spreader/dp/B000BQY7XO

-ERD50

 

[street]

That is to bad. I hope all goes well and hope they replace your lawn.

 

[LOL!]

Weed killer that doesn't kill grass in cooler weather will kill grass if applied in hot weather at the same dose (rate). That especially goes for broad-leaf weed killers which are usually a mixture of 3 chemicals. And also goes for atrazine.

A yard from sod should only need spot treatment or just manual weed pulling, except if weed is nutsedge or kyllinga or dichondra.

 

[Scrapr]

You definitally don't want me killing weeds for you. I took a bottle of round up to a few dandelions this Spring. Front & side yards. They died. And I over seeded. Huh...musta got a bad bunch of seed. Try a different type. Carefully put some mulch over the top. Watered by hand for 2 weeks 2 X/day. Nothing

Then I remembered. Round up good for one year. Doh!

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

You definitally don't want me killing weeds for you. I took a bottle of round up to a few dandelions this Spring. Front & side yards. They died. And I over seeded. Huh...musta got a bad bunch of seed. Try a different type. Carefully put some mulch over the top. Watered by hand for 2 weeks 2 X/day. Nothing

Then I remembered. Round up good for one year. Doh!

The kid tech took this large pump can sprayer, when i pointed out some crab grass, he spritzed wide patches of lawn. Crabgrass gone, as well as all other grass.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

This is hard to fathom. 857 sq feet is 0.0196740128227 Acre.

For that size lawn, can't you just pull weeds by hand? A standard sized bag of fertilizer would last 10 years ( I need 4 bags to do the single fall/winter feeding for my yard)! Or weed & feed with one of those hand spreaders.

https://www.amazon.com/Scotts-Easy-Hand-Held-Broadcast-Spreader/dp/B000BQY7XO

-ERD50

I bought the hand spreader you pictured, I still have 3 out of the 5 bags of Scotts step program left. I already had the best lawn on the block. I had a great start , I had sod installed , watered like a fiend till it took root. I am not exaggerating when I tell you last year a woman rang my bell and asked my wife who our landscaper was. She told them it was me and I would tell her what i was doing for lawn maintenance. I wrote it all down for her, she said she was going to tell her lawn guy to follow this plan. I decided I have extra disposable cash, because I can not pass up an opportunity to tell a story, it takes me 3 hours to do my lawn. Neighbor passes by we shoot the breeze, remember I live in NYC, somebody is always passing by the sidewalk. By the time Im done Im drenched with sweat. A little light headed and sunburned. the bride and I decide Im not cut out for lawn work anymore. I get this mailing bragging they are the official pro golf course people and pictures of green paradise. I bite, they are super nice. I pay in advance for the 1 year wall to wall lawn care package. Well you read the original post, they took me .

If I move the decimal point on my acreage it could be an impressive size lot

 

[MRG]

With lawn care chemicals less is more!

 

[brett]

Maybe it's time for astroturf.

 

[lwp2017]

Avoid chem-lawn & weed and feed. Go with organic fertilizers , it will be next to impossible to harm the grass. Selective herbicides used sparingly will take care of any weeds.
FYI, I'm an agronomy major from a major land grant university and make a good portion of my income from my farm.

 

[savory]

For what it is worth, gypped is a negative connotation for Gypsies. Many people are not aware of the orientation of gypped. With so many other words available to describe the problem, I have dropped that derogatory word from my vocabulary.

 

[LOL!]

Avoid chem-lawn & weed and feed. Go with organic fertilizers , it will be next to impossible to harm the grass. Selective herbicides used sparingly will take care of any weeds.
FYI, I'm an agronomy major from a major land grant university and make a good portion of my income from my farm.

As part of my career, I studied herbicides and have published peer-reviewed papers on the subject. This past year, I took what I had learned over the years and did some experiments with the weed killers found at Home Depot against quite a variety of weed species found sparingly in my yard.

And yes, I recommend avoiding Weed & Feed, too. There are different brands and even the same brand has different formulations for different parts of the country. But Weed & Feed can kill your grass if applied incorrectly or at the wrong time of year.

Since crabgrass was mentioned: Sure you can kill it and the patch of grass around it, but it will appear next year because it re-seeds itself. If you don't want it long-term, then you have to prevent it from creating seeds, prevent the seeds from germinating, or prevent any created seeds from landing in your yard. That means if you pull up crabgrass by hand, then pull it up before it creates seeds, don't disperse the seeds that are already there, and also dispose of the pulled crabgrass someplace where the seeds won't end up back in your lawn. This is why pre-emergents are sold: crabgrass and things like poa annua grow from seeds from the weeds of the previous one to five years or more.

And FWIW, in our area it is sometimes cheaper to re-sod than it is to pay for water to keep the grass from dying. We can thank the nearby sod farms for that economy lesson.

 

[LOL!]

And one more tip: If you have only a few weeds and don't want to pull them up roots and all, then you can spot treat them without spraying. Instead, wear long sleeves and gloves, maybe blue nitrile gloves and those kitchen rubber gloves. Spray weed killer on a cotton ball, then wipe the damp cotton ball on the leaves of the weed including the undersides of the leaves. Make sure it will not rain in the next couple of days. The weed killer will get absorbed and go down into the roots of the weed. The weed killer will now be on the leaves and in the weed. If it rains, the weed killer will be spread to nearby and kill the grass nearby, too, that's why you don't want it to rain. It is likely the weed will still be green 2 days later. Nevertheless after 2 days, go pull the weed by hand (wear your gloves). You can leave the roots. Put the weed greens in a pail and dispose of as hazardous waste. This will leave weed killer only in the roots under the ground. The weed won't grow and will die. You will also have removed most of the weed killer from your lawn.

This will also use the minimal amount of weed killer.

 

[FIREmenow]

I'm convinced these services get your grass hooked on "lawn heroin" and eventually you need them forever as the grass is no longer able to sustain itself ---- unless you're willing to start over.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

And FWIW, in our area it is sometimes cheaper to re-sod than it is to pay for water to keep the grass from dying. We can thank the nearby sod farms for that economy lesson.

My water bill is 2000 a year, I attribute 8-900 on watering the lawn. Sod for my entire spread was I think 1800(?), Sod for the patch jobs would be infinitely cheaper. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Avoid chem-lawn & weed and feed. Go with organic fertilizers , it will be next to impossible to harm the grass. Selective herbicides used sparingly will take care of any weeds.
FYI, I'm an agronomy major from a major land grant university and make a good portion of my income from my farm.

I highly value you and LOL! knowledge on this subject, Im going back to doing it myself. I will follow your advice.

 

[Bryan Barnfellow]

When I was 18 and left home for university I vowed that I had cut my last blade of grass. Still going strong on this promise 44 years later.

But, if I had had the OP's experience I would contact the company and say, "how will you fix this for me? My friends all want me to go public on social media but I want to give you a fair chance first."

-BB

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

Update

At 930 this morning, the assistant general manager called me. I threw in the over spraying of the weed killer, and how I had a nice lawn before they got involved. He said look, you paid for the full year in advance, we will come and aerate and over seed. We will not charge you, we will refund your account for this service that you prepaid. It was/is the most expensive item on the 7 or 8 visit list ($159). He said you wont see much growth this year, but next spring you will. Based on how well they performed for me so far Im not expecting much. So they ruin my lawn, and I get a $159 dollar rebate, so now that I think about it I paid them $350, to ruin my lawn.

Yup Im a loser.

Next summer If I stop posting you know what happened, I died on the front lawn.