I ratted on another company. Should I have?

[thomas.creation]

Long story short I picked up this new account In July to do basic lawncare. In my aug invoice I always send out my aerating notice. The first time I mow for sept I notice that this lawn was just aerated. They did a very bad job, missed 1/3 of the lawn and were only denting the majority of the lawn. The next time I spoke to the customer I spilled the news. I explained how easy it is to cheat in this game and that this company did just that. I didn't ask her to switch and she sounded concerned so she asked me to show her this week when I'm out. I'm thinking of doing her front yard for free just to show her the difference and back up my case.

[upkeeplawnscape]

The lawns that we take care of are a reflection of our company. The neighbors see our trucks there every week and if the homeowner hires someone to aerate and do a shoddy job, I want to make sure that noone thinks that my work looks like that. I would have done the same thing. And I would probably work out something with the homeowner. " I will aerate your yard again to show you the correct way and if there is an obvious difference to you then this will be my fee."
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[RussellB]

I wouldn't call it ratting. You simply did what most of us would do. Not sure I would take the other guys work as much as I would educate the homeowner so they have the opportunity to call the company back to do it right. I advised a customer this summer that their fert guy needed to come out and spray the nutsedge. It was basically the only thing growing and it looked terrible. They did as I said and everybody was happy.

[ELS Landscape]

I have considered calling code on folks before... That's ratting.

If someone is working on my clients then you are not ratting, you are protecting your turf.

[thomas.creation]

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to offer her a free aerating on the front lawn to prove my point. It's a small yard so its maybe a 10 min job. Plus you never know, a neighbor might see me and ask to have theirs done. That happens.

[DEPENDABLE LANDSCAPING]

You did the right thing in my opinion.
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[Gilmore.Landscaping]

Yea you did the right thing!!!....I actually met with the neighbor of a client I have aerated for the past 3 years and I guess he had someone else do it already and it looked so poorly done. The neighbor even asked if I had done it because she said it "didn't look like my work"...haha.

In my opinion I offer full landscape services except for weed/pest control and if your not going to use me for everything then I am not interested.

[bah1491]

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[ELS Landscape]

Originally Posted by thomas.creation

Thanks for the comments. I'm going to offer her a free aerating on the front lawn to prove my point. It's a small yard so its maybe a 10 min job. Plus you never know, a neighbor might see me and ask to have theirs done. That happens.

If she seems impressed ask for a recommendation on the web... Angie's list or something... She should......
Politely ask her to referance you first on work too.

[thomas.creation]

That's a good point and that's what I'm hoping for by giving her the free aerate. Maybe I'll win her over for the long haul.