[meathead1134]

Hey guys,
I have a customer that gets TGCL applications. The yard looked good early spring, I told him that I have heard numerous horror stories with this company so be careful. The house is in a newer subdivision no more than 2 years old. Well the front yard now looks like $*(#. He told me that I cut the grass way to short the week before. I haven't changed the deck height in a month on all my customers. He had an application 2 days prior to me coming. The front yard is burnt pretty good. TGCL only treats only the front yard, he has 2 dogs that are only aloud in back. Well the back yard looks better than the front yard. I don't change the deck height at all. I'm trying to tell him that the reason why the front yard is burnt is due to the applications he is getting. They (TGCL) are pumping way to many chemicals in the front yard causing the yard to burn. His yard is the only yard I do that gets treatment from TGCL and his front yard is the only yard thats burnt. Does anybody know which chemical is causing is front yard to burn. I know nothing about fert. I want to educate my customer in what is going on. Are they pumping to much nitrogen into the lawn or something? I know there are some people that can answer this please help me educate my customer

 

[LawnJohn]

There are three things that could have occured....

1. The chemical was applies at high temps..

2. Fertilizer burn i.e. The nitrogen granules were coated with a small percentage of sulfur or whatever coating the manufacturer uses..

3. #1 and #2 combined.



Typical..

 

[Green Pastures]

It's "allowed"

 

[master mower]

Its just TruGreen being stupid and trying all they can to make mega bucks. They suck in ALL aspects, there isnt anything good to say about them. Once they fertilized my grandmas berduma grass when IT WAS DORMANT!!! They just prey upon ppl that dont know any better.

 

[TOMMY1115]

Was it a gran. app or liquid?

Chances are if it were a liquid app, it was a 46-0-0 quick release fertilizer. Not to mention if they had a broadleaf mixed in the tank could have aided in harming the turf. Not sure how hot the temps were and how much rain you have (or havn't received, but a combo of quick N, herbicide, and hot temps could have fried the grass.

 

[richard coffman]

Mmmmm. i guess this would help explain why true green's cancellation rate is 47% per year. i don't agree with their company procedures. it's all about the thousands of dollars each branch they have brings in every day. there sales force will just about undercut anyone elses bid's just so they can get the job. another problem with them is that they can only hold onto 20% of there guy's from the previous year, and most tech's there will leave after 3 to 5 years of working for the company either wanting a different career or looking for a better company to work for. as we all know, a customer will want to know what is going on with there lawn and it's up to us to explain why thing are happening and what can be done to improve the situation. most of there guy's can tell a customer what's going on, but can't explain why or how it can be improved. this is the downfall of the company besides the fact the TGCL tech can be on and off the property within a matter of 10 minutes. people will allways look for the cheapest price they can find for fertilizing service and trugreen will allways be glad to take them as a customer. in my opinion, it's companys like truegreen who lower the standard in professionalism and make it harder for customers to trust guy's like us just for the simple fact they've been burn't before. i've found that the only way to combat this problem is to be honest, know what you are talking about and earn there trust by doing a quality job. where does truegreen show this type of loyalty???just my 2 cents worth.


respectfully,

Richard/owner

 

[AlbeLawn]

Well, i cut a full sized soccer field. It is maintained by TGCL. Well this year they came with their tractor and vicon spreader and now the field looks striped all of the time. They have 10-15 foot passes that they completely missed. It is so noticeable looks like #$%%.

The main reason that they get these jobs is because they use very little fert per app and sometimes they use next to nothing like they did this time. All i could do is laugh and tell the field director "told you so"

Jim

 

[LawnJohn]

Well, i cut a full sized soccer field. It is maintained by TGCL. Well this year they came with their tractor and vicon spreader and now the field looks striped all of the time. They have 10-15 foot passes that they completely missed. It is so noticeable looks like #$%%.

The main reason that they get these jobs is because they use very little fert per app and sometimes they use next to nothing like they did this time. All i could do is laugh and tell the field director "told you so"

Jim

Funny..I got into the business because of companies like TruGreen now roughly 95% of my clients were former TruGreen customers. Go figure.

 

[Runner]

Mmmmm. i guess this would help explain why true green's cancellation rate is 47% per year.

respectfully,

Richard/owner

I agree fully with what you are saying, and know exactly where you are coming from - especially not being able to explain a cure for an existing problem. However I don't understand this part, as the numbers don't seem to match up. It was said:

"another problem with them is that they can only hold onto 20% of there guy's from the previous year,"

This would mean that 8 out of 10 guys walk at the end of the year. It was then said:

"and most tech's there will leave after 3 to 5 years of working for the company either wanting a different career or looking for a better company to work for."

This would mean that most guys stay and not leave at the end of the year. Where are these numbers from? Are they solid fact, or just conjecture? I would like to know, because knowing facts like these actually helps, but I want to have my facts straight, and know where they come from.

 

[lawnservice]

This would mean that 8 out of 10 guys walk at the end of the year. It was then said:

"and most tech's there will leave after 3 to 5 years of working for the company either wanting a different career or looking for a better company to work for."

This would mean that most guys stay and not leave at the end of the year. Where are these numbers from? Are they solid fact, or just conjecture? I would like to know, because knowing facts like these actually helps, but I want to have my facts straight, and know where they come from.

i think he is saying that after the '8' walk...the 2 that remain will stick it out 3-5 years before they walk?

I think that sounds reasonably true

 

[richard coffman]

i think he is saying that after the '8' walk...the 2 that remain will stick it out 3-5 years before they walk?

I think that sounds reasonably true

this was exactly what i was explaining, but in a better simplified answer.

respectfully,

richard/Owner

 

[richard coffman]

I agree fully with what you are saying, and know exactly where you are coming from - especially not being able to explain a cure for an existing problem. However I don't understand this part, as the numbers don't seem to match up. It was said:

"another problem with them is that they can only hold onto 20% of there guy's from the previous year,"

This would mean that 8 out of 10 guys walk at the end of the year. It was then said:

"and most tech's there will leave after 3 to 5 years of working for the company either wanting a different career or looking for a better company to work for."

This would mean that most guys stay and not leave at the end of the year. Where are these numbers from? Are they solid fact, or just conjecture? I would like to know, because knowing facts like these actually helps, but I want to have my facts straight, and know where they come from.

these #'s come from ex-employees of trugreen and my other well connected sources. they are pretty solid numbers. a good quality company would be able to keep ahold of their employees and have a low turn out rate for employees.

respectfully,

richard/owner

 

[Green Dreams]

One of their guys popped up on the local garden radio call-in dude while he was outside this year. Seems he was given the full court press right in his garage. Funny part is that I have heard him laugh about his visit from "a large company" at least 3 times now on his show.

 

[TurfProSTL]

I've never been a fan of TG, but I can tell all you youngsters this: CL WAS the class act back in the day. They defined 'fert/chem lawn care'. Everyone else that provided similar services tried like heck to be as good as CL was.

Its just a shame TGCL (since the merger) placed all its emphasis on SALES. There were a heck of alot of good people there at CL back in the early days.

TGCL sucks now, but none of you Mom & Pops would even be talking about fert/chem stuff if it weren't for CL.....

JMHO

 

[dishboy]

Hmmm, isn't Chemlawn still number one ?

 

[Tharrell]

Number 1 is a relative term.

 

[tngreen]

When Chemlawn was bought out in 87 by Ecolab that was the begining of the end, training and customer service took a back seat to profits. I agree with TurfPro Chemlawn started this whole lawncare biz and should be respected for that. The current national lco's have turned lawncare into nothing but marketing company's "that happen to sell lawncare" as i was told by the ex prez of Trugreen. Chemlawn IMHO died in 87.

 

[William J. L.]

I hate TGCL too...but...its alright to fertilize grass when its going through heat stress and dormancy...because the next rain fall will activate it much quicker.
Our company will put down dry fert and usually no herbicide if it's over 85 degrees unless its a new account then we have to and we then warn the customer that the grass might be tinged a little..but our first goal is to get rid of weeds...then seed during cooler weather.

 

[William J. L.]

Im very curious if anyone from tgcl ever reads these!

I worked for them for a very short time about ten years ago. They practically kill their techs with God awful high production goals. I had to laugh at their training videos...they looked like he was running through the lawns. I remember loading at 5 am so I could get to my first customer by sunrise and worked until about 7 pm to make production.

 

[philk17088]

When Chemlawn was bought out in 87 by Ecolab that was the begining of the end, training and customer service took a back seat to profits. I agree with TurfPro Chemlawn started this whole lawncare biz and should be respected for that. The current national lco's have turned lawncare into nothing but marketing company's "that happen to sell lawncare" as i was told by the ex prez of Trugreen. Chemlawn IMHO died in 87.

I worked for them from 84 to 86 when Jack VanFossen owned the company.You HAD to have a college degree in agronomy or horticulture to get an APPLICATOR"s job! We sold all accounts ourselves and then serviced them and ran all the service calls. They had an excellent training program and a great research and diagnostic lab. It all went away when they sold the company.