[nanci2539]

You've probably heard of this lawn care/pest company where they install a system that fertilizers your grass with each watering promising a green and healthy lawn free of weeds and insects, etc.

We signed up with them for two years (the two year plan offered significant savings). Several friends had the service already and their lawns were beautiful and all seemed happy.

This is true for the first 6 months or so. After that time, there seemed to be a decline not only in the product but in their overall customer service.

Their local office is lacking significantly in terms of response so I started calling their home office in St. Louis. The sales manager personally came out to see us. He was a nice enough guy promosing me that they would address the weed issues, the fact that parts of my lawn were brown, etc. His cure for that, brown lawn, was I didn't have enough irrigation heads to cover the area where there was a problem. So, I had them install three heads at a cost of over $200. This seem to help that problem but the constant weeds were another issue. So after a month of phone calls and promises, I decided to cancel my contract and requested a refund. Oh, I cancelled after one year and where I still had another year, I was entitled to a refund.

This started a string of emails because I could never get them on the phone. I was finally told, after my third email, that I would have my refund mid November and the amount was $501.

Yesterday I received a typewritten letter on plain paper from the sales manger and in part read "Enclosed find a check for $101. I wish we could pay you the total now but Nov. is when we get insurance policy renewals which come wiht a hefty down payment. This is in combination with fall being a naturlaly slow time for our business so cash flow is weak". He went on to write "Our plan is to pay you $100 per month from Dec. thru March to clear the balance owed". etc. etc.

I was so outraged that I shot him off and email saying that this was unaccetable, etc. Of course when I called, all I got was voice mail.

I have since signed up with another Lawn care company and charged the initial down payment. I was going to use my refund to pay the charge when it comes in and now that he's made me responnsible for their cash flow issues, I have no recourse but to use other money to pay my charge.

Do I have options here? Is this something I can bring to Crimes against Seniors?