[Xavier]

Originally Posted by jnieman

Service Smart knocked on our door today and gave me a large brochure advertising many services including pest control, lawn treatment, mowing service, etc. It seems like a good price and I would like to use them. I first wanted to check with you all to see if you've gotten good service from them especially since they want a one year contract and full payment up front. I am mostly looking for someone to get our lawn back in shape since the fungus made a mess of our front lawn. The mowing we do ourselves.

"Service Smart" (a fairly new start up) is owned by Kenny Smith who also owns "Once A Year Termite and Pest Control." "Once A Year" was widely used within The Villages a couple of years ago. That is, until many, many of the yards under their care died. Mine being one of them. "Once A Year's" promise to replace the sod, in many cases, didn't happen. Now-a-days you can drive throughout The Villages and you won't see a Once a Year Truck anywhere.


About two days after I fired "Once A Year." a "Service Smart" Salesman knocked on my door and said that he was stopping at all of the old "Once A Year" customers and assured me that they would do all of the things that "Once A Year" didn't do to take good care of my lawn. The salesman even said he used to work for "Once A Year" and actually belittled "Once A Year's" business practices. I told him I needed a few days to think over his offer. Suspicious about how he knew that I had fired "Once A Year," I did a little checking on the Internet. That's when I found out that "Service Smart" and "Once A Year" were owned by the same owner and management - Kenny Smith. When the salesman returned a few days later ... let's just say he left with his tail between his legs - I wasn't home, but my wife explained in no uncertain terms what we thought of their deceptive approach of doing business. I cannot tell you how many times I've told this story to friends in The Villages! BEWARE!

Xavier