Service Smart unethical ?

[rustyp]

Yesterday afternoon the doorbell rings. It is a technician with a Service Smart uniform driving a Service Smart truck. He was not my regular technician (at least I did not recognize him). He performed no service yesterday. Had a clip board in his hand with my monthly bill. Says to me we are trying to clear our books for the year could you please pay this bill now. I said did I miss a payment? He say no just trying to clear the books. I said why would I do this? Send me the bill like you always do. I don't have time to check this out now. He stares me down and walks back to the truck - nothing more said. What reliable company would do something like this? My interpretation is where's my holiday gift. Is this acceptable behavior around these parts?

[villagetinker]

Search Service smart on this forum, they do not have a good reputation.

Just an aside, all of the complaints I have seen involve YEARLY contracts PAID IN ADVANCE, your post implies that you are paying monthly. Not that I would ever use them, but do they now have a monthly plan?

[Kahuna32162]

Wow, where have you been and why are still dealing with SS. Unethical is the least of the complaints you'll find here on TOTV.

[rustyp]

Search Service smart on this forum, they do not have a good reputation.

Just an aside, all of the complaints I have seen involve YEARLY contracts PAID IN ADVANCE, your post implies that you are paying monthly. Not that I would ever use them, but do they now have a monthly plan?

When my yearly contract was up I told them I would not renew to another yearly contract - issues with service but I would give them a second chance. They agreed to bill me monthly or I was walking. Issues got better but service never as good as it was when it was Stellar.

[villagetinker]

Rustyp,
Good for you on pressuring them for monthly contract, at least you will not get as severely burnt as others have.
VT

[Fraugoofy]

I hope you dump Service Smart ASAP. The unethical behavior displayed yesterday at your doorstep just proves once again how truly pathetic this company is. There are other companies out there who do a much, much better job. Why settle for terrible service with dishonest people?

[kcrazorbackfan]

I hope all the other lawn service companies that read the comments on TOTV take notice of the negativity toward SS and would increase/keep their customer service up the standard we prefer.

With that said, I have nothing but great things to say about Dave Cross and the people at Fertigator. They really brought our lawn back to life since I got here in May. :)

[Bryan]

It is possible this is some sort of scam. There have been warnings put out by The Villages and in local new media over utility bill collectors posing as representatives of the water, trash and sewer utilities in The Villages going door-to-door to collect "bills". The Villages warns that these are not Villages employees. It could be that with the warnings about utility bill collection scams, the bad boys 'n girls have shifted their focus to other service ibusinesses in The Villages - like landscapers. I don't know this for sure but I sure never heard of SS collecting bills door-to-door.

[Fraugoofy]

If I were a scammer ( which I am not) I would for sure choose a Service Smart outfit. A wolf in wolves clothing!

[Jima64]

Sounds like a company needing cash flow.

[justjim]

Sounds like a company needing cash flow.

If this guy was legitimate and representing Service Smart, it could be a serious cash flow problem and they could soon be closing their doors.

[Fraugoofy]

If this guy was legitimate and representing Service Smart, it could be a serious cash flow problem and they could soon be closing their doors.
Let's hope so. The company should have been shut down the minute it opened and scammed good people who work hard for their money!

[D&Dofnew,york]

hometown lawn service is just as bad.I've fired both companies,took a beating, so now I do my own,looks better than any lawn service can provide.

[normandy]

S.s. Is the worst lawn company i ever had, very rude people in the officewhen you call up " where is my lawnmen this week or anything else, laugh and say they will come soon and hang up. It was get to tell them when kept calling or sales person came to house, please sign up another year, i hung or did not answer door. Do not hire s.s.

[normandy]

Whatever you do do not hire s.s. For anything and tell your friends

[Jima64]

Company trying create cash flow to meet their monthly bills.

[The20Percent]

They have had MANY cancellations in the last couple of years. I'd suspect their deck of cards might finally be falling. If I was a s.s. customer right now (which I was in a distant nightmare) I would be cancelling my contract and trying to get any money back that I could. If they do go bankrupt we all know everyone associated with them will be SOL

[carol1717]

Service Smart is the worst company ever. They should not be in business, non-responsive, unethical, and not customer oriented at all. It has cost us a lot of money due to the fact we were not aware of how awful this company is. NEVER PAY FOR ANY SERVICE IN ADVANCE, because they do not refund.

[dotti105]

I was turned off by the fact that they are spray painting their customers lawns that weird shade of "not at all natural" green.

The stunt at the doorbell is a death wish here where no one pays for service in advance!

[Quietman]

I have to say that I have read these negative remarks for a long time but I have had pretty good service from them for many years (since they were Once A Year). My yard looks good and they are very responsive when we call for yard work or for insect problems.
They put the "green paint" down with fertilizer to see that they don't miss any areas. Now ten days later it is not apparent and lawn looks great.
I send in a check monthly and have no billing problem.
Maybe I'm just lucky but I have no problems that can't be fixed by a phone call.

[PennBF]

Good reason to call Seniors vs Crime before signing with a Company in
the Villages. You will get feed back if they have have bad reputation.:MOJE_whot:

[Jima64]

I was turned off by the fact that they are spray painting their customers lawns that weird shade of "not at all natural" green.

The stunt at the doorbell is a death wish here where no one pays for service in advance!

If they were using a true lawn spray indicator it would disappear in 3 or 4 days and would not look like they painted it on. They may be covering up,poorly treated yards with the green look.

[toddao]

I used Stellar and they were good. But when they "merged" with Service Smart last year things went south fast. The owner sent me an apology for the poor service and offered me a $2oo.oo discount to renew my fertilization, weeding and trimming yearly contract. Figured I'd give them another chance. BAD IDEA! They trimmed and weeded sporadically and the workers had little idea of what they were doing. Some months later I realized they hadn't been fertilizing. When I contacted them they claimed I didn't have that service even though I had paid for it and they actually did it one more time after the renewal. I said that was enough and wanted a refund of my unused fees. Took me over a month to receive it even after I paid a visit to their office (a real sweat shop I might add) to ask for it in person. STAY AWAY FROM THIS SLEEZY COMPANY.