Pearce Power Spraying and Pest Control, Inc.

They do an excellent job every time they service the lawn.

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Mr. Pearce was hired a year ago with assurances the yard would be restored to a healthy, thick lawn.  In preparation we re-soded the bad areas.  Initially the lawn improved.  However over the past 6 months more and more weeds developed - until it was roughly 50% weeds - and deteriorated to one of the worst yards in the neighborhood.    Parts of our lawn started dying and we called to see if it had been sprayed and fertilized on schedule.  It had not, they said they had been over whelmed by all the rain and they would get to it. The front lawn continued to deteriorate.
Several weeks later, after we advised that we would not pay another dime and were considering a new lawn company, Mr. Pearce came to look at the lawn.  He walked into the neighbors yard and pointed out that they had weeds (who cares they were not paying him AND the neighbors lawn was far superior to ours), advised he had not fertilzed in over 4 months due to a ban, blamed the lawn care service (who had given him our referral initially) and said it would be 3-4 months before we saw any turnaround.  He did not offer to re-sod parts of the lawn that were dead or had little grass left and admitted that he 'just didn't have the time to check on his customers lawns anymore - that was the way of the world these days.'
 
We contacted/hired a more professional lawn service (who had great looking lawns in the neighborhood) after the people who had been cutting our lawn for the past 2 years said the lawn would not come back and the best thing to do would be to re-sod it - AGAIN.  The new company found not only weeds and chinch bugs but fungus as well.  They also indicated the ban was not for ALL fertilization only one chemical - their company continued to fertilizer customer's lawns (with obviously good results). Our belief is that due to Pearce's negligence, our lawn had become the worse looking lawn in a neighborhood of about 200 houses.  Our advice:  avoid Pearce Power Spraying and Insect Control like the plague!  Otherwise your lawn may succumb!

My problem with Pearce is with the deceptive ways that they do business.

In regards to the termite protection, while I could strain and see some validity in their arguement that I was actually late in continuing an old policy, they did not explain that at the time of me paying for an inspection. A contract nor the condition of my policy has never been provided. If told at the time of this inspection, I would have likely not accepted the program. In a letter received from Pearce, he has confirmed that the last application for termites was actually made in May of 2007.

In regards to the lawn "agreement" and my attempt to cancel, this decision was made based two things. I had my front lawn lanscaped in January, 2012. My landscaper suggested that I look into a fertilizing and pest control program and offered a couple of companies that he could recommend and stand behind. I initially set up appointments including Pearce to help me with my decision. Pearce was the second of these three estimates. The Pearce estimate was substantially higher than the first. When the third company came, I asked not only their price for the landscaping but also their charges for lawn services. With both of these estimated considerably lower than Pearce, I set up a fourth estimate which showed the same.

When the notice for the need for another termite inspection came, I became sure of my thoughts of this company being deceitful in nature and tried to end my relationship with them.

Pearce's replies have been interesting to say the least. My first letter was followed up by a call from Pearce after my cancelation letter should have been received and the March service performed. He asked the reasons why I was cancelling and I gave him much of the information listed above. He said the termite prootection was dated that way as the house was sprayed in May. (A later letter would confirm that it was but that it was May 5 years ago.) He said that he had lawyers draw up his agreement and was quite sure that his stance was correct despite all of the other information that I had received. He also said that I could not end an "agreement" just because I found someone less expensive than he.

I have dealt with "agreements" for the full 32 years that I worked with the company I retired from. We had an old adage. A "contract" was a legal document while even if written, an "agreement" ends when either party no longer agrees.