Cahill's Lawn & Landscape

I am a school teacher and bring home two classroom aquatic turtles every summer. Their tank is in my backyard and my two young girls love feeding them every day. This summer, I purchased a year’s worth of lawn treatment from Cahill Lawn and Landscape worth 3 visits throughout the year. The first treatment was late Friday afternoon(6/3). When the employee was going to begin the treatment in my backyard, I asked if I needed to do something with the turtle tank as it’s just covered with chicken wire and I was told he would be careful and I didn’t need to do anything further. After he completed treatment, to be safe I waited more than the recommended two hours before allowing my dogs or children to go outside on the grass.

On Sunday at lunch time, my 4-year-old was feeding the turtles and informed me they were not eating. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but a few hours later I noticed they were not moving and were dead. This was quite a coincidence that both turtles died in less than 48 hours of the lawn treatment.  I called Cahill on Tuesday, 6/7 to inform them of the possibility that their treatment caused the turtles death so they could be more careful in the future and potentially update their protocol of removing animal tanks during the actual spray and treatment of the lawn. I was immediately shutdown by Mr. Cahill, as he defensively informed me it was likely it was simply the turtles time to go and that their treatment is non-toxic and couldn’t have caused their death. I wonder why they recommend that pets and people remain off the grass for two hours if it is so non toxic?

A few hours after the call, I returned home to a note in my mailbox. It appears Mr. Cahill let himself into my backyard when I wasn’t home and inspected the tank. In the note, he informed me he took a water sample and noticed there was a turtle swimming in the tank. I can only assume he did this to insinuate I was lying about the two dead turtles. This was extremely insulting and rude as he let himself into my backyard when I wasn’t home or expecting him and was nothing but defensive when I simply called to inform the company of the potential dangers to animals. His collecting a water sample was short sighted as I had thoroughly cleaned the tank after I removed the dead turtles as I have two small children who often investigate the turtle tank. More to that point, the next day a friends  brought over the turtle they take home during the summers so my girls could continue to have a turtle outside to care for. They know the girls look forward to feeding the turtles and even have a picnic table by the tank where they like to sit and watch the turtles swim.

After reading the note, I immediately called Mr. Cahill and left him a voicemail with all of the above information. He called back the next morning and said he has every right to come into my yard whenever he wants as I’m a “customer.”  

He eventually agreed to refund my money for the future treatments(at the time of this posting the money has NOT been credited to my account). At no point did Mr. Cahill, owner of Cahill lawn service, ever apologize for implying I was lying, entering my property without permission or even simply apologize for the dead turtles. While there is no way to know for certain why they passed, it is one big coincidence they both died so soon after the treatment. His lack of customer service and ability to handle the situation was absolutely appalling. I strongly advise anybody considering working with Cahill to find another company.

I didn’t contact them in time for an early spring treatment but I am pleased with the work they did. I can see a difference in my grass since they’ve treated it but it isn’t quite where I want it yet. My boyfriend’s parents use this company and their lawn is absolutely beautiful. I haven’t had any interaction with them in person, but they have been polite and professional on the phone. This is my first encounter with lawn treatment, but I like it so far.