Colorado Lawn Specialists, Inc.

To whom it may concern,We have taken care of Mr***'s lawn since March of On 3/20/2012, we aerated, fertilized and power-raked his lawnOn that same day, Mr*** signed up for additional services (aeration program & fertilization). The signed maintenance agreement from
3/20/is attachedOn 9/9/2012, Mr*** declined fall service and his account was cancelled per his request.Three years later, Mr*** authorized us to aerate and fertilize his lawn on 3/26/Again, he signed another lawn maintenance agreement on 3/26/-see attachedAs stated at the top of the document where he initialed, the agreement automatically renews from year to year unless canceledA service confirmation email was sent out to him the next day on 3/27/confirming the services he signed up forPrior to the spring season, we sent him an email (to the address he provided on that agreement) on February 9th itemizing the services we would be providingDue to a glitch with our system, the email went out again on February 10th.This same letter was also mailed to his home on 3/2/As per our agreement, a notification email was sent on 4/4/@ 1:PM regarding service scheduled for 4/7/(see attached).He and I spoke on the phone on 5/16/where he contradicted himself on more than one occasion. He first told me that he would never have hired us to fertilize his lawn because he has an underground irrigation system that does it for himI reminded him that he hired us to fertilize his lawn back on 3/20/12, again on 3/26/and signed up for recurring spring fertilization on 3/26/He then stated that he has another company who aerates and fertilizes his lawn for $(despite just telling me that he would never hire a company to fertilize his lawn)Early in our conversation he said he had hired another company to do the same work not realizing we were planning to also aerate and fertilize. Toward the end of our conversation he informed me that the other company had not yet done the work and he would need to pursue a refund through them. However, now he is asking us to refund the fertilization portionThe fact is that he authorized us to do the work and we showed up as promisedWe do not perform service without authorization.During our conversation on 5/16, Mr*** informed me that we had an incorrect email address explaining that what we had was a combination of his two valid email address'I let him know we were using the email address he provided to us on his agreementWe have sent several emails to him and not one of them has bounced backIf an email is returned as undeliverable, it is our policy to then call the client.We are a small company that takes pride in providing excellent customer serviceBeing accused of shady practices is insulting and untrueI don't know how anyone could consider this "shady" considering numerous emails were sent to the address Mr*** provided as well as mailing a copy to his home as was done for all of our clientsThey were not "warning emails", they were simply service confirmations that also offered a pre-pay discount opportunity.The same documentation attached to this reply was also provided to Mr*** on 5/16/I let him know that if he had any questions once he had the chance to review the documents, he could call me back and we would discuss it furtherInstead, he sent a formal complaint to the Revdex.comAt this time, his account has been cancelled per his request on 5/16/16. Currently he has a balance of $for services completed on 4/7/16.Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or require further clarification.Thank you,Melanie Tell us why here

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: This company uses an automatic renewal form to obligate new customers who flag them down in the neighborhood to long term service agreements they don't really want.  That's the crux of my complaint and the others I've read as well.  I am not the first, nor will I be the last, customer to unwittingly sign up for their automatic renewal.  Again, If they didn't already know this practice was confusing to customers, why would there be any need to email them before performing the service the following year?  In my case, I apparently provided the crew an incorrect email address. Whether they got a failure return or not, I never received or responded to it and so the service was completed based on a previous agreement that I did not intend to carry over to the next year.  I submit the "agreement" from 2012 as proof that I would not enter into a recurring service agreement.  I will pay the bill in full but I would counsel any future customers of this company to be very careful in making sure they are aware of what they are really agreeing to.
Sincerely
[redacted]

The account in question was under a contract from year to year signed by the owner of the home. We had performed continuous services at this residence since 2011. Services were not cancelled and no notification was given to our office that the owner had passed away until 7/22/2017. At that time,...

all services were discontinued. In [redacted], creditors have a legal right to establish a claim against a probate estate for money that is owed to them by the decedent. Creditors' claims have a priority over the beneficiaries' rights to distribution from the estate. Under the FDCPA we are attempting to collect the debt from the estate of the decedent. The collections letter did not go to this gentleman, but to the estate - he telephoned us; we never attempted to collect this debt from anyone but the decedent and/or the estate of the decedent. Once services were performed and the bill mailed/left at the property, a phone call to our office indicating the owner had passed away would have stopped continuous service and negated any fees and debts. Unfortunately, our company continued to perform services, as contracted, until notification was received which resulted in a bill that was not paid and, ultimately, sent to our collections agency.

In response to Mr. [redacted]'s reply, I would like to point out a number of important factors relating to his complaint. First and foremost, although we do offer auto-renewal and the bulk of our clientele take advantage of that convenience, it is not required in order to do business with us. For our customers that do agree to auto-renewal, they certainly have the choice to opt out at any time. Many companies, [redacted] for example, operate on an automatic renewal system. Auto-renewal is a common practice in the service industry. We offer this as a convenience to our customers -most of whom appreciate the ease of the renewal process. As required by law, the auto-renewal is worded in clear and concise language. The information is not "buried" or worded in a complicated manner. It is placed at the top of the agreement and states, "Agreement automatically renews from year to year unless canceled." In order to avoid any confusion, we have our clients initial beside that statement acknowledging their awareness and acceptance of the auto-renewal arrangement. Our contracts are easy to terminate and Mr. [redacted] had many opportunities to do so. Because we do not work in the winter, we send all of our customers reminder notifications prior to the spring season. These notifications detail the services the customer signed up for as well as offering them a pre-pay discount. In addition to the notifications sent by both email and mail -we also sent Mr. [redacted] an email informing him of his schedule date for spring service. We cannot accept responsibility for him not receiving our emails as we merely sent them to the address he provided to us. It is unfortunate that Mr. [redacted] was confused about the situation, but due to our notification system, this does not come up very often. We have put a number of steps in place to avoid this very issue: Customers are asked to initial beside the statement informing them their service will renew from year to year unless cancelled. We have clients sign the bottom of the agreement giving us permission to carry out the requested service(s).Service confirmations are emailed to the client when they sign up for a new service.Reminders are both emailed and mailed just prior to the spring season.Customers are notified of schedule dates in the manner they request (phone call or email). Tell us why here...

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:They were servicing a rental property, and should get verbal confirmation before starting services.
Sincerely,
[redacted]