Vital-N-Green

I understand from the website which this company operates that it is run by a father and his three sons. I have interacted with one son in person and two others on the telephone. I have attempted two scheduling appointments, of which only one was firmly scheduled and fulfilled. From the outset I detected an attitudinal problem and perhaps a distinct unfamiliarity with how most busy people conduct their lives. Virtually all active people I know are fully scheduled for the better part of an upcoming week and often times for several weeks out. The gentlemen at Vital n Green, especially the young sons, say that it is impossible for them to schedule ahead more than a few days or a week at best. They are also unprepared to offer more than one option for an appointment. As someone who spent more than 35 years in the work world before retirement, I am all too familiar with scheduling issues. Quite often it is necessary to look several weeks ahead to find a time that is mutually convenient. Please note that the operative word in the previous sentence is "mutual." A company that is truly oriented toward the customer will understand and try to accommodate that necessary mutuality. No so with Vital n Green, especially [redacted], who assumes that if one wants to do business with his company, one will find a way to set an appointment at the one time he offers. In addition, there are other matters of good business etiquette that [redacted] fails to appreciate or practice: 1) I am old enough to be the mother of these young men, if not their grandmother. In the world in which I grew up and worked, young men did not start out telephone conversations with older women with whom they might have a business relationship by calling them by their first name. Such over-familiarity with a prospective customer whom one has not met in person, much less established a fine relationship over time, is totally unwarranted and reflected poor social and business training. 2) Poor listening 3) InterruptionDesired SettlementIf this company wishes my business in the future, then [redacted], the father, will need to call me to set an appointment. I will be happy to meet with him in person to see if we can come to a satisfactory resolution involving the issues I have mentioned. If this company does not wish my business, then I will proceed to let everyone I know what my experience has been. Business Response Contact Name and Title: [redacted] ownerContact Phone: [redacted]Contact Email: [redacted]Vital N Green[redacted]Tel: [redacted] Cell [redacted]May 3, 2014Revdex.com Northern Nevada4834 Sparks Blvd Suite 102Sparks, NV 89436Re: Case # [redacted]: [redacted]I would first like to express our apology for offending any person and causing any agitation. For that we are sorry. I do wish that you would have explained the first appointment on April 25, 2014 where we aerated and fertilized your lawn. From my understanding the interaction with [redacted] went very well and he even seeded a portion of your lawn at no charge- a $50 value (one benefit of dealing with a personalized small family business). It is surprising that in your complaint that you referred to" sons" and implied the first interaction with [redacted] was stressful when he showed up on time when he said he would come and went above and beyond in servicing your lawn and enjoyed doing it. Your lawn was in poor shape and [redacted] enjoys trying to help people restore their lawn. Hopefully you are following his watering instructions so that the seed will germinate properly and that your lawn will do much better. He even gave you advice on your lawn and looked at your sprinkler system that took an extra 20 minutes. If he was on a tight schedule and told every customer the exact time which he would show up at their house, then he would not have been able to seed the yard for free or talk for 20 minutes trying to give you helpful tips.My understanding is that you called to schedule a pruning and cleanup and that conversation did not go very well. There are different business models that do exist and maybe some of the confusion started with poor expectations and understanding on both sides. At Vital N Green we do not hire any additional help. This has its positive side and negative sides. Our business model is that we do not have salesman nor do we have crews that help get the work done. As an example [redacted] does most all of our pruning's. He is a 1 man crew and does most of his own estimates himself. Every customer I talk to goes out of their way to tell me how hard of a worker he is and the excellent almost perfect job he does on pruning and cleaning up their yard. The problem with this is that his scheduling is hard. There are so many variables that affect his scheduling (such as wind, people adding to his what they want done etc) that it is very hard to pinpoint times. Most people understand this and the work is so exceptionally well done that they understand how hard it is to pinpoint an exact time. My guess is that your perspective on running a business is a typical business model that has salesman and service people and crews that complete the work. Well, that is not Vital N Green - we pride ourselves in that we do all the work - I have been servicing lawns since 1978 and I am still doing all my own work - the advantage is that when your lawn is fertilized you have someone with 36 years of experience who loves the work he is doing and hopefully will being doing the same thing 15 years from now. The same with all the boys - they have all been raised with lawn care and have been doing the same all their life. [redacted] is 28 and even at this age brings many years of experience but also has all of my background behind him. The disadvantage of this model is that scheduling becomes much more difficult . As a business I have run Vital N Green under that model virtually all my work life and I love it. I know it is not the best way to grow a mega business but that has never been nor will be my objective. Life is too short and I do not care to run a business that is filled with high stress and anxiety. In regards to your conversation with [redacted] -my understanding was that he wanted to come at 8:00 am and you wanted him to come at 8:30 am. When that timing did not work out it became very hard for [redacted] to pinpoint a time a week or 2 out. From that point on my understanding is that you became very upset saying he had to read two business books if he wanted to continue a business relationship with you and then you hung up. He thought it would be beneficial to you if you found a different business that could give you an exact time two weeks ahead. I may not be a great business minded person - just very simple minded and come from a point that I want to be nice to everyone (even though sometimes I fail). Whether I am a consumer or providing a service my goal would always be to be nice. In regards to using your first name - I too was raised in a environment where the only proper way to address anyone was using Mr. or Mrs., especially if they were older than me, but the environment is different in 2014. I am not sure when the change happened but I find myself thinking of the people that use Vital N Green as people I know. Most of what I do is on a first name basis and I assume all the boys have picked up on that - not as a business plan but just as a way of dealing with people. We want to be friendly and you would be surprised at how well the boys get to know many of their customers. There is also a different society norm from the world you and I grew up in. Sorry if this offended you. We are not a big business with big business plans - we want to keep it simple and friendly.In regards to a future business relationship, I would suggest that what you are looking for and the expectations that you have would not fit in with the Vital N Green model. We love making grass green and healthy and treating customers as friends and treating their lawn like it was our own. Sincerely, [redacted]Consumer Response (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)I do not accept the response as factually accurate in its entirety. However, I do accept [redacted]' final statement that his business and I cannot establish a satisfactory relationship. I will emphasize three things in my final response: (1) The [redacted] family needs to modify its business model to acknowledge that their customers and potential customers, as well as they themselves, have very busy schedules. I am used to working with service people as much as two, three, six or even eight weeks out to find a time that is mutually (note I said MUTUALLY) convenient to everyone's schedule. When a business cannot or will not schedule more than a few days ahead, they are thinking only of themselves, not the customer, too. It doesn't matter what size the business is. (2) I did not tell [redacted] to read two books. I told him to read up on good customer service practices (3) Good manners have not gone out of style in 2014. If these young men ever venture beyond the casual western style, they will quickly discover that fact.The [redacted] family has succeeded so far with their present operational style. They may find, however, that in time, as Reno grows and becomes more diverse, that their potential customer base will have different expectations and solid experience from elsewhere to justify those expectations. It is then that Vital n' Green will have to change its business model, as [redacted] says,or wither away. For now, they are unable to see that reality.Consequently, they have lost my business and the recommendations I might have made in their behalf to my friends.Final Business Response Not much else I can say but that I sincerely wish [redacted] well both with her lawn and her life.Thank you, [redacted]