1 out of 5
| Trustworthy | |
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| Customer Service | |
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| Recommend | |
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I am of the mindset that one should praise good work and simply let substandard work go without comment. However, in this case, I am making an exception as the actions, or rather inactions, of The Grounds Guys of Woodbury, MN are so egregious it warrants public comment so others do not need to go through the hassle I have endured over the past couple months.
In September 2021, I contracted The Grounds Guys to provide: (a) fall cleanup, (b) core aeration, (c) overseeding, and (d) spring cleanup. In terms of establishing an agreement, that went well enough. However, things went quickly downhill from there.
In terms of fall cleanup, I needed to send several emails to The Grounds Guys to get on the schedule. Apparently they "did not get my emails;" things happen and they eventually did come out so I chalk it up to nothing more than an annoyance. While they did a satisfactory job with fall cleanup, they failed to aerate and seed. Even though seeding in Minnesota is best done during the fall, they are supposedly professionals so I did nothing more than comment the service was not done; no response.
Winter passes and we come to spring. Again, I need to send several emails to get on the schedule, but again, they came out relatively quickly. The first time I couldn't tell you exactly what they did other than clean up some leaves from underneath a large shrub and perhaps raked out two garden beds that were already relatively clear. No sounds of the blower, no sounds of the mower, and from what I can tell from going back over footage from the doorbell cam, the sole worker was here a little less than an hour (our lot is 1/3 acre with mature trees and six garden beds). Not only was debris not removed from the lawn or patio, but four of six garden beds still had all the Fall leaves in them. Needless to say, I had concerns.
Second trip: At least this time it sounded like there was some activity. The remaining four garden beds did get blown out (sloppily), though debris was still not removed from the lawn. Yet again, core aeration and seeding were not done per the agreement.
In the end, I'm left with a yard that still has tons of debris, garden beds that I still needed to clean out, and a lawn that is all patchy with some erosion issues as The Grounds Guys failed to do essential contracted services (while other contractors, like our fertilization and weed control provider did). No offer to correct; no apology for failing to provide service; no desire to settle without the need to litigate. Adding insult to injury, The Grounds Guys not only billed for their spring "cleanup," but billed it out 150% of the agreed upon rate! In subsequent conversations, it also seems to be the opinion of The Grounds Guys that they can pick and choose which of the contracted services they will actually complete.
I'm sure William (the owner) will be happy to leave a comment to counter. As such, I'll simply conclude my review with several photos of what one can expect their yard to look like after working with The Grounds Guys for a season. Please keep in mind this is after _two_ attempts at spring cleanup. The piles of debris that you see are that which remained and I had to collect myself. The backyard alone was enough for a couple of trips to yard waste.