Fear of Fighting

As promised, a Tru-Green manager did call me yesterday. I was a bit surprised that his primary objective seemed to be to defend the local branch office rather than resolve my problem. He indicated that if I wanted the soil analysis it would take two weeks. He seemed very put out that I would insist on it. He gave me the impression that he could tell what type of soil I had by looking on a map. (If that's the case, don't make a big deal out of it in your advertising.) He also indicated that someone would come and take the soil samples but that I wouldn't necessarily know they were there and they would call me with the results. Does he think I'm an idiot? (If this is the guy who's supposed to smooth things over for the client, they are in trouble. This man should not be dealing with customers.) He can call me in two weeks and tell me anything. I doubt that test results actually make much difference to someone who already knows all the answers, anyway.

But I was doubtful. I expressed my doubt. Whether this guy believes it or not, I believe that the soil in my front yard is different from what's in the back. The "evidence" is that we have different grass in the front than in the back, essentially different weeds, and in the front we have issues with crawdads that we don't have in the back. And because I'm doubtful, they need to prove to me that they actually did the analysis. Indicating that someone would stop by "sometime" within the next week (no appointment required) doesn't impress me, nor does it appease me.

So this morning I decided to look on Angie's List. (Why didn't I do that in the first place???) People were either extremely satisfied, or they were experiencing the same types of problems that I was having. I also received the invoice yesterday. To pay these individually would end up costing almost double the quoted price. But I feared that paying for the year in advance would just ensure that I would end up fighting with them for a year. I think there are people I can fight with who won't charge me. And besides, I really don't like fighting. I like everything to be smooth. And if I hire someone to do a job for me, the intention is that they make my life easier or better in some way. That excludes fighting.

Time to phone them - one last time. After listening to my story, checking the number of phone calls and notes in the file, and having a laugh at the manager's expense, I expressed my fear of  "a year of fighting" and asked the young lady what she thought would be the best thing to do, since no one had been able to give me any "warm, fuzzy, feelings". She thought that it would be appropriate to cancel the account and the invoice. It really was the only sensible thing to do.  And now, I need to get back to Angie's List...

The Not So Tru-Green Grass of Home

When it was so hot during the summer of 2011 we lost most of our front lawn. It's being taken over by dallisgrass - horrible and very difficult to get rid of. As long as you keep it mowed, it doesn't look too bad. But I'd really like for it to be nice. So when the guy from Tru-Green called a couple of months ago, I really did want to talk. But he'd called at a bad time. I told him I was interested and asked if he could call back later or the next day. He said he would and that was the last I heard from him. That should have been my first clue that the company wasn't particularly responsive..

But in truth, I don't get all that upset when a telemarketer doesn't call back. Who does? Then I got a letter from Tru-Green. It promised me a custom-tailored approach to a lawn I'd love. The letter said they would send someone out to perform a lawn analysis once I'd agreed to the service. The letter also offered 10% off for new customers. That's me! I called the toll-free number to get pricing information.

As it turns out, there were two pricing options depending on the service required. One was for lawns that were already in pretty good shape - the less expensive option - and the other price was for lawns that needed a bit more work. Even though I'd rated my back lawn as "fair" and my front lawn a bit lower than "poor", the nice man on the phone advised me to wait until the analysis before determining which service best suited my needs. That seemed like a good idea. It was a Tuesday. He told me someone from the local office would call me on Wednesday and set something up for Thursday or Friday. Sounded great! I was eager to get started.

But no one called. I left it until the following Tuesday morning before calling back. I was told by the adequately civil young lady who answered the phone that I was indeed set up in the customer database and that someone would call me back within 24 hours.

Again no one called. So I called back on Wednesday afternoon and was told that someone would be out on Friday. Then I received a system-generated call on Thursday reminding me that someone would be out to treat my lawn on Friday. I was sure that was in error. How could they treat it? No one had analyzed it yet. I made the assumption that since it was an automated message it probably gets sent to anyone who has an appointment of any kind.

Or maybe not. Friday morning a guy shows up with a truck. He's ready to treat the lawn. I'm not ready. My cats are outside and need to rounded up and brought in the house. Also there was the question of "no one has analyzed the lawn yet". Even though he said, "You're kidding?" I suspected that it wasn't the first time he encountered a new client who'd had no analysis. I explained to him the ordeal of getting an appointment for someone to come out and do the analysis and then he said "I guess I'll do it." He guesses?? Actually he does guess. I don't know what this "scientific" analysis is supposed to consist of. As near as I can tell it consisted of him looking at my front lawn and telling me that dallisgrass is almost impossible to kill (that's true - not a guess.) He told me that the sales department had probably oversold the service and that he might not be able to deliver everything they promised. Then we walked around to the back so he could tell me that the St. Augustine looked pretty good and should fill in the bare patch easily enough. That's a scientific analysis?? What about soil samples? Testing kits? Just guesses, I guess.

Against my better judgement, I allowed him to put down what I thought was a weed killer and a pre-emergent. That was last Friday. So far I don't see any dead weeds. He also presented me with a bill for the more expensive option - not unexpected, but a bit surprised since there hadn't been an  analysis. I called back to tell them that I still expected the analysis. That appointment was set for yesterday. Again I got the phone call letting me know that my lawn would be treated. I was truly hoping it wouldn't be, but at this stage who could say?

I waited all day for him to show up. At 4 PM I called what I thought was the local office to see if he was coming. I needed to go to the bank and pick up a prescription. If he was coming, I didn't want to miss him. They put me on hold and abandoned me. Eventually they took me off hold and I could hear people talking in the background, but no one was talking to me. After several minutes of listening to myself saying "Hello? Hello? Hellooooo??" I hung up and called back. Now I'm upset. I've wasted my entire day. I could have played golf and I still needed to go to the bank and the pharmacy and they've abandoned me on hold. The young lady who answered the phone this time spoke as though she had a mouth full of marbles and was now claiming that she was NOT in the local office but was just answering the phone for them. She also claimed that the guy had been at my house. "Really? I didn't see him. What did he do while he was here?" She didn't know. She assumed that he didn't put down any chemicals because the notes said that he was sent to "talk to the client". "If he came here specifically to talk to me, don't you find it odd that he left without doing that?" I'm not sure what her answer was to that one. I found her extremely difficult to understand, so I asked to speak with the manager. But after putting me on hold, she came back to tell me that neither the manager, nor the supervisor, not the tech who was supposed to be at my house were answering their phones. I bet you're as surprised as I was.

So, now that my confidence in the local office had been completely eroded, I tried the national number again. Those sales/customer service people are always sooo nice and understanding - very sympathetic to being placed on hold and left to die. I asked for more details about the scientific analysis. The young lady was happy to explain that there are four points.

1. Identify the grass type.
2. Identify the weeds and bugs.
3. Determine the pH level of the soil.
4. Determine the moisture level.

I really don't think that one and a half out of four is that good. You can identify the grass type and the predominant weeds by looking. You might need to look under the surface for bugs unless one jumps up and flies in your face. Unless the ground is completely saturated or crunchy, I think it might be difficult to determine the moisture level by looking at it or even walking on it. And if he could tell the pH level of the soil by looking at the grass, then he's really good. But I think the truth is that he's lazy, or cheap, or both.

I told the folks at the toll-free number that I don't intend to call the local number again. I also told them that I regret letting the guy put down any chemical without having the analysis first. And just so there's no confusion, I told them that I don't intend to part with as much as a dime until they keep up their end of the deal. I'm told that someone will get back to me. We'll see, because I'm through contacting them.

I don't want to spend hours each week trying to contact a company that doesn't seem to want my business. There must be another company that can do this job properly and that actually wants my business. All I really want is nice grass.

What's to Explain?

The sign was perfectly clear. "Clearance 50% Off". Nothing hard about that one. Math has never been my strong suit, but I understand half off.

We were in Stonebriar Mall, Frisco. The sign was at Apricot Lane, a boutique shop inside the mall. On the table with the sign were stacks of Miss Me jeans. (For those of you who are not "in the know" - Miss Me Jeans are the latest in status wear. They are typically priced at $100 per pair. So finding them for $50 is really, really good.)

It was good enough to get one of the girls into the store. (In truth, it was good enough to get both of them in, but one of them hadn't finished her pretzel yet and she couldn't take it in the store.) A good thirty minutes was spent trying on jeans. The fit was close - a few alteration would be required, but at 50% off, one could afford to pay for the alterations.

Then when my daughter-in-law got to the check out the jeans rang up at $30 off rather than $50 off. She pointed out that the sign says 50% off. The clerk told her that didn't apply to those Miss Me Jeans. There were "some" Miss Me Jeans on sale, but not those, and not 50% off. She pointed out that $30 off was still very good. Yes, it is. But not when the sign says 50%.

The manager was summoned.

"Oh. I should have been there to explain that the sign didn't apply to those jeans."

Seriously lady, do you think you need to "explain" the sign? There aren't that many ways to misinterpret a sign that says "Clearance 50% Off". Do you really think that manager was going to stand next to the sign to tell everyone who stopped to look that the 50% off merchandise was hidden deep inside the store and had absolutely nothing to do with anything that was on the table? Sorry, the intention to mislead was deliberate. If you get people into the store, they might agree that 30% off is really okay or they might find something else they like. Just get them in the store. But every now and then, you find people who think that if the sign says 50% off - you should actually sell the item for 50% off. We are those people.

After expressing disdain for their less than scrupulous business practices, we continued through the mall and eventually came to Buckle. They had an unadvertised sale. It wasn't 50% off - but they were truthful about it. We bought the Miss Me jeans there.

No Taste

I have no taste. I also have no sense of smell. And when you can't taste or smell your food, you aren't really motivated to eat. I don't believe I've tasted any of the food I've eaten since last Wednesday. I was feeling fine after I had the steroid shot. And then I guess it wore off, but that's a long and boring story. Let's talk about food.

Friday we went to the Oklahoma Girls State Gymnastics Meet. (By the way, Brianna did very well - she placed 2nd on balance beam, 4th on bar and vault, and 3rd place all around.) Mark and I shared a Subway sandwich. I'm not sure why I insisted on the Chipotle dressing. I couldn't taste it. After the meet, we had birthday cake before heading back home. I couldn't taste that either. By the time we got home, it was 9 PM. We put together an antipasto plate with Sicilian Mozzarella balls, prosciutto, ham, salami, olives, and cheeses. It was all wasted on me. I'd been craving a V-8 all day - but I couldn't taste that, either. 

Because I had plans to take my granddaughters out for a day of tea, shopping, makeovers and other girly things to celebrate their birthday, I was hoping that Saturday would find my taste buds restored. But no. I could neither smell nor taste the bacon I had for breakfast. We went to The Chocolate Angel in Plano for lunch. We had white tea infused with mango, pineapple and papaya. It sounded lovely. It tasted like hot water. I didn't bother adding any sugar - I didn't think it would make any difference. Each plate had an assortment of goodies. A quiche, cucumber sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, a little pastry that had bacon in it and a chicken and coconut concoction in a mini crust. (Tonya was raving about that one even though she doesn't really like coconut. I'm sure I would have loved the taste, but all I had to go on was texture.) And let us not forget the berry scone. It is not tea unless there is a scone! I sampled everything to see if I could taste anything, but I couldn't. Then the dessert plate came out - an almond cookie, a frosted sugar cookie and a piece of fudge. And I still couldn't taste a thing.

We went home so the girls could change into some of their new clothes before going out for dinner. We went to Bonnie Ruth's because they have a nice selection of food (things that even the pickiest eaters like) and a wonderful patio, and the weather was perfect for al fresco dining.  I passed on the seafood crepes and the filet because it's just too much money to spend for something you can't taste. Instead, I had the chicken paillard - primarily because there's enough of it to take half of it home. (Hopefully by the time I get ready to eat it for lunch my taste buds will have returned to full-function mode.) We came home to birthday cake, which I found really easy to skip. (And if you thought that "No Taste" referred to the woman in the fluorescent orange skirt and black and white referee shirt - aren't you surprised?)

Sunday was no better. Mark and I made bacon and eggs and pancakes. Plus the donuts and yogurt that didn't require any preparation. And my taste buds were still failing. 

We went to Pappa Gallo's Mexican Cantina for lunch. I ate chips and salsa, again without tasting a thing. And I ordered tortilla soup. I know it's good because I've had it before. But I still couldn't taste a thing. 

Neither of us wanted to cook on Sunday evening. Quite frankly, I didn't want to eat, either. So Mark had some nibbles and I drank water. 

I'm planning lasagne for this evening. But given that I couldn't taste my breakfast again, I'm not getting that excited about dinner.