Weed Man does an obvious upsell or perhaps bait-and-switch

Posted By on June 25, 2013

When a deal seems a bit too good, there is probably a reason to be skeptical.
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Now to be fair, I knew that for $25 I was not going to get my yard completely treated, but was expecting this Cincinnati area Groupon deal to be a way for Weed Man to demonstrate their professionalism and be an attempt to win over a new customer — I took the bait as a way to keep my existing lawn treatment company honest.

What I didn’t expect after phoning the “scheduler” was an immediate attempt to “upsell” the current treatment; he acted as if $25 wasn’t already purchased? I did my best to explain that I just wanted to use this service as a way to evaluate their lawn treatment and give his company a chance to look at my lawn and recommend/quote the appropriate service. Mr. Barnes patiently listened and said he would remeasure from his satellite images after telling me that to properly treat our lawn would be $390 … after applying the Groupon discount. He went on to tell me that my current company only used liquid fertilizer and that is why they would “always be less expensive.” When I pulled out my receipt and read the “dry granular” fertilizer specifics, he said they must have changed (but the company I use has been “dry” fertilizer for the 10+ years we have used them). Hmm? Nevertheless, I’ll give this telemarketer the benefit of the doubt and hope his sales tactics aren’t representative of Weed Man?

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I decided to close our conversation said that “I’ll just stick with the Groupon deal” and “would like to schedule the service.” I sensed a little irritation in his voice as if I were wasting his time and he pointed out that this service didn’t include any fertilizer (even after criticizing some companies for using liquid fertilizer). I thought to myself, I thought I was suppose to call this number “to schedule an appointment?” Obviously not, because the call ended rather abruptly with Mr. Barnes telling me that “someone would call when they were available to come out, but that it would be after July 4th.” So far, just for the record, Weed Man’s customer service did not leave me warm and fuzzy.

Groupon buyers beware of the upsell and bait-and-switch from the telemarketing arms of companies pushing their products and services … and I will correct this post IF or WHEN anything improves.

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