Lawn Doctor
reviews and complaints

Are you looking to transform your yard into a lush, beautiful space that you can be proud of? Look no further than Lawn Doctor of Newark. With over 55 years of experience and a team of meticulous specialists, Lawn Doctor delivers exceptional lawn care services that have left customers delighted. From tackling weeds to ensuring a pest-free environment, their comprehensive approach to lawn care is unmatched. Customers rave about the professionalism, responsiveness, and outstanding results provided by Lawn Doctor. If you want a greener, more enjoyable lawn, trust the experts at Lawn Doctor of Newark to bring your lawn care dreams to life.

After moving to Connecticut we contracted with LawnDoctor to do yearly lawn treatments.
We agreed to multiple treatments throughout the year. After the first year, our lawn was in very bad shape and we were told it was normal and that it takes time for a lawn to develop healthy soil, regrow, etc.
We agreed to continue the treatment for a second year. Halfway through the year I started to email and express concern as our lawn continued to get worse and we expressed great displeasure with the terrible service and contracted another company.
LawnDoctor continued to send a team the following year while we were at work and we explicitly told them to stop. They have since taken us to collection to try and collect for the two treatments done the third year - without our permission, or approval. It is now 2020 and LawnDoctor
Is still trying to collect funds from 2018 - which is apparently their right. We thought it would be fair to exercise our right to review their service.

Since we cancelled LawnDoctor our lawn has improved incredibly. Do not be impressed by pricing or marketing -the LawnDoctor Of Connecticut service is terrible. I have spent time researching them and found that many of their customers continued to be billed after cancelling service which seems to be a trend of
Illegal activity. Online reviews also say that many others have had their lawn suffer because of LawnDoctor. We will be filing this complaint on review sites but also with the BBB and Connecticut Attorney General. It is not legal to auto renew and continue to bill after service has been discontinued.

If you see the LawnDoctor - RUN the other way!

They treated my yard for 3 (up through 2018) years then, for two years I did it myself. I called to re-up but they told me they couldn't because my backyard has centipede grass. 90% of my backyard is Bermuda, but suddenly up towards the front of my yard, near my house only by the privacy fence, my grass turned into centipede. This sure is kind of strange. Let's be real, I was getting a great deal on service from LD so they didn't want to re-contract so I believe someone spread centipede seeds on my lawn. My lawn has been thick and rich Bermuda since 2006.

After getting service for lawn care. After one service they put weed killer down and left burn spots in my lawn and killed grass in my front lawn. They said it was due to drought but no one around me had any problem. They were trying to get aditional services from me for me to buy. They decline to take any responsibility for their actions. Im not a stupid man. I had no problem till I delt with them.

Paid lawn doctor in full in January 2022 (390.00) dollars had one treatment in April my lawn in front looks like it was torn up by a bull dozer. Called the Georgetown office since June 9th and left messages numerous time and have not had phone call back all I get is an answer machine. I havehad Lawn Doctor for 5years now and the Maintenance man Chris retired who was one time and wonderful. But now I can't even get a phone call back when I call them.

Service technician operated a vehicle that tore large patches of grass out of my backyard and left tire tracks across the rest of the yard. Then failed to notify me before leaving. After contacting the local office last week they said the issue would be addressed immediately but as of today I have not been contacted and issue has not been resolved.

I received two treatments in 2020 as first time user. I received a coupon in the mail and call the local Bangor, PA office to apply the coupon and was told "you are an existing customer and should not have received that coupon".

Seriously...talk about terrible customer service.

Homeowner has no control with services. They Dump chemicals without authorization and than send you a bill. Use to have call ahead with authorization to plan as have small children and animals, along with weather conditions, etc. They do not follow that and just come. They add all these services and expect payment for them whether you want it or not. Not all treatments are beneficial and should work better with the homeowner. People are pushy and nasty! Sketchy and not satisfied!

Bob and Kristen have zero experience in fertilizing lawns.in fact, they are not even licensed to do lawn applications. I don't think they could even pass the test... Another small business that doesn't care about anything but money...
There were many red flags after being hired on. They actually hired me on for more money than their "stupervisor" and made me promise not to tell anyone. That kid must be mad. They had 4 employees this year before me, none licensed. They even made me do applications I am not licensed for. Its funny. They hire 10$ 18 year olds to do a job that pays 20$ an hour. They actually make us do 30 lawns a day. There is no way you can do 30 lawns a day and do a good job. Especially unlicensed.
My work load was so much that I had to pee in a bottle. Even though state and federal regulations require soap and water before using restroom or eating. They don't care. They want to pay 100$ a day for 1700$ of work...
So I am en ex employee, who was fired, for leaving windows down in truck while spraying 1 of 30 lawns daily. And for not spraying crabgrass. Its funny though. They never sprayed crabgrass at all until September. They will never treat the crabgrass or wild violet. Our work loads are too much. 1 hour a day travel and loading truck leave 7 hours a day work.in that 7 hours Kristen wants you to do 30 lawns and generate 1, 700$. 7 hours time 60 minutes is 420 minutes. 420/30 is 14 minutes. With an average of 5 minutes drive time Kristen wants 4 lawns and 250$ an hour, but only hires teenagers for 10 dollars an hour to keep 240$ an hour.
Remember people. No one can do a good job on your lawn in nine minutes. Why pay top dollar for cowboys to rush through your lawn...
My work load was so high I had to pee in a bottle everyday... Then they have the nerve to fire me. Nobody can fertilize and spray 30 lawns a day and do a good job. It is literally impossible.
Use any company and you will have better results, and cheaper, they might even have time to spray your law... Hersch's, truegreen, even lush lawn. At least lush lawn doesn't charge 250$ an hour to drop off a ten dollar an hour unlicensed worker. I really don't understand how they get away with this. I will be contacting mrad Monday and tell them what is going on...
I even got assaulted while spraying a lawn. I guess that's ok with them, making 250$ an hour while their employees are attacked... Bob wont even touch a bag of fertilizer without whining. So how the hell is he gonna treat 600 customers unlicensed.
People like this are horrible people that do not deserve a dime...
8500$ a week generated, I made 400$ last week.
I'll be calling this week about their lack of licenses and making me do work I wasn't licensed for.
They fired me with 2 weeks left in season to get out of paying me my end of year bonus. They aren't gong to hire anyone to replace me. They are going to send David to 30+ lawns a day, without spraying or blowing off a single property...
Any company will do better because the techs are only required to generate 1000-1100$ a day... Lawn doctor wants 1, 700$ a day and pays the least of any company, using unlicensed downriver teen agers and charging a premium.

I have never been in a position to write such a review, until I unfortunately dealt with Chris Williams, owner of Lawn Doctor in Spokane, WA. As a customer of 3 years, they have provided satisfactory service; until they damaged my property and then they suddenly can't be reached. I was just days away from having a new, walkway project completed when Lawn Doctor came by to do a fertilizer application with both spray and granules. The new steps on this expensive project were made of an extremely porous concrete mixture. The next morning after the application, my beautiful steps had unsightly black stains. I immediately called Lawn Doctor and sent photos to Chris Williams. He responded quickly by sending someone out to clean off the stains. The solution that was applied had no effect on the stains, so I called again, left a message, and sent new updated pictures. I even used a power-washer the next day in an attempt to remove the stains, which also didn't work. From that point on, I did not receive any communications from anyone at Lawn Doctor after making numerous calls and emails. At the end of the second week, I finally received a short email response where Chris said he was looking into it
the end of the second week, I finally received a short email response where Chris said he was looking into it and should have some answers later that day. That was the last time I have heard anything from him and now it has been more than a month. The stains are still obvious which prevents me from finishing the walkway project without sealing in their stains. I am disgusted by any business, much less the owner who damages a customer's property and walks away without a word or acknowledgement.

Lawn Doctor has been servicing my property years before I bought it from the previous owners. I purchased this home in 2015 and took over the current ongoing service of Mosquito guard all the property when this summer I call the office and Was told "oh it says here your service was cancelled"...?
By whom I responded... by Dave. He'll call you back. I've been waiting for Dave's call for over a month now... anyways I'm spraying the yard myself...$10 bottle gets 3 sprays out of it. Huge savings over the $75 per treatment from Lawn Dr.

I have a complaint about lawn doctor. I have had their service for several years.
After the last service I have been inundated with crab grass. I called to see if they would stand behind their 100% guarantee. They would not remedy the situation.
I would like them to come and view the yard to see what I am talking about.
When I spoke to the supervisor she gave the wrong information as to when I had the service and wrong information about weeds.

I would like lawn doctor to fix the situation.

First they show up without notice and leave a bill for treatment service. The only problem they never treated my rear yard because my access gate was locked. A day goes by no phone calll or inquiry made on their part to complete work but of course the bill is for full amount. After calling, they scheduled me next day service to complete the rear yard #treatment that was missed. I also authorized them to do full yard fungal treatment. The next day they showed up, left bills for said completed work. However, after viewing my video surveillance cameras I saw otherwise. 738am he arrives at my house, 743am he exits his vehicles to leave a flag and put a $134.35 bill in my door for fungas control. 747am he enters my rear yard, 750am exits my rear yard, 751am drives away. Hence, no fungus control was ever done on my front, sides or rear yard only #3. After calling to inquire, I was assured they completed treatment #3 and then went over the entire lawn as requested for fungus control. It was then that I broke the news about about having video surveillance cameras that showed otherwise. To this day, I still have not heard back from the "manager" after being assured he will be calling me back within an hour from my second call back. The "corporate complaint office" is actually just as worse, the "unknown female" that states she is the only person that handles complaints doesn't know the first thing about business models, customer service or running a company. She was so ignorant and arrogant in her thinking that it was worse than being scammed into getting a service that was not provided. Get this, she only asked if I wanted her to call the local office and was not concerned about my incident, telling me, "It's not worth it." Meaning the disappointment and frustration of dealing with a fraud incident. She doesn't think that the service tech wearing a lawn doctor uniform and driving a lawn doctor vehicle reflects upon "Lawn Doctor" get this because they are franchised. She still disagreed even after I politely gave an example in a fruitless attempt to try and walk her through customer service 101. The example was if a fraud or some egregious act occurred at a specific Chick-Fil-A, that caused concern or had the potential to significantly disrupt future customers, one could be assured that corporate would step in and do something. Her response, I never been in Chick-Fil-A. Lawn Doctor- You should send her to Chick-Fil-A so she can obviously learn what customer service is. In summary, to this date, no phone call back from local office. The corporate "complaint" individual is actually worse than the fraud. This is my story, roll the dice if you like but I have video of the billing and stating they did a service which clearly they did not. How many other victims are out there, that don't have video surveillance cameras and are being "billed" for services that are not even being done.

Lawn Doctor advertises "FREE Lawn Care Evaluation"
However, the truth is that it is NOT FREE !
When the evaluation is requested, a technician 'services' your lawn without your approval and submits an invoice ! Contacting the franchisee..you are informed the free evaluation ONLY is applicable when you PAY for the first service.

BEWARE, be VERY CONCERNED about business ethics !

They tried to kill weed in my lawn, instead they killed my grass. A called the company they said they will be out to look at it. They never called me back. I called them and they said they did come out and said the lawn in not dead but will come out the following week to treat the lawn again...have not heard or seen them since.

You can follow the detail on a Facebook page I created to track this nightmare https://www.facebook.com/LawnDoctorMalpractice/?eid=ARBU-wqNyX6iikZrmVfqullDaiH9d8DnHzgHwLeLLF-XD0TDMfy7yPs7z43V9CUhTGm6SePbHyeoydtY

We were using Lawn Doctor for a bit until they came out and killed a quarter of our lawn with chemicals, front and back lawns. The gentleman put chemicals down, forgot the area he had previously done and went over it a second time thereby killing our lawn. He apologized but lawn had started dying. We have pictures before and after. The owner of company was notified, he came out, viewed issues, gave some solutions to do, nothing worked because the chemicals killed the lawn. They took one month payment off Bill. Because we didn't pay last payment, they want to send account to collections. I paid Bill of $73.08, but since we have plenty pictures of our lawn, 1/4 of lawn front and back lawns dead even with supervisor looking at lawn, we'll take Lawn Doctor to small claims court for refund as well as replacement lawn. Will never use again or recommend to anyone. This Lawn Doctor is located at P.O. Box 261, Finksburg, Maryland 21048. Pictures available upon request. Mrs. Brown

**BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN CONTRACTING WITH THIS COMPANY**

PREPAID for annual services and called late September to request timeframe for Fall 2018 treatment. When I called to request status from the local Bethlehem/Hellertown PA contractor I did not receive a response to my calls and emails. I sent a certified/return receipt letter via the USPS and the letter was not signed for. This company obviously is familiar with the process to avoid confirmation of receipt. I called the NJ Headquarters; they researched and communicated that I was turned over to collections for lack of payment and told me that they could not provide additional information and the Bethlehem/Hellertown contractor could not discuss with me as this account was turned over to collections. This is the first time in my life that I am being turned over to collections when an account is paid-in-full.

I got them this year for weed control but it was just the opposite. I got more weeds this year then the previous 15 years I lived at my home. The 3 rd treatment ended up killing my lawn and i needed to resod a good portion of my back yard. I cancelled them and they continued to service my lawn and charge me for it. I'm very disappointed in the service and their response to my dilemma.

My next door neighbor contracted with lawn doctor to spray his premises. There is an 8 foot cinder block wall between our properties. While spraying his trees, the insecticide oversprayed into my property where I have tomatoes, grapes, figs / plum / and apricot trees on my side of the wall. The backyard sidewalk which is 12 feet away from the wall was completely wet. I yelled out to the guy that he hosed down my yard. He said, "Don't worry, it's only insecticide". I got out the hose and tried to rinse everything off. Had a headache all afternoon. I also have 3 dogs and grandchildren that play in my yard. This is negligent. My neighbor hired their services, NOT ME! I spoke with my neighbor so we'll see what develops. May have to seek legal remedy.

I called lawn doctor for grass maintenance and weed control. But you provide the 4 service in may, june, july, august but still weeds are still present in my grass and there is no improvement. I would complain about it 2 times still i didn't get any response from you guys. Now my grass are turning brown. And my grass doesn't look nice. You guys-lawn doctor didn't give proper service to my grass.i never recommend any one for you. And i m not satisfied wiith your service.

7/10 - fourth lawn treatment done
7/13 - I noticed grass was starting to turn brown
7/17 - I had two irrigation companies here to get estimates on upgrading sprinkler system. Both commented on grass being burned.
7/18 - called Lawn Doctor. Said grass was brown. Lawn Doctor said they had no idea what was wrong. Suggested soil sample
8/2 - haven't heard anything from Lawn Doctor for 10 days. No soil sample. Nothing.
8/3 - I called again. I said I was very upset about grass to office person. Was going online to BBB to complain. Technician immediately called me back. Admitted maybe too much nitrogen was put on weak grass. Would like opportunity to correct the problem. I agreed to corrective action & cancelled soil sample.
8/6 - 8/10 - heard nothing from Lawn Doctor.
8/13 - I called asking when corrective action would start. Technician stated he would be here this week to put compost down. Had accident with truck on 8/10. Had to get fixed.
8/17 - I called. Truck not fixed. Will be here next week.
8/20 - 8/24 - heard nothing from Lawn Doctor.
8/25 - I called. Stated needed corrective action by 8/29 or I was filing complaint. Office person returned my call & said they were refunding my last payment and closing my account for threatening them. Their situation with the damaged truck was beyond their control.

Lawn Doctor had ample time to repair my lawn after I initially reported the problem on 7/18. I've been a customer for 5 years.