By -Frustrated
Several weeks ago, the doorbell of my house rang. Outside stood a young man, requesting permission to take our number for a lawn care company. Having just moved to this house last fall with my family and unsure whether my parents would be interested I naively accepted. Oh how I regret this decision in hindsight.
Since then, we have been bombarded with phone calls from Weedman. I happened to answer that first call, during which I patiently heard the employee out and asked multiple questions about the products and technologies they use, whether they are environment friendly, their prices. I then said I will present this information to my family, which I honestly did.
Meanwhile I went online to do research, only to find numerous articles, blogs and company reviews about how this company refuses to take clients off their phone list, keeps returning phone calls when turned down, provides unwanted services and bills people for them anyway. The list goes on. After reading such negative opinions, I immediately wrote them off.
So when they called back a second time, I politely said I had done my research and that as a family we had decided not to receive their services.
Weeks and phone calls later, I am stunned by the tactics the company uses: calls from different unlabelled numbers so that they cannot be screened, employees claiming they did not know we had requested to be taken off the list, and just recently, an employee saying he cannot take us off the list until he speaks to the owners of the house! As the adult who has been dealing with them from the beginning I was shocked, not only by his tone but his adamant persistence that he will call back to speak to the owners. Before he hung up on me he whistled his displeasure.
All of which has lead me to write this short, inarticulate article. A feat in itself, since I avoid writing, and write this only in hopes that it will maybe make a positive change in certain people’s lives.
To the staff of WeedMan: I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you do not know we have already been called. So please, improve your internal communication channels and listen to the person on the other end of the line who declines your services. And do it politely to boot.
To the unsuspecting consumer: be smarter than I was and do not provide your contact info to WeedMan. You will regret it.
coolcat says...
Tell them that you’re being harassed and you will fill with the better business burue and file a complaint/legal action with the magistrate.
Jenn says...
Sorry to say, but sometimes you just need to be rude. Unfortunately, good manners are off the table in these situations. Eventhough I had the smart to always turn Weedman down when they come by every year, I have had the unfortunate incidents where I had to deal with some other companies. Companies that thinks that just because you’ve dealt with them once gives them the right to call you at least once a month even after repeatedly telling them that you’re not interested. Even after nicely requesting them not to call you again and that you’ll like them to remove you off their list, the calls still came. Until I had to basically yelled my head off to make my request heard.
Natalie says...
You know what, the exact same thing happened to me. The representatives came to my house while my brother answered the door. So again like you, my brother told him to take my home informations and will discuss with our family. The representatives called today and asked to speak with my brother (whom is not the home owner of my house), and I politely told him that my family do not need the service. The guy on the phone said the exact same thing, he said “i was told to speak with the OWNER of the home, not the kids”, for all he knows my parents told me specifically to reject the service. So I called their office number which was printed on the form, the lady on the phone never apologize at all while I told about the complain. She was more annoyed by me and wanted to get off the phone. After she had taken my informations, she hung up the phone on me. I am very very angry about this situation and I hope that whoever reads this please, DO NOT GIVE THEM YOUR INFORMATION!
Katherine says...
Thank you for this website…Weedman reps were in our neighbourhood last week and my husband answered the door. Luckily he is not interested in door-to-door salespeople so gave no information and was not wanting an estimate on our lawn, so we had no problems.
But, for those of you who do, I have a method of discouraging calls and it works…I have a whistle at the phone and if it is a marketer that I can’t get rid of, I blow the whistle as hard as I can…I’ve never had a repeat call.
K
ladybug2011 says...
This happened to us as well. I gave them our phone number at the door. Took the 1st phone call, got the pricing and told them I would get back to them if we wanted their service. After this they kept calling back all the time. Eventually we stopped answering the phone when we saw that it was them but they didn’t give up. They were calling about 5 times a day. Eventually I answered the phone as ask them to take our number off their list. It has been about three weeks now and they haven’t called back. Fingers crossed.
dumbcanuck says...
Groan…a door-to-door saleskid caught me at a bad time and told me he was representing Weed Man. He didn’t have a uniform and I didn’t think to ask for an ID card. He said I would “really help him out” if I agreed to take a “30 second phone call” to discuss pricing and services. He claimed to get a 50 cent commission for everyone who signs. I gave my first name only and signed a sheet with a bunch of check boxes on it. I was in too much of a hurry to really take a good look at what I was signing. I didn’t even give them a phone number, but they can always do a reverse look up.
Then, I lay awake all night thinking how stupid I had just been. Came downstairs and searched for “door to door scam weed man” and here I am. Now I’m just waiting for the barrage of phone calls, unwanted services or identity theft. I hope my story ends as happily as ladybug2011’s did.
Ottawa Homeowner says...
Just had 5 Weedman kids come to my door. Dog barking I opened the door and said I already had a company doing my lawn. One kid started raising his voice and saying “You don’t want something for free?”. I said no and closed door and the kid started yelling and went to my side window and starting yelling into us in the house. Great company - I tried writing customer service and no contact information on their site. That says it all when they don’t want to be contacted.
Jon says...
To the guy/gal who complained for harassing WEED-MAN follow-up calls that would not go away. I have a great solution for you and anyone else who wants to get back at these ignorant pushy sales people. Tell the caller to hang on for a second, you have something on the stove, there is someone at the door, your baby is crying, you have another call, you have diarrhea, the excuses you can give are endless. Tell them to hang on, you will be right back…put the phone down and let it stay open 3-5 minutes. I guarantee the caller will be gone when you return to the phone, if he isn’t, tell him the same story again until he gets the message…and he will. Works for me all the time.
kk says...
happened to me as well!!!!!
JVH says...
We have a small landscaping business, and I am amazed how often Weedman reps walk past the large signs on the side of the truck which is parked in our driveway, and come to the door to offer landscaping services!! Like they can’t see there is a landscaping business parked there!? We also have many clients who have told us their horror stories and are now very happy with us. We get angry when our clients get work done and receive a bill, when they had clearly declined the work - particularly when these are trusting seniors. Weedman makes us look good, but I wonder how they stay in business?
MaryG says...
Weedman hounded me for a couple of years. One day, I was fortunate to have an old friend come visit when they called. Till this point, couldn`t get rid of them no matter what. Then my friend who`d come over motions to me to give him the phone. He gets on and listens patiently to the rep and at one point says.Okay, I hear you and understand, but I wanna talk about my socks.Yes, that`s right, I wanna talk about my socks. The rep continues his spiel, my friend adds,`’I`m wearing blue socks.What colour socks are you wearing…on and on. Now for thos who don`t know a telemarketing rep cannot hang up on you, so you can come up with any craziness and force them to hang up on you. Needless to say, the guy did finally hang up…and I have not had a call from them since.
Sean Smith says...
I will be dropping the City on these morons. Running a flippin’ gas poweres aerator on my neighbours lawn at 7am! Young fella behind the machine (not his fault) tells me that they were operating within the City bylaw. One small factor, Weed Man. Your a full hour EARLY!
Power Tools and Model Airplanes
4.8 No Person shall, before 8:00 a.m. and after 10:OO p.m. on any day, use or operate any power gardening tool or other power tool or machine or any model airplane, boat or car powered by an internal combustion, turbine or rocket engine.
I have been bothered by these idiots banging on my door, wanting my business, for years. Maybe NOW they will get the message!