LawnStarter

My mom bought this service for me as a gift since I'm very pregnant and can't do it myself. The first service was scheduled for 09/23/20, but had to be rescheduled because of inclement weather. It was rescheduled between 09/26-09/28, which any of those days would have worked. On 09/26 we got notification LawnStarter were coming, and then right after got another notification that it was rescheduled again for 09/30 due to inclement weather, which the weather had been fine. My mom messaged and asked about it and the person said they'd come out the next day, Sunday 09/27. That didn't happen so she messaged again on Monday when they still hadn't come and they said they'd come Tuesday 09/29... they still didn't show. They finally did show on Wed 09/30, which the grass was so long and out of control by then. When she originally set up the service she requested service to be done on 10/09 since we had something going on at my house on 10/10, but they came on Tuesday 10/06, less than a week after the first service and the grass did not need to be mowed at all. So she ended up paying for a service that wasn't necessary. In addition she requested at the beginning that they only do service in the afternoon as I work nights and on 10/06 they came at 9:30 in the AM waking me up... again I'm very pregnant and work nights. The communication and the way they schedule is terrible.

I do not recommend lawnstarter at all. I contacted them on Saturday for immediate service. LawnStarter told me they could get someone to one of my properties on Monday/Tuesday windows and I agreed. They asked for my card info to book the service. Unfortunately, I was driving and unable to get the card number safely and told them to call me back. They did call me back later but I was in a business meeting so I asked them to call me Sunday. When Sunday comes, I get a text in the morning from them saying they were going to call, but never did. I missed a call from them this morning, so I returned their call. They are now telling me they are still looking for a provider and they are not able to get someone to our property as promised. They then brought up an issue that they are given each customer 5 days instead of the actual appointment date. So if you set up an appointment with lawnstarter, they may not make the appointment and will not call you. Their excuse is there is a "5-day window" for services...

So you have an entire work week they might randomly come to your house from when you set your appointments. If you are looking for quick service, I highly suggest looking elsewhere.

Wow, just wow. When one of the founders brags to Forbes LawnStarter are a "crack house business" because they're so terrible but make so much money, well it makes me wonder about them.

What is their service exactly? On their website they claim to be a full service lawn care company. They will mow, blow, and spray for weeds, whatever you need! This is called illegal marketing.

Why you might ask? Because there is no record on the Virginia Department of Agriculture's web site of LawnStarter having a registered pesticide business in Virginia, nor are they commercial applicators. In Virginia it is illegal to even recommend the use of pesticides commercially without a pesticide business license. Companies are allowed to sub the work out to legal pesticide businesses, however it is illegal for anyone other than a Commercial Applicator or a legal Pesticide Business to make the quote. Yet somehow LawnStarter "provides that service".

LawnStarter refuses to pay their service providers (aka the underpaid sub-contractors) when a client complains. As "LawnStarter" "owns" the clients, and takes up to 40% of the sale it is their responsibility to pay their Subs if the work was completed.

I never thought I would be so disgusted by a business.

I guess the "crack house" analogy is quite appropriate.

I was looking for a full service yard company. I was assured these guys could do the job. What I didn't realize that EVERYTHING is a-la-carte you get mowing edging and cleanup for one price. Everything else is individual bids. Not the way I want to do business. I don't want to have to get a bid for fireant removal, or bushes trimmed and get a different guy out each time.

Seems like all their bids are based on what LawnStarter see on google maps. I wanted to talk to a person and walk my yard and have them make a list and get me a bid for items on the list. Nope. Just how much it cost to mow a lawn by looking at google is pretty silly if you ask me.

Originally I asked for a single mow so I just judge their competence but nope have to sign up for 3. They missed the first date and then gave me a 2 day window for the first mow. I have a locked gate not going to leave it unlocked for two days not knowing when they would be there.

To be fair to the guy that actually cut my yard he did a credible job so this review is no reflection on him.

The last straw was I got a text saying my payment (they charge your credit card and I have reviewed my statement and there is not a single invoice there) was declined. I notified them that my card had been used fraudulently and ask that they give it a couple of days since I asked my credit card company to honor that charge since it was legit. The next day I get an email saying they were suspending my service due to non payment so I again sent them notification about the problem with my card and telling to cancel the service immediately. I will take care of the charge if it still exists when I get my new card.

Bottom line I would not recommend this company for lawn service. Too much trouble to get anything done and they are NOT a full service yard company. They are an a-la-cart service with no attention paid to what else the yard needs unless you tell them. And then they bid it sight unseen. (google does not count).

I am not attaching photos because the job done was credible and I have no real complaints about the actual job.

IF I could give a 0, I would. I cannot explain the headache and damage the the Lawnstarter crews have done to my pristine lawn in the one month of taking over my mowing. Not only has almost every scheduled job been cancelled and rescheduled at the end of the day in which LawnStarter were supposed to show up, I have YET to have a crew do professional quality work. A 10 year old could cut my lawn better. I came home to find failure to cut the whole property, failure to cut evenly, they burned my lawn in areas, other areas were scalped, left uneven row/squares, left it super overgrown in other spots, clumpy and/or didn't even cut the backyard which now looks like a jungle. And when I told them they had to bag it to remove all the dead grass due to their failure to cut in a timely or professional manner, the crew that showed up said they couldn't because it was too long.?!?!?!? You cannot speak to the crew directly, the company tries to keep all communication through email or the app, both of which suck. I've only had one manager, Kim, who actually tried to be helpful and I was able to talk to one time on the phone but the crew that showed up again did a half-butt job. Lawnstarter keeps rescheduling someone to come fix my property that THEY damaged while days and days go by and my lawn gets further out of control. All I asked is for my lawn to be maintained in the super clean condition I left it in and now, after years of maintaining, fertilizing, spraying and de-thatching... they have destroyed what was green, plush grass in one month. I have given them chance after chance to just put my lawn back in to the shape it was when I left it and every crew fails. Now, I have a house going on the market with a crappy lawn versus the amazing grass I had!

I had recently moved from D. C to Mesa, AZ where I purchased a home. Maybe like many of you, I did a search for highly rated lawn care as my grass (front and back, under 1000 sq ft) needed cut immediately upon moving in. I contacted Lawn Starter as LawnStarter "appeared" to have a high rating. They sent a guy out the following week to cut the grass. I entered an agreement to have my lawn cut every two weeks on Wednesdays. Last Wednesday came and nobody showed up. I didn't notice until Friday the 10th of June 2020. I called Lawn Starter to inquire as to why I was now two days past getting my grass cut. I did not receive any sort of good explanation, something to do with "crew scheduling mix up" or something to that effect. HOWEVER... I was told that the following Monday (yesterday) that someone would be there to cut my grass, and would be receiving a $15 discount. Okay, a company at least trying to "make things right" so I said fine. I pulled out of my garage this morning to go to work, look over at my lawn and NOBODY SHOWED YESTERDAY! I now have grass and weeds approaching two feet tall now in a neighborhood (non-HOA) where ALL of my neighbors maintain their yards! I called and asked what is going on over there and was told that I've been put on a "Monday/Friday schedule." WHAT?!?! So guy didn't come yesterday (MONDAY) and now I have to wait (AND HOPE) that someone shows in three more days?!?! My lawn will be a jungle by then! Terminated my service with them 20 minutes ago.

AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE YOU WOULD THE PLAGUE! You've been warned.

Contacted Lawnstarter May 12th to begin weekly mowing on the 14th and also requested quote for some additional yard maintenance. On the schedule date of the 14th I received a text from someone affiliated with the company that due to the inclement weather the service would not be provided and would be rescheduled a week later on the 21st. I replied and asked if at all possible could we get it done sooner than a week an was told LawnStarter would try, never heard back and it was not completed. I had also received a quote for $188 to complete the additional weeding and mulch work and replied in the affirmative I wanted it completed, it was scheduled for the 21st as well as the re-scheduled lawn service.

I am travelling out of the mainland U. S (helping the restoration efforts in the Virgin Islands) and really needed to get my yard taken care of as my wife works and does not have the time to keep up with the yard maintenance as well. Lawnstarter was recommended by a friend and so I investigated and decided to engage your service.

No one showed up or called or emailed or texted me on the 21st, 22nd or even today (until I cancelled the service). Really disappointed in your customer service.

Nobody showed up to compete either the mowing or the yard work on the 21st or 22nd as scheduled and requested and confirmed.

As I havent paid anything Im not out anything really so

But, I will make sure to let my neighbors (Facebook friends, colleagues, acquaintances)know and pass along your service is not really any service at all

The app based platform and a-la-carte services are a great concept, but, unfortunately, LawnStarter are not for me. Last November, I put in a request for a one-time lawn treatment (for weed control), and I still have not received a response. When I went on the site in November to inquire about the status/complain about the lack of response, the response I got was to switch the crew that was mowing my yard. Quotes for leaf removal are not consistent. I need someone to manage my yard and do what needs to be done when it is needed. If the grass isn't growing but the yard is covered with leaves, I need the leaves picked up. It shouldn't cost any more than it does to mow the yard if it doesn't pile up. I don't want to have to suspend my lawn mowing every week and then have someone else come out and pick up leaves upon request after I approve the quote. When I request a one-time treatment, I expect to receive a response. My yard is full of weeds at the moment. I have requested bids from two other companies to manage my yard and will be switching once I have had a chance to review the bids and pick the best provider. Again, this is a very cool concept, but, unfortunately, it is not what I am looking for. I suspect it works great for others who don't mind taking a more active role in the management of their lawns.

We were existing customers and tried to change our credit card number due to a stolen card. First LawnStarter cancelled our weekly service because they couldn't charge the card; DUH it was changed. When i emailed them (because they make it impossible to speak to a live person) to say yes i changed the card number and they were finally able to find the new one, they were unable to reschedule me for service for a month. Then they wanted to charge me for a long grass fee. WHAT?!?! Because of their mistake? I don't think so. The rescheduled day finally arrives and the crew cancels the mow the moment they arrive because we have 2 large boulders sitting in the yard near our mailbox (we had some emergency plumbing work done) both weigh over 1 ton each so they are not going anywhere anytime soon... instead of just mowing around them and trimming around them which would take an extra 3-5 minutes they just cancelled. I contacted customer service thru the app, no response. Email, no response. Phoned and got nowhere. Called in as a new customer with same conditions, rocks and all, and they agreed to mow my lawn same day... for less than what I was already paying weekly. Needless to say, I have found a new service and they will also be doing my rock removal and new sod this fall. Thanks, but no thanks.
The yard work was excellent when they came though... for what that's worth.

I signed-up for a mowing service with Lawnstarter.com and it was a nightmare from the very beginning.
For the first job, LawnStarter charged my credit card twice... one for $29 (w/ one time $15 discount from their normal price) and another for ~$72 ($39 + $39 (long grass charge) - one-time $15 discount) without any notice before or after the job was complete.
After several emails with multiple service reps (having to explain the situation from the beginning every time), they decide to refund me $29.
Needless to say, I'm pretty pissed off! I suspend my service, thinking that I would no longer be on the schedule, which would effectively cancel my subscription, but to my surprise lawnstarter has another hidden trick up their sleeve... suspending my service only stops it for only the next scheduled service. To my surprise, they have cut my grass again and charged me ~$80 again with no details on my billing details on what the charges are for... there is no f'kn way they can claim 'long grass' charge again, cause I cut my own grass less than two weeks ago.
I am now livid with this stupid-ass company. This time, I find a hidden in plain site link to cancel my subscription, but guess what?!... Lawnstarter has another trick up their sleeve. I go through the process of cancelling my service subscription and find out that my subscription will be cancelled after my third service, which means they might charge me $80 again!

This was the worst experience! First, it was great, justified the higher price that comes with dealing with a 3rd party. But, that guy quit. Next person LawnStarter send out, days later, looks like a meth head. Shows up and walks around my house, including my backyard, before he ever came to the door to announce who he was. His truck was beat up clunker and his "equipment" was a junk yard mower, rake and garbage can. I have better equipment in the garage. I tell him no thanks, I'll call Lawn Stars in the morning... oh yeah he showed up at 7pm! Then sits outside my house for 45 minutes. Weird, but whatever. We tell lawnstars that we expect better. They said it would be another week, at least, to have someone out, but they would not charge us for any extra clippings (picking up after themselves). They send out another push mower guy (I happened not to be home) and it looked like my 10 year old, that's never used a mower, did it and left the extra clippings. Call again, they apologize said the next would be better and no charge (because THEY DON'T EVER DO REFUNDS... this will be important later) and they'll send someone tomorrow to pick up the clippings, at no charge. We decide to give them yet another chance. Of course, they charge us for them to come out to pick up clippings ($5 less than an actual mow). Call them again, they offer yet another free mow for the mistake. They finally have a better person come out, not as good but at this point we're beyond frustrated and it's almost end of the season. The end of October we decide to cancel the service, we'll do if it's needed. We text (they can see the texts) the mower and tell him not to come, send the company and email and call to cancel. The next week the mower marks it done and then marks it "skipped" meaning he didn't mow. They still charged us! We disputed it with the bank and them. They agreed he didn't come and they wouldn't dispute the bank... they did. We call back yet again, they see their mistake and will refund. Then call back and say they can't bc it wasn't cancelled "correctly" until the 22nd... even though the mow that was skipped and charged was on the 29th. They can not refund it. Even though they admit there was no service provided. When you call, they can rarely take care of it, you need a supervisor. A supervisor has to call you back, which takes a day or never happens. Then they need to transfer you to their supervisors, which have to call you back. The whole thing is a scam. DO NOT USE THESE PPL... save the $20 middle man fee and find another service.

I started my service with lawn starters on September 17th 2020. It is now Oct 17th 2020 and I the company has rescheduled me and changed cancelled the day of 16 times! It took almost 2 weeks for my first cut to actually happen and the guy didn't even do a proper job. He said his trimmer wasn't working so he couldn't edge the property. I understand that things like that happen but it just added to the already incompetent job that lawn starters had done. LawnStarter don't give you any notice that they aren't showing up. I would leave my gate open for them as I'm the type to want to greet people if they are coming on to my property. I changed my daily activities and errands around the times lawn starters was suppose to arrive and 16 times I was cancelled without a notice. I only found out from going on to the app after they constantly no showed. When you first sign up they give you a $20 free credit if you write a review for them but you have to copy and paste the pre written perfect score review to get it. Of course everyone does that because who doesn't want a free $20 right, but looking back on it this is just another sleezy tactic to boost their reviews. Please don't trust this company if your life depended on it. Due to this company I recieved a fine from the city for unkept lawn as I was relying on them to fulfill the promise of actually cutting my grass. Iv attached pictures of my rescheduling as I know some folks can exaggerate but this is no exaggeration folks stay away!

I searched on Google and found LawnStarter when I needed lawn mowing service for my investment property in Garland, Texas. I saw their ad that you can get your first mowing for $19 and decided to give them a try. Well, I wish I had read the latest review here first before I ordered their service. LawnStarter are not a lawn mowing company but a marketing company and sent your information to other lawn service company who will do the work but share the charge with them. They did not charge me $19 but over $50. In their argument that the grass was over 6 inch tall. They also told me that I had to use their service at least three times. The second time they sent me text message and told me that the lawn was mowed last Thursday. I went to my property on Friday and found out no service was performed and the grass was still tall. They texted me and asked for feedback. I told them about it, attached all pictures and rated it a one star. No one ever contacted me back. Today, I saw they charged my credit card again. So, I asked them why they charged me without performing the service. I was told that I had to call them back within 4 days if I did not get my service. Be careful what you are paying for. I paid the money and did not get the service. I wish I had seen the latest review on them first before I placed the order. Will not do business with them any more.

We used them twice. Just to be clear this company works with different contractors so you get different people all the time. The 1st guy came out and did a great job I was impressed and booked the 2nd service. My husband and his brother was in the process of putting up a brand new swing set to surprise the kids. After the people came the next day or so LawnStarter went outside to begin putting it back together when they noticed a significant amount of damage. Some of it was done with a mower and a lot of it was done with a weed whacker. Is supporting pieces were severely damaged. The swing set was over $1600 didn't even have a mark on it prior to the service. Not only was the swing set badly damaged but we have a 50 year old a agave plant on the property. You can clearly see the Mark's of a weed wacker and they took the weed wacker to that too. Not only did they mark up the outer leafs but they literally took it to the inside of the plant, keep in mind these plants when they get to be that age are about 3' to 5'. Its clear that the damage was done purposely and it was then a form of vandalism verses carelessnesse. Taking a weed whacker to the inside of an agave plant of that size is no accident. My husband is a disabled vet. We dont have a lawn mower or weed wacker since it's too hard for him to handle. We have 2 security gates for anyone including ourselves to get through to the property and this company keeps fighting me telling me there's no proof. They literally are saying unless there's a camera on my agave plant they are not responsible. Besides what looks like vandalism the 2nd most concerning issue was the lack of accountability. Obviously some bad stuff happened with their team and you would think the company would try to make it right in the most fair way. Instead I've been getting emails of them fighting me saying I can go out and find a contractor to repair the beams that were damaged and they can just reimburse that... I'll be honest with you it's really concerning. This company should be reported to the better business bureau.

I started with the weekly service in June and LawnStarter did an okay job for the first month, then everything went crazy - I went through 4 different crews as the crews didn't show up for the set window or didn't do a good job or the crew actually went to the wrong address and cut someone else's lawn! Supposedly Lawnstarter discussed with the crews what happened but nothing was ever communicated to me, they just assigned a new crew... and new problem. As of August 29th I have not had my lawn mowed in over three weeks, despite customer service reassigning the service. Customer Service can only pass a notice to the "assurance team" or "managerial team" and promise they will follow up with the customer, which never happens. Customer Service can also schedule additional services (like long grass cutting or bagging the clips, since my lawn is over two feet high) but if a crew doesn't pick up the job, nothing happens. Also, these services are at additional cost - to get them covered by the company, another department needs to weigh in. If I did not call them to check up, I did not get any information. I do not recommend you use this service - it can go well initially, as they have access to multiple crews but when it goes wrong, it goes WAY wrong. I'm now looking at spending over $200 to have my grass cut, not to mention what other issues may arise from letting the grass get this long. I would have changed company sooner, but I wanted to believe they would address the issues and I've been traveling so not able to be home to locate a single guy with a mower.

This year I was looking for a new lawn service because my lawn care service I had been using previously retired. After doing my research lawnstarter came highly recommended and I really loved I could schedule in an app. My first mow (on April 8) was uneventful, crew was professional and nice and did a great job. But that was the only time my lawn has been mowed. The next mow was scheduled between April 19 and April 21. On April 20 my boyfriend came home to the front lawn mowed and the gate to our back yard completely broken and the latch bent backward. I also got an email that day saying "our crew had to cancel and LawnStarter were looking for a new crew". All I can figure is instead of just fessing up to breaking my gate latch (maybe a $30 fix, not a huge deal, things happen) they just cancelled the mow and left. I was out of the country for work the next few days and I had trusted LawnStarter would get back to me. But by Thursday morning my lawn still hadn't been mowed so I called and spoke to Janice, who was very kind and professional and ensured me they would help with my gate and a crew would be at my home by Monday. I explained the situation that now my lawn was a week late being mowed and if they could get someone there before the weekend and I was hosting a party that weekend. She put a rush and ensured me the lawn would be mowed either that day or the next. I got home from my business trip and lo and behold my lawn STILL isn't mowed. I had to relocate the party I was hosting over the weekend and, still giving them the benefit of the doubt, assumed it would be done on Monday (yesterday) but it still isn't mowed. To add insult to injury I received an email this morning saying that my lawn had been rescheduled to tomorrow because another customer needed to reschedule; as well as an email asking for proof that the crew that broke my gate latch came to my house, which I don't have other than the context clues that one lawn was mowed and the other not and my gate was broken. Incredibly unacceptable way to do business.

I hired this company for a while. This was one of the worst experiences I have had with a company. This company was ok for a while then got terrible. For example, few months back the guy came and because my grass was a bit more grown, he charged 4 times! His regular agreed price. Even in their own website this maximum extra fee is less than that ( I guess twice). So I did not complain, assuming that he will be coming regularly. After that I think he came one or two times. And suddenly, after that he skipped that mow and said it was because of weather. The next week he did not come either, and I realized that it is not a whether issue he probably wanted to keep me waited for some other reason. Eventually after about 2-3 weeks, the company said he won't come. Since then the company is promising to send someone, I can't believe it's been almost 1.5 months LawnStarter keep saying someone will come tomorrow. Not that I'm an idiot to trust them, but I'm extremely busy. Lastly, they wasted so much of my time and at least 6-7 times promised useless things but no one eventually came.

My advice, if your time matters and you don't want to experience an unpleasant relationship, this company is not for you. Otherwise, I don't recommend this. If you are ok with all this, they are $3-$4 cheaper, on the positive sides.

If you love your LAWN STAY AWAY! This company is not operating with its customers best interests. This company has a platform that gather sensitive and personal information. NEXT LawnStarter expose your personal home address and contact information with shady contractors who are non professional, discriminatory, And criminal acting. As a NEW customer I HAD to terminate my agreement to receive initial services, because lawn starters contractor Jeff did not want to honor a request that I'm at the residence to Meet prior to the start of services. He declined to work at the property and claimed he would remove me from schedule. However, he sent a subcontractor to my home unknowingly and destroyed my bushes, left clippings all over the place and then vanished. My neighbors called and reported to cops suspicious people taking dozens of pictures in an unmarked car riding back and forth, while another person walks around with a hedge trimmer destroying the bushes. Worst experience of my lifetime! I hope no one ever work with these shady people.

We recently Purchased a home that had been vacant for a period of time. We wanted lawn cut, dethatched and aerated plus three bushes that were too close to the house removed. Two individuals arrived. One stayed with a small walk behind rotary mower and a ryobi battery powered edger while the other drove away. The one person mowed for about 1 1/2 hours and left the lawn about 2 1/2 - 3 inches high. He then needed an outlet so he could charge the weed eater which ran out of charge twice. After 2 1/2 hours the second person arrived at which time LawnStarter chopped the juniper and one over grown shrub down loaded them in the pickup and a time home built trailer, took some photos and left without dethatching or aerating the lawn. Before they left they acknowledged they hadn't finished and said they would be back to complete the agreed upon job. We were charged $744.00 by these crooks who said the crew had pictures showing the completed work. Lawnstarters does the billing and collection of funds then pays the "landscapers". We've complained to the corporate representatives and their response was that we are S. O. L. Do not use this company and their un vetted fly by night crews!

The two crews I have had did excellent work in my tiny front yard. The first fellow was particularly great. The second crew also great, but LawnStarter showed up after I called and had that particular mow "skipped." Communications with the company for scheduling (as is their "policies") were very poor, as was the customer service in general. It doesn't matter if the reps are cheery or bubbly or wish me a blessed day when orders or requests by the customer are ignored. It matters is if communications and customer requests aren't honored. If I skipped a mow - crew showed up anyway. Also, also on several occasions, email is sent too late reschedule. In addition, my area is in a drought - highly unusual, but it happens. I only needed mowing 1x per month during this, but that is not offered or acceptable. I am on a fixed income and cannot afford mowing services when not needed. I definitely agree with Anthony G. On this one. Forget it if you have a small lawn or even need 1x per month service on occasion. No. I won't recommend them.