Lawn Mower Guy Never Showed

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
A neighbor to whom I was telling my lawn mower troubles recommended a local guy and said she would try to find his phone number and give it to me. Yesterday afternoon just before 1 pm my phone rang and the person said that he was the lawn guy and the neighbor had given him my number. He said he'd be at my house around 4 pm to look at what needed to be done. 4:00 pm came and went as did 4:30, 5:00 and 5:30 and no sign of the guy. At 6 pm, I tried to call him at the number that was on my caller ID. The call just went to a voice mail and he never showed or returned my call. I feel that this is terribly inconsiderate not to call and tell me he would not be coming if something came up. And if he forgot, it speaks to me that he is not very reliable. He may have done a drive-by and felt the job was beyond his ability, but still should have let me know that, and if mowing a 1/4 acre of lawn is beyond his ability, he's not a very good mower man. Now if he does call back, how should I handle it - give him another chance or tell him to mow off?
 

Errrrm...I would think the drive by was the more likely scenario, given that he rang you 3 hours prior to say he'd be there .

I'd start looking for someone else to mow your lawn!!
 
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I would look for someone else, and also let your neighbor know he was a no show, with no explaination. So she would not suggest him to others.
 

This is a real thing with me - (excluding emergencies), no show/no call and excessive/repeated lateness...REALLY tick me off. :mad: :mad: :mad:

To answer your question, if he calls I would curtly say "I'm no longer interested" and hang up. If neighbor says something, change the subject.
 
I called my neighbor and told her what happened. She said he was supposed to come and do her lawn on Saturday, but he called her and said it was too wet to mow. At least he called her. Of course, if he doesn't feel comfortable doing my yard, I'd prefer he didn't, but at least tell me. Some guys won't mow if there's a big tree, hedges, fencing or anything else they'd have to go around or be careful of or if there's a steep slope - I have all these. I have a huge maple and an historic marker that have to be considered as well as a stockade fence on the north side. Also my neighbor has put in a flower bed right on the property line and surrounded it with loose bricks. Even when I mow with my walk-behind, sometimes I will hit it and knock bricks loose. I try to replace them, though. I've calculated my lawn slopes an average of 5° and the closer it gets to the front public sidewalk, the steeper the slope. Lawn guys just want to go up and down and done.

front yard.jpg
 
That lawn looks pretty straight forward to me, mine has many more mature trees and we do it ourselves...so I reckon you've got a lazy guy there, so forget him, find someone more reliable!!
 
I don't see any problem with mowing that yard, I could do it myself with my gas mower. If I were you Deb, I'd find a reputable lawn service in your area and hire someone to be there on a regular basis. A neighbor of mine has someone come every two weeks, I'm sure if it's raining or too wet that day, the agreement would be to come on the following day. I'm sure there are a number of lawn services in your area, we always get ads for them in the mail....or you can use the yellow pages or look locally online.
 
If he does a nice job on your neighbor's lawn at a price you are comfortable with then I would reserve judgment until the next time he mows for your neighbor.

If he doesn't provide an estimate then I would start looking at other options.

If you do need to start over I would focus on someone that could provide year-round service for things like the lawn, leaf blowing/removal, snow plowing, gutter cleaning, etc...

It may cost a little more but IMO it is worth having one point of contact with a company that you trust rather than managing multiple relationships.

Good luck!
 
I saw the woman that recommended this lawn guy and she asked me if he ever called me back. I told her he didn't. She must have called him because that afternoon, he called me again and apologized for not getting back to me because he was in the hospital for a while, but is now ready to work again and said he'd be here this afternoon.
 
Keep us updated Deb.... very odd he was in hospital given he rang you the same afternoon he was supposed to come round. I personally wouldn't trust him at all... but it's your call!!
 
Nope, he never showed. I called the woman that told me about him and she defended him. She said he's been very sick and had pneumonia and it is a side-effect from his throat cancer. If he's that sick, he shouldn't even be trying to work.
 
Trade said:
Life is too short to deal with people like that.

Lose his number.
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^^This.

Several people have told you to forget him and find someone else, yet you've been going on about it for several weeks, debodun.

I wouldn't waste any more time on it...too much hassle and drama...I'd find someone else.
 
debodun said:
Yes. I told the lady there are plenty of other guys around that do lawn mowing that don't get sick every time they get in their trucks and to not contact him anymore about me.
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Good! He doesn't deserve a chance to mow your lawn! Even if the reason he didn't come was legit,which I doubt it was, he still should have called you beforehand, and explained why he wasn't going to be able to be there. The fact that he didn't, says a lot about him. I wouldn't let him do it either!
 
Guess what - he called me today. I didn't answer the phone, but he left a message explaining that he didn't come Tuesday because it was raining hard and he doesn't work in the rain. He asked me to call him back if I still wanted hm to come and look at the job today.

It had rained early in the morning, but the sun had been our for hours by 2 pm when he was suppose to come. And that also doesn't excuse him not calling and telling me that. I have not returned his call.
 
debodun said:
I didn't want him to mow, I wanted him to give me an estimate on doing the leaves this fall.
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debodun said:
She said he's been very sick and had pneumonia and it is a side-effect from his throat cancer. If he's that sick, he shouldn't even be trying to work.
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Is the potential for a man with throat cancer to get a job good where you live. He might have to work at what he can do.


debodun said:
Yes. I told the lady there are plenty of other guys around that do lawn mowing that don't get sick every time they get in their trucks and to not contact him anymore about me.
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You do recognize that throat cancer doesn't come and go


A little confusing. You wanted an estimate for getting your lawn mowed. According to your post you didn't want your neighbor to Quote "contact him anymore about me" . Now you want an estimate from him according to this post to clear leaves that haven't fallen yet?

Wouldn't you be better off looking for a lawn care company that is licensed & bonded to do what you want?
 

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