Landscaper TruGreen's sales, billing tactics 'deceptive,' New York AG says

The nation's largest lawn and landscape care company lured consumers to sign up for its services using deceptive pre-pay offers, then didn't cancel when asked, applied pesticides without permission, and billed for unwanted services, the New York State Attorney General's office says in a complaint.

New York AG Andrew M. Cuomo's year-long investigation of Memphis-based TruGreen Lawncare alleges the company, which serves 2 million customers through 300 branches in the U.S. and Canada, used informal, phone-based oral agreements to lock consumers in auto-renewing service contracts.

As a result of misleading solicitation by telemarketers, many potential customers understood they had only agreed to receive and review a proposed contract. Consumers who later decided not to use TruGreen did not return a signed contract, and did not believe they had agreed to any service that required proactive cancellation, much less that they had to pay for it.