Uptown Lawn & Snow

I used Uptown L&S for lawn mowing. I only chose them because they were already doing the service at the house when I bought it this summer. At $ 30/​week it seemed like an ok deal and something I wouldn’t have to think about for my first few months of home ownership.
I noticed that the first few mowings were quite good, but as the summer went on they performed the service faster and faster (since I work from home I always knew when they were there) and one time they did the whole lawn in 7 minutes! Needless to say, the quality was commensurate.
This week they completely missed several spots on the lawn. I emailed them to let them know and also to let them know that given the end of the season and the dwindling quality of their work they could stop performing the service.
Their reply? My invoice. No reply, no apology, no customer service.
IF what you want is «just barely good enough» … hire these folks. If you want quality and customer service, hire someone else.

I used Uptown for snow removal last year, and while it put a dent in my bank account, I didn’t regret it — service was prompt and thorough, and my back was extremely grateful.
However, when the time came to renew my contract for this season, I was also emailed a coupon for «Free overseeding with aeration.» Thinking this was a really good deal, I replied to their office manager asking how I could take advantage of it. When she replied with what it would cost — about $ 100 — I realized that the coupon meant «free grass seed when you purchase our aeration service.» Maybe the wording wasn’t clear, maybe I was just stupid; in any case, she told me to let her know if I wanted to do it — which, at this point, I definitely didn’t.
A few hours later I’m emailed an invoice for the aeration. I email back asking what the deal with that is, and a day or so later the office manager gets back to me — apparently the owner just saw the email where I’d originally inquired about the service, and since he already had a crew in my neighborhood, sent them over to do the work.
I appreciated the explanation, and said so in my reply, but I also wanted to know if they expected me to pay the invoice, considering I didn’t officially request the work. To that I got a curt response from the business owner; he wrote that he didn’t understand the confusion, and that he thought he was doing a good thing having the work finished so quickly.
So my final message to them said that if they did insist I pay the invoice I would — but I wouldn’t be using them for snow removal any more. They stayed silent, so that’s how it worked out: they made $ 100 for lawn aeration, and probably lost $ 1000 for one season of snow-​shoveling (and I assume I would have continued going to them in the future).
I’m sorry for the long review, but I wanted to fairly explain the one star. In short, the services they offer are performed well; but, for me anyway, that quality was undone by staggeringly poor customer relations.

While I was traveling this fall and winter, I needed to make sure that my sidewalks were kept clear. Sure I could have not shoveled, but then it might become obvious that I wasn’t home. I didn’t want to attract the wrong type of attention. I also wanted to avoid getting a citation from the city as well as their crew coming and shoveling my walk for the bargin price of $ 150.
I checked with several different companies and decided on Uptown Lawn and Snow for a several different reasons:

1) They were about two miles away from my house
2) They offered flexible contracts that allowed me to establish the months I wanted to subscribe. (I needed someone for November through February — the other three services I checked with either didn’t offer a monthly rate or only allowed it with a «whole season» October-​April purchase.
3) They promptly returned my call and seemed to have the time to talk about the services they offered.
I was able to make it home a few times during my travels and they were there promptly in the morning to clear my walk (I live on a corner), porch and keep the area around my trash can clear. Even Christmas morning, they were out there at 6 am.
I was extremely pleased with their service and on one occasion, I thought we hadn’t received the requisite 1″ needed for them to respond, and they came out just as I had started. I felt good to be able to go back inside and leave them to do the «heavy» lifting.