Don Tiss Lawn and Landscape Service

My red flag should have been when Don came to give me a quote and mentioned I live in the «high end district». I like to think I can afford nice things because I make financially responsible decisions. Anyways, Don once charged me 40 $ to change a sprinkler. My fault for paying it and not knowing they cost around 6 $ to replace.
As I read the reviews of others I can see that my experience with this company has been about the same. Don may have had a good company at one point and is trying to allow his sons to take it over. Unfortunately it appears that they don’t speak to each other and it reflects on their inadequate service.
If you are looking for a company to do a satisfactory job then look no further. Don will charge you above average prices for satisfactory work. I rather pay more money to someone who I know will give me excellent service rather than to pay a local company like Don’s and get crapped on.
Good luck paying your bills Don, you lost another customer due to your greed and shitty service.

Sorry for the lengthy review!
I would strongly recommend AGAINST using this service. At first impression, he seemed very knowledgable and professional. He came, gave me a reasonable quote for all the catching up and maintenance that needed to be done before my baby shower. FIRST RED FLAG: After he left, I called and texted him regarding a quote to remove a tree in my front yard… NEVER called me back. I had also made a specific request for him to ask his son Matthew to call before he headed over the following week so I can make sure to be here for their first day, considering all that needed to be done before the baby shower.
His son showed up early unannounced and startled me when I saw a strange guy walking in my back yard! Granted, I knew someone was supposed to show up, but didn’t expect the guy to just open my gate and walk into my backyard before announcing himself. To make sure we had a clear understanding of what needed to be taken care of on their first visit, I asked if his father had given him the details. his response was: «NO». So, I took the time to go over all the things I had gone over with his dad (Don). That took about 15 min. My backyard is not that big, but it has a waterfall and a pond that wraps around to the middle of the yard.
In the meantime, he had two guys helping him take out weeds and clean up two planters. As I spoke with him, he gave me no indication of what he was going to do the first week and what he would leave for the following week before the shower. He in fact, nodded and said OK. Part of the major clean up was to pull all the dead plants from the pond and clean up behind the waterfall because that is the major focal point of our back yard.
However, I was shocked, when after going over all the things that had to be done, he and his guys were gone without saying a word no more than 15 mins later! I walked out to check what had been done only to realize that the main things like the pond and the sprinklers in the front yard had not even been touched (which was imperative for him to fix on the first day because we had just removed the tree, and put in a new patch of grass that was already dying due to wrong sprinkler placement and watering time rotations – he told me he would rotate a sprinkler head to make water run better on that new patch of grass– he didn’t do that either). The two guys that were apparently removing weeds from the pathway and on the side of the pond in the back yard, had not even finished the job and left all the river rocks unturned in the pathway. They had started to take out the weeds and looked like they started to on the other side of pond, but. never finished! They had also started to trim the banana leaf tree by the fence, they trimmed a couple and didn’t finish the the rest! My husband did a much better job trimming the banana leaf trees on the other side of the yard. In the front, he left the clippings off the pigmy date palms on the ground and didn’t bother cleaning it up or throwing them away. Nothing was finished that was started that day!
So knowing all the unfinished work that they had left to do the following week, I followed up and called Don to let him know that there wasn’t much done and that his guys had left a lot of work unfinished for the following week, when it was supposed to have been clean up today, do maintenance next week before the shower. At least that was the impression his son gave me when going over everything.
When Don calls me back, I noticed he was already defensive and irritated with my message. When I tried explaining the reason for my concern, he became very argumentative, defensive, cutting me off without letting me speak. It was obvious to me he didn’t want to hear anything I had to say about his son’s work. Nor was he interested in hearing me out, or any of my concerns regarding all the work that had been left undone and everything that they were leaving for last minute.
He became rude and more defensive and tried to put the blame on me making it seem like I was being unreasonable… So unreasonable in fact, that I even had my husband cut all the grass and trimmed most of the trees in the back yard before they came, so that they would have more time to focus on the main things like the pond and the front yard sprinklers.
Needless to say, I pointed out he was being unprofessional — and he HUNG UP ON ME!.. I was shocked. For someone who claims to be a professional and wants to increase his business, he certainly did not show any professional etiquette nor did he show any class or maturity. I looked up another review about his service and was not surprised to find that what was posted about his service is pretty much what I tried pointing out to him; that his guys did not finish any of the work they claimed they started on the first day nor were they here as long as they said they were. So, do yourselves a huge favor and avoid this guy!

We used this service for approximately three months. In the beginning, the work was fine. Week by week, the quality of work declined to the point that I had to spend a weekend in my front yard to clean up the things that weren’t getting done. They were to spend about half an hour weekly on my lawn, but neighbors reported to me that they were there for 10 minutes, max. I spoke with the lead person on the crew, but the work didn’t improve.

Love the service I receive from Don Tiss and his crew. I’ve had his lawn care service for a few years and they have always been dependable, my lawn is always beautiful and their prices are so reasonable! When I had any problems with my sprinklers or other issues they responded immediately. Love this company!