Standing behind a product with Vigor - o
Sometimes a product doesn't live up to its promise. I had a bad case of the weeds. Not just those broad-leaf nuisances that grow in a lawn, but the ones that huge stalks grow from, quicker and higher than your lawn could ever grow. These buggers would have stalks a foot tall with flowers or dandelion balls within 3 to 4 days after cutting them down. Now, admittedly, I am the world's worst lawn maintenance guy. I would tear out the lawn, and cover the ground with green-colored gravel if I could. I rent a property with about 10,000 square-feet of lawn, and even a pesky mole to tunnel under it. If I could only get that pest to eat the weeds only....
Anyway, I go to Home Depot and tell the clerk in the aisle that I need some kind of weed controller. She points to Vigoro Weed and Feed. I really don't want the lawn to grow too well (that means I have to cut it too much), but I want to kill off the weeds, and this stuff is supposed to do it. I buy 2 bags - supposed to be good for 5,000 sq. ft. each. Total with tax costs me over $20.00.
I cut the lawn, and water it, as per instructions on the bag. I use my Father-in-law's push spreader, and as I pass over each weed, give it a little twice-over to cover the weed better. It barely covers the entire lawn.
I then wait for the weeds to die. Two days become three, and then four. A few weeds turn dark. The rest seem to benefit from what I did, and the stalks are starting to grow again. I feel the bags should say Feed The Weeds, instead.
I, being the man of action that I am, decided that I have been had. I find Vigoro's web site. I find the link that says, "contact us." I fill out an email form. The weekend passes. I get an email from a woman who says that if I am dissatisfied, I have to send in the original sales slip, and the UPC bar codes from the bags, plus a letter stating that I am dissatisfied. I have thrown the bags out! I know this is not good. Then I remember: In my backward little town, they pick up the garbage one week and the recyclables the next week. Last pick-up was recyclables. That means the bags are at the bottom of my garbage bin. Sure enough, there they are, covered with rotting food. Frankly Charlotte, I didn't give a damn. I pulled out the bags and cut the odoriferous bar codes out. I emailed the lady at Vigoro, and told her I had all the stuff to send back, but asked if it was possible to send in a copy of the sales receipt. I remembered that there was another item I had to take back to Home Depot, and I needed the receipt. She said that the refund department insists on the original receipt or they won't make a refund.
I had to travel over to Home Depot to return the merchandise, but Home Depot will give you back the original receipt, so I was covered.
I sent the original receipt, the UPC symbols, and a letter stating that I was dissatisfied and wanted a refund of the whole amount, with tax. I waited about four weeks, and an envelope came from Vigoro. They refunded only the money that I spent on the product, sticking me for the tax. The letter in the envelope said they hoped I would still buy their products. Yeah, right. Maybe in my next life.
I then bought Scott's competing product, but more than I thought I needed. I followed the instructions on the bag (pretty much the same as Vigoro's). I stopped and took a handful and sprinkled it on each weed that I could see. Within four days, each weed looked like it had been nuked. I know I have enough lawn food on my lawn to make it green and grow like the dickens. The good thing for me is that we have had a particularly dry summer and the lawn doesn't grow much if you don't water it. I know it will become real green and grow like crazy once the rainy season starts. Hopefully, the first frost will soon follow, and it won't grow much. If only I could invent a lawn that was green, and didn't grow, and didn't have any weeds. I could make a fortune. But for now, I am ecstatic that my lawn is yellow, not very high, and has big brown-black holes where the weeds used to grow.
Moral: If you buy Vigoro Weed and Feed, don't throw out the bags, buy it by itself, so you don't need the receipt to return another item to the store, and be prepared to absorb the sales tax. Or just go out and get the Scott's product to begin with, and save yourself time, aggravation, gasoline, and money.
Anyway, I go to Home Depot and tell the clerk in the aisle that I need some kind of weed controller. She points to Vigoro Weed and Feed. I really don't want the lawn to grow too well (that means I have to cut it too much), but I want to kill off the weeds, and this stuff is supposed to do it. I buy 2 bags - supposed to be good for 5,000 sq. ft. each. Total with tax costs me over $20.00.
I cut the lawn, and water it, as per instructions on the bag. I use my Father-in-law's push spreader, and as I pass over each weed, give it a little twice-over to cover the weed better. It barely covers the entire lawn.
I then wait for the weeds to die. Two days become three, and then four. A few weeds turn dark. The rest seem to benefit from what I did, and the stalks are starting to grow again. I feel the bags should say Feed The Weeds, instead.
I, being the man of action that I am, decided that I have been had. I find Vigoro's web site. I find the link that says, "contact us." I fill out an email form. The weekend passes. I get an email from a woman who says that if I am dissatisfied, I have to send in the original sales slip, and the UPC bar codes from the bags, plus a letter stating that I am dissatisfied. I have thrown the bags out! I know this is not good. Then I remember: In my backward little town, they pick up the garbage one week and the recyclables the next week. Last pick-up was recyclables. That means the bags are at the bottom of my garbage bin. Sure enough, there they are, covered with rotting food. Frankly Charlotte, I didn't give a damn. I pulled out the bags and cut the odoriferous bar codes out. I emailed the lady at Vigoro, and told her I had all the stuff to send back, but asked if it was possible to send in a copy of the sales receipt. I remembered that there was another item I had to take back to Home Depot, and I needed the receipt. She said that the refund department insists on the original receipt or they won't make a refund.
I had to travel over to Home Depot to return the merchandise, but Home Depot will give you back the original receipt, so I was covered.
I sent the original receipt, the UPC symbols, and a letter stating that I was dissatisfied and wanted a refund of the whole amount, with tax. I waited about four weeks, and an envelope came from Vigoro. They refunded only the money that I spent on the product, sticking me for the tax. The letter in the envelope said they hoped I would still buy their products. Yeah, right. Maybe in my next life.
I then bought Scott's competing product, but more than I thought I needed. I followed the instructions on the bag (pretty much the same as Vigoro's). I stopped and took a handful and sprinkled it on each weed that I could see. Within four days, each weed looked like it had been nuked. I know I have enough lawn food on my lawn to make it green and grow like the dickens. The good thing for me is that we have had a particularly dry summer and the lawn doesn't grow much if you don't water it. I know it will become real green and grow like crazy once the rainy season starts. Hopefully, the first frost will soon follow, and it won't grow much. If only I could invent a lawn that was green, and didn't grow, and didn't have any weeds. I could make a fortune. But for now, I am ecstatic that my lawn is yellow, not very high, and has big brown-black holes where the weeds used to grow.
Moral: If you buy Vigoro Weed and Feed, don't throw out the bags, buy it by itself, so you don't need the receipt to return another item to the store, and be prepared to absorb the sales tax. Or just go out and get the Scott's product to begin with, and save yourself time, aggravation, gasoline, and money.
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