We tried them for three years, and each year the particular crew that serviced our landscaping needs kept getting more and more lax on completing a quality job. Finally, we dropped them, and didn't realize what we were missing in good yard-keeping until our current yard crew began doing what we never dreamed was possible.

I will try to just mention the things I can prove about Green Works. The most irritating was that they would leave both of our gates open 99 percent of the time. We eventually purchased signs to hang on the gates and showed them to the workers. It worked a couple of weeks, then the dogs starting taking advantage of the gates left open by the crew. This is fact, not personal opinion.

Also, while the crew worked around our house, I would go out and speak to them about planting small citrus trees, blueberry bushes, a Loquat tree and a couple of other items. They would use the excuse that they had time constraints, so we agreed that over the years they served our property, they could do these requests the next time they came out. We even called the owner and asked for specific services that were not completed.

Once, a wildfire came awfully close to our house, and all the neighbors turned on their sprinklers. We had requested Green Works to service out well pump a couple of weeks before, but the person who was said to be an expert in that task, didn't show up. Should the fire skip over onto our property, I would have only had a garden hose to fight it. The owner never called, but when I called him, he said his pump expert was out sick when he was supposed to show up.

The crew Green Works sent out was apparently supposed to make a quota of stops per day, since they would race through our yard and be gone before we could get out to make a request. Time and time again, I would ask one of the guys to plant bushes, I would show them the bush that needed planting, and the spot I wanted it to go. I had to end up planting the blueberry bushes myself.

The new yard crew spends over an hour or two on our yard every time they come to our third of an acre yard, and cover all the bases. We were so impressed with the new company, we wanted to give them a hug and a tip.

There is no excuse for shoddy business practices, carelessly leaving both my gates open, skipping over requests, and racing through with necessary tasks.