Additional Information for Green Lawn Service

September 20, 2019
BBB's role in the marketplace is to ensure the public's confidence in advertising and to promote trust in business. In BBB's general review of advertising, we note this company's web site includes statements such as;
"best guarantee in the industry"
"best lawn service"
"Voted Best of the Best by Cleveland Daily Banner Two years in a row" "WE HAVE THE HIGHEST RATINGS... in Tennessee"
"continues to remain the top name in local Cleveland, TN"
"In many cases, a homeowner will seek out a dedicated landscape designer or yard architect for their lawn renovation needs. However, these service providers often take your designs to the extreme, costing more than you expected and left your yard looking like a theme park." "When other landscaping service providers take your plans too far..."

According to BBB's Code of Advertising:
27. Superiority Claims - Comparatives - Disparagement
Deceptively or falsely disparaging advertising of a competitor's products or services must not be used. Comparisons should fairly reflect all aspects of the products or services equally.
28. Objective Superlative Claims
Claims that relate to tangible qualities and performance values of a product or service can be used when the advertiser has substantiation. An example of a claim requiring substantiation would be "#1 car sales in the city."
29. Subjective Claims - Puffery
Expressions of opinion or intangible qualities of a product or service do not need to be substantiated. Such claims include "we try harder" or "best food in the world."

BBB requests the company consider modifying its advertising verbiage by using the statement, "among the best," or like language. Regarding "best guarantee in the industry" claim; if a company has researched every other business in its industry, and discovered that no other business has a more advantageous, customer friendly guarantee, and provided it can produce the research for public viewing, the statement is warranted. These are among the specific steps a company must take toward substantiating such claims. How else could a company possibly know they are the only company in their industry with such a favorable guarantee?
Additionally, we strongly encourage the company to refrain from using disparaging statements with regard to competitors. Rather, allow their company's reputation of strong ethics, excellent products/services and dependability, to form and grow deep roots over time, thereby, speaking for itself.
Finally, when advertising Ratings and awards, specific agencies and dates must be included in the text. Awards and Ratings must not be advertised past three years after receipt of such.

BBB's objective is to preserve the selling efficiency of advertising in our market place. BBB's Code of Advertising can be viewed in its entirety at https://www.bbb.org/code-of-advertising

10/07/2019
Green Lawn Service informed BBB they will not honor BBB's request that they modify advertising verbiage. This Advertising Review is now closed.