County Farm Service

I called County Farm Service (CFS) to spray our trees for tent caterpillars. CFS sent a representative, Kenny, to look at the property and provide an estimate. I decided to also have him do a perimeter spray. Kenny said that our neighbors across the street would also need to spray, since their trees had caterpillars. I talked to my Home Owners Association and to my neighbor and arranged to have the spraying of the two properties on the same day. Kenny said that for some of the trees, he would not be able to use his truck but would have to carry the spray down the hill to the site because of the steepness of the hill. He did not give us a written estimate, but that is not unusual in this rural area.
I arranged to take off work to supervise the spraying. The weather report for that morning said that there was a high likelihood of rain, and the skies had dark rainclouds. I called Kenny, who insisted that it was fine to spray. I refused. There was a substantial rainstorm an hour later. If Kenny had sprayed, it would have been wasted effort.
We arranged the spraying for the next day. However, Kenny did not knock on the door or let me know that he was at the house, although I had told him via phone that I was there and my car was in the driveway. I watched some of the spraying from the windows and deck, specifically the spraying around the house. He told me he had already sprayed the trees.
I asked if he had finished spraying the neighbor’s trees. He then told me that the trees actually belonged to a different absentee neighbor who probably was not going to spray. I asked him why he hadn’t told me that before he started work, since I probably would have cancelled the order. He repeated said that the trees did not need to be sprayed – that they always «come back.» I asked him why – if the trees did not need to be sprayed – he had done the spraying and charged me for the work.
Since he said he had done the spraying, I went ahead and paid him the $ 350 we had agreed upon. However, as he left, I noticed that there were no footprints or tire tracks going down to the trees with the tent caterpillars. I called Kenny and asked him about this. He admitted that he had NOT sprayed these trees – the whole purpose for my calling County Farm Services! He said the ground was too wet to get his truck down to the trees (although in the estimate, he said he was going to carry the pesticide because it was too steep for the truck). I asked him if he was going to come back to finish the job. He said yes.
I called County Farm Services and talked with the branch manager, Don, who said he would look into the situation. I followed up with an email outlining the situation. I had not heard back by Monday mid-​morning, so I cancelled the check and sent an email to Don saying that I would be happy to pay the full amount as soon as the work was completed. I asked him to schedule a new appointment to have someone come out and complete the spraying.
Having another appointment to complete the work means that I or my husband must stay home from work. It is a considerable inconvenience.

I’ve been using County Farm Service for my horse hay, feed, & supplies for over 12 years now & have never been disappointed. They also helped me out with some impromptu snow plowing during our last big blizzard.
Friendly «go out of their way» service & quality products. Their Montana Alfalfa is out of this world for horses — leafy, but still fibrous, & TOTALLY weed-​free. And if there’s a problem, they make it right immediately. Terrific folks.