We signed Dougherty up last year to remove the leaves from our small property (a job which took their crew about an hour and for which they charged $250 per visit). The agreement was that they would come twice: mid-October and end of season. Last year they came over two weeks late for the first visit (various excuses). But since the work itself was O.K., we gave them another try. We emailed them in September, asking them to come on the same schedule. When mid-October came and went, we emailed a reminder to them, and (without explanation for the delay) they promised to come October 27th at 8:00 a.m. They didn't show up, and when we hadn't heard anything from them by 9:45, we called them. The scheduler (the owner's wife, we believe) was defensive and argumentative and only apologized for the "confusion." When we asked what "confusion," she said there was a problem with a crew and therefore we would be pushed back until the following week. We protested, angrily, that this had also happened last year, and that we felt this was poor service, particularly since they hadn't called to explain the no-show. At this point the scheduler said that if we didn't like it we could just get someone else (not easy to do at the last minute during "high season"). Finally she said they could send someone out the following Monday. We agreed, but expressed some concern about a prediction of heavy rain for Sunday and Monday morning. Four minutes later the receptionist called back, said they didn't like our tone, and announced they wouldn't come at all. Who needs this? We're senior citizens, but we're doing the work ourselves now. Both of us used to work with the public and would have been fired if we had dealt with clients the way they dealt with us. Apparently, Dougherty's philosophy is that no one can complain about poor service to them, even if the complaints are justified. Avoid. read more