I have very conflicted feelings about my experience with this company. On July 4th, I conceded with my husband and agreed to hire a professional tree/landscaping company to get our yard in a manageable shape. Between working late nights on our own business and taking care of our infant son, it's very hard to get yard maintenance done. We settled on a $500 budget to prune some trees/bushes and to clean up leaves in the front yard, with some money each month to go toward yard maintenance. I filled out a form on Yelp to receive quotes from local professionals.
RESPONSIVENESS: 5/5 stars
On July 4th (Wednesday), despite it being a holiday, A&J called us and scheduled an appointment for an estimate on Friday. To be honest, I was super impressed by their responsiveness. They probably would have made it possible to have the estimate on Thursday if I had been available. The other companies were much, much slower to respond. We confirmed they'd also be able to take care of the leaves, since the company's name has tree in it.
PRICING: 3/5 stars
Their original estimate was $900, which included the leaves, trees, etc. It was a lot higher than our budget and a lot higher than their competitors, who quotes $250 to $400, or hourly rates. We declined the estimate in person.
They called back and said they could do it for $650. We confirmed this included the leaves, which was VERY important to us. They said it did and we agreed. They had a much better first impression to us than their competitors and we like to support local businesses. Plus, many of the competitors were one man operations and this was a team, or so we thought. We could get the work done sooner.
TIMELINESS: 1/5 stars
Our appointment time was scheduled for 9 a.m. Monday July 9th. To get the infant up and ready to go out and meet the tree guys, we had to get up early to breastfeed him, etc. At 10 a.m., the tree guys hadn't called to say they were late.
I called and they said they were still coming. I asked to cancel the appointment because it wasn't a good sign they hadn't even called to let us know. The woman kind of begged for us not to, but I declined anyway.
A few minutes later, a man called us and begged us not to cancel. He said that he had to pick up a crew member from the airport, had a hard time finding someone to work that day, didn't want to let us know about it because it was unprofessional, etc. I let him know that not letting us know about a delay was less professional. He confirmed he could get it done in only a few hours with his team and that he'd be able to take care of the leaves, which were the most important part of the job since it's in the front of our house. Because we wanted the job done as soon as possible, we said it was okay to continue with the appointment. A few hours later, the owner and one other guy arrived.
HARDWORKING: 5/5 stars
90 minutes into the job the contract laborer the owner used quit. We felt so terrible for the owner, especially since that's why he said he was late. It's summer in Florida, so it's hot. I know he's a tree guy (in literally the most amazing shape I've ever seen any person in real life), but it's still hot. He kept working and didn't throw in the towel when the worker quit.
PROJECT SATISFACTION: 2/5 stars
He did make a real dent in cutting down the trees, however, he didn't finish the job. When I got back from picking up the dog's medication from the vet, I said he'd made real progress and asked about the leaves. He sighed a bit and said "oh yeah, the leaves." However, he just pushed the leaves into the bush and at the end of the day, said the leaves would be a different project. Except, that's a large part of why we hired him.
We wanted our yard to look like we paid $650 for professional yard maintenance. The yard isn't done. The leaves have already started to blow back from the bushes and the yard looks like it still needs to be maintained.
My husband notes how he could spend a few days getting the yard in order and that the tree company helped him get closer to having the yard maintained. If he spends a few days working on it, it might look good. However, that's not why we paid $650 for professional yard services.
We spoke with A & J Tree Specialist at least four times about the leaves to stress that it was very important to us. In fact, had he not finished the backyard, but honored the agreement with the leaves, this review would have been 4/5 stars, even with not calling about being late.
Now we're stuck in a weird position. Do we hire someone else to finish the project? Does my husband cancel some work tasks to spend a few days finishing it with non-professional tools? Should we have hired the other company to begin with? Perhaps. read more
