Although the final tree trimming results were acceptable and I would welcome back his field supervisor (who was very pleasant), I will NEVER EVER recommend this company to anyone as long as Dave owns it.
WHY?? Read on:
Overall, as we progressed from estimate phase, to actual work phase, and finally, into "pay the bill" phase, Dave's demeanor became progressively unprofessional and rude and I began to realize that full disclosure was not exercised on his part . In the end he made it very clear that I was inconveniencing him when I tried to pay the bill-something I had never encountered before.
A few of the many examples of his unprofessional/rude behavior and lack of disclosure include but are not limited to the following:
A) During the estimate meeting, Dave & I initially agreed on 5 trees at approximately $200/tree for light trimming. Further discussions took place and he stated that if the price were increased to $300/tree the workers could take more time, do a more thorough job, and work without his onsite direct supervision pointing out each specific branch to trim. To this I agreed, & subsequently received an official quote for $1500 via email. What was a surprise was a request with the quote that a 10% deposit be paid up front, something that was not at all introduced during the onsite estimate meeting.
B) When his workers first arrived on site, he pointed out that a few of them could not be trusted to climb trees because they were "clowns."
C) Especially disappointing was his treatment of his staff when he showed up near the conclusion of the work. Even though I had agreed to pay more so he didn't have to be onsite to continuously supervise them AND so they could spend more time trimming my trees, he berated them for taking too long while he was away tending to other business.
D) When the final bill was presented, it included terms that allowed for 2.5% to be discounted off the final total of $1500 if paid in full within 5 days. On the day after the job was done (on a Saturday), when I tried to use the online link provided by Dave in the final bill email, it only gave me the option to pay the full amount of $1500, not that amount discounted by 2.5%. When I called Dave about this that same day, he stated that no one had ever asked him about that before and did not offer up any alternate solution. When I finally asked if he had one of those Square Credit Card Readers for his cell phone, he said he did but was too busy to take the time to come out to my house to collect on that Saturday and then asked why I couldn't just pay by check? After I reminded him that was never an option, when I offered to drive the 10 minutes to his office and pay up right then, he initially replied very rudely that he was too busy with other work to stop long enough to do that. When I next inquired about his availability over the next 2 days, his tone increased in rudeness, and, as I stated above, he made it very clear that I was inconveniencing him by trying to pay the bill.
E) After some strenuous urging on my part, Dave finally agreed to take credit card payment at his office that Saturday but when I asked him to text me his office address, his reply was "NO" and when I asked why, he stated that this was just another task that he was too busy to do right then so i just had to write it down!!
In conclusion, my direct message to you, Dave, is this:
- Customers are not responsible for the headaches of running your private business so don't take it out on us when things aren't going smoothly for you.
- Where repeat business thrives on word of mouth, you can expect none of this from me based on your unprofessional and rude behavior.
- If I didn't know better, I'd swear that you were doing everything you could to keep me from taking the 2.5% discount - a discount you failed to inform me of until the final bill showed, a discount that I did not ask for, and a discount that you yourself offered. It felt like a bait & switch...
- You appear to have purposely chosen to completely ignore prior negative review comments on Yelp, comments that could have helped you avoid this latest negative experience by another dissatisfied customer. read more