I prefer to give companies good reviews and stay silent on sub-par service, but I want to share my experience with ArborTech. The core problem is the owner, Don, taking responsibility for his work. He and his office manager / wife blamed day laborers' lack of knowledge for the issues I experienced.
In the last half of 2023, the ArborTech crew was doing work per the written scope (tree trimming and stump removal), but when Don left the job to pick up forgotten material, his crew cut off many lower limbs of a ~40' fir tree rather than trimming the outer 12" which were hitting a shed, leaving a lopsided uneven tree which no longer provided privacy between neighbors. The outcome was so bad, I had them remove the tree. I paid them the original bid amount.
Because I was still trying to work things out in an equitable way with Don, we agreed that he would buy me two trees and some shrubs to fill in the now-empty space and I'd pay him to install them. We made an appointment at a nursery to pick out the trees. Don was 45 minutes late; his wife claimed he was stuck in traffic. He said nothing about being late once he arrived.
During conversations at the house and the nursery, he shared the following:
He could get in big trouble for ruining my tree
His day-laborer worker didn't speak English and so didn't follow instructions
One of his employees was using drugs in front of a customer (I was on the phone with him when this happened and heard him yell at the person)
After shopping, I decided against engaging ArborTech for the installation. I thought it would be too risky. In response to my decision, Don said, "Now you're trying to F--- me over." His office manager / wife supported him in subsequent phone conversations in which she personally attacked me. After several conversations, Don agreed to deliver the trees and shrubs, with the understanding that they were not responsible for the trees' health, which was fair.
Fast forward to March 2024 when I engaged another company to prune one tree and take care of limbs damaged by the snowstorms. The new company recommended treatments to the pine and fir trees to prevent insect damage.
I informed them that ArborTech had done that, but there were no notes on the quote regarding the precise treatment. The new company called Don and he informed them that he had no notes regarding the treatment, so we do not know when the next treatment will be needed.
Bottom line: the work that went well was fine. The way the problems were handled and lack of documentation overshadow the good work though. read more