Short version: Trusting Jorge because of our previous experience with him, I paid in full on the first day. He never finished the job. Now, about three weeks later, he does not return my text messages (texting has been our primary mode of communication from day one). Photos attached (sorry they are not in order - uploading mixed them all up - but they are labeled).
Long version: Based on our fantastic previous experience with Jorge and his crew at Green View Landscape and Tree Services, we hired them again, about three weeks ago, to come trim all our trees, take out a few, and rake and clean up our eucalyptus grove floor that had too much fire-dangerous, accumulated debris.
Unfortunately, this time around, our experience has been completely the opposite of fantastic. What was supposed to be a one-day job is still not complete almost three weeks later, and Jorge has not responded to any of my texts for a while now. As he walked our property with me, I made a record of what Jorge would do and how much it would cost us. I will include photo documentation with this updated review. The first day his crew came, their chipper broke and they were unable to complete the job. Jorge assured me they would come back the very next day and then proceeded to ask me, earnestly, if I would pay him up front since, as he claimed, he had payroll looming and most of his commercial accounts were slow to pay. I had only ever had reason to trust Jorge, so I went ahead and paid him, in full, without hesitation.
The next day, Jorge's crew did not show up. I texted him later in the day and he said he was unable to acquire the working chipper as promised, but that they would definitely be back the following day (Friday). We were going to be hosting a large gathering that day and I told Jorge folks were arriving by 1pm. He assured me they could finish by 11am. Sure enough, they were all cleared out by about noon and we hosted our gathering with no issues. However, after they left that Friday at noon, I walked our property to check out Jorge and his crew's handiwork. To my dismay, I discovered that the apricot tree in the grove had not been trimmed as agreed and the eucalyptus grove floor had been left unfinished, with large debris piles raked together in some areas and the floor completely untouched in other areas. I texted Jorge at noon and he did not respond. On Monday, I texted him again and he responded that they would come out Friday or Saturday to finish. That's a week after they promised to be finished. I texted Jorge Friday to confirm they would be coming. No response. I texted Jorge Saturday to see if they would be coming. No response. And the last text I sent him was Tuesday to share with him my disappointment at his unprofessional treatment. No response.
Next step: I will be filing a complaint against Green View Landscape and Tree Services with the Better Business Bureau as well as contacting my bank to see about disputing the portion of monies I paid Jorge for services that were never rendered.
Moral: Just beware. Jorge is a super nice guy, but if you decide to engage his services, do not pay until your job is completed in its entirety. I don't know what happened, but I can guess that maybe the job ended up taking longer or being more work than he anticipated and so, rather than responsibly finishing that to which he attached his honor and integrity when our agreement was struck, he took my money and bolted, leaving us with a mess we have neither the time to clean up ourselves nor the extra money to pay (again) to have cleaned up. read more