From the first day late in June 2013 when the workers were cutting down the pine tree while loudly…read morearguing & swearing right through our first contact with them since they ruined our property to the tune of about $880 for repair--which is our first invoice from them for the work done in June--has left a very sour taste in our mouths.
After cutting down the pine tree, shredding the branches, & cutting up the logs they told us they would be back for the logs & to trim the black walnut. They indeed did come back--one person very lightly trimmed a small section of the black walnut & told me he needed a bucket to remove the dead branches & to trim the rest of the agreed upon branches. Less than half of the work was done on the black walnut. It was never touched again--with no explanation!
Likewise, an employee did return with a large 6 wheel flatbed truck to retrieve the pine logs. It had been pouring hard for 4 straight days before; our entire property was waterlogged. The area in the back where the truck would have to turn was underwater! We told the employee that it was too wet, but he went ahead. He had to drive near the perimeter of our acreage to avoid the leachfield & then turn in toward the pine stump and logs. This was the area in standing water.
He got the truck stuck (after leaving approximately 3/4 acre length of about 9" huge ruts--you've got to love those 6 wheel trucks!) & when he tried to get out, the size of the now mud patch enlarged. They left it in our back yard for over a week before bringing an excavator to get it out. This caused more damage to our property. They never ground the pine stump or removed the wood chips that would have resulted (a fee on our proposal). They said they would be back.
The agreement was that we would pay them nothing at all until they had ground the stump, removed the wood chips, finished trimming the black walnut, AND repaired our lawn to my approval (meaning bringing in topsoil, rolling it, leveling the much needed topsoil to fix the huge amount of damage where the truck was stuck, planted grass, and re-rolled the ruts this spring). It was agreed.
No one came. It was well over a month before an employee came unannounced, looked around and said he saw no damage. Of course not--when we heard nothing from them, nor did they come to finish the agreed upon work of stump removal and tree trimming--we had to move forward with our making of a garden where the pine was and repair our property so that grass would properly grow. To do so it took about 10 hours of labor on our part.
To add insult to injury, the worker who had come intending to grind the stump not only did not have a grinder, but the smaller grinder needed seemed to have a burned out motor! When he told me they would be back with a rented stump grinder, I said no. I did not trust they would come back to grind the stump and remove chips. I did NOT tell them they should not finish the dead limb removal and trimming of areas of the black walnut tree. But they never came back, nor did they contact us to tell us they would not complete that agreed upon work!
I had expressed to the employee that the repair of the damage they had caused was so high and because they couldn't , they would end up owing us money!
We were going to let this go until we were invoiced for the work done on June 29, 2013--we received the invoice the last week of January 2014! And the invoice with "adjustment for lawn damage reflected in price of pine" stated the cost of the removal of the pine was $300 when the original proposal listed $600--but that was to include grinding the stump--NOT DONE.
Clearly they had no concept of the cost to repair that much lawn damage. The list is as follows:
* 2.5 cubic yards of topsoil at $32 plus tax: $86.40
* Gas for two trips to Garden Factory: 30 mile round trip x 2=60 mi @ 20mpg; 3gal x $3.79/g=$11.37
* Rental of small skid steer for 1 day: $275, delivery each way: $98 (X2=$196) + tax ($37.68): $508.68
* 3 bags of grass seed: $6.98 x 3 plus tax= $22.62
* Cost of rolling repaired ruts twice (summer & this upcoming spring) by landscaper, plus tax: $54.00
* Cost of time to complete repairs: 10 hours=$200.00
Total cost of repairs to our property: $883.07
Total of properly adjusted invoice from Vandervort: $486.00
AMOUNT OWED TO US by Vandervort: $397.07
We are notifying the company by email with documentation of cost & photos of the truck stuck, showing the water, mud, & depth of tires in the mud. It would be wise for them to write us a check. We are shocked they actually invoiced us when they never finished their job nor did they repair our property--and they have never contacted us after the far too late arrival of the one employee supposedly to repair our property & to grind the stump! Six months later, they have the audacity to actually bill us. So, we are adjusting the bill to reflect their payment of the completed work needed to be done to repair the damage they created.
