I originally was quoted to have 2 stumps removed in my front and back yard. Both were about 4' in diameter. The owner of that company said I would have to move the pile of dirt out of the way so he could grind the entire diameter of the stump, especially where the ground around it was raised up. He said he would have to get it level to the surrounding ground because the stump and/or more roots would be there. The job was passed along to Stump Pro. The owner, Rob, texted me and told me on the 9th of July that he was coming out on the 10th to grind the stumps. I told him I wasn't going to be able to move the dirt until the following week and he assured me it didn't matter. He said if he missed anything he would come back out and take care of it. Before he left the first time, I texted him to make sure he got the exposed roots "about 5 feet from the stump" and he said he did. After inspecting, he missed a few. He came back and took care of them as promised. Note that I hadn't moved the dirt pile yet and now there was over a foot of mulch covering the entire area of where the stump was ground. When I finally rented a tractor and removed the dirt and mulch (it was a FRONT-LOADER). It revealed a portion of the stump that was not ground down entirely. I did not have a back-hoe and remove dirt from the ground, only spread existing dirt from the pile next to it. I texted him this:
"Unfortunately, the stump or at least a large portion of it is still there. The rain really exposed it. Can you come out whenever you are in or near the area?"
He gave me a thumbs up and then told me if it was something that HE felt he missed, he would have no problem taking care of it.
I did not dig further down to reveal more stump. He came out and told me it would be $75. He felt like he was getting taken advantage of and needed to be compensated since it was his third time out (even though the second time was his fault too). When I told him the job was not done and I would not be paying him, explained why and told him he could leave if he didn't want to finish the job (over text), he never responded, instead just packed up and left.
I don't know why it is so difficult to find a decent contractor these days---He had the equipment, a great business, very nice man at first, but when the time came to make things right he refused and became rude. If you are still reading this, that means he has not made it right with me. read more