We hired Tim to remove three large branches from two trees in our backyard based on a most satisfactory experience with him in the past. He gave no indication that there would be any problems, quoted us a price that seemed reasonable and indicated that it would be to remove the branches entirely. Or at least to the point where, as he stated, it would not make the tree look terrible.
When the crew arrived they seemed to have no idea what they were there for. When I told them what I had discussed with, they swore that if we removed the large branches it would kill the tree. Tim never said anything about that when we first discussed the job. But I trusted their expertise so I told them to remove as much as possible without harming the tree. The crew worked for maybe two hours and while they did cut the branch off of one tree, all they did to the other was to cut off some of the smaller branches from the larger ones. Again, they swore that they'd cut off as much as they dared without killing the tree. This was not what we had agreed upon. They also damaged several decorative lights that we had strung up around our yard and left scratches on our fence. They insisted upon the full amount we had agreed upon of $750.00 and told me that if I had any concerns I could call the office and Tim would make it right. Foolishly, I gave them the full amount. They don't take credit cards and did not provide me an invoice.
When I later called the office manager, Sandra, she seemed shocked that the job we had discussed had not been completed and assured me that she would contact Tim and make sure that he stopped by and took a look. When I mentioned the damage she said that people were supposed to remove anything fragile from underneath the tree but apologized for not saying so. I didn't hear anything after that despite several calls and texts. When I did get a hold of her she was short tempered and claimed that I had called her while she was visiting a sick friend. I apologized for interrupting her at such a crucial time and she said she would make sure Tim would get back to me. For several days I heard nothing despite several more calls and texts.
When I finally did hear back from her she rather snippily texted that Tim had stopped by to take a look while we weren't home, despite the fact that we wanted to speak with you personally about this, and that he would refund us $100. I misunderstood the text and assumed he would be stopping by. When I asked for clarification she told me that the branches on the tree were too difficult to remove due to their proximity to the fence. This was never mentioned when Tim first came to our house nor did she say anything about the crew's assurance that removing the branches would kill the tree. If that had been the case we would never have hired him simply to remove some small branches. I told Sandra that we were not satisfied with this and she rather rudely told us that we weren't tree experts and that as such we didn't decide what the price was. She further said that as for my wife's "little lights" we should have had the common sense to move them and that the refund amount was not negotiable, the balance of which would be in the mail that following Friday.
That was almost a week ago and we still haven't seen any refund. Needless to say we will never use this company's services again. read more
