Booths specialized tree service, do not use!!

[ericmyers]

Hello. After the recent huricane i had a large oak and a pine that uprooted leaning onto my nighbors trees. I contacted Booths specialized tree service and they were the first company to get out there. We agreed on the job which was removal of my two trees, one of her trees which was dead and removal of the tree that was holding up my big oak. Also he said he would grind all the stumps. I also pointed out how all of the surrounding trees had broken branches that need trimming and he agreed to remove them.
He emphasized about how professional his work is and someone else may come in and hack the job for cheaper but they wont do the job properly.

So they came out and did the job. They ended up having to remove another tree because it was dammaged beyond health. Me and my neighbor stupiditly payed them before they finished the job. When they felt were done they just drove off without talking to me or my neighbor. They failed to grind her stumps completely claiming they couldnt get there truck back there. They used a crane to remove all the trees. I didnt see a bucket truck with them. So with no bucket truck they had no way to trim the seven large broken branches dangling up in the surounding trees.

I called back that week and expressed my dissatifaction with there work. The employee then started a heated conversation saying he dosent do work for free. I reminded him of the $2800 they were paid for this job and what was agreed on. He seemed as thou he felt i owed him something.... He agreed to head out and fix it "sometime this week" this contiued for 4 weeks, me calling him reminding him to come out and stating he will be out "sometime next week" the last time i called him was 2 weeks ago .

The branches are still dangling some 20' long and 4" dia. They look horrible and are dangerous. I will be uploading pictures to this thread to more clearly illustrate the issue. I will be contacting BBB about this but wanted to get them out on the board before someone else has an issue with them.

They also drove into 2 of my good oaks and pulled of a good chunk of bark. Its understandable because i have a lot of trees in my yard but they didnt even say anything about it... Not even a sorry.

oct 12 was the fourth and last time i called them. We had a quick 1m20s talk where he said he would come out and trim them "sometime next week". He had until the 21st and ivd had it with them.

[beachcat]

i learned the hard way, get the task at hand in writing. don't pay until the work is complete (1/2 up front, balance when finished).

[GWguy]

Always get a signed contract clearly identifying the work, never pay in full before it's finished.

I suspect you'll not get satisfaction, even if you go to small claims court.

[SoMDGirl42]

With all the work with the hurricane, I would have thought if anything folks would learn to get the work contracted to do in writing.

The guy I hired to do my work wrote the contract. Before signing and starting I had a few minor changes we made in pen. I gave him 1/3 down to start the work, and final payment when the work was done. He went above and beyond what he was bound in our contract. I would highly recommend him.

[RoseRed (Premo)]

My tree guy performed the work without a deposit (we had a signed contract), knowing that I was awaiting a check from my homeowners insurance.

[DQ2B]

Why don't you take it to small claims court?

[itsbob]

Originally Posted by GWguy

Always get a signed contract clearly identifying the work, never pay in full before it's finished.

I suspect you'll not get satisfaction, even if you go to small claims court.

That they didn't draw up a contract points to how professional they really are..

[Vince]

Call Kerwins next time. He came out, gave me a written estimate. Said he'd be out Saturday. Was there Friday because Saturday was going to be rain. Took down a large oak in the front yard that was a danger to my house. Even knocked $200 off the bill when he was done. This was a bad tree in a bad spot. House on one side and power lines on the other. He and his guys had that large oak down in under 2 hours and the stump ground into the dirt. This is the second time I've used Kerwin and I'm very satisfied with his work.

[bohman]

Originally Posted by Vince

Call Kerwins next time. He came out, gave me a written estimate. Said he'd be out Saturday. Was there Friday because Saturday was going to be rain. Took down a large oak in the front yard that was a danger to my house. Even knocked $200 off the bill when he was done. This was a bad tree in a bad spot. House on one side and power lines on the other. He and his guys had that large oak down in under 2 hours and the stump ground into the dirt. This is the second time I've used Kerwin and I'm very satisfied with his work.

I'll second that. He and his crew work hard and do what they agreed to do, even if some unforeseen problems crop up during the job (which is what happened at my house). They aren't the cheapest option, but you'll get what you paid for.

They even came back and re-seeded parts of my yard that their equipment tore up; that wasn't covered in my estimate but they did it anyway. I didn't even have to ask them for it, they just did it.

[ericmyers]

BBB complaint was filed for a partial refund. I hope i get some sort of compensation for this headache! Wish me luck.