Summary:
While the final outcome of the work completed was good, the overall experience was extremely frustrating and disappointing to say the least.
Pros: Price, The tree was removed, Roof cleared of all fallen debris that accumulated prior to and during tree removal.
Cons: Lack of professionalism, Extremely poor time management and communication, Charges added to final bill that were never previously discussed or mentioned at any point during process, Trucks left blocking driveway overnight, Trucks left for almost 2 days after job completion, Debris blown into storm drain by crew.
Details:
Called JW Tree Service on Monday 8/3/15 and left a message requesting an quote to remove a large Maple tree in our front yard. The right half had become diseased and literally died within a week (leaves turned brown and small limbs started falling off onto the roof). Got a call the same night from the owner who said he would come out on Tuesday 8/4/15 to take a look. He arrived at the house at 6:30pm and after some discussion wrote a price quote for $1,500 on the back of his business card which included cutting down the tree and removal of all wood. I was extremely happy with the price because other quotes that I received were twice as much. He stated that he would check his schedule and get back to me about a date.
Owner called on Friday 8/7/15 and said that he and his crew would be out the following week (8/10 - 8/14) "at some point" to complete the work. On Friday 8/14/15 he called and apologized saying that he had "truck maintenance and equipment issues all week" and would come out on Saturday 8/15/15 to start the work and finish on Sunday 8/16/15. When I questioned about working on a Sunday I was told "We work 7 days a week." Saturday and Sunday came and went without a call, text, or tree crew.
Wednesday 8/26/15 I called the owner and left a message to find out why the work had not been completed yet as I was having larger and larger limbs and branches falling on my roof. This was making me more nervous about the tree falling onto the house. Thursday 8/27/15 I was called and told "We will be there tomorrow". Received a text message on Friday 8/28/15 at 1:40pm informing me that they were still at another job and "Is it ok if we start fresh tomorrow morning?" That night he arrived with one of his trucks and parked it in front of the house. I was told "We will start mid morning...around 10-10:30am." Saturday 8/29/15 at 1:56pm I received a text message stating that they were still at the job from Friday and would come out early Sunday or Monday. I responded that if the tree wasn't down by Monday I would be contacting another company. Sunday 8/30/15 no call, no text, no crew.
The crew finally arrived on Monday 8/31/15 after 1:00pm (They had just finished setting up when my wife came home for lunch at 1:45). The majority of the tree was cut down when the crew piled into a minivan and left for the day at 5:15pm. When they left, they left one of their trucks parked in (and blocking) my driveway so I could not pull into the driveway, the second truck with the chipper parked in the street in front of my house, and the front yard looked like a tornado had ripped the limbs off the tree and thrown them all over the front yard. You could barely take 3 steps off the front porch. The water hose was disconnected from the back of the house and the faucet was dripping creating a trickle down the driveway (we have to pay for city water and sewer) and it looked like a small river had just started to dry up from the amount of water that was used during the day. Tuesday 9/1/15 the crew arrived after 10:00am and began cutting down the remainder of the tree and cleaning up the debris that was left from the previous day. Then I watched (from the security cameras) as they proceeded to blow the woodchips and sand from the cleanup into the street and shovel them INTO THE STORMDRAIN! When they left at 3:30pm, they left both trucks and the chipper parked in front of the house and partially blocking my neighbors driveway and left them there for 2 days.
The owner texted me at 9:30pm and stated that the price was $1,645.25. I questioned the increase and was told "State tax" and informed that I was being charged extra because he "hit metal" in the tree 3 times. I became annoyed that none of this was ever mentioned previously. He called me at 10:00pm and stated "Well I didn't put the metal in the tree and you never told me there could possibly be metal there", even though we both mentioned the rusted metal flag holder in the tree during the first meeting when I was quoted the price. Ultimately it wasn't worth the argument at 10 o'clock at night.
While the price was still well below other services, I think next time I will pay more just for the professionalism and less aggravation. The end result of the work was good but I would not recommend this company due to the month long aggravation. read more
