Unethical Business Practices; Rude and Unprofessional Business Owner
We had an ash tree that hung over part of our house that was scheduled to be taken down on August 3, 2021. My husband noticed on July 16 that there was a limb that looked compromised and just to be safe (since we have a little one that plays in the backyard), we thought we should get somebody out to take it down sooner.
My husband called Morton's and luckily they said they were going to be in the area the next morning and could come by and take a look. My husband asked how much it would cost and was told that it's $135/hour and it should take no more than an hour. Great! (Note: the only context we have is that taking down the entire tree is going to cost us ~$2,000.)
Morton's crew showed up the next morning. I was initially surprised that they would send out 5 guys for just 1 limb, but then my husband told me that they were just down the street taking down an entire tree. One of the guys evaluated the compromised limb and said that he would recommend taking down the limb. My husband confirmed once again that it would be $135/hr and the guy confirmed and said that he should be in and out in an hour. And that they were. They were courteous and efficient.
So it was to my surprise when I was emailed a bill for $675. I immediately sent it to my husband who was also shocked. I pointed out that the bill specifies that it's $135/man hour and not $135/hour, so with 5 guys...that's $675 for the hour. They sent out 5 guys to take down a tree down the street, but 5 guys did not work on taking down our 1 limb; surely, this HAD to be a mistake. I chalked it up to a clerical billing error. My husband called the next day and spoke to someone in the front office and left a message for Don, the business owner. A week passed, he had not heard back, so he called again and once again, left a message for Don. Again, no call back. What are we to do at this point? We were provided with a verbal estimate from two Morton employees that this service would cost $135/hour and that it would take no longer than an hour, so we expected to pay $135. Their invoice even states within the line item, "Please discuss with client how long you think the job will take and the overall health of the tree prior to beginning job". We can't get a hold of anyone and we're not going to pay $675 for a service that we were quoted $135 for. So we wait...
We receive a 2nd invoice in the mail on November 28, 2021. This time I called since my husband was not having any luck.
Don calls me back the next day and this is how It starts:
Me: Hi Don, thank you for returning my call.
Don: Now, tell me why you are not paying me.
Me: Don, it's not that I am not paying you, I think there is a misunderstanding...(insert Don's repeated interruptions, accusations and continued rant).
He said things like...
When I told him that we were planning to have the tree taken down as a part of the context of the situation, he rudely interrupted and asked why we didn't use "the other company" to take down the limb (as if that has anything to do with the situation).
"You really expect me to believe that you thought it would only cost $135/hour? Do you even know how much it cost to fix a car these days?" I told him that I am not in this industry and the only context I have is what his employees quoted us. He told me I heard them incorrectly.
When I told him that I did not appreciate the tone that he's taking, he said,
"Do you hear me swearing at you? I'm not even swearing at you."
I wish I had recorded the conversation, but I was just so caught off guard with his accusatory attacks and overtly antagonistic and condescending language and tone, especially for a small business owner. It ended with him telling me he's going to send me to collections and his famous last words, "ciao" and then click. I am not going to be bullied or threatened to pay for something that we didn't agree to. That is just not right. It's unethical.
To recap:
1. The service was great.
2. We were quoted $135/hour. We expected to pay $135/hour. The fact that they were down the street doing a job that required 5 men, so all 5 men showed up to our house to take one limb down (even though only 2 worked on it) is neither here nor there, but a part of the context. Either way, even if 10 men showed up, we were still quoted $135/hour.
3. Don is a horrible, unethical, and rude human being.
I ended up writing them a check for $135 in an attempt to "clear our debt". It
was mailed back to us saying that it had already been sent to collections.
So now, we're going to be hounded by collections for a debt that should have never been. read more