Of Birch Trees and Lemonade

During the windstorms a few weeks ago, while the rest of the Midwest was getting a crash course in submarining, we had a tree blow down and land on our roof. It was one of a group of four outside behind the shop. I'm sure I posted this earlier. Well, after finally getting a call returned from a tree removal service ( I won't name names, but if someone guessed Cutting Edge Tree Service - Gary Fong, owner, they'd be pretty darn close to right) A guy came out to look at the tree and give me an estimate for what it might take to remove it. We'll call him "Gary". So Gary and I hiked into the back yard to look at the damage and he asked me,

"So, what do you want done?"

"Well," I said. "I'd like the tree removed from the roof."

"We can do that." He said. "Do you want us to haul it away?"

"No." I said. "There aren't that many branches on that tree, so I'll just toss those in the burn pile, and the trunk I'll cut up for firewood for our wood burning stove."

He looked it over again and said "400 bucks."

When we had the big oak removed last year in preparation for replacing the wall, it cost $1200, so $400 to get this tree off the roof seemed like it was in the right ball park.

"Deal" I said.

We walked back to his truck where he filled out the order form, handed it to me and told me to read it over. As I was reading the fine print about what they were and were not responsible for,

(were - taking out the tree. Were not - any other damage to buildings, yards, sod, other trees, and anything else other than the tree)

he spent the time telling me his life story. Long story short, I made the mistake of assuming he was a professional and honorable businessman, and I signed.

Today, (and here's the great news) we took the Boyo in to get his stinky cast removed. We were so overjoyed at seeing two bare legs, that we went for brunch with some friends. When we returned home around 11 am, we saw that the workers had come. They had indeed removed the tree from the roof, and were in the final stages of removing the other three trees that were just fine.

I went back to ask what on earth they were doing. They were very polite and sincerely apologized for the obvious miscommunication. I was rather saddened at the loss of those great trees, but it was obvious that the miscommunication was between Gary and me, and not these two.

Now, instead of a small birch tree to cut up for firewood and the 'brush' that was the top of that tree, I have four times as much work ahead of me. Our backyard is filled with newly killed tree. That is a bit more brush than I wanted to tangle with, and I asked the guys if they had Gary's number so I could call and try and arrange something. One of the guys felt so bad that he offered to just come and remove the brush on his own nickle over the weekend. But I figured Gary would be the one to talk with about it. So I left a message on his phone asking him to call when he got a chance.

He called about twenty minutes later. Now, at this point, I was disappointed about the trees. I had re-read the contract, which stated "put on ground birch cluster behind garage. grind stump"

I could see where the four trees could be called a cluster, and could plainly see where the miscommunication had been. In hindsight, I should have told him to shut up when I was trying to read through the contract and made him explain out loud exactly what he was going to do.

But I still wasn't mad. Then he called.

I told him what had happened and was about to ask him what we could arrange for all of the extra brush when he said,

"Well, the contract clearly says cluster, and that's what we did. There's nothing we can do about that."

I replied "Yes, I know what the contract says. But while we were standing there looking at the tree on the roof, and I said 'I want the tree off my roof', I sort of figured that would mean your guys would take the tree off my roof."

"They did that." He said...with a chuckle.

"Yes." I said. "And took out the three other good trees.

"Well, the contract says birch cluster. Read it for yourself. That's why I told you to read the contract through before you signed. And you signed it, so there's nothing we can do." This too was said with a laugh. And not an "Oh man I'm sorry this happened" sort of laugh. But a "well, too bad for you, but you have to pay me...Ha ha" sort of laugh. It began to get my ire up.

"So when I said there weren't many branches on that tree, and I'd just burn them, you thought I wanted to keep all four trees?" I said.

He laughed again "Well, other people have kept bigger trees than that."

"What?" I said. But he continued.

"You had to know that to grind the stump out we would have to remove the entire tree."

By this point, I was openly pissed.

"How would I know that? Unless I was a professional tree removal service. In which case I would not have needed to hire you to come and do it!"

He laughed again. "Sounds like you're getting all worked up about nothing here."

"What I'm getting worked up at," I said "is the fact that you keep laughing as if this were no big deal!"

"I'm not laughing." He said. "I'm chuckling."

Now I was seeing red.

"Besides. It's not my fault. You should have read the contract. You signed it. There's nothing you can do about it."

"I'll tell you what I'll do about it." I said. "I'm going to hire someone else to clear the brush away, and I'm going to tell as many people as I can what a lousy person you are to do business with, and I'm going to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau."

But he hung up on me at about the 'lousy person' part.

So I filed my complaint with the BBB, and have been chatting with my neighbors about his service. We also told our insurance guy, and he will recommend to his other clients to avoid this guy if they need trees removed. And we'll be waiting for a response from him and the BBB.

Also, they didn't grind the stump out. The workers came back and told me that their boss had sent them back to collect the check.

I told them to call him back and tell him that according to the contract I signed, payment was not due until services had been provided, and the stump was not yet ground. I said that if he had a problem with that to give me a call, as I would be here all day.

One of the best things about my wife is her ability to stay positive, even in the midst of rage. She too was outraged by his behavior, but as we got to brainstorming about what to do next, she came up with a number of ideas for our now tree free area. My favorite so far is to plant an apple tree there. I've always wanted an apple tree so I can make apple butter, apple sauce, apple pies, spiced apples, etc. etc. Now we have a space for it. It is as I told my folks when venting to them, we are making lemonade out of our lemons. (She makes phenomenal homemade lemonade by the by... perhaps we'll plant a lemon tree!)

The thing that irks me about the whole thing is this. If he had just apologized sincerely and acted professional, then this would have been no big deal. But the fact that he was so rude and so defensive and arrogant really torqued me off. It is good he did not come out personally for that conversation, as I would most likely have removed him from my property... piece by piece...just like my trees.

BUT... the cast came off, the kid is walking like a champ already, and we remain considerably upbeat despite the jerky Gary. So... More Later.