The trees are gone....

Mmathis

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A while back I posted about having a couple of trees removed -- my concerns were the close proximity of the pond and that they were inside the box turtle habitat -- it was all going to be a tight squeeze.

Well, the trees are history. Plus, we had some other trees in the yard trimmed back. It all looks good, but let me say that there were a lot of hiccups leading up to this, and we were on the verge of changing companies!

Sorry this is long, but I have to vent & rant!

The tree company we used got wonderful reviews from many of my local friends who have used them over the years. They did do a good job, and they cleaned up a lot better than I would have done, LOL. But there were a lot of, I don't know, communications issues [?] on the management end of their business..... It's all a matter of perception, but it's the little things that add up and make you start almost expecting something else to come up.

"Boss Man" Guy [I think is the owner's son] comes out to do estimate. I point out all the close quarters and my concerns about the pond and proximity issues in the yard. He assures me that the crews are used to dealing with it and there should be no problem getting access to the trees, etc., etc., etc..... I told him that, in advance of the work, I was going to have to round up all the turts and temp relocate them.

1) They send estimate/proposal, and I replied to their email, verifying that we agreed to their terms and did want their service --- never heard back from them. Called them & young lady says they never got the email. OK, that happens. I also noted they had our last name misspelled and could they correct that. No problem. 2) So they resubmitted the proposal. I start to respond, and notice, of all things, the proposal was correct, but they had us listed under a completely different name, address, and city. Huh? How did that happen? 3) I contacted them and asked that they correct the info and resubmit the proposal (which they did), but the young lady's comment was that the guy who did the estimate must have filed it wrong. I kinda don't think so..... 4) young lady called to say we have an AM appt. The day gets here, but we don't hear from them. I call them, get older lady on the phone, who says we didn't have an AM appt., but that they were going to have to reschedule us anyway, so it was good I called [say what? aren't they supposed to call me to let me know they're not coming? How about giving some advance notice....] 5) Older lady [who I think is owner's wife] says our appt. will be some time in the afternoon. 6) yesterday, afternoon, the crews show up, disgruntled as all get-out because they didn't know what work was going to be involved -- they were working in very tight quarters and didn't know how they were going to..... [and I don't blame them one bit -- they should have been informed ahead of time by their bosses so they'd know what to expect & what equipment they needed.....] You get the idea. Then they complained that it was, by that time, too late in the afternoon and they didn't think they could finish -- and didn't know when they would be able to come back due to other appts. About this time, the "Boss Man" shows up. He talks to them & calms them down, then talks to me..... He "couldn't believe that the office had scheduled the appt. for so late in the day!" Well, they DID, so I want to know WHEN they will finish, if not that day. I told him the story of the previous re-schedule. Asked when they'd know for sure WHEN they would be back out to finish -- he said by the end of the day. Then, a little while later, older lady called me and said "Boss Man" told her I was upset, so she was calling to confirm they WOULD be out this AM [today]. THANK YOU!

So, meanwhile, poor turtles have to be boxed up [no pun intended] twice, uprooted from their home!

They showed up this AM and finished the job. I would give them good scores for their work, but poor scores for the businesses management and communications.

Before & after pics. Pond is in the foreground, and turtle habitat is back ground -- you can't really see it in the pics, but it's what's behind the short fence, just on the other side of the pond.
image.jpg
 

sissy

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Sounds like they need new office staff my dad took down trees like that all my life so I know the difficulties in it .My dad was called to take down trees at Falling waters .I watched and was amazed at how easy he made it all seem ,but I knew it was not .
 
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I know you are glad that headache is over. One thing I have begun doing when the actual crew supervisor is to pull him or her aside and go over my expectations of the job an possible problem areas. We have learned the hard way that the salesperson does NOT pass on our important, at least to us, job issues.

Happy for you Maggie!
 

tbendl

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TM, what a difference. I'm sorry for all the hassle but it looks wonderful and so much more open now. For some reason I thought that you couldn't do or finish the pond due to those trees, was that the case? And I bet the turtles are happy that they are finally free.
 

Mmathis

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TM, what a difference. I'm sorry for all the hassle but it looks wonderful and so much more open now. For some reason I thought that you couldn't do or finish the pond due to those trees, was that the case? And I bet the turtles are happy that they are finally free.
We were trying to have the trees done before the pond, but it was dragging on too long, and we were at a point where the fish needed 1st priority, so.......

Going to wait a few more days to put the babies back in as there is still a lot of clean-up work and arranging & rearranging to do in the habitat. In the past, the habitat landscaping was based on having those 2 trees there -- and a few of the plants were not sun-tolerant. And I don't like to do heavy work when they are out & about 'cause it's too easy to either step on one, or throw it out with the old plants & dirt [which has been done by yours truly before]. Even though I salvaged as many plants as I could, the workers still trampled a whole lot [couldn't be helped], and those were all "cover plants" for the turtles. "Cover plants" are ones that the turts will either hide under, or travel through to keep themselves hidden from view as they move around.
 
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Should have paid for me to come over Maggie I would have had them down and out in record time no damage to your propperty :happy:

Dave
 

j.w

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Looks good and glad they finally were able to get the job done....................what a fiasco!
 

sissy

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At least you will get more light and less stuff falling in the pond and that will help cut down on the work
 

JBtheExplorer

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Sounds like a pain in the butt. It happens with so many different types of companies too and I can't figure out why its so hard for them to schedule something and complete it.

Meanwhile, I've been waiting 6+ weeks for a former internet provider to get their ugly antenna off the roof which they were supposed to do within two weeks, and again within two weeks after they were informed it was still on the roof... and yes, 6+ weeks after cancellation, its still up there... and you know if we were signing up they would have no problem coming over and putting it up within a couple days.



As for your area, it looks great! Can't wait to see your finished project when everything you're doing is done!
 

Mmathis

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LOL! Saw something yesterday afternoon that we haven't seen in a LOOOOONG time! Can you guess what it was?

Clue: when you're looking at the pictures, you're facing due west.....
 

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