Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  08/07/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  ******* **** Service removed the wrong tree. I just discovered this (absentee homeowner) last week, when Brown **** Service employee took pictures of my ************* I have contacted owner of ******* **** Service requesting they remove the tree I paid them to remove ( a small pine tree near center of lanai).I am NOT asking for compensation for the wrong tree that was removed. ******************* responded asking me if I'd like to pay for more tree work ($9K!) and said that the employee involved in removal of the wrong tree is no longer an employee. I told ************** that my contract was with ******* **** Service, not an individual employee and again requested he remove the tree I previously paid to have removed.

  Customer response

  08/08/2024

  my full name is ***************************

  3 attachments:  invoice from ******* tree service, approval from HOA noting pine tree is near center of lanai, and picture taken Aug. 2024 showing pine tree was not removed.

   

  

  Business response

  08/08/2024

  Browns Tree Service takes all of our customers complaint's seriously, but there is some incorrect information here that was not addressed in this complaint. 

  - The pine tree that Browns Tree Service removed, was further back on the property and was done 5 years ago in 2019 for $520 (not $1,100). Browns Tree Service has had no complaints that we removed the wrong tree for (5) years. 

  - This customer paid the invoice, and has since had work done by ******* that she paid for in full with no complaints. Again, no complaints were made in between the work being performed in 8/15/19 and 8/2/24. We were on property on 8/2/24, as the customer (***************************) had requested; we were performing a walk through for some work she wanted to have done. When our arborists was speaking to her, describing the tree on site, he mentioned a Pine tree in the back yard. The customer stated that we removed the pine already. Our arborists confirmed that we did remove a pine but it was further back in the yard.

  - We told the customer in an email that the arborist who quoted this job and visited the property in 2019, was not working at Browns any longer. We mentioned this, simply to let her know that we would not be able to verify her concerns of removal of the wrong tree with the Arborist who quoted the job. 

  Most importantly, this customer reached out to us in 2022 (see attached invoice) , this customer requested to have a tree limb removed in the back yard. She did not mention the wrong tree being taken out at this time, she simply requested the limb removal, and that is all. This work was completed, and the invoice was paid in full by the customer, and no complaints were made to ********************** Tree ********************** at that time.

  The estimate that the customer referenced in her complaint for $9,000, was work she had requested a bid for. Although It is not feasible for Browns Tree Service to address complaints about work that was done, after (5) years, Browns Tree Service was willing to take the the other pine tree out, if she was having this work done, even though there has been no complaint and no verification that Browns Tree Service took the wrong tree.

  The customer threatened to *** us in an email if we did not come back and remove this tree, and threatened to go her community HOA if we didn't remove the tree at no charge.

  ************** has been attempting to contact *************************** via phone call and has not reached her as of yet.

  Customer response

  08/08/2024

   
  Complaint: ******** complaint with the BBB.  

  ******************* of ******* tree service called me today & SHOUTED AT ME about my filing a complaint with the BBB.

  He launched a long, high volume rant about who he knows at ***************, and other irrelvant babble.    He WOULD NOT ANSWER the SAME QUESTION I ASKED NUMEROUS TIMES: "Are you going to remove the tree you were paid to remove - yes or no?"   He interrupted my every sentence, and demanded I meet him on the property in ** (he knows I live in **).   I reminded him there was no need for onsite discussion - either he was going to do the work he was paid to do, or he wasn't.  He again demanded, at high volume, an onsite discussion.  I told him that the phone conversation was not productive, given his shouting, and interrupting and refusing to answer, thus I will have no choice but to sue **********  He said "then we will go that way".   I gave him a few minutes to reconsider his retort and there was silence on the phone, so I hung up.  

  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  

  Business response

  08/09/2024

  The facts of this situation are not being correctly presented. ************** was not upset about the customer reaching out to the ********************, he was upset that the information in the complaint was incorrect.
  
  
  ************** did speak to the customer on the phone yesterday afternoon. ************** was not yelling, he was simply firm in our stance in regards to what Browns Tree Service was willing to do and not willing to do. He mentioned the people we know at ***************, to point out that in the many years we have worked there, we have never had an unresolved is*** We are not the type of company who wouldnt right a wrong. We tried to point out that we have many people who would vouch for the fact that if mistakes are made, we make them right. Then, ************** suggested a meeting on property with her, or a representative of her choosing, in order to visit the property, present the documents we have in hand and hopefully, come to a resolution as opposed to threatening lawsuits. The customer refused this, and said there was no need for a site visit. The customer would not discuss the facts of the situation or address these facts at all. She simply kept repeating, and I quote, Either take the tree out or I will *** you. She paid the bill in 2019 when performed the removal in question, without any concerns; Then we performed a limb removal  three years later in 2022 and no complaints or concerns were presented at that time either (again the bill was paid). No correspondence was had with the tenant or the customer regarding the wrong tree being removed in the last 5 years. 
  
  
  We do not believe that we removed the wrong tree. The customer stated that she has correspondence with her renter regarding which tree we would be removing. No complaints were made to Browns Tree Service after we removed the tree, and based on the information we have, the renter never informed the customer *************************** that the wrong tree was removed. 
  
  
  We have never spoken to the customers renter, and have never heard from the customer or the renter in the last (5) years that the wrong tree was removed. Even when we were there in 2022 removing a downed limb, that the customer *************************** requested we remove, nothing was mentioned about a wrong tree being removed in the back yard. The renter, nor the customer reached out about a wrong tree being even though they asked us to perform additional work there.
  
  
  Its difficult to address concerns that are (5) years old to begin with. ************** never had the opportunity to discuss a peaceful resolution with the customer when he reached out to her, because the customers stance has been since the beginning of this; Are you going to the remove the tree or not; if not, I am going to *** you.  
  
  
  The customers continued threats to perform this work, or she will *** us, has put us in a position where we could not come to a resolution that both parties were happy with. 

  Customer response

  08/09/2024

   
  Complaint: 22106579
  
  I am rejecting this response because:   *********************** account of the conversation is about 90% incorrect.  I cannot have a sane conversation with a screaming liar.    I will have to pay $175 fee to Manateee County Small Claims court to file an action to attempt to recover $ 520 I paid to ******* Tree service.     Not worth my valuable time.   I have 2 estimates from 2 licensed, insured, certified arborists at 2 tree service companies in ********, for new work that needs to be done.   

  Both estimates are about 60% less than ******* $9K estimate.   Additionally, ******* so-called certified arborist identified one tree as a Pecan Tree and both certified arborists from the other 2 companies correctly identified the same tree as a Bayberry, which I also know it to be.

  Given ****************; unprofessional behavior, the incompentence, his disinformation and lies, I will no longer waste my valuable time with *******************. Why would I want an onsite repeat performance of that nonsense? He had a choice and he made his choice.

  I have engaged another tree service to do the new work needed on my property.    Case closed.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩