ComplaintsforOak Bros Tree Removal and Stump Grinding

• Initial Complaint

  09/07/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On Friday September 1st I received a call from my brother in law explaining oakbros was at my house removing a tree from my front yard. I did not contact anyone to remove this tree and was not interested in having it removed. I asked my brother in law to have them stop and contacted my boyfriend who was able to go home and address the situation. When I called oakbros company asking why they were in my yard they said they had a job request for tree removal at our address on July 11th from a ****** ********. We do not know anyone by that name. I reached out to the city of ****** to make sure they did not request this tree removal. The city they did not request the tree to be removed and didn’t know anyone by the name of ****** ********. The tree was more than half removed by the time my boyfriend got home and he requested they continue to remove the rest of the tree to prevent further issues. We currently have large divots in our front yard and a large stump remaining.

  Business response

  09/15/2023

  On July 7th, we received an online inquiry from a person who falsified themself to bid a tree removal job at the address in question, *** * **** *** ******** *** *****. Our sales arborist went to the property as scheduled on July 11th and put together a proposal which included removal of a mature Hackberry tree, grinding of the stump, and removal of the debris with topsoil backfill. This job was proposed to the email we have on file for the “customer," on the same day, July 11th. It is common to our business practice to approve work and sign documents digitally, and we often have clients that cannot be home when we are doing their estimates. In our 14 years of business, we have never before been the victim of this kind of fraud, with someone posing as a property owner and contracting our services to take down a tree that they have no authorization to have removed. We are, frankly, as appalled with this situation as the property owner. We understand that she is upset, as we are, and encourage her to work with us to find the person responsible for falsely contracting our services. On September 1st, 2023, we arrived at the job site in the morning and started work as if it were any other Oak Bros job - quickly and safely. When our crew was notified that we didn’t have the city’s permission to take the tree down, as we learned that it was located in the city easement and the homeowner does not even have authorization to remove it if she wanted to, we stopped work immediately. We notified the police in ****** and they were dispatched to the site immediately. When the homeowner’s boyfriend returned to the property, the tree was partially removed and he requested Oak Bros complete the tree removal in order to prevent any further issues with its structural integrity. We complied with his request. This is a job for which our most experienced and expensive crew took most of their day on Friday, 9/1. It will go unpaid at a loss of around $5000 for Oak Bros. We are also in the terrible position of having upset people in the community that we proudly serve, which is the part which is most upsetting to us. Everyone here at Oak Bros prides themself on overdelivering on customer expectations, which is why we have one of the most highly rated tree service companies in the area. It is our intention to continue to work with the City of Minier, the property owner whose view of a city tree has been affected, and law enforcement to rectify the situation as best we can. As a final point, the property owner claims that there are large divots in her yard and the large stump remaining. We are currently waiting for the JULIE request to come back so that the property may be marked for utilities and the stump ground out safely. When we have that confirmation, we will be scheduling the stump to be ground out and the debris removed, as it was bid in the original contract. We would ask the property owner to please contact us with documentation of the divots in her yard so that we can come to an acceptable solution between her and our business. Oak Bros is in the business of happy clients and service of our community and we hope that an amicable resolution to us being fraudulently contracted can be achieved.
  
  

  Customer response

  09/18/2023

   I am rejecting this response because:  I am rejecting this response because:   Oakbros has made no attempts to contact the homeowner as to how to rectify the situation.  We have asked several times for communication on this subject, but no attempts have been made by Oakbros.  Oakbros also claimed to be in communication with the city of ****** but when we reached out to the city, that was not the case.   While it is great for this company they have not been in this situation before, the companies service recovery is non-existent. 
  
  
  

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