ComplaintsforSteve's Tree Service, LLC

• Initial Complaint

  05/22/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  5/5/2023 ***** backed his truck into my driveway, and proceeded to run over and crush 15 black aluminum fencing panels. I found the ****** item number, and ***** ordered 15 replacement panels, & paid for them with his credit card, for a total of $227. On the order he gave my email address for notification of when the order was ready to be picked up, however forgot to list my name as a person authorized to pick up the order. He had lowered 4 stumps using a chainsaw, and upon completion of the 4th *****, told me "you do realize that it is going to cost you more than the $100 quote I gave you, since I did not use the ***** grinder". I have text messages showing I requested him to do this manually, my yard is very small and would barely accommodate the ***** grinder machine. Plus, after ***** demolished my aluminum fence panels, I definitely did not feel comfortable having him maneuver the machine in my small yard as I had just completed $2,600 worth of new brick garden landscaping. We agreed to do an even exchange of his labor cutting down the stumps for my labor putting the fence back up that he had destroyed. However, without my name being on the authorized pickup list, combined with the fact that I realized it was already too hot for me at 69 years old, to put the fence back during the heat of *****, and since ****** would NOT give me a cash refund (even if I did not pick up the fence), I texted ***** twice and left two voicemails stating that ****** recommended the order be canceled, a credit would be issue to his card, and I asked him to send me the $227 via an Amazon gift card. He has ignored the emails, ignored the voicemails, and I believe has blocked my phone since my calls now go directly to voicemail. My request is that you obtain & send me the $227 that he owes me for the damaged fence panels, which he had agreed upon... but now, since the order was canceled, and the $227 credited to his card, he has chosen not to pay me the money he owes.

  

  Business response

  05/30/2023

  We originally cut down numerous trees in the customer's back yard. I offered to grind the stumps for an additional cost, but the customer requested that we just cut them as low as possible instead. I received a call from the customer a couple of weeks later asking me to return and cut the stumps down lower to the ground for free. I told her that we already cut them as low as we could, but that we could grind them down with a ***** grinder for an additional $100 for the 4 stumps she wanted lower. She agreed, so we set an appointment. When I arrived to do the work, she was not home. I began backing the ***** grinder into the driveway which has a steep incline. Without realizing it, I accidentally backed into some 14" tall decorative fences that lined the driveway damaging 15 of them. About that time, the customer arrived and said, "You damaged my fence panels. That's bad for you. I'm glad I have extra fence panels." I told her, "I guess I'm doing this job for free." I started to get the ***** grinder off the trailer and she said, "I don't want you to use that. It may tear up my grass." She gave me a small garden shovel and said that she wanted me to dig around the stumps and cut them down lower. I was trying to be agreeable and make the customer happy to help compensate for the damage to the fence panels, so I dug around each ***** with the shovel and cut all 4 stumps lower to the ground. I would have charged $300 for this, but I still intended to not charge the customer. The customer then counted the fence panels and she said , "Let's call labor for labor: the labor it is going to take me to replace the fence panels for your labor. You also need to pay for the new fence panels." I would have come back and replaced the fence panels myself because it would only take a few minutes to install them, but since I was again trying to be agreeable, I agreed to buy the fence panels in addition to not charging the $300 for the work I did. She told me to go to Lowes.com and she showed me which panels to order. I ordered 15 new fence panels for $227 and paid for them in full in addition to not charging the customer for the $300 worth of work I did.

   

  That evening, she texted me this message:

  "It is too hot to put the black fences back up, and it's probably just a matter of time until someone else runs them over again...being it already happened twice in one week. Therefore, I have not picked them up. The order is still active in the system. I spoke with the ****** store manager, and ****** can not give me cash back, nor even a store credit, since it was an online purchase. ****** recommends that you cancel the order #********* ASAP, and a credit will go back to your charge card. Then, the simplest thing would be for you to send me an Amazon gift card for $227.00.

  Instructions:

  Go to Amazon, and search for:

  Send gift card via text.

  Select gift card from $1.

  In other, enter $227.00.

  Enter my cell to text it to."

   

  I decided that I had done all that I could to satisfy the customer. Therefore, I canceled the ****** order as requested by the customer.

  Customer response

  06/02/2023

  Complaint: 20083925
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  ***** ran over my metal fencing and bent 15 panels, totaling $227.00 with tax. These fence panels are very time consuming to install. They can't be pounded into the ground, and when you push each panel into the ground by hand, it often "unhooks" the prior ones installed, and so on. It takes hours, not minutes, and it is backbreaking to install them. Couple that with the fact that the hot weather has started here in *****; and it is truly a daunting task to install these fence panels. So, to resolve the damaged fence situation as fairly and quickly as possible, I suggested the following to *****: 1) To Replace Material: "Let's order the fence panels online from ******, you can pay for them with your credit card, and put my email address on the order so I will be notified when the order is ready for pickup." 2) To Reimburse Labor:  "Let's call it even, your labor for my labor. He was charging $100 plus tax for his labor, so that seemed fair." He agreed, and he placed the online order in my presence. 
  
  However, there were complications: ****** said since my name was not specified as the "person authorized to pick up the order", (even though I did receive the ****** notification email when the order was ready for pickup), I could not pick up the order, they would not release it to me. I started thinking about how miserably hot the ***** weather had gotten, and couldn't picture myself installing the fence in the heat. It also occurred to me that it's likely just a matter of time until the fence gets run over again by another contractor. So, because of all these obstacles, I thought that maybe I should just get my $227.00 back, and not pick up the order, or put the fence back up again.

  So, I asked ****** if I could get a store credit for $227.00, and cancel the order. They said no, and that ***** would need to cancel the order, the $227.00 would be credited back to his credit card; and then I would just need to get the money back directly from *****. I texted this information to ***** twice, and also left voicemails twice, but received no response. My calls began going directly to his voicemail, so I think he may have blocked my phone number. ***** literally just "dropped the ball", and decided not to honor the agreement we had made. He canceled the ****** order, had the $227.00 credited back to his credit card keeping the money for himself, and unilaterally decided not to reimburse me the $227.00 owed for the material cost of the fence panels.  
  
  Please help me get the $227.00 still owed to me, that was jointly agreed upon.
  
  Regards,

  *************************

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