Gone, part 2

Last week I mentioned some "other complaints" about our tree removal service. I was actually pretty furious with them when I showed up as they were finishing the job. I left a mean voice mail at their headquarters and planned to leave them bad reviews. Our neighbor, however, a retired arborist who knows a thing or two about yards and trees, said they actually did a great job (and for a great price). The damage, he said, was pretty minimal and was to be expected when taking down such a big tree. So I felt better, and was a lot nicer when I eventually talked to the company. Still not too thrilled about them though, so any recommendation would come with a lot of caveats.

First though, some more pictures of the removal that our neighbor took for us. A sad and naked trunk:

So remember last week, I mentioned one complaint was how they didn't leave us with the wood we asked for. We were so disappointed, but couldn't say too much, since it was never in the contract. The other stuff though, was a bit more legitimate.

First, a branch came down and hit our power lines. Fortunately, it didn't knock out the power, but it did break the steel inner wire that holds all the lines secure:

My frustration wasn't with this, per say (I know accidents happen), it was their nonchalant way of dealing with it. When I showed up, the crew said they weren't sure if we had lost power, so they were glad I was home to check (um, ok, I know you had my phone number because you called me in the morning, so it might have been nice to call and let me know this happened so I could have the chance to come home and make sure). Then they hemmed and hawed about calling our power company and expected me to do it. Finally they told me that the foreman was going to call later. The next day when I talked to the company, they were completely clueless. The foreman did claim that he alerted the power company, but after a week and a half of no results (and more phone tag with the tree people), we called the power company ourselves. And that same day:

Fixed! I'll give the company the benefit of the doubt because the power company claimed that a work order had been put in and then inexplicably cancelled, so who knows what happened there.

Next on the list, our poor front lawn and garden:

A lot of grass got uprooted from the falling limbs and they just laid it back down, like detached sod clumps. It was so bad that I felt at risk of twisting my ankle walking across my yard, thanks to all the divots. The damage was especially frustrating since the foreman had originally said they would not be taking the trunk down in one giant piece because it would do too much damage to our yard (well they did and it did...).

But this too, they resolved. After I complained, they came back the next day to lay topsoil and grass seed:

Final complaint on the list, the giant pile of stump chips. The contract said clearly that they would "leave grindings in hole" when they hollowed out the stump. To me, that meant that they would level the ground with the grindings to avoid leaving a gaping hole where the trunk was. Instead, they left this:

A 2.5 foot mound of wood chips, covering all my plants. Because the crew was still there when I arrived, I questioned them on this before they drove the big dump truck away and tried to insist that they haul this away too. They argued that they always leave the work site in this condition and that this was according to the contract. I told them I was really unhappy and they shrugged and left.

Fortunately, our neighbor came to the rescue, offering to take it all back to his yard, where he could use it as mulch. And so away it went:

I had to do a little more leveling (and stomping, to try to compress it) and it's still a small hill, but that should settle over time. Leaving grindings in the hole seems pretty different than leaving a giant hill, but maybe this is normal for tree companies? I'm hoping that I won't have to find out any time soon - I don't want to have to remove any others from our yard if I can avoid it.