Pine trees too tall need to be cut........

[Hollytree]

Originally Posted by sasie123

Hello, Zoisite: Thank you my friend for all the advice that you have given me throughout the years. Too old at this time of my life to deal with some........I had the trees over one hundred feet over the house, cut down to the first branch, they may live or not. They were/are beautiful Pine trees......and the people that came did an excellent job. the owner of the company is about 27 years' old, and to see him flying for two hours up in the sky, was delightful.....it only took him two hours.......they took all the wood chips and cuts into a special truck that cut them up, and haul them away..........it was worth the money I pay.........but, at the end, we had a little disagreement, because he wanted cold cash........and i only deal with checks.....then he wanted to charge me $75 for each check I wrote, which he never told me before..........so he left finally with a check made out to cash, and then ask me to put the name of his company next to it. He got a little out of hand with me, vocally, and I ask him to leave..........along with my spouse......and it was sad because i really love the fantastic job they did. there were four men working for him on the floor, while he flew up in the sky.....and had even told him that I had many more jobs for him waiting......I think he thought that he did not charge me enough, and was looking for more............it was great to hear from you.......take care, I think my gardening days are over..........my garden is full of weeds........

Sounds like he's operating off the books- very fishy. I hope you didn't pay the $75! I would have reported him ASAP.

[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Parnassia

I think she meant a back neighbour (not never).

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[Zoisite]

Originally Posted by Hollytree

Sounds like he's operating off the books- very fishy. I hope you didn't pay the $75! I would have reported him ASAP.

Maybe, maybe not fishy. I wouldn't have reported him based on a mere suspicion. Sasie was very happy and entertained by the efficient job they did. He and his ground crew did an excellent job in record time and he has a crew to pay cash wages to, all that machinery and equipment upkeep and costs, and all that debris to still dispose of. I wouldn't question if he's working off the books or not, it's none of my business how he handles his financial affairs.

I think Sasie and the contractor both made the same mistake - it was fine that they established a satisfactory payment rate with each other but they didn't establish ahead of time before the job was even started exactly what kind of payment system would be required by the contractor..... namely he wanted CASH. She didn't ask him at the beginning how he wanted to be paid and he didn't mention it until after the job was done.

So they are both at fault for not providing important information to each other in advance and for getting antsy with each other and ruining what could have worked out to be an excellent future working business arrangement as regular and dependable customer/contractor having a good understanding of what's expected from each other. That's kind of sad that they ended up having "words" with each other, but I also see some humour in it.

Hopefully they will have both learned a good lesson from it and eventually both see the humour in it.

Sasie, I'm not suggesting that you do this because I understand you have your own way of dealing with your finances. But I'll tell you that for private contractors that I hire to do a job for me I always pay cold cash on the line after the job is done, I never pay by cheques. So I will tell the contractor that I only pay cash and I always want to know ahead of time exactly what the rates are going to be so that I'll have the correct cash amount on hand for the job that is completed. And I ask them for a receipt and if he doesn't carry receipt books I am happy to provide a blank receipt + copy that we can fill out together and have witnessed.

And if I'm the one doing a private contracting job for somebody else I let them know before I even agree to take the job that I will want cash as payment.

If what happened to you happened to me and if I was really happy with the job the contractor did for me and would have wanted for them to come back to do some other jobs for me in the future ..... I would write him a note apologizing for the misunderstanding and lack of information that occurred between us. I'd say that I'm sorry that I kicked him off the property in the end and that I was very happy with the job they did and the amount I paid and I would still like to discuss further business arrangements with him for future jobs if we are both willing to meet each other half way and overcome our differences and the angry words we had with each other.

In any case, I'm glad you got the tall trees topped, that is one big worry off your mind, and you are lucky that you found somebody who was able to come and do the job quickly and efficiently on such short notice at this very busy time of year for yard and tree contractors. Maybe next spring you can hire somebody to come and tidy up and tend to your gardens and container plants for you so you don't have to do so much work anymore. Be prepared to pay cash because that's what many private contractors want, and just get a receipt from them.

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[PhinneyWalker]

^^^ I agree with everything you said. I am accustomed to paying via cheque or credit card. I had something similar happen ONCE years ago. I was relocating, and my regular removal company was booked solid---I waited too late to bell them. So, I ended up using someone else. They did an adequate job, and once they were finished, I wrote them a cheque, just as I always did with my regular removal company, and the chap reacted just like this young arborist. I imagine he thought my cheque might be bad which is a little insulting, but I had no cash to give him, and he refused to leave my home. I did not know what to do, so finally I belled my regular removal company and the owner spoke to this young man and verified I always paid by cheque and there was never a problem anytime they worked for me. So, this young man took my cheque, which of course was good, and left. I was so upset, though. I would never do business with them again. I had no idea they wanted cash. How was I to know that unless they told me?? Anyway, never again....