What's up in Jeff City? (Columbia, Joplin: insurance, hotel, living in)

[crichmond1000]

This past December, my husband and his partner went to MO after the ice storms to work. They are in the tree trimming business. They drove their bucket truck and were fully documented with licenses and insurance. They arrived in Jeff City and stopped because it was the first city they came to with considerable damage. My husband and his partner have years of experience and have traveled to disaster locations many times to work. They have a reputation for good work and fair prices. My husband is also one of the nicest people you will ever meet and makes lifelong friends most everywhere he goes. Well...

Many people in Jeff City were more than rude to them. Actually slamming the door in their faces. The guys ended up doing work for a small fraction of their normal rate. Not even enough to cover their cheap hotel room and diesel. My husband is the most optimistic person you will ever meet. He was beaten down by Jeff City. He was astounded by it all.

What I want is to know that all the people in Jeff City are not that unwelcoming and ungrateful. We are from the Gulf Coast and have been pummeled by hurricanes recently. I own a laundromat, so I met many workers from out of town. I welcomed them all and treated them with the respect and thanks they deserved. Leaving thier families to come work and help us out of a big mess. No one expected free work because we all have to eat. Of course there are always bad apples in the group and I ran into a few of those. But, on the most part, these workers were good people.

Eventually, the guys left Jeff City and moved on to Joplin, where they were greeted in a more friendly manner and worked consistantly for the next 4 weeks. They did good work at a decent price. And got new jobs by references. The trip was not a total loss. (Did I mention we have a newborn and he was gone for Christmas?)

I'm certain there are nice people living in Jeff City. I would like to know what has happened to make many of the people they encountered so closed off and distrusting.

Thanks, Cristy

[aragx6]

Most folks are taught to be distrustful of out-of-town companies who magically appear after ice storms or hail or whatever, do lousy work and take off with no consequences. This happens all of the time throughout the country.

Obviously I don't know what any of the people your husband spoke to were thinking, but I know what I would be thinking: Scam artist alert. I am sure your husband is not a scammer, but people must protect themselves by using local companies who are registered with the better business bureau.

That being said- I am sorry he was not treated well. I am glad you did not find all of Missouri so unwelcoming.

[firebll31]

Perhaps a large number of people have been "burned" by unscrupulous businesses in the past. I know in Carthage a few years back a traveling group of asphalt pavers came through, did a bunch of driveways and then disappeared. Within weeks the driveways started showing evidence of a lousy job. Today, anyone showing up at the door to pave your driveway would most certainly be turned away. However, I sincerely hope it would be a polite but firm "No thank you, we are not interested" rather than a slammed door. I for one was incredibly grateful to all the clean-up guys, line crews and others who helped get us back to normal after that horrible ice storm. I know they worked long hours, were away from their families and dealt with nasty weather. Many came from several states away. I'm proud my section of the state was friendlier to your husband.

[cyrano]

I live in Columbia but commute to work in Jeff every weekday, so I have a pretty good feel for the town, or at least i think I do. I'm not really surprised at the reaction your husband got. Jeff is a very static kind of town, in that things don't change, people don't tend to move there very much (and the people who move away are young people moving for opportunities elsewhere), and they tolerate the legislature coming in and out, but only because they have to. In short, a stranger coming from in from out of town to do work is probably not that welcome.

A lot of my coworkers either did their own tree clearing (I know several who did), or banded together to do it in groups. Also, there were lots of utility company trucks who came from Columbia, StL, and KC to get the electricity back up and running, and they undoubtedly id some tree clearing as part of the deal. As I recall, one of them even told me about a stranger who came to their door, offering to do tree clearing, and they said no thanks-- they assumed that the person was an Irish Traveller and a scam artist.

Bottom line-- don't go to Jeff for work like that. Sorry for the bad experience. Finally, I have to say I wouldn't expect Columbia to be much better...and candidly, I only hire people to work on my property who I know or who come recommended by someone I know.