Here's an odd WWYD?

[Darcy03231]

Check your state laws. Where I live if someone cuts a tree down on your property (dead or otherwise) they're liable for damages. In some cases its been known to be over $10,000 per tree. It's serious matter here.

 

[manning]

First, being "livid" will not help. A negotiated resolution is best. Perhaps they will agree to no charges. If not, they may have the ability to file a lien. I am not saying that they have a great case, however the cost of defense and/or the possibility of losing make negotiating this a smart move.

Lien statutes often provide for payment of attorney fees and IF they are successful you could be in for much more than the value of the job.

How can their be a lien if there was not an agreement?

 

[Kitty 34]

Just trying to look at it from another point of view:

It sounds like company A thought they had the job.

You indicated that upon leaving they said they would call and let you know when they could come out next week. Did you just say "Okay" or did you correct him at that point and let him know you had more quotes coming in and have not decided if you were hiring him? If you said "okay" he may have thought that he was hired.

Still, I would think they would have wanted something in writing and I'm surprised they did the work without at least a verbal confirmation. FWIW, I would be upset too. Let us know how it works out.

I'm sorry, I didn't say that in my original post but we told Company A okay to the phone call but that we did have Company B coming the next day for an estimate.

What's weird now is the fact the Company A took down the cedar/oak but that was it as that was when we came home and were questioning why they were even doing ANYthing. (BTW....the two guys taking down the tree(s) were so apologetic etc...it was so not their fault and we made that clear to them we weren't mad at them)


We still have three dead pines we have to get rid of!

 

[Kitty 34]

Their take on the call? We had an agreement to do the work, just needed to set up a time. All we were asking in the call was whether today was a good day to do the work.

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Not to argue with you but shouldn't we still have been home to answer that call to even say yes or no? Just curious? Especially when we made it clear that we were getting other estimates in the next day or two?

 

[pixiewings71]

First, being "livid" will not help. A negotiated resolution is best. Perhaps they will agree to no charges. If not, they may have the ability to file a lien. I am not saying that they have a great case, however the cost of defense and/or the possibility of losing make negotiating this a smart move.

Lien statutes often provide for payment of attorney fees and IF they are successful you could be in for much more than the value of the job.

Negotiated resolution for what? They didn't hire this company to do any work.

I'm sorry, I didn't say that in my original post but we told Company A okay to the phone call but that we did have Company B coming the next day for an estimate.

What's weird now is the fact the Company A took down the cedar/oak but that was it as that was when we came home and were questioning why they were even doing ANYthing. (BTW....the two guys taking down the tree(s) were so apologetic etc...it was so not their fault and we made that clear to them we weren't mad at them)


We still have three dead pines we have to get rid of!

sorry this happened to you, honestly I'd have the other estimates done and hire someone to take care of those 3 dead pines. With this situation I would ask that the company that came out in error replace the tree they killed, I mean if that was your stipulation on that tree being removed they obviously didn't uphold that at all so they need to replace it for you. Best of luck!

 

[Lorelei Lee]

I had another thought about the oak tree.


Now, I know nothing about tree removal. And you did get estimates that would preserve the tree. But it's also possible that even though everyone believed the tree could be saved, when doing the work they found something wrong with the tree, like its roots were too intertwined with those of the dead tree, making it impossible to salvage the oak.


Here's how I see it shaking out at court.


Tree service argues "We had an oral contract. They hired us to do the job and agreed to pay the estimate. The only thing we didn't agree to was which day we'd come. We called to confirm the appointment.We did the work and should be paid for it. We didn't know they wanted to keep the baby oak."

Alternatively, "We tried to save the baby oak but it was damaged and we couldn't."

You argue: "We asked for an estimate. We never told them they had the job. We got two other estimates after they were here, for less than what they were going to charge. We got the answering machine message asking for the job but we never called to confirm. Here are the estimates from the other companies. Here's the message. We never hired them, they trespassed and caused damage to our property. They killed our baby oak. "

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[aaarcher86]

I had another thought about the oak tree.

Now, I know nothing about tree removal. And you did get estimates that would preserve the tree. But it's also possible that even though everyone believed the tree could be saved, when doing the work they found something wrong with the tree, like its roots were too intertwined with those of the dead tree, making it impossible to salvage the oak.

Here's how I see it shaking out at court.

Tree service argues "We had an oral contract. They hired us to do the job and agreed to pay the estimate. The only thing we didn't agree to was which day we'd come. We called to confirm the appointment.We did the work and should be paid for it. We didn't know they wanted to keep the baby oak."

Alternatively, "We tried to save the baby oak but it was damaged and we couldn't."

You argue: "We asked for an estimate. We never told them they had the job. We got two other estimates after they were here, for less than what they were going to charge. We got the answering machine message asking for the job but we never called to confirm. Here are the estimates from the other companies. Here's the message. We never hired them, they trespassed and caused damage to our property. They killed our baby oak. "

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I think a key point is they for the message after the workers were already there doing work. If they had received the call prior they would have informed them that they weren't needing their services.

 

[Lorelei Lee]

How can their be a lien if there was not an agreement?

In some jurisdictions a workman can file a mechanic's lien to prevent you from tranferring the property he worked on in anticipation of litigation.

In other words, he files the lien and then sues you, alleging that you owe $$$ for the work done. Then you have to establish in court the reasons why you don't owe him the money. In this case, that he was never hired to do the job. If you win the lien is released. If you lose you pay the judgment, and the lien is released. If you lose you may be liable for the workman's attorneys fees.

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[Lorelei Lee]

I think a key point is they for the message after the workers were already there doing work. If they had received the call prior they would have informed them that they weren't needing their services.

The phone call was made before the guys were doing the work. The OP wasn't home to receive the call and didn't hear the message until after the work was in progress.

Doesn't matter when the OP heard the message if there was a prior agreement that they would do the work and tree service was only calling to confirm the date abd time. It makes all the difference if the tree service was calling to confirm that they got the job and needed the OP to agree that they wete hired.

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[Kitty 34]

The phone call was made before the guys were doing the work. The OP wasn't home to receive the call and didn't hear the message until after the work was in progress.

Doesn't matter when the OP heard the message if there was a prior agreement that they would do the work and tree service was only calling to confirm the date abd time. It makes all the difference if the tree service was calling to confirm that they got the job and needed the OP to agree that they wete hired.

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The phone call message said......"we have a couple of hours available this afternoon and if you contact us at this blah blah number we will come over." We didn't get back with them but the tree cutters came anyway.

And when they handed us the paper estimate yesterday where a customer signature is required to do any work and we obviously didn't sign as we honestly told them we were waiting on other estimates.....just really find that hard to believe that this company would still take that as an agreement?????

 

[Lorelei Lee]

The phone call message said......"we have a couple of hours available this afternoon and if you contact us at this blah blah number we will come over." We didn't get back with them but the tree cutters came anyway.

And when they handed us the paper estimate yesterday where a customer signature is required to do any work and we obviously didn't sign as we honestly told them we were waiting on other estimates.....just really find that hard to believe that this company would still take that as an agreement?????

Welcome to "credibility".

Either this company really screwed up. and made an honest mistake (stupidity 101), or you're dealing with a company that's somewhat lacking in honest business practices.

You'l be able to tll which one when you speak with the owner/manager.


Keep copies of everything and keep a log - who did you soeak to and what did they say?

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[aaarcher86]

The phone call was made before the guys were doing the work. The OP wasn't home to receive the call and didn't hear the message until after the work was in progress.

Doesn't matter when the OP heard the message if there was a prior agreement that they would do the work and tree service was only calling to confirm the date abd time. It makes all the difference if the tree service was calling to confirm that they got the job and needed the OP to agree that they wete hired.

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No date and time was established between the two which would be part of any contract.

 

[Kitty 34]

Welcome to "credibility".

Either this company really screwed up. and made an honest mistake (stupidity 101), or you're dealing with a company that's somewhat lacking in honest business practices.

You'l be able to tll which one when you speak with the owner/manager.


Keep copies of everything and keep a log - who did you soeak to and what did they say?

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Which DH will be doing first thing in the morning!

 

[horseshowmom]

I'm sorry, I didn't say that in my original post but we told Company A okay to the phone call but that we did have Company B coming the next day for an estimate.

What's weird now is the fact the Company A took down the cedar/oak but that was it as that was when we came home and were questioning why they were even doing ANYthing. (BTW....the two guys taking down the tree(s) were so apologetic etc...it was so not their fault and we made that clear to them we weren't mad at them)


We still have three dead pines we have to get rid of!

I would be really mad and would expect them to replace the tree they destroyed with a similar one.

The phone call message said......"we have a couple of hours available this afternoon and if you contact us at this blah blah number we will come over." We didn't get back with them but the tree cutters came anyway.

And when they handed us the paper estimate yesterday where a customer signature is required to do any work and we obviously didn't sign as we honestly told them we were waiting on other estimates.....just really find that hard to believe that this company would still take that as an agreement?????

You don't have anything to worry about, but the company does. It will be interesting to see what the owner says tomorrow.

 

[SarahWeasley]

Just want to say, be sure to save the voicemail message!

 

[Kitty 34]

Good morning and again, thanks to everyone with their replies. It really does help sort thru what we will be telling the boss today! DH works late at night so he won't be calling for awhile yet!


Just wanted to add that wow! I looked up prices of an oak. To replace my "baby" would cost several hundred dollars!!! I personally think that would be a great gesture on the part of this company to replace the oak but I doubt that will happen.

 

[leebee]

Reading your posts made me so glad that the estimates we are getting are for rust repair on our car; at least DH takes the car with him when he leaves and there's no chance for an unauthorized service! Estimates run between $800 and $2900, so I REALLY don't want any mistakes happening!

OP, good luck with the tree company, and keep us posted!

 

[sk!mom]

Wow! What a mess. I would calmly speak with the owner and see what he offered to do to make this right. At the VERY least he would need to come back and remove the dead trees and replace the tree you didn't want removed for the price of the lowest removal estimate for me to be satisfied. This would get rid of what you wanted out of the yard and replacing the oak tree at no cost to you would be enough of an apology for me. Anything less and I'd refuse to pay and contact a lawyer.

We had a similar experience with estimates when we did our home remodel. We worked with a great contractor and everything went super smoothly until our last project which we didn't use the contractor for. We got 3 estimates for the replacement of our garage doors. We decided on a company, had the work done, and paid them. A month later we got a bill from one of the other companies for the doors they never installed. DH called, they apologized and said they corrected the mistake. The next month, we got a past due bill for the work never done! This time DH went down in person and spoke to the owner. They apologized again and this time DH made them give him a zeroed out receipt for the account they had created for us. So basically we did a full home remodel with no glitches regarding payments except for the company who did no work at our house

Good Luck!

 

[Uncle Remus]

Good morning and again, thanks to everyone with their replies. It really does help sort thru what we will be telling the boss today! DH works late at night so he won't be calling for awhile yet!


Just wanted to add that wow! I looked up prices of an oak. To replace my "baby" would cost several hundred dollars!!! I personally think that would be a great gesture on the part of this company to replace the oak but I doubt that will happen.

http://www.judgejudy.com/submit_your_case

 

[aaarcher86]

I would expect them to replace the oak tree, but I wouldn't expect them to finish the other work for free. If they fix their error I'd be satisfied. You'll be back in the position you originally were in finding someone to get rid of those dead trees and you can go with the company you wanted to use.