KDL
New Member
Hello everyone! I am new here and I am hoping someone may be able to assist with answering a question regarding property damage caused by an a local tree service.
Here's the scenario:
Our next door neighbor had a rather large tree branch land on the house of the neighbors directly behind us. There is chain link fencing separating our yards and the branch landed right above the fence and was hanging over the corner of my side of the fence. The branch was resting on the tree itself and the roof of the neighbors back porch and was not crushing the fence at all.
The next door neighbor is a very nice elderly woman who felt terrible about what happened, so she called a tree service and was taking out a loan to remove the tree. A gentleman from the company who did an estimate for her stopped by our house to ask permission to temporarily remove the fence to avoid damaging it and after he completed the work he would put it back in place.
Unfortunately, it appears she side neighbor and backyard neighbor did not communicate with each other regarding this. This past Thursday we heard a lot of noise out back and noticed a tree service in the yard of the back neighbors. They were removing the branch and in the process, I witnessed them carelessly allow the branch to fall and crush our fence. In addition to this, they trespassed on our property without permission and kept walking all over the fencing after they crushed it.
We waited to say anything, in case they were going to repair it. We didn’t want to be rude. Once we realized they were getting ready to leave, I called the owner of the company (the phone # was on their truck) and let him know that we live behind the house where they just removed the branch. He asked us to meet him in the backyard to talk. When we arrived, he was very rude and nasty and stated that the fence was already crushed when he arrived…that he had witnesses and photos. Problem is, I have photos as well, that I took after the branch fell that shows the fence line and it is not crushed at all. When I told him this he became even more rude and insisted he was right. Then he states “Even so, we’re not a fencing service…we can’t repair it. We’re not in the business of installing fencing.” At this point, we were all aggravated and he took our phone number and said he would call the next day to discuss this, which he never did.
On Saturday, my husband decided to call him instead and ask when the fence would be repaired. Apparently, this gentleman’s wife is president of our local chamber of commerce and he thought he would intimidate us by telling my husband to email the photos to his wife’s chamber of commerce address.
It is 7:30pm on Sunday and we have yet to receive any response from this company and were are not sure what recourse we have in this situation. We have a 60lb dog that we now have to babysit in the backyard when he is out there so he does not escape and would really like to get this resolved.
Below is a link to photo’s of the fence before they crushed it and after. They are not the greatest quality, but you CAN see the fence posts.
Before: http://www.downtogether.net/before.htm
After: http://www.downtogether.net/after.htm
Take care,
KDL
Here's the scenario:
Our next door neighbor had a rather large tree branch land on the house of the neighbors directly behind us. There is chain link fencing separating our yards and the branch landed right above the fence and was hanging over the corner of my side of the fence. The branch was resting on the tree itself and the roof of the neighbors back porch and was not crushing the fence at all.
The next door neighbor is a very nice elderly woman who felt terrible about what happened, so she called a tree service and was taking out a loan to remove the tree. A gentleman from the company who did an estimate for her stopped by our house to ask permission to temporarily remove the fence to avoid damaging it and after he completed the work he would put it back in place.
Unfortunately, it appears she side neighbor and backyard neighbor did not communicate with each other regarding this. This past Thursday we heard a lot of noise out back and noticed a tree service in the yard of the back neighbors. They were removing the branch and in the process, I witnessed them carelessly allow the branch to fall and crush our fence. In addition to this, they trespassed on our property without permission and kept walking all over the fencing after they crushed it.
We waited to say anything, in case they were going to repair it. We didn’t want to be rude. Once we realized they were getting ready to leave, I called the owner of the company (the phone # was on their truck) and let him know that we live behind the house where they just removed the branch. He asked us to meet him in the backyard to talk. When we arrived, he was very rude and nasty and stated that the fence was already crushed when he arrived…that he had witnesses and photos. Problem is, I have photos as well, that I took after the branch fell that shows the fence line and it is not crushed at all. When I told him this he became even more rude and insisted he was right. Then he states “Even so, we’re not a fencing service…we can’t repair it. We’re not in the business of installing fencing.” At this point, we were all aggravated and he took our phone number and said he would call the next day to discuss this, which he never did.
On Saturday, my husband decided to call him instead and ask when the fence would be repaired. Apparently, this gentleman’s wife is president of our local chamber of commerce and he thought he would intimidate us by telling my husband to email the photos to his wife’s chamber of commerce address.
It is 7:30pm on Sunday and we have yet to receive any response from this company and were are not sure what recourse we have in this situation. We have a 60lb dog that we now have to babysit in the backyard when he is out there so he does not escape and would really like to get this resolved.
Below is a link to photo’s of the fence before they crushed it and after. They are not the greatest quality, but you CAN see the fence posts.
Before: http://www.downtogether.net/before.htm
After: http://www.downtogether.net/after.htm
Take care,
KDL
