Dead tree?

[fmueller]

Here is one I thought somebody might get a kick out of. I'm a newbie. My co-worker says she had a neighbor who wanted to know if her geen ash was dead plus needed a pin oak pruned. I said I could come out and take a look. It turned out she decided to go with a "professional tree trimmer". OK no big deal. A couple of days later my co-worker tells me that her neighbor was really mad. It turns out that the professional tree service cut down her ash tree and discovered that the tree was not dead. This poor woman just lost her husband and her husband planted this tree about 30 years ago. Then one of the ground guys left the parking brake off on his truck which was parked on an incline and the truck proceeded to roll down the hill through my co-workers front yard and over their retaining wall in a manner that required a crane to remove it. I could'nt help but to laugh me arss off. She had pictures of the truck with the rear axle pointing towards the sky. Which I had the computer capability to show you the picture.
Wonder what it costs to rent a Coonrod?

 

[M.D. Vaden]

In the last year, there is one incident this reminds me of.

Someone who knows us, and knows we contract tree work, hired, or used the services of someone else we know to remove a fairly large tree.

The "someone" was not a pro - just someone nimble that improvises. I had seen "someone" in another friend's yard several years ago, and realized that a problem was due because of the lack of safety gear, ropes and rigging.

Anyway, we got a call on this to bail everyone out of a mess, since "someones" tree removal was hanging on by a thread after cutting it, but with an unsecured tree standing ready to fall who knows which way.

Our schedule had no gap in time to help, but we sent another tree person's name their way.

I don't believe in embarrassing people, but word of this needs to follow the chains of recommendation within its own circles of influence.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by fmueller
It turns out that the professional tree service cut down her ash tree and discovered that the tree was not dead. This poor woman just lost her husband and her husband planted this tree about 30 years ago.

Recommend a consulting arborist, www.asca-consultants.org, or a lawyer talk to this lady about suing the "professional". If they are not made to be responsible for their screwups they will not learn. The lady deserves more than a stump out of that deal.

 

[NeTree]

Doesn't sound like a pro to me....

 

[njarbor]

a buddy of mine and i removed one of my neighbors trees. they told us that for the other 2 they wanted to deal with someone with insurance.totally understandable. they decided to go with a local hack that i know of . no chipper or equipment just some saws and a pickup. i come to find that this guy is on the outs with his insurance company but still claims he has it. so what should i do? i feel that i should tell them to at least ask for proof of insurance and something beyond a slip of paper, but on the other hand i dont want them to think that i am trying to cause problems. any opinions?

 

[Lumberjack]

Tell them that you understand that you understand their position. Then tell them how to be sure that whoever they are gonna use has athentic insurance. Tell them to ask for a certificate, and then tell them to call the company to check. Tell them to do this with anyone. Make it about them and their desires, not about the guy they are getting to do the work, that way it will make them feel that you are trying to help them, and it isn't sour grapes.


Carl

 

[M.D. Vaden]

Its not clear to me how licensing works out there, but in Oregon, you have to have insurance to do decent size tree work.

If you don't have it, that's not near as bad as claiming that you do if you don't.

If you don't have it, that brings a fine.

If you claim to have it but don't, that's fraud. And when fraud occurs, its a violation that the licensing boards like to have evidence on, because the justice is far more effective going at it from that angle.

It can be hard to "squeeze" a fine out of some people, but they can be "squeezed" into a secure cell for a while.

Not the same nature of infraction, but the last newsletter to licensed landscape contractors here mentioned jail time in one case for a naughtiness in the landscape contracting side of life.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Then they see he has no WC and hire somebody else.

 

[Dan F]

Carl,
It could be different down there, or you could mis-understand the way certificates of insurance are handled.

Certificates of insurance (COI) are not something that the contractor has on hand and can give a client a copy of. The COI must be issued directly by the insurance company. I believe that the COI also has to have the name of the client printed on it as well.

Like Brian said, you call your agent, they get a copy either mailed or faxed to your client. All you have to do is make a phone call.

Of course, you may have already understood this and just mis-typed?

Just an FYI clarification for everybody out there.


Dan

 

[mikecross23]

I keep copies of proof of insurance and liscensing. Then when someone asks I just give them a set and tell them to call my agent for proof of validation. I don't think anyone has ever called though.

-Mike-

 

[Nickrosis]

All our proposals for tree work list the insurance agent, insurer, and phone number.