Our 404-CUT-TREE Experience

The people who owned our house before us were a nice, elderly, empty-nester couple who had time to and enjoyed working in the yard.  They had a lot of trees, bushes, and plants that flowered in different times of the year.

 

 

They actually had time to maintain it.  But as a result, we didn't have much yard left in which to play.    There were many places in the yard that had piles of leaves and sticks (in the back corners) where snakes could hide.   And there were also a lot of prickers.  With Alan growing up, we wanted a place for him to play and enjoy the yard.

In the winter of 2012, when Alan was a little over two years, we decided to clear the yard so he would have a place to play.  We hired 404-CUT-TREE at the recommendation of a neighbor.  We had them come out for an estimate, and the price was right, so we scheduled a time for them to come clear the trees, bushes, and brush.

Alan on the Red-Bud Tree

There were two trees that I wanted to keep:  the big tree in the middle of the yard, and a red-bud tree on the left side of the yard near the fence and gate.  The big tree provided enough shade for the house and the deck in the summer time.  The red-bud tree was a great climbing tree.  Just that spring, we had let Alan sit on it and climb on it.  When I was growing up, there were two trees in our yard that we loved to climb, and I wanted Alan to have the same experience.

I told 404-CUT-TREE not to cut those two trees.  They even came and marked them with an orange mark so the workers would know not to cut them down.  We noted them in the work order and excluded them from the pricing.

Apparently the workers weren't told what the orange marker meant.  Before I could even realize it, the red-bud was gone.  They probably cut it down first because it was somewhat in the way of getting the other trees out of the gate.  But that is no excuse.  We had agreed that the red-bud was supposed to stay, and yet, they cut it down.

If my dad weren't there to go talk to the workers, the big tree in the middle might have been gone too.  They were about to take it down, when my dad realized it and went out to talk to them.

When I called to complain about my perfect climbing tree being taken down without our consent, they apologized.  They said they could either plant a new tree, or take money off our bill.  Rob would have rather I just took the discount, but I was very upset about my climbing tree and the fact that Alan would no longer have that experience.  I chose for them to find us as mature of a red-bud tree as they could and plant it in our yard.  It took them several weeks to find a tree for us.  They finally did, and we had them plant it in the back of the yard.  This was late winter/early spring, when no trees had leaves.  As such, our tree they planted also didn't have any leaves, and I didn't think anything of it.

The backyard before and after.  The sod was just put down in the late winter, so it looks brown, but will be green in the summer.

The tree never had leaves.  The first year, spring of 2013, I figured that it was just a newer tree and maybe it needed a year or so to take root and start growing leaves.  2013 went by and spring of 2014, I again anticipated the leaves and red buds.  Again, no red buds or leaves.  Of course, this is my ignorance with plants.  Apparently, as my mother just told me a few weeks ago, trees should have leaves right away, the first year they are planted.   So, of course in 2015, there are still no leaves or red buds, and I have now realized that they planted a dead tree in our yard to compensate us for the beautiful, thriving red-bud that was perfect for climbing.

The yard in the spring 2015 with sod and grass established

The dead tree

So, now I will go back to 404-CUT-TREE and see if they have any rebuttal.  Their way of making me whole was planting a dead tree.  How will they respond?  We shall see...