Reviews

Review Details

• Review fromRyan M

  Date: 08/25/2023

  After a tornado tore through his neighborhood in April of this year my elderly widowed father with dementia was solicited by Aspen Tree Expert Company after a neighbor called them for a quote for damage. When the neighbor declined to hire Aspen due to the outrageous price quoted, the representative began soliciting other homeowners in the area with trees down. The representative quoted my father $3,198 to chop up and remove a downed, uprooted white pine tree from his driveway. My father, who is barely verbal paid for the service. I am my fathers POA. I handle all of my fathers financial dealings, however I cannot be by his side every second of the day. I called Aspen to inquire about the bill as I was attempting to determine if they took advantaged of him. I was told that Aspen never solicits customers and that they are so busy that they hate taking jobs involving storm clean-up. They insisted that my father called them for an estimate. After inquiring further, the manager at Aspen finally acknowledged that his sales rep did approach and solicit my father on the date in question and charged him based on the "emergency service" that Aspen provided. His definition of an emergency was that in order to complete my fathers work, several of their customers scheduled jobs had to be pushed back, therefore my fathers unsolicited job is now an emergency and would cost much more to accomplish. He also blamed the high cost of insurance, ********* comp etc.. He indicated that Aspen has been in business for 47 years. I received several verbal quotes from reputable tree services following Aspen's service based on photos of the downed tree prior to its removal. I was told that an honest price would have been around $1600. My fathers insurance adjuster also indicated that the $3,198 price was obnoxious. This is sad and unacceptable and Aspen refused to make it right. I was told that my father signed the contract and approved the work. I feel really bad for my dad.
  

  Aspen Tree Expert Company, Inc.

  Date: 08/31/2023

  We are responding to this review with facts. And while we are very sensitive to any person suffering from dementia, as we in our lives have also dealt with this terrible degenerative disease in our personal lives, keep in mind that this response is a factual response only. As we have already responded to ****, the son's review on ****** and another complaint he submitted. This is his 3rd effort. We worked for ***** father in April. We have never met ****, the son. As far as we know, he was not his fathers ***** of ******** in April because he was not present during the tornados aftermath, his father was alone and taking care of cleaning up the damage by making (2 separate) phone calls to us with his cell (we have electronic records and records from the phone company) and having successful discussions on site. We have already tried discussing this with ****, the son, but to no avail. The fact is, ******************** took care of this emergency matter by himself, from phone call to writing out a check, from beginning to end successfully with much verbal interaction.1) His father first called our office on 04/03/2023 at 1:39:05 PM requesting an estimate. We did not solicit his business. ****, the son was not present.2) We did not solicit anyone in the neighborhood. The neighbor approached our estimator when he was on site talking with ***** father. ****, the son was not present.3) While we feel for **************** and his reported recently worsening condition, at no time did we doubt his competency four months ago. ***** father had no trouble talking over the phone or in person to our staff, was able to give his phone number, address, and discuss the work needed doing. ****, the son was not present.4) ***** father requested to skip our 10-week wait and have the tree blocking his garage removed as an emergency on 04/08/2023, a Saturday, because of a tornado. We do qualify this as emergency storm work. ****, the son was not present.5) The job took our estimated time to complete, our pricing was determined to be accurate and fair. All our pricing includes the cost of business which includes insurance; this is not unique to ***** fathers job. ****, the son was not present.6) Companies that go door to door and offer very cheap prices are often uninsured and unqualified, leaving you at risk and liable. It is not reliable to price anything via photos months after the fact. We can provide records and evidence to support these facts and are still willing to explain the matter to **** (or his father) if he would like to call us with any more questions. BecauseRyan, the son was not present and is not able to be a witness in this matter or speak truthfully about any facts related to this emergency situation.
  

  Aspen Tree Expert Company, Inc.

  Date: 08/31/2023

  We are responding to this review with facts. And while we are very sensitive to any person suffering from dementia, as we have also dealt with this terrible degenerative disease in our personal lives, keep in mind that this reply is a factual response only. As we have already responded to **** the son's review on ****** and another complaint he submitted. This is his 3rd effort. We worked for ***** father in April. We have never met ****, the son. As far as we know, he was not his fathers ***** of ******** in April because he was not present during the tornados aftermath; his father was alone and took care of cleaning up the damage himself by making 2 separate phone calls to us with his cell (we have electronic records and records from the phone company) and conversing with our estimator on site. We have already tried discussing this with ****, the son, but to no avail. The fact is, ******************** successfully took care of this emergency from start to finish by himself, from the initial phone call all the way to writing out a check, with normal verbal interaction. 1) His father first called our office on 04/03/2023 at 1:39:05 PM requesting an estimate. We did not solicit his business. **** (the son) was not present.2) We did not solicit anyone in the neighborhood. The neighbor approached our estimator when he was on site talking with ***** father. **** (the son) was not present.3) While we feel for **************** and his reported recently worsening condition, at no time did we doubt his competency four months ago. ***** father had no trouble talking over the phone or in person to our staff, was able to give his phone number, address, and discuss the work that needed doing. **** (the son) was not present.4) ***** father requested to skip our 10-week wait and have the tree blocking his garage removed as an emergency on 04/08/2023, a Saturday, because of a tornado. We do qualify this as emergency storm work. **** (the son) was not present.5) The job took our estimated time to complete, our pricing was determined to be accurate and fair. All our pricing incorporates the cost of business which includes insurance; this is not unique to ***** fathers job. **** (the son) was not present.6) Companies that go door to door and offer very cheap prices are often uninsured and unqualified, leaving you at risk and liable. It is not reliable to price anything via photos months after the fact. We can provide records and evidence to support these facts and are still willing to explain the matter to **** (or his father) if he would like to call us with any more questions. BecauseRyan (the son) was not involved in this business transaction, or a witness to these events, he is not able to speak truthfully about any facts related to this emergency situation.