TREE SPECIALISTS INC

Let me preface this review by stating that I did not actually pay Tree Specialists, Inc. the $8084.47 indicated above, but rather this is the amount that my insurance company paid for damages caused to my personal property by Tree Specialists. I purchased a mobile home located in the River Meadows Mobile Home Park in July 2011. At that time there were several trees between the mobile home and the Uncompahgre River that posed direct threats to the mobile home, either because their roots had rotted or because they were dead-standing. Prior to my purchasing the mobile home, Ms. Lynn Reed, Park Manager, committed that River Meadows would have the precarious trees cut, but that there was no money in the budget to do that in 2011. After a very large tree with a rotted root system fell during the night very near my mobile home, I called Ms. Reed to express concern that the situation was too risky to wait another year. River Meadows contracted Kenny, Tree Specialists, Inc. to perform work in the Trailer Park. Sometime toward the end of October or beginning of November, Kenny and Antonio began work at my lot. Over a period of approximately two weeks, they would come and go sporadically with no set or determinable schedule. I was present and observed most of the work performed by them. I saw that when Kenny worked in the cage of his crane cutting branches, many times he did not tie them off before cutting them. Some of them fell on the roof of my mobile home, and I saw Kenny on the roof of my mobile home sweeping branches off of it. I also saw that Kenny would cut some sections of the tree trunk without tying them off, and he would throw the sections in the direction of my mobile home and two storage sheds, instead of throwing them in the direction away from my home and sheds. I also saw that he would lower the large sections that he tied off in the direction of my mobile home and storage sheds, and some of these logs rolled into my mobile home, which is on a downward slope from the area where the trees were located. I can only assume that he threw or lowered them in the direction of my mobile home and storage sheds so that it would be easier for him to retrieve the wood, which I understand the contract provided for him to keep. Immediately visible damages resulting from this negligent behavior included a hole in my storage shed that is not attached to my mobile home, as well as a broken vertical wood beam to same shed, a broken horizontal wood beam to a second storage shed that is attached to my mobile home, bent aluminum trim along the roof in two places, and damages to the skirting of my mobile home caused by a huge log rolling into it. I also saw Kenny throw a log that fell on my the storage shed belonging to my then new neighbor, also putting a hole in said shed. I immediately called Ms. Reed to report the damages. Ms. Reed came over and took photos with her phone or digital camera and said that she would discuss the problem with Kenny. In addition, late one afternoon, believed to be about the second or third week in November, Kenny came to my lot by himself with a heavy piece of machinery and worked behind my mobile home into the dark hours of the evening. I kept going out to observe what he was doing, but it was cold and dark, so I did not stay out there the whole time. At one point during the evening, my daughter was in her bedroom, which was at the same end of the mobile home where Kenny was working, and I was in my living room, which is located toward the opposite end of the mobile home from where Kenny was working, when we both heard a loud noise and felt that something had forcefully bumped the mobile home. I immediately ran out my back door and saw that while Kenny was attempting to pull his piece of machinery out with his pickup truck, the rear wheel well on the passenger side of his pickup truck had hit the corner of my mobile home and was caught there. I immediately flagged him to stop, and when he rolled down the passenger window, I told him that the rear wheel well of his pickup truck was caught on the corner of my mobile home, and that he could not continue to go forward, but rather had to back up. Kenny got out of his pickup truck to observe the problem and stated, “I can’t go back now!” and insisted that he had to continue going forward in spite of my objections. In moving forward, Kenny tore the corner of my mobile home off, including skirting, trim, and corner siding panels, and causing a shift in the cinder blocks holding my mobile home up at the corner of impact. Louise, saw that Kenny was working behind my mobile home in the dark, and the following morning, I showed her the damages that he had caused. The following morning, I called Ms. Reed at 8:00 o’clock a.m. and explained to her what had happened. Later that morning, Ms. Reed sent her assistant manager, Richard (last name unknown), to inspect the problem. Richard saw the damages caused by the collision and discussed them with Kenny who was on site driving what I believe was a front-end loader that he used to carry the very large logs that he had cut from behind my mobile home to his commercial truck that was parked on the street. I did not hear the conversation between Kenny and Richard, which took place on the street while I remained near the location of the damages. Following their conversation and while Richard was walking back toward me, Kenny had returned on the presumable front-end loader and arranged and chained another load to transport to his truck. While Richard and I were standing there talking and while Kenny was heading back with his load, both Richard and I saw that Kenny hit the southeast post of the covered deck on the south side of my mobile home with a log that he was transporting. I immediately hollered at him to stop damaging my property, but he just ignored me. I was extremely upset and told Richard, “Do you see what he’s doing?! He just hit and cracked that post!” The post was cracked in the immediate vicinity of the collision. Richard wiped the dirt and tree matter left by the collision with his hand and said, “Oh, he didn’t just do that. That was already like that.” I denied that it was and pointed out to him that none of the other posts on said covered deck were cracked. At some point during our conversation, Richard responded to my complaints, “You wanted the trees cut down, didn’t you?” I replied, “Yes, but I didn’t want my property destroyed during the process.” He seemed to imply that because I wanted the trees cut down, I should be thankful, bear the burden of any damages caused during the process, and not complain about any damages. Richard ended the conversation by informing me that Kenny was going to deal with me directly regarding the damages that he had caused to my mobile home and sheds from both the falling logs and branches and from the collision. After Kenny and Antonio had finished removing the logs and branches from my lot, Antonio gathered up the broken skirting, trim, and corner siding panels and hammered them to the mobile home. Kenny then informed me that his wife was in the hospital due to a blood clot in her lungs following surgery to her shoulder, and that he had to go be with her, but that he would be back in a week or two to repair himself all the damages that he had caused. I agreed to this arrangement. However, after two weeks had passed, and Kenny had not returned to repair the damages described heretofore, I called Ms. Reed to inform her that Kenny had not been back to repair the damages. Ms. Reed told me that she would call and discuss the matter with him and get back to me. After another lapse in time, I again called Ms. Reed, and she again committed to calling him and getting back to me. After three such calls to Ms. Reed, I asked her for Kenny’s number so that I could call him myself. When I called the number given to me by Ms. Reed, I spoke with Kay, who identified herself as Kenny’s wife and who informed me that Kenny was down with an illness (I believe she said, pneumonia), but that she would have him call me as soon as he had recovered. After a couple of weeks had passed, and I still had not heard from them, I called again and spoke with Kay, who then said that Kenny was feeling better and would be contacting me soon to repair the damages. Sometime later, Kenny, Kay, Ms. Reed, and Richard all showed up at my home unannounced to inspect and discuss the damages. At that time, Kenny denied that he had hit the mobile home with his vehicle and insisted that the only damages that he had caused was to the skirting with a rolling log. Ms. Reed looked under the mobile home and indicated that there was no problem, as the mobile home had not been knocked off the brace underneath the mobile home. While Kenny, Kay, and I argued about whether Kenny had hit my mobile home with his pickup truck and whether I could prove it or not, Ms. Reed and Richard physically removed themselves about 30 feet from the discussion. I continued insisting that not only had Kenny collided with my mobile home, but that he had also caused cracks in the walls and ceilings of the bedroom and bathroom on the side of the mobile home that had received the impact. They all came inside to inspect said cracks. At that point, Ms. Reed informed me that I needed to file a claim with my insurance company, which I did. Subsequently, additional damages that were caused by the collision were identified, including a hairline fracture throughout the ceiling in my living room and dining/kitchen area and cracked grout in my bathroom at the opposite end of the mobile home. I had payed to have the bathroom retiled just two months prior to the collision. Total damages exceeded $8,084. My insurance company was able to collect only a small portion of these damages from Tree Specialists, Inc.’s insurance company because they said I could not prove they had caused the damages.