The Davey Tree Expert Company

Arborist Nick Saba was very thorough and professional. It's not often that the most thorough quote (I received three) is also the cheapest, but that was the case. The work proceeded in several phases. First, the 3 ash trees that I wanted to try to save were treated with a soil drench application and an injection. Then those trees were pruned heavily. Next, the 5 ashes, 6 siberian elms, and 1 upright yew were completely removed. The crew did an excellent job removing the trees. Some of the damaged trees were over my house and the neighbor's houses, but they planned carefully and removed them with no damage at all. You could tell that the crew was very experienced. I wasn't sure that they would be able to get a bucket truck into the back yard between my house and the neighbor's, but they did (by inches). They also cut some of the logs for me to use as firewood, and left a large pile of wood chips on the driveway for me to use as mulch. The next steps were to remove the larger logs that were stacked by the street, and then to grind the stumps. This work took longer than expected, and I had to call several times to get it done. This was the only problem, but eventually everything was done. I was very impressed with the work performed by Care of Trees, and I will use them again in the future.

This was the second of two services we received from this provider. Our experience on this service (tree removal/stump grinding) was different from the first one (tree treatment). From an overall perspective, the actual service delivery was good with one exception (see below). However, our experience with the back office/administrative side was not good. First, regarding the actual service delivery: the tree removal was done very efficiently and cleanly. The team cutting the tree down appeared to be very experienced. However, we have mixed feelings about the stump grinding. While they did in fact grind the stump into small pieces / mulch and cleaned up as promised, they failed to deal with a massive stump root that was clearly visible and reaching out for a couple of feet from the tree trunk. While I assume this root is technically not part of the stump, no more than a few minutes of effort could have taken this out and left us with almost no sign of the tree remains. Instead, we still have a big chunk of wood half-exposed (and likely to remain that way for some time as we do not anticipate it will decay quickly) Regarding our back office experience: as we were trying to schedule replacement landscaping, we did not have the luxury of an open ended schedule. Unfortunately, we experienced a lack of responsiveness with regard to trying to get things scheduled. The first issue was having to call multiple times to try to get things scheduled. My first call went unreturned. On the second call, I was told that a service crew would be scheduled and they would let me know the timetable. Not hearing of any scheduling for over a week, we then called again and were told that a crew would be onsite that Friday (by noon). The crew did not arrive by noon, and since I had to alert the landscaper if we were not going to be ready on Monday, I called Care of Trees around 12:30. At that time I was told the crew would be there. The second issue relates to billing. As we had provided a credit card for billing purpose, we assumed we needed to do nothing further. We were quite surprised to subsequently receive a bill for services. The bill was dated 8/13/2012 with a due date of 9/13/2012, yet the envelope postmark was 10/18/2012. This was followed by a letter dated 10/25/2012 indicating our account was past due. On checking my credit card account I discovered that a charge for services was never processed and I initiated a payment to clear the account. I also took them up on the offer in their 10/25 letter to discuss "questions regarding our service or our billing" and contacted their customer service line. My call appeared to be to a "corporate office" that sits above the actual delivery provider. The person on the other end of the line explained that the bill was a "reprint" and was generated because they could not process my credit card. Because there was no reason the credit card would not have processed (no changes to number/expiration date or credit limit issues) and because they successfully processed it before, I asked her why they didn't simply call me to try to address it then. She responded that the service provider doesn't have the staff to make follow-ups like this. Based on this last conversation, I've come to conclude that their service model is one that tolerates an occasional customer service slip because they don't have the staff to do otherwise. This explains the need for my follow up on service scheduling and also for the unexpected billing statement without explanation until I initiated a call.

Provider was very responsive to initial request for services, which included removal of dying ash tree and inspection/analysis of good ash tree. They confirmed analysis of dying tree and discussed removal process; and then discussed alternatives to treatment on healthy ash tree. They were responsive in providing formal quotation for both tree treatment and tree removal. On our authorization of work, they were also timely in fulfilling the initial work (tree treatment). As our experience with the tree removal was quite different, we are filing that on a separate report.

The guys came out in August one morning and started working and didn't stop except for lunch, 45 min. With the crane, they topped the smaller of the big oaks first, then took that one down. They quickly proceeded to the larger oak while one of the guys kept cleaning up the first oak and moving logs off to the side. After topping the largest oak they knotched it to bring it down. When it dropped, about a section 40 feet high, it was so loud it shook the house. You could see from the way they worked there was no lost movement or wasted motion, like a well oiled machine. They knew what they were doing and they did it well in the 90+ heat. And so it went the rest of the day. The came back later to grind the stumps. Overall we have been happy with their service.

Overall, it went very well. I had three different tree trimming companies give me estimates for trimming my tree. The initial visit/inspection from The Care of Trees was quite painless and the guy who came to my house was very professional and friendly. The Care of Trees' price was 50% less than one competitor 25% less than another, and their Angie's List rating was good, so I gladly went with them. The work was done well, with all of the debris cleaned up, and they even hauled away some extra branches that I had lying in my yard. I would highly recommend The Care of Trees for any tree trimming work.

It went very well. They were prompt, courteous, and professional.

The job went exactly as described

Kathy arrived right on time and was initially very professional and pleasant. She looked briefly at the tree then announced that they could not do the job because it would endanger their employees. I was dumbfounded since I had another estimate for the job. I asked what I could do since the tree would continue to deteriorate threatening both houses. She said she had no idea, but I better get on the phone immediately and start calling people and I had better be sure that they had their insurance current. She told me that "this is not what we [her company] does." Finally, she turned around, said "Sorry," and drove off. This was totally unexpected because my phone contact with the office of The Care of Trees was very pleasant. I will not be contacting this company again and will not refer others because of this extremely poor experience.

We had a storm move through our area and knocked over a 50-year old pine tree onto our deck. Davey came out promptly and gave us a quote for removal, and removed it a few days later. They even worked around my vegetable garden without damaging it! Several weeks later they came back to remove the stump left by this tree and others. They have been courteous and professional, providing good work at a good price.

They did a fine job once they got there. They were very clean, safe, fast and I liked working with the people that removed the trees. My problem with them was COMMUNICATION with the front office and the estimator. I called and got an appointment for them to give an estimate . They were very busy, so it was 3 weeks.That was ok because it was a couple dead trees that were not a danger. Then they came out and gave the estimate and I gave them the go ahead to do the work plus deposit of 1/2 the estimate price. The gentleman said he would call to set the appointment for the work. They did not call. After 2 weeks with out a word I called and left a message. Next day same thing. Finally on the third try I got a person , she said she would get a message to my contact. The next day he called and we set up the appointment 2 weeks out.

It was a mix-up in communication and considering all the tree and storm damage in the area at the time, I can understand it. I will update this review once the work is completed. See posting above.

Everything went well. I thought they were a little bit expensive but they did a very nice job. They showed me which branches on the tree were dieing and they cut them off very nicely and cleaned everything up afterwards.

Nick, the licensed arborist for our region is excellent. He doesn't push un-needed services and is avalaible for service calls within a few days. I like that the company uses organic treatments and only uses pesticides when necessary. The operators applying treatments are careful with our property and have the right equipment to do the job correctly. The guys trimming the trees are careful of the property and are skilled in climbing the trees. Their cuts are correctly made and not done in an amateur fashion. The company is fully insured and professional in every aspect.

They never responded to two inquiries from us.

I got great advice on the care of some of my other trees. Great people to work with. Nick was the guy I worked with and he's great. He knows his stuff. The crew arrived when they said they would and carefully cleaned up.

They're very knowledgeable and are all trained arborists. They all show true investment in trees, and do a great job.

They workers are wonderful. They always let me know when they are here, they clean up after themselves, very respectful. They are great. When they do trimmings for me they either take away the trimmings or mulch it up for me to use.

Pete Ritenouer demonstrates an expert knowledge of trees, as well as a love for his work. He agreed to add on the tree and stump removal service as a separate expense from the organic tree treatments. The crew came out, were very professional, enthusiastic, and cheerful, but they missed treating or removing several young trees and stumps marked with orange paint. So, we had to call Pete to come out and inspect the missed items. It took quite a while until we heard from him. He agreed that there were some that had been missed by the crew, and he demonstrated honesty and forthrightness about the missed part of the job. We added a few more trees and stumps and agreed on a price. Pete added bright orange sticky tape to the trees to be removed. It was getting late in the season so that we called Pete to ask when they were coming back to complete the job. After several days, he gave us a date with a crew member who would be coming to complete the job. The crew member came when assigned, was enthusiastic, cheerful, and capable. The job was completed this time. We have a large yard, and it appears that the diagrams and descriptions of the job to be completed would have been carried out better with more hands-on direction from the job assigner. This past Summer there were many storms which caused wide-spread damage to trees in our area and may have caused some tree service responses to be longer than usual, but I have graded the report on our experience.

Work was performed over several months to maintain proper timing for applications and pruning. They did a great job. Clean up after the job was done was perfect. Will use them again this spring for further treatments and to prune 2 additional trees.

I can’t give them good enough grades! They keep my trees healthy and looking wonderful. Steve M. runs the crews that help me, and he’s a certified arborist. He has always given me prompt, competitive bids. His crews are not only polite and courteous, but smart as well. I’m confident in their service and abilities, and I strongly recommend them.

It was a good experience. They definitely had educated employees. The Arborists were knowledgeable about pruning different kinds of trees in relation to their location to the house. They were all very knowledge.

The experience was very good. They were very punctual and they gave me a lot of extra additional information about my trees of things that I didn't know. They were very patient and explained things very thoroughly. I had a very large tree in the front of the house that I'd had trimmed out by another company. I wanted it done more thoroughly. They were very responsive in meeting my request to heavily thin it. They actually climbed up into the tree instead of just using a pole that doesn't do a very thorough job on big trees. They actually came with the ropes to get up into the tree. They did a real good job. They talked with me about what they were doing and asked questions about the thoroughness. They engaged me in the process so I was a satisfied customer.

I thought they were terrific! They did a great job with the removal, and the crew cleaned up beautifully. They aren’t butchers; they’re true arborists who enjoy their line of work. I thought they were professional throughout the entire process, and I’d definitely call them again.

The crew arrived promptly and was professional, we walked through and confirmed the trees to be removed and they got to work. The large tree we had removed was close to the house and it was removed without incident. The crew did a great job cleaning up all the debris, including sweeping my deck off from all the sawdust from the big tree, I was impressed. They also took care to protect our lawn as the stump grinder could have dug up the grass a bit but due to their precautions, it was fine. At the end of the day, the logs from the large tree were piled neatly in my cul-de-sac as I had been told as part of the estimate that I'd have to pay extra to have them hauled away due to the size and it would be a different crew which was fine but when the original crew left, they told me the logs would be picked up on the next business day which was Monday. However, I had to call at least 3 times over a few days before the logs were finally picked up, I believe it was Thursday by then. Overall, my experience was positive though so I wouldn't hold the delay on the log pick-up against them and would certainly work with the company again.

It went very well. Stump removal was done by a different company, but they did exactly what they described to me in the intital assessment by the arborist.