Robert Uhler

First a bit of background - I bought my property from this man's family back in 2001. When we first moved in we had a few big snow storms, and we were unprepared to clear the snow ourselves at the time. The elderly gentleman from whom we bought the farm at the time was kind enough to clear our driveway for us with his pickup truck using an attached snowplow (he had been a farmer all his life, and he was used to this type of work). When I asked him what I could pay him for his service he just told me to pay him what I thought it was worth. Not having a clue I gave him $50, and he was happy. That went on for the next year or so. Sometimes his son would show up instead with a heavier piece of farm equipment instead, and I would pay him the same amount - still no complaint. I should note that my driveway had not yet been paved, so a snowthrower would not have worked. I then had my driveway paved, and then purchased a $1000 snow thrower and began clearing my own driveway from there on out. Fast forward to 2014 - A week ago I slipped and fell on my back steps and broke a rib just before a snowfall. We had ten inches of snow, and I had to go to work. My snow thrower's clutch had been acting up, and it was a bit difficult for my wife to work so we decided to call the farmer again after so many years. The older farmer is now not up to the task himself, and his wife, who answered the phone, put us in contact with their son, Robert Uhler, who called us back. When I spoke to him on the phone I told him that I needed my driveway cleared because I had broken my rib and couldn't do it myself, and I asked how much it would cost. He said that he would have to see it first to figure that out. Knowing what I had paid in the past I figured that was okay; so, I asked to come on over and get it done so that I could go to work. He showed up about a half hour later in a large, commercial John Deere tractor with front and back blades with a heated cab - really nice rig - complete overkill. He got the job done in about ten minutes. Note - He didn't stop first to tell me how much he was going to charge even thought I was standing right there. Once he finished he got out and I asked how much I owed. He told me "two and a quarter". I said "two hundred and twenty five dollars?" to clarify. He said, "yeah". He had me over a barrel at that point. I wrote him a check as he explained that the tractor cost $60,000, and the tires just cost him $1300 to get replaced. I guess I could have argued with him, but it's just not in my nature. I just will NEVER call him for ANYTHING ever again.