CHAIN SAW STEVE TREE SVC RMVL

We chose this provider based on a positive report by another customer and because he could do the work sooner than anyone else. We wanted the job done before the beginning of October. He came on the date he said he would, and did a very good job taking the 3 trees down all in one day. He put his grinding machine on all 3 stumps. Two stumps were ground below ground level, as agreed. However, after we cleared the shavings away from the largest stump (about 4' in diameter), we found that he had left most of it still above ground w/ jagged hunks sticking up 10". We called him and asked him to return to grind the stump as originally agreed. He told us his grinder was broken and had no idea when he could return to finish the job. We kept calling for 7 weeks until mid-November. The boat was now blocking the driveway, and we were anxious to move it before snow fell. We have a very small piece of land and because of the septic field, we are limited in where heavy things can move or be placed. We called him again, but had to leave a message in which we suggested that we could try to get another contractor to finish the job, if he would reimburse us for it, and then he wouldn't have to return. We figured this would be worth it to him and to us, so that he would not have to spend the time and money to bring his equipment back, and we would get the job done quickly, since he still could not give us a date of when his equipment would be fixed. He did not return the call until after we started contacting other contractors to find out what this would cost. One contractor said he was doing stump grinding that very day and could fit us in, so we agreed, not having heard back from Chainsaw Steve yet, but needing to get this done. It cost us $150, which we believe is a normal fee for someone to bring equipment to a property to grind out a large stump. It took the second contractor 1.5 hours to grind out the stump. When Steve did call back, he left a message saying he still didn't know when the grinder would be fixed, and wondering if he could bring different heavy equipment across the septic field. We called back, couldn't reach him and left a message saying that moving heavy equipment across the septic field would still not be an option, and we told him the price we got ($150) for someone else to do it. He called back and we were able to talk to him directly this time. He said suddenly his equipment was available and he could come the next day. When we said it was already done, he said he would not pay for a full stump grinding by someone else, because he had already ground part of the stump. We pointed out what it had cost us to finish his job, and that that was probably what he would charge just to go to someone's property to grind a stump, regardless of size. Then he said he would send a check and hung up on me. When the check arrived, it was only $75. I sent him a letter with a copy of the $150 invoice so that he had documentation of the real cost, and asked him for the second $75. He did not respond. I contacted the Better Business Bureau--his response claimed that he had not been allowed to come back to do the job, and that we had agreed to the financial settlement that he offered--neither of which was true. After all, we had tried to get him back to do the job for 7 weeks. I had not cashed his check until I after I had tried to resolve the problem directly with him and then with the BBB, but I have cashed it since, because the date on it was getting old, and I was concerned that I might not be able to recoup even the partial amount if I did not cash it. I did send him a letter that although I was finally cashing it, I felt it did not constitute settlement of the issue.