Community Arborist, Inc.

He gave an estimate. We agreed on a time. Work was done on time and he explained what was done. Work actually came back a little less than estimated cost.

I had a large tree limb that was split at the trunk and was going to come down in fairly near future.  The limb hung over my garage and the main power lines.  Brian gave me an estimate of $450.  I told him I wanted to get another estimate and would let him know.  I got a second estimate which was higher because that company did not have access to a bucket.  I left a voicemail for Brian letting him know that I wanted to set up removal and to call me back to let me know when works.  I never heard back.  After about 5 days, I called DTE to see if they would do something about it.  They said they were responsible for clearing it from around the lines, which was quite a bit.  My neighbors friend said he would drop the rest of the limb to the ground, then myself and my neighbors would take care of debris removal since my neighbor wanted the wood.  Overall, a pretty cheap alternative.  Eight days after I had contacted Brian with no reply, DTE called me to let me know they were coming out that morning to clear the lines.  They told me they would cut the limb to the trunk and leave all of the debris.  This was perfect for me.  When I arrived home from work, Community Arborist was there removing debris.  I was initially confused.  Brian said that DTE had come and they did not cut limb back to the trunk and left the debris in back yard.  I cannot confirm what DTE did or didn't do as I never saw it until after Brian had been working for awhile.  I was confused why Brian was there and told him that I had thought he hadn't wanted the job and figured that was why he never called back.  He said this was the soonest he could get there and that the price was still $450.  I went inside for a bit, and went back out to explain why I was unhappy.  I told him it was poor business practice to not return someone's phone call and to not tell them that they are coming to do the work and that I had made other arrangements when I hadn't heard back from him.  He interrupted me repeatedly.  At one point I asked him to please stop interrupting me and let me say what I needed to say.  He told me to just say it then and get it over with.  He was rude and an overall complete jerk.  He blamed everything on me for not calling and cancelling work and took absolutely no responsibility for the misunderstanding.  He blatantly lied about my voicemail.  Ultimately, I ended up losing my temper and yelling at him (which is extremely rare for me and takes quite a bit to get me to that point), but his general poor attitude, rudeness, and lack of professionalism seriously ticked me off.  I am not happy that I stooped to his level though.  The fact that he did not reduce price at all for either the misunderstanding or the fact that DTE did part of the work spoke volumes to me regarding his integrity.  His price was fair for the original work (although I still am not sure how much DTE did) and they did a fantastic job of removal.  So in summary, Community Arborist does really great work and is well priced, but Brian lacks integrity, professionalism, and common sense (to let a client know they are coming).  So disappointed.  I really wanted to support a Ferndale business, but I will not use them again.