ARBOR HILL TREE FARM

We purchased 4 trees from Jerry, 2 died within a year. When I contacted Jerry to let him know he immediately accused us of not watering the trees. He asked no questions or offered any suggestions in fact he never offered any sort of effort to resolve the issue. He simply threw out various accusations and insults before ghosting me. I cannot stress enough, NEVER, EVER, EVER buy from Jerry Knutson.

Jerry is a terrible human being. After calling and emailing for 2 months they finally installed 2 Black Hills Spuce tress in the summer and both died with in a few months. I did all the necessary steps that Jerry told me to do. He would not back up his 1 year warranty and just told me it was a maintenance error on my part. I paid him in cash which is a huge mistake and also told him I would meet him halfway of getting the tress replaced . Again he was very rude and just stopped dealing with me all together. The trees were completely dead and were located in the front of my house for over a year so I had to hire another Tree company to come out and replace them. If you are ever looking to hire a tree service to install tress NEVER hire Jerry Knutson.

The honey locusts were in the back yard and all impeded by overhead electric lines. It took him and his crew an extra couple hours to carefully work the huge trees under the wires and set them upright. My wife was too frightened to watch, but it was carefully done, the trees look great and no charge for the extra work. The 2 oaks and the 2 stumps were in the front yard. One of the stumps was very close (36") to the municipal gas line. Again, everyone was very nervous, but the big stump was pulled out and replaced with the big oak tree with no issues. The guy knows what he is doing.

Jerry kept us informed on when he would be planting dependent on weather. The install date was May 11th. His crew did an excellent job! Even moved a couple Hostas that were in the way of their equipment and then replanted them. Jerry explained the process and how to water and fertilize after planting. His crew also called us our when done and went over the instructions. Jerry also followed up with a phone call. We are totally happy and will definitely be following his instructions. The trees are beautiful and we will do all we were told to keep them that way. We definitely would and have recommended him to others.

I contacted Jerry through a friend of mine who liked his services.  He was very quick to reply to my request and came out to my home.  We decided on what kind of trees and how tall.  He planted them the next week and I decided I wanted more trees.  The next day they were planted.  They did a very nice job - cleaned up the site and the trees look great.  He suggested putting in a drip irrigation system so I wouldn't have to water each tree separately which is a big plus.  I definitely would use him again.  His prices were very reasonable.

Arbor Hill Tree Farm came to install spruce tree.  The owner dug hole and damaged our sprinkler
system.  After the owner told us he
damaged the sprinkler we asked him where we should send the repair bill, he
said  F_ _ K you to us, then walked away
without finishing the installation and without taking responsibility for the
damage.  The police were called to our
home and a report has been opened.   In my
opinion this business should get an F grading for integrity, professionalism,
customer service, responsiveness, and morality. 
In my opinion Arbor Hill Tree Farm damaged our property and did not
ethically and morally stand up for what they did wrong.    I say beware of doing business with Arbor
Hill Tree Farm, Cottage Grove, MN !!!!!!!!! This is not an ethical business.

My wife and I went to Arbor Hill Tree Farm, Cottage Grove, MN to pick 7 spruce trees, 4 colorado blue spruce and 3 black hill spruce.  We introduced ourselves to Jerry at the main office.  He showed us some trees and indicated that he had more in a much larger field.  We did not find any trees we liked near the main office so Jerry led us to the other field. 
There were a lot of nice trees there.  Jerry said he wanted to thin the field out as the trees were getting too close together.  He said he would be liberal on the tree sizes.  We agreed to pick out the 7 trees and meet him back at the main office.  My wife and I spent roughly two hours walking through the fields making our selection. When I marked the trees, I put two white ribbons with our name on each tree and a black tie wrap.  I put two white ribbons in a very obvious spot on the tree so there would be no chance to miss it when they were dug.  I put the tie wap on the stem of the tree in a location that I would only know about just in case there was any question as to what trees we selected.  We went back to see Jerry and paid him for the trees. 
On May 7th the trees arrived.  I inspected the trees and immediately recognized that they were not the trees my wife and I picked out.  I called Jerry.  He said it was only my perception!!!! He said he inspected the trees himself before they left the tree farm and they were definitely the ones we marked.  When I talked to Jerry, I initially didn't tell him about the black tie wrap that I hid from view.  I wanted him to admit to what he did but he went on to tell me again that it was only my perception.  He then said that maybe one of the trees was different, that sometimes when they dig the trees, they don't come out right and the root ball gets damaged.  He said that may have happened to one of the trees.
Of the seven trees we recieved, only two were ones we picked, All of the colorado blue spruce and one black hill spruce were not the ones we selected.  Maybe this was just a mistake or maybe it was deliberate.  But as a business man, it is Jerry's responsibility to deliver the product we selected.  If there was any question he should have called us. The trees we recieved were not the size, shape or color of the trees we selected. Only three trees had a single (not two as I had tied) white ribbon with our name on it. One of the was definitely pulled off another tree and retied.  One other thing I forgot to mention, when I tied the ribbons onto the trees, I tied four knots in each ribbon.  The trees we recieved had ribbons with only two knots. 
Jerry is either an extremely poor businessman or deliberately changed the tree selection to his benefit. 
When I told Jerry that I would share my experience with others, he became very defensive and told me I didn't have any proof.  When I told Jerry about the tie wrap, all communication ceased.  I find that very interesting.
Please take this review to heart. I do  not wish a similar experience on anyone.
If anyone has a current lawsuit against Arbor Hill Tree Farm, please let me know.  I will be happy to participate in any way.  My email address is [email protected].

Everything went perfect. The trees are beautiful and loving their new location!. Jerry was very nice over email, phone and in person.

PLANTED 27 TREES AND 4  DIED WITHIN A YEAR.    NEVER GAVE WATERING INSTRUCTIONS AFTER I PURCHASED 11 DIFFERENT VARIATIONS OF TREES- AND THEN SAID I OVERWATERED THEM.   HE REFUSES TO HONOR HIS 1 YR GUARANTEE ON THESE TREES AND WE ARE NOW IN COURT FOR THE 3RD TIME ON THIS ISSUE.   HE HAS BAD REVIEWS WITH THE BBB ALSO- SO CHECK THERE TOO!   LIED ABOUT SIZE OF TREES - HEIGHT AND WIDTH..  PLACED THEM IN WRONG LOCATIONS AND REFUSED TO MOVE THEM AFTERWARD..  BECAME HOSTILE WHEN ASKED ABOUT THESE THINGS. HORRIBLE BUSINESS!

One tree started to lean and they can back a month later to correct the issue.  I plan on getting more trees the summer of 2014.

The installation process went fine.  The problem was that the trees did not survive the winter and they refused to honor their warranty to replace the trees.  When I initially contacted them in March 2013, they initially agreed to replace the trees, then later reneged - claiming that we did not care for the trees properly - that determination was based only on the owners opinion.  The tree planting was part of an overall expansive landscaping plan for our yard.  The trees were meant to replace 1 forty foot boxelder tree that had to be cut down due to disease and breakage.  We'd properly cared for the trees as well as all the rest of the landscaping - and we lost other shrubs as well.  Two arborists confirmed that the trees died due transplant shock from the harsh winter we had last year.  Arbor Hills later offered to replace the 3 eight foot trees, with 4 foot trees - claiming it was physically impossible to replace the eight foot trees due to the rest of the landscaping that was put in place. The 8 foot trees should have been replaced with 8 foot trees. The warranty does not state "owner gets to replace materials with what he chooses" - also, there is a $650+ price difference between the 4 foot trees and the 8 foot trees.  Furthermore, it was not impossible to replace the 8 foot trees - it would have require the dead trees to be dug out by hand.  We had the trees replace by another company who had no problem doing so. 



Arbor Hills owner was extremely rude and not forthright.  Luckily our exchange on this issue was document in emails and not done verbally - and I've filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office.  He has refused to refund my cost of the trees and can only state that the warranty was void because he said the trees were not properly cared for.  There are 2 other complaints on the better business website regarding Arbor Hills failure to honor their warranty and attempting to "bait and switch" less expensive trees as a remedy.  I purchased numerous nursery products over the years and have never had this experience with any other nursery - shop elsewhere.

THEY DID A GREAT JOB. JERRY FROM THE TREE FARM HELPED US SELECT THE KIND OF TREES & MADE RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON THE AREA. WE GOT 3 SPRUCE TREES, 1 WEEPING WILLOW, 2 MAPLES, 1 MOUNTAIN ASH, & 1 AUSTRIAN PINE. THEY DID A GREAT JOB OF PLANTING THE TREES ALSO. THEY WERE VERY NICE & STRAIGHT. THEY WERE VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE TYPES OF TREES, & GROWING & MAINTAINING THE TREES. WE HAVE RECEIVED MANY COMPLIMENTS ON THE TREES. THEY ALSO WERE ABLE TO PLANT THEM FOR US WITHIN 1-2 WEEKS.