Out On A Limb Tree Service

The price quoted seemed very affordable; however, after the job was underway, we received a call stating that they didn't think they'd be able to get the entire tree down.  They stated that they had ruined several chain saws and thought that there was metal in the tree.  We asked if they had actually encountered any metal, e.g. remnants of an old metal fence or something in the trunk of the tree. They said that they couldn't see any metal, but that the tree probably absorbed it and it had made the tree super strong.  This sounded ridiculous.  They texted a picture, and a 8 ft + portion of the tree still remained with several "arms" of the tree still intact.  They had removed the top portion of the tree, but were ready to simply leave the worksite and say that it couldn't be done.  Fortunately, we had told the service that we would pay upon completion of the job and we urged them to complete the job.  They ended up significantly reducing the tree remnant, but still left a 4 ft tall "stump."  We later found out that Out on a Limb had been featured on Channel 4 in St. Louis for leaving job sites without completing the tree removal for customers who had paid in advance.  They also did not complete the clearing of the fence line that had been agreed upon.

This company (actually it's one person) is horrible. He started a repair on a handrail in June and did not finish it. He stated he would be back the next day because he needed additional material but he asked for a check for his services because he bought some material already. He was given a check and yup you guessed it, he didn't show up to finish the work. It took until the end of September for him to come back out and finish it and then he tried to charge us again for the work. He also tried to charge us for work that we never approved.
Now that it's almost tax season, we don't have his EIN number and we've sent 2 certified letters requesting this information. It will be his own fault if the IRS audits him.