Gregory Forrest Lester Inc

We hired Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc., 6016 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati, OH 45213, to remove a large sycamore tree that was too close to our house. While they removed it, a dead limb knocked out our power, so I called the power company to come out to fix it. They told us that there was damage and that several items would need to be replaced by a trained electrician. They recommended getting estimates for the job. They also put us on a 20-day notice to get this work done due to safety issues. When I relayed this information to Greg Lester the next day, he told us that he knew somebody at the power company who told him what was needed, so he'd get it fixed. Then he sent his tree trimers out to fix our electrical problem! They removed a rope that had been placed there by the power company and then left 5 minutes later. Since we didn't trust what the tree trimmers had done, we contacted the power company again and asked them to come back to let us know if it had been fixed. The power company came back and assured us that the repair work still needed to be done. We then contacted Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc. again and told them that an electrician needed to do the work and they had to pay for it. We were told to get 2-3 estimates, which I did. All 3 were BBB and Angie's List certified. Mr. Lester then relayed a message to me that he would send an electrician that he had dealt with for the last 30 years to do the repair work for the exact same cost as the cheapest estimate I sent him. When I asked to see his electrician's estimate so that I could check his references, too, I was later told that "his electrician was really busy and couldn't get to it for awhile" so we should go ahead and use the cheapest estimate that we had sent him. We were happy of use one of the companies that we had already contacted. They got the job done and Greg Lester paid the bill. This issue has been resolved. I will never use Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc. again.

Because the tree was located in a "Purgatory" of three different properties, each owner had to -- at the very least -- give permission to have the tree removed. We were lucky in that all three owners not only consented, but also agreed to share the expense equally. I mention this because only a handful of tree service providers would even give an estimate for the project, wary of how and if they might be paid. Greg Lester was our primary contact from the get-go, and he provided all of us with a detailed overview of the logistics involved. A few days before the scheduled work date, he personally went door-to-door to inform other property owners of the project and the parking restrictions that the crane and the bucket truck would cause. We were amazed at the speed, the safety precautions and the skill with which his team removed the towering eyesore. Greg Lester was friendly and efficient throughout our dealings. Only complaint was their inability to eradicate the stump. I would hire them again.

The company and the team was great. They adjusted to any difficulties. The quote was honored despite some new challenges/adjustments. The work took 3 days onsite with a team of 4-5 people. They worked hard, were professional, and cleaned up well. I would definitely use them again and recommend to a friend.

The owner went an extra mile to insure that these services were completed for me before Christmas. The tree removals and trimming occurred on the first day. Stump and surface roots were removed on the second day along with the completion of filling in of soil, seeds and fertilizing. Cleanings were done on a continuously basis. They cleaned the front, back, and side of my house and my neighbors area as well. They were on time and did this job in two days. I was "pleased as punch" that they could take care of these items for me before Christmas. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND their services to anyone!

We contacted Jeff Lester to come out and replace the dead tree. It took about 6 weeks for his company to do so. When they did, they replaced the tree with a tiny one, about 1/4 of the size of the original. We called him many times to come back and give us a hearty tree the size of the one that was replaced, but he will not do it. We also found out through a reputable arborist that the tree injections we paid a high amount for are ineffective and a rip-off. Mr. Lester's father came to our house earlier this year, without an appointment and wanted to discuss more work he thought we needed. He walked around our property writing up ridiculous suggestions on what we should have his company do to our landscaping and trees. I believe the amount he came up with for the work was around $20,000! This company goes under the name of Gregory Forrest Lester, Inc. as well as Tree Health Professionals and they have several locations. They should be put out of business for their dishonest business practices.

So far I'm not exactly pleased with these guys I found them in the Reach magazine and when researched them on Angies list I saw that they didn't exactly have a great rating and now I am a lot concerned about hiring them..

It went extremely well. They did exactly what we told them to do.

They arrived in December to give the tree's the appropriate treatments. However they never sent anyone over to take the branches down. I called and asked about it and they claimed that it had been done. Believe me I would have known, we have 4 dogs and my window faces that tree, I would of noticed if someone had come over to cut the branches down. They assured me that they would follow up in the spring. I called several times in the spring, and no one has come back to remove the branch. I can tell it was that branch because it has a very unique looking branch. Not only have they not completed the work I orginally called them to do, a few of the tree's they gave treatments to have died last spring. It has been increasling frustrating dealing with GFL INC. I have tried contacting them several time since this spring and have not gotten a response. The most recent attempts I have spoken to a secretary who said she would mark my call as urgent and get a supervisor to call me back ASAP. Yet still no response. In addition I feel like I overpaid for the service in the first place.

They did great work; they did the work quickly and safely. But they didn’t show much respect for my neighbor’s property. They dropped big tree limbs into her yard and drove trucks on her grass and driveway, causing the asphalt to crack and bow.

They are really good. They seemed very knowledgeable. They gave us so much information about the trees that we have and answered every question that we had. They spent so much time with us and didn't just come trim the trees, which that was what we had them do. They had a huge team. Before we had them come and trim the tree, the representative, which I think is one of the sons, he told us about each tree we had, what it was, what to expect for it, and things like that. It was nice to know more about the trees growing in our yard. He recommended trimming them back to a certain amount, which would cost more than another estimate that we were given, but their professionalism was much better and since they took so much time with us, we choose them over a cheaper alternative. It goes a long way having someone that is knowledgeable. As it turned out, 2 of the trees are hollow inside and we will probably have one of the trees taken down and will call them to give us an estimate for that and may or not use them in that case because if they are just taking the tree down, we may not care us much because the tree will be coming down. They weren't that much more expensive. We got what we expected.

It went well overall - the only disappointing thing is that there was a coupon available and they kept trying to get me to spend more money than I wanted to on things I didn't want to have done. In the end they did honor the coupon and I was satisfied.

Within one week of accepting the bid, the work was done. Three trees were pruned--two pin oaks and one sugar maple. The oaks were well done. Some additional branches on the sugar maple could have been pruned. The sugar maple overhangs an outdoor sitting area where large decorative rocks were placed. One of the rocks was broken. The workers cleaned up and hauled away all the debris after completing their assignment.

Needed fallen tree removed. Very unhappy with the way the yard was treated.

Calling about the fact my tree and bushes, plants were killed due to the spraying GFL came out, took out the dead tree, replanted a new tree, but did nothing for other dead plantings. The new tree much smaller than the other died in a matter of weeks. In removing the first tree knocked my pond waterfall pump off thus being unable to use (much less all the deadness of pond). GFL said I should take a picture of new tree back to the landscape company he bought it through, which I did. A different landscaping company said there was nothing they could do for me. I continued calling through August and in September with no return calls. Although my trees look better, the areas of landscaping, in particular, I told GFL in March, the pond area was of extreme importance, remains dead despite his assurance he could take care of. I lost business (my kitchenware company) due to my outdoor landscaping being so poor. GFL also on first day, starting to charge me extra, for extras without my consent such as hand pruning bushes, before giving approval of what I thought agreed in my original contract. . The new tree he did plant, died as well, and to date has not returned calls , gave me a cryptic note in my mailbox saying the new tree was not covered and again not returned any calls.

Within 24 hours of calling they left a detailed quote for not only the tree that I wanted removed, but also for additional trees for which they could provide services. The pricing was for each service, so I could pick and choose. I lost the quote sheet, which is my fault, and called the company a week later to request a copy of the quote. The lady that answered the phone was not necessarily rude, but she was not customer service oriented. She said she would try to get the sales person to resend the quote, but didn't seem particularly convincing that this would actually happen. I have not received a copy of the quote. I think I will not go with this company because I'm concerned about the fact that they have such a person working their phones. It just doesn't give the impression that their level of professionalism is as it should be. If they read this, I would really like to receive a copy of the quote, and I apologize for having lost the first copy. Update 10/26/10: They had a sales person originally who did get back to me. He was really good. He provided me with information about what was wrong with the tree. He was very helpful and returned my calls timely. He scheduled the work quickly. They were here when they said they were going to be here. They did the work and cleaned up after themselves. Their price seemed reasonable. There was the small issue about the quote earlier. The sales person I got hold of was really very professional. I would use them in the future if I needed to.

Other than some unexpected tractor damage to the yard - because we had several inches of rain the night before - they were very professional and did a great job.

Terrible experience overall. Quality of work was poor, communication with company was poor.

The crew took about 1/2 of a day to complete all of the work. We have a small lot, so they worked around obsticles. They did a great job removing the ivy from the silver maple, and trimming all of the trees. They did great work. I recommend them. Mr. Lester is a certified arborist, and was more than happy to give us advice in caring for our trees. He suggested a tree fertilization and hub-and-spoke bracing for our maple. We passed on the former, opting to hammer in tree spikes (his fertilizer was expensive). However, the bracing sounds like a good idea, and we'll likely ask him to come back in the fall.

Greg is a talker. I was busy that day trying to get some things accomplished, but I felt that he wouldn't leave. Anyway, I received my quote for the stumps and bushes and the detailed work they would do for $450.. not a bad price. I had time to think about it ( I don't like being pressured into any decision, so please don't show up at my doorstep expecting an answer when I told you I would call). Needless to say, I found someone else to do the job.

My trees are not in any better shape than they were last year. I had discussed spraying for borers when I signed up. Two of my trees ended up getting borers last fall. When I had them come back out, I was told that was not part of the service I signed up for. Also, I had a dead tree in my lawn they wanted to charge me $200 to remove it. Another service removed it for $75.

This was a very large job. Our entire street was blocked by all the trucks, craine, & bucket truck. The men on the job were very professional, neat, and quick. The job was awesome. They also worked throughout the job to cleanup both our yard / driveway and our neighbors. I was extremely pleased with the job overall... until we tried to landscape the area where the tree was. We found that part of the stump was still there. They came out once to grind it out. We thenhired someone to finish the landscaping and ended up having to pay him to grind the stump AGAIN. We payed double to get the stump grind because Gregory Forrest Lester didn't get it TWICE. I might've been ok with this except when I called to tell them about it they said, "well what do you want us to do about it?" They promised to have the manager call me back (TWICE) and I never heard a word.

I had given him a down payment of $2600. He never returned, never completed the project and I took him to court. He did a counter suit wanting the rest of his money for incomplete work. The magistrate ended up settling so neither of us won. I paid him no more, and I did not get my money back. I filed a claim with the BBB and when his record was revealed it disclosed F- rating with a total of 14 complaints filed against him with failure to respond. I do not recommend this business to anyone.

I thought they were decent enough in terms of the quality of the trimming and the price was fair. When it came to scheduling the work, showing up when they said they would, etc. I wasn't too impressed. The sales person gave me a copy of their liability and workman's compensation forms so they were pretty up front about that information. It took three attempts before I finally got them out here to do the work. The first time they were supposed to call in the morning then didn't call until that evening. The next time they said they would be there first thing in the morning, but didn't show up until noon. They weren't able to do the work because they didn't access to my neighbor's lot, which I wasn't aware they would need. Then they came a week or two later without any forewarning and while I wasn't here and did the trimming. I had a problem with some of the trimming so I called them up and they came right away. So, overall it took several attempts to get the work completed.

They cleaned up after themselves. I would hire them again. They were on time and they did exactly what they were supposed to do. They got the work done in a timely manner. They did the work for a great price.

First I sent an e-mail in response to an ad, requesting a quote. The next day a secretary from their office called to ask if my billing address was the same as the one I had provided. I confirmed the statement, but also wanted to be sure I wasn't being billed for anything yet, as I had not agreed to any work to be performed. She assured me it was for future reference. Some time later, like a week or two, I got a knock on my door. It may or may not be policy for them to call first, but I don't know - I lost my phone a week prior, the one they had the number for. So the president of the company knocks on my door on a mid-day Thursday afternoon when I just happened to stop home for lunch. I show him the half dead tree in question and he gives me his opinion, and writes up a quote. He was friendly and helpful, and confident they could be out the next day to perform service. He was patient while I wrestled with a decision. While I knew tree cutting isn't cheap, I didn't expect the trunk digging to be billed separately. This added numbers to the quote I wasn't prepared for. I don't know what other companies charge as I did not have any other companies quote me. It just seemed to me I could buy a chainsaw for a hundred bucks and go to town. But safety was somewhat of a concern, since trees weigh a lot and I'm uncomfortable with them on top of me. So I signed the agreement and they were out the next day as promised, doing exactly what the pres said they would do. I only watched a little bit of the action, from a window inside, and it was a lot more professional than axing the bottom of the trunk and yelling TIMBER! like I would have done.