Has my elderly dad just been ripped off?
Discussion
I share a house with my elderly dad and came home this afternoon to find a bloke with a chainsaw pruning / attacking some of the fruit trees in our back garden. Our neighbour has been moaning for a few weeks about how they are overgrowing his garden and conservatory, and (unbeknownst to me) threatening legal action, and dad had given in after getting a card from a random "tree surgeon" bloke pushed through the letterbox. I found out later that they/he gave dad a quote of £350, which he knocked down to £325.
As an aside: I was under the impression that overhanging growth was generally the responsibility of the owner of the property under the tree (goodwill of the tree owner notwithstanding) on the understanding that they must offer all trimmings etc back to the tree owner. (This is irrelevant to the issue here though)
The fruit trees are about 15ft high and needed pruning back maybe 5ft. Two hours later they were finished and requesting payment immediately, offering to take dad to town to get some money (I wish I had heard that bit, alarm bells are ringing now). He said he would make an online payment directly to them within the hour when he got his laptop out. They seemed reluctant but eventually okay with that.
£325 for 2 hours work for possibly 2 (I didnt see the other guy if there was one) seems excessive. Even the call-out emergency plumber last year only cost half that. Has anyone else ad tree work done? Is this a reasonable amount? At the moment I'm thinking 1. No and 2. Hell no.
Dealing with an elderly dad is tricky enough, so before going any further with police, trading standards etc, I'm just looking for any guidance. If I had been there at the start, I suspect it wouldn't have happened quite like this. It didn't fill me with confidence when bloke knocked on the door and asked if we had any cooking oil, as he had run out of chainsaw oil... Sigh.
As an aside: I was under the impression that overhanging growth was generally the responsibility of the owner of the property under the tree (goodwill of the tree owner notwithstanding) on the understanding that they must offer all trimmings etc back to the tree owner. (This is irrelevant to the issue here though)
The fruit trees are about 15ft high and needed pruning back maybe 5ft. Two hours later they were finished and requesting payment immediately, offering to take dad to town to get some money (I wish I had heard that bit, alarm bells are ringing now). He said he would make an online payment directly to them within the hour when he got his laptop out. They seemed reluctant but eventually okay with that.
£325 for 2 hours work for possibly 2 (I didnt see the other guy if there was one) seems excessive. Even the call-out emergency plumber last year only cost half that. Has anyone else ad tree work done? Is this a reasonable amount? At the moment I'm thinking 1. No and 2. Hell no.
Dealing with an elderly dad is tricky enough, so before going any further with police, trading standards etc, I'm just looking for any guidance. If I had been there at the start, I suspect it wouldn't have happened quite like this. It didn't fill me with confidence when bloke knocked on the door and asked if we had any cooking oil, as he had run out of chainsaw oil... Sigh.
England87 said:
Not sure it helps a great deal but I had a hedge cut, only top and one side, 2 hours 2 guys £180. These types of jobs are valued at whatever you agreed to really.
Ouch - we have a 15ft tall hedge that runs for 25 metres along the side of the garden Our gardener trimmed it, mowed the lawn, pruned some other shrubs and dead branches off the ash tree, mowed the bank on the lane that accesses our place. He was here for 4 hours and charged me £85. It sounds a couple of hundred quid over but it could have been worse. Many horror stories of elderly parents agreeing to new driveways while the kids are away etc. Then the loss runs into thousands.
We all get ripped off from time to time but the important thing is the reaction to it. If this leads to your father never, ever talking money with others (no matter what) then 'losing' a couple of hundred quid could actually work out a good deal.
We all get ripped off from time to time but the important thing is the reaction to it. If this leads to your father never, ever talking money with others (no matter what) then 'losing' a couple of hundred quid could actually work out a good deal.
blueg33 said:
England87 said:
Not sure it helps a great deal but I had a hedge cut, only top and one side, 2 hours 2 guys £180. These types of jobs are valued at whatever you agreed to really.
Ouch - we have a 15ft tall hedge that runs for 25 metres along the side of the garden Our gardener trimmed it, mowed the lawn, pruned some other shrubs and dead branches off the ash tree, mowed the bank on the lane that accesses our place. He was here for 4 hours and charged me £85. I paid £670 to have a decent sized Silver Birch taken down, two guys for maybe 3 hours, so not bad wages but to be fair they had to rent a cherry picker and they need loads of other tools, fuel, liability insurance, suitable vehicles etc. Its skilled, dangerous and challenging job, they need to have some bottle and be fairly fit and strong to do it properly.
Or they should have, there are tree surgeons, and there are people who have a chainsaw and a flatbed Transit, its all good fun until someone gets hurt or property is damaged, then dont see them for sawdust. Sounds like your dad may have paid top dollar for a chancer like this.
Or they should have, there are tree surgeons, and there are people who have a chainsaw and a flatbed Transit, its all good fun until someone gets hurt or property is damaged, then dont see them for sawdust. Sounds like your dad may have paid top dollar for a chancer like this.
J4CKO said:
I paid £670 to have a decent sized Silver Birch taken down, two guys for maybe 3 hours, so not bad wages but to be fair they had to rent a cherry picker and they need loads of other tools, fuel, liability insurance, suitable vehicles etc. Its skilled, dangerous and challenging job, they need to have some bottle and be fairly fit and strong to do it properly.
Or they should have, there are tree surgeons, and there are people who have a chainsaw and a flatbed Transit, its all good fun until someone gets hurt or property is damaged, then dont see them for sawdust. Sounds like your dad may have paid top dollar for a chancer like this.
Whereabouts are you?!Or they should have, there are tree surgeons, and there are people who have a chainsaw and a flatbed Transit, its all good fun until someone gets hurt or property is damaged, then dont see them for sawdust. Sounds like your dad may have paid top dollar for a chancer like this.
I had a silver birch & a rowan tree taken down, brush taken away & logs cut into 18’’ lengths for my firepit, 1 bloke for 2-3hrs (I did load the brush onto his truck & stack the logs).
£200, this was last December. The only other quote was £350+VAT
He is a pukka tree surgeon.
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