Capital Arborists

I have used Capital Arborists for two different projects and have been very happy with them both times. Jeff came out and did the estimates and got the crews started. He is very knowledgable and gave us some great tips, even for the trees they weren't working on! The crews worked quickly and efficiently and did a beautiful job on the trees. The ones that they pruned a few months ago are now flourishing. We had them fell four large trees for us and they even cut the oak to firewood size for us so we could split later!

Fantastic crew! 6 adult trees removed and 6 other trees trimmed. The crew cleaned up the sites and were friendly and really hard workers. The price was fantastic, thought it would be twice the amount. They will be doing some landscaping for us soon. Would definitely hire them again!

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>>>>>Bait & Switch Bidding, Unethical Billing Business Practices and Job Abandonment<<<<< The following is the work the Capital Arborist Agreed to do: 1. Fertilize ALL trees and shrubs in front yard. (Incomplete) 2. Structural prune front yard Olive Trees. (Completed) 3. Remove rubbing and insect infested branches. (Completed) 4. Hand prune for shape All Cypress trees. (Incomplete) 5. Thin flax and shape as needed. (Incomplete) Note: ACORN Arboricultural services and Capital Arborists are both formally a single company, Kemper Tree Care Inc. ________________________________________ >>>BACKGROUND<<< Circa 2010, through recommendation of ACORN Arboricultural Services Approximately 4 years ago I began using Capital Arborists to treat and cure my olive trees of the Borer Beetle. I met Lisa of Capital Arborists who came to my home and treated my trees multiple times a year in order to SAVE THEM and save them is exactly what she did and I am appreciative of her fine work. A very very friendly and personable gal who over the year I would converse with from time to time. She is a chatty one! She told me that she is part owner of Capital Arborists and relayed the most horrible of things about ACORN, the very company that referred me as business to Capital Arborists. She would go on to tell me some of the most unpleasant things about ACORN and their business practices. This surprised me, and of course, I listened but considered it just vicious gossip. I am very happy with the work ACORN (Delinda Bates and Kevin) were doing with the tree pruning and other pruning work they would do for me over the years. Unfortunately, I failed to pick up on the RED FLAG about the over-all Capital Arborists general business ethics. Even so, Lisa would reach out to me from time to time via phone calls or text messages (I'm not good with texting) about either coming to treat on my trees or she would just be friendly. Very nice gal, just a bit prone to talking ill of others/those in the business. Fast forward to January 2014. I contacted Lisa about referring me to another arborist that can trim my Flax and my trees when I need them to be done. The reason, and this is where I made my error. I failed to be a bit more patient with ACORN and all I needed to do was make a call. I called Lisa because I didn't want to call ACORN again and bug Delinda about coming out again because I live to far out of the way. I didn't have a complaint about ACORN, I just wanted to have work done now. Lisa proceeded to tell me how the owner of ACORN (Delinda) was a mess and that the company is a mess. This alarmed me and Lisa up sold me to start using their pruning services. Bottom line, take ACORNS business away from them by talking ill of their now competitor. I took the bait. Not much later, I received a phone call from the key owner, Lucy DuPont to schedule an appointment for an arborist to come out and do a site evaluation. I want to make a pruning appointment and she refuses and says, that an evaluation first. About a week later an arborist by the name of Erik Dubovik comes to my home. Very friendly and takes a look over my property. We discuss my Flax (which is the main thing I want addressed and my Cypress trees). He looks over my olive trees and complains that they were not done correctly and suggests re-doing them. He then proceeds to tell me his whole life story about his former "top job" working in Las Vegas and how important he was but he gave it all up to spend time with his family and move to California. I didn't ask to hear his life story but I smiled and appeared interested. He just would not stop chatting about his past jobs, wife (how they dated and how each of their children were conceived on certain vacations and moving to California. What does this have to do with pruning my trees? Nice enough guy but at one point had to end the chat -- I had things to do! ________________________________________ >>>This is where the significant problems kick-off!<<< Prior to that date, I receive a phone call from one of the other key owners, I'm guessing Lucy's husband but not sure, Mike to schedule a pruning appointment for the 5th of February 2014. He leaves me a voicemail and asks that I call him back about our appointment. I return the call promptly and Lucy answers the call and filters me from reaching Mike. I leave a message and he does not return the call. I contact Lisa about "what's going on? Is there an appointment?" She apologizes on Mike's behalf and says she will get back to me about confirmation and nope, no confirmation and I assume that there is no appointment. February 5th comes and my doorbell rings. There are three guys in my driveway, two new faces and Eric Dubovik. I am shocked and I tell them that I was unaware that they were coming because I never heard from Mike about confirmation the appointment. Eric says that its no problem and that they can come back. I say, no. It's ok but we can do the Cypress threes in the driveway because I did not remove the Deer netting as agreed that I must do. He said, oh, we can come back because he has to leave and that his sone is sick with a fever and needs to go to the hospital. He agrees that they will prune my trees, prune the inner and out of all my Flax because there is a lot of dead branches within my flax (the reason I hired them to begin with) and then complete the Cypress trees along my pool yard. That late afternoon, the remaining two guys buzz my front door to let me know that they are leaving and that they did not complete all of the work. I looked over the trees and they looked "scarcely any different" and they only worked on the outer area of the flax. The key area "inner" was not done and they did not do the Cypress trees. I asked them to please at least do the three Flax along the road and they kind of did. They said that they would come back to finish and that someone would contact me to set up another appointment. They handed me an invoice for the full amount of the work to be done $1,645.00 -- premature. At least edit the amount due for the work performed. I contact Lisa again. Hope, complete silence. A week or so later, I receive another invoice in the mail for $1,645.00. I contact Lucy directly who is the owner but acts completely clueless and defers that shell need to contact Eric to find out what was done. Really, how would he know? He wasn't there! I hear nothing back. I contact Lisa and tell her that I am disappointed that I am billed but the work is not done. I receive a phone from Eric apologizing and very dramatic on the phone. I try to calm him down and that this is not a Cypress pruning emergency and that all I want is for the work to be completed. I asked him to call me back with a scheduled appointment. I never heard from him. I contact Lisa again and never hear from her. I contact Lucy and again, clueless and I miraculously receive another invoice on the 7th of March 2014 in the amount of $945. On this invoice it states that they applied Bio stimulant fertilization, prune my olive trees and completed the flax trees. I contact Lucy again that they need to adjust the bill and again. I let her know that I have 360-degree video severance on my property and that everything was recorded and that the work was not done -- she is welcome to come see the video footage. Lucy, again states she will defer to Eric and asked if I wanted the work done or a credit. I asked for a credit. That evening, 10th of March, I receive another invoice via email at 5:35 pm on the 10 the of March with the Flax work removed and a higher amount invoiced: $985.00 In addition, they now add an additional service that was not done either: Merit Systemic Treatment for annual suppression of boring insects. Huh? I am aghast at the lack of best business practices that this company deploys on its customers. I am confused. I had been using their services for years and in one full sweep Eric comes in and kills off one of their paying customers. Disappointing. ________________________________________ >>>Conclusion<<< Please be very careful when doing business with Capital Arborists - especially when there are so many other honest and quality arborists to choose from via Angieslist.

My trees look beautiful. This year I had them plant a large fruitless Chinese Pistache next to my driveway. They couldn't find one locally that met their standards so they had one brought in special at no extra charge. I cannot recommend Capital Aborists highly enough.

I think they are fantastic. They are really professional and good. I have used them for a couple of years. This year they also did a growth retardation application for a tree. I would recommend them to anybody. They are incredibly professional.

Mike (one of the owner/operators) came to the house and gave me an estimate after a through walk through of the entire area. He asked questions about how I envisioned the overall look of the bushes/shrubs as well as giving me some suggestions on how they could make several of the shrubs look better. On the day of the work, they were on time and completed the job exactly as requested. Everything looks wonderful. Several of the trees are very old and the trimming has left them looking much healthier. The clean up was exceptional and they were very helpful in giving advice about fertilizing some of the bushes. You couldn't do better than this company.

There was a set charge for the consultation. I think that he was very thorough and very easy to talk to. He seemed very knowledgeable. I just haven't gone ahead with that project yet. I would give high marks for his friendliness, punctuality and professionalism.

The estimate was free of cost. The guy who came out was very detailed. He asked me a lot of questions about what I was looking for and I responded to his questions. He called back on the telephone as he was outside the house and he asked some specific questions about the trees as he was assessing them. Then he gave me a detailed estimate immediately. The amount he quoted appeared high. I think he did a great job of the estimate. I liked what he did. I liked everything that he did but I don’t like his price. He was great. He was very professional. I might use his services again in the future.

They did a good job. Overall, it went fine.

Everything went extremely well. They arrived on time and began work immediately. Everything looked terrific when they finished. They cleaned up everything thoroughly, which I appreciate. I wouldn't use anyone else - they are the best!