G & V Shalom Tree Care, Inc.

Van normally does lawn/tree service for our neighbor, and had trimmed our palm trees prior to this event I'm reporting. He advised us that a palm tree on the side our house was in bad shape, and apparently rats were living in the bottom of the tree. We were quoted $450.00, which would include removal of the one palm tree, cleaning up the bottom of another palm located near it, removal of a Florida Holly, and cleaning-up the front landscaping (bushes directly in front of our home). Although I thought the price was a little high, my husband and I were on our way out of town and agreed because Van referenced Jesus during his conversations (and we are Christians). Van even stated that he felt God brought him to us that day to work, because his daughter just lost her health insurance coverage and he had to come up with around $900.00. Upon returning from out of town three days later, we found that the one palm tree was only cut down (not removed), the other palm was untouched, the Florida Holly he said he would remove was still partially there, and the front bushes were not done at all. I called Van to discuss it, at which point he said that he broke his chainsaw belt on one of the trees, and would come back out within a week to trim the front bushes. He also said he would clean up the tree he was supposed to remove. Apparently "removal" does not mean actually removing the three, but cutting it down to it's stump. Van further advised that he didn't even do the work that day, meaning he cashed our check before even doing the work! Although I asked Van to call me before he came out, he came when neither myself or my husband was home. I suppose that was because I discovered he was not licensed and I requested he come with documentation to prove he was licensed. Both my husband and I told him we felt we were overcharged and felt that we were taken advantage of, by our own admission after becoming comfortable with a man who claimed to be Christian and believing him to be honest. What Van did was cut up the palm tree roots a bit more, leaving some kind of mulch that he didn't even distribute or cut small enough to effectively be "mulch." The Florida Holly was untouched, and the front landscaping (bushes) were noticably uneven. I called Van again to discuss the work that was done, leaving him three messages over a week's time, and did not receive even one call back. Another company that does work in our neighborhood agreed that we were overcharged, and said they would have done the work for around $200! We ended up paying them to finish the work on the Florida Holly that Van still had not completed. They also trimmed the front bushes for no charge. I would definitely not recommend G & V Shalom Tree Care. I also strongly suggest ensuring a company is up to date with their license before hiring them!

I give them all A's.