Aloha Arborists

We got an estimate to trim 17 palm trees when we were on island last January and the work was going to be done when we came back in December. I arranged with his office in October for them to begin the work on Dec. 12. Daniel emailed me on Dec. 10 to give him a phone call. He wanted to meet with us to discuss exactly what we wanted before he started the work. He said he was in the middle of a job, would meet with us Dec. 15 and start the job the next week. We did not hear from him by Dec. 17 so I called him. He said he would come out the following morning. The next morning he called and said he had the flu so he would not be coming. I called him again on Dec. 26 and he said he would come out the next day, which he did. We discussed the trees and he said he would try to start on them by the end of the week but definitely would the following Monday, Dec. 31. We didn't hear from him so I called him on Jan. 2 and he said he would start the job the next day. They showed up on Jan. 3 but one of his employees was driving a huge dump truck with the wood chipper behind it. He pulled the front wheels of the truck about 6 feet into the grass of our front yard creating two huge deep ruts. My husband hollered out the front doot to get the truck off the grass. The truck driver backed the truck out causing even more damage to our lawn. Daniel said he would "fix" it but only stomped on the mounds of mud and grass. The truck then went around the block. A few minutes later I realized that I didn't hear any noise from the workers and when I checked, the entire crew, equipment and trucks were gone. They left without any explanation or apology. I called and left a message for them not to return. Our lawn care guy contacted another tree service for us. He came out the next day, gave us an estimate the next day which was $2,000 less than Aloha Arbor, and started the job 3 days later.

They were originally contracted in October of 2010. Instead of trimming and shaping the tree they thinned it claiming they needed to grow a new canopy. Then they told me that they would come back and finish the job the following year when the tree had recovered. And, I'd be charge another $650! I didn't like it but it seemed reasonable so I paid them the first $650. Took a while but I finally got them to come back last October. They trimmed my tree again but not to the heigth we had agreed on and they made no effort at all to shape the tree. It was a complete eyesore! When I complained, they told me it was only an intermediate trimming and it might take another year or two of trimmings (at $650 each, additional!) to get it to the size and shape we had agreed!!! I checked a number of internet sources and found out that mangoes are very hardy and really don't require this kind of treatment. Aloha Arbor agreed to retrim and reshape the tree and that I would not have to pay until I was satisfied even if it took another year. We looked at the tree and agreed on a branch by branch cutting plan. They came back just before Thanksgiving 2011 and did the work. My tenant contacted me right afterward and said he thought the had damaged the front fence. I went down to see and the fence looked as if a branch had fallen on it or it had been backed into by a piece of equipment. Not only that, but the tree, though improved, was still flat ugly! I emailed Aloha Arbor a copy of my tenant's note and ask if they knew anything about the fence in November. I've still not gotten a response. I telephoned and left a message complaining about the tree and have still not received a return call. End of story.