ANTIETAM TREE & LANDSCAPE

The gentlemen who did the work were on time. I was there when they arrived and came back a couple of times throughout the day to find them still working so I know it was a big job to clear out all of the diseased part of the crown of the tree. Considering the fact that they worked almost all day in the heat I thought the value for the quoted cost was fair. One of the things I was disappointed with was the fact that the wood was not left as quoted. I was picturing a neat stack of wood ready to go into the fireplace. I do realize that "pile" to them may have meant the lumber thrown any which way in an area of the lawn so I accept that, but it was not definitely not cut into 15" pieces. The person who quoted the job did say that it was unusual for them to leave the wood rather than dispose of it, but you shouldn't quote what you won't deliver. In order to save my grass I had to come home from work and move all of the wood about 10' onto the driveway - including pieces that were at least 3-4 feet long. After the work was done all of our decorative accents were left piled on the deck. Solar lights, decorations, birdhouses, etc. There was no attempt to return any of the items to their original locations. I can understand that it may difficult to return the items to the exact location they came from, but I expected either an attempt or a mention while I was there that everything would be left thrown on the deck. I would think in today's day and age you could take a picture using a phone to chart where things were and try to restore them. When I got home the baby birds in the birdhouse were crying out for food with the house sitting on the deck so the parents didn't recognize where they were. I immediately re-hung it and fortunately the parents were able to feed them up and they eventually fledged. These two items are why I rated the quality lower. At the beginning of the day I was asking why the tree was losing so many leaves and branches. The foreman of the crew said that he wouldn't know until he saw the leaves and branches as they came down. When I got home from work the crew had already left so I sent a quick email to ask "Any news on what happened to the Oak tree?" The response I received I found to be somewhat less than courteous "I?m not sure what you mean by what happened to the tree. I looked at it yesterday and all of the dead portions were removed. It isn?t the best looking tree now, but we had to leave every live piece in order for the tree to keep producing food and prevent more stress. The tree has bacterial leaf scorch, which causes this decline. The decline should be slow, but we may have to prune the tree again in three years. There is no real cure for this disease, but it usually takes many years for the tree to die. If you have any other questions feel free to contact me." I am glad to know that the tree will eventually die so I can mentally prepare for losing that huge 50 year old tree from our landscape, which is all I was asking. This is in part why I rated the professionalism down. And lastly I asked on June 10 if they also treated hemlocks as our have wooly adelgids and are not faring well. He responded "We can treat for wooly adelgid. I stop by and look at the trees this week to see if we need a foliar spray or a systemic." Today is July 22 and I have not heard back about that treatment, which is why I rated the responsiveness low. I have used Antietam in the past with somewhat declining results over the years and at this point I will be searching for another provider.