Big Chipper

We arranged a time for delivery so that I could be home to inspect the wood and ensure it was dropped in the right place. The delivery was hours early, so I was not home. When I got home I found that the wood was not dry and seasoned as promised but very wet and green. The wood was mixed with a great deal of dirt that left a great mess in my driveway. A majority of the wood was cut too large to burn. It took me a full day to cut, stack and clean the mess left. On top of all this, they had the nerve to guilt trip me for not being home to pay at the time of delivery. I would never hire them again.

Paul was very responsive at first. When we first contacted him for a quote, he called within a reasonable amount of time and set up an estimate right away. His quote was similar to other businesses and we decided to go with him because he made an excellent impression on us. The tree was scheduled to be removed on 4/22/15. We weren't present at the time of removal and when I returned home from work, I noticed that the job was not completely done. After talking to Paul, the hydraulics on the bucket lift stopped working and needed repairs. It was after this time that communication became poor. One week later and we still did not hear from him in regards to rescheduling. We eventually heard back, had it rescheduled, and he apologized as he stated he was dealing with a family emergency. Upon arrival at home the day the work was to be completed, I was surprised to see that the dead wood was not there as we had agreed upon. Paul had stated they would chop the wood up since we wanted to keep it. After a discussion with Paul, he stated he would bring it back chopped. My husband had not heard from him for a few days, so we followed up again. Paul tried to negotiate to have us pick up the wood, which we were unable to given our small cars. Paul stated he would bring it to our home within a few days. However, we never heard from him again. He would not return any of my husband's phone calls after that and never brought the wood as promised.

The clean up was rushed and poorly done. They also caused moderate damage to my fence and promised to come back and repair it but I have yet to have them return. I called numerous times about my fence and was told numerous times someone would be out in a day or two but they have never come back. The owner also said he would put down top soil and seed but that didn't happen either.

The sales rep was very nice and assured us all would be done carefully and that wood planks would be put down to protect the lawn and sprinkling system, with plenty of planks reaching all the way to the back yard, as we requested. I made an extra call to confirm that there would be plenty of planks on the truck and that the workers would use them - and was told there would be no problem. We also were assured that there would be no damage to the neighbor's yard (all 3 trees were next to their property), that trees would be felled into our yard. The crew arrived on time and quickly started working after the sales rep left. The workers were not good. We've had plenty of tree work done over the many years we've lived here, so know the way trees should be cut down and branches cut and deadwooding done. These workers didn't seem like they knew a lot about cutting branches or cutting down trees correctly. And they didn't seem to care. It was mid-December and cold, but no snow in December. The pine trees at the side of the house were cut down, falling into our neighbor's tree with several of their branches being broken, even tho we'd been assured that wouldn't happen. Instead of felling the trees toward our yard, they felled them sideways into the neighbor's yard. They also drug all the branches and had the machine that hauled the heavy trunks to the street go over our neighbor's yard, rather than our yard. The worker operating the machine to pick up the sawed up trunks only had put down a few planks, which didn't cover any of the area by the pine trees in our side yard. He put planks down in the front yard, but not the side yard, and then drove the machine all over the side yard, tearing up and totally destroying the grass. I went out and told some of the workers that there were supposed to be planks put down. They said that wasn't their problem, to go talk to the machine operator. So I did, and he was obviously not happy that I was telling him to use the planks - he said he didn't have enough planks to go over there (even tho the sales rep had said there would be enough). I showed him all the areas of grass that he'd destroyed and he obviously could care less. I told him he had to have planks under his machine wherever it went or he wasn't going to use it anymore. Obviously p*****, he made an adequate tho not great attempt to put planks down from then on, tho still didn't always drive his machine on just the planks either. His attitude was really bad. The locust tree in the backyard: it originally had 2 trunks, and one of the "trees" had been removed a couple years ago - at that time those workers (a different company) went up the tree and cut off limbs and the trunk in pieces so no damage was done to yard over what would be expected. In fact, whenever trees have been cut, workers have always cut them in parts, often using a truck with a bucket or shimmying up the trees and cutting them in sections. These workers from Big Chipper never went up the tree. They just cut it off at the bottom and it fell into our yard, leaving deep grooves in the yard and breaking branches on nearby trees. Again, I had the feeling they just didn't care. Cutting the 3 branches off the oak trees in the front yard: it appeared those had been done basically ok, until one of the workers, before leaving, told my husband that there'd been a problem cutting the large branch over the road - that the branch had fallen when it was cut but had torn off all the bark on that side of the tree for 9-10+ feet, about 15-20" wide, ending at the main trunk (about 10' above ground) when it finally stopped. They hadn't known how to cut a branch, obviously. So now there's a very good chance that our oak tree will die. My husband gave them a check for $1,169 when they left, not including the $50 for the 2 small branches on a different tree. The rep called that afternoon about the extra $50 and said he heard there'd been a problem with one of the branches and said he was sorry and to let him know if there was further problems with that tree due to so much of the bark being stripped off. He said that because of that he wouldn't charge us the extra $50 for the other branches. Overall impression: the sales rep was nice, but unfortunately he wasn't there when his workers were. They might have done a better job if he had been. However, I don't think they were very experienced or liked their job or having to be outdoors in the cold weather. I would never use this company again.

They returned my first call within the hour. Big Chipper arrived the next day with professional equipment and a bucket truck to remove the 2nd story branches. They arrived and needed no guidance, removed large branches and hauled everything away and removed most all of the bark and saw dust from the ground. We were very pleased with the quick service, work and clean up. I would call them again!

We purchase firewood; however, we received scrap wood. Most of the wood which we received consisted of shavings from the outer surface of the tree. It is mostly tree bark. The fraction of the wood that is actually firewood is unseasoned. Do not use their services.

unknown

Nothing happened.....no returned phone calls or emails. I'm bummed as I really wanted to buy the firewood that he advertises as being seasoned under a roof. I buy a lot of firewood (usually three cords a winter) and am sick of getting "seasoned" wood from other clowns and it takes forever to get the stuff burning well.

Paul came out to give us a quote within 24 hours from my original phone call. His price was the exact same as another quote I had received, but he was offering a 20% off coupon through Angie's List, which made his price the best. He scheduled us in to have the work done 4 days later and did the job as promised. My only complaint would be that we still had some wood chips to clean up at all three tree sites...and there were tire track grooves going through our part of our yard. I would have been 100% happy if the wood chips would have been all gone and the area was raked clean ready for grass seed. However, over all we were happy with his timeliness (which was definitely important in this case ) and price.

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unknown

It went great. It only took about an hour; it was amazing how fast they took the big pear tree down. When I came home from work there was really no sign they had been there other than the trees were gone. They cleaned up the mess, you never would have known they were there based on what they left behind. I think $475 was $50 more than another quote I received, but the other place couldn't do it for a month and Paul's crew was there w/in a few days.

Entire transaction went perfectly, I didn't even have to be there. Called on Monday and Paul went right over then called me with the price. His price was lower than either of the other estimates I'd been given. Work was completed the next morning and they cleaned up nicely. I would definitely recommend Big Chipper to everyone.