Evergreen Tree Care

Gary Cronk, Evergreen Tree Care arborist, stopped by to tell us the company that had trimmed our trees had done it incorrectly and that the aggressive pruning they had done would lead to heavier branches that would be more likely to break off and go through a roof. He suggested that we have our three huge fir trees removed for a total of $5K. Called the company that did the initial work and that does a lot of work around Bham. They said they will stand behind their work. My online research brought me to this series of bad reviews on Yelp and I'll not be asking Evergreen Tree Care to do any work for me. Just a word of caution for our neighbors.

They showed up on time. I went around with the supervisor Sam and we touched base on everything that was to be done. They came and asked if the hedge was as low as I wanted it and then inspected the work done.

The crew arrived on time as agreed. The tree was removed quickly and efficiently. There was no "collateral damage" to surrounding shrubs. All the work that was contracted was completed successfully.

We have used this provider in the past and have been very happy with their work. In the past we used them to windsail some large western red cedars and hemlocks, and they cabled one split trunk, all done well. This time was different. I think the job was too small. We just needed a little limbing up on a couple of trees, and I had a very beautiful large snowball bush that was overdue for pruning. We signed the contract in June but they never called to make an appointment. We waited quite awhile, thinking that they would schedule us when they had another job in the neighborhood, but after six weeks, I started calling them. They finally came out late in the day after they boys had already put in a full day at another site. The crew was exhausted when they got here. There was no crew chief or supervisor so I had to go over all the work again with them. The evergreens were done all right, except for one or two high branches they missed. But the snowball bush was a complete massacre. I assumed they were arborists, but they are not. They cut the center branches down to sticks and left all the side arching branches intact. It was ghastly. I called the supervisor the next day and asked him to come look at it. He didn't seem too shocked. He offered to snip away at it a little. I told him no thanks, enough damage had been done. I asked for a partial refund, which he authorized. After a few weeks the refund had not appeared on my credit card, so I called the supervisor twice and finally sent an email to the home office. I finally got a check in the mail. I pruned the rest of the branches on the snowball bush myself to restore the shape, but it will be several years before it looks good again. I am hoping for a mild winter, since the pruning was done way too late in the season. In summary... if you use this company, stick to having them work on evergreens. DO NOT LET THEM TOUCH YOUR DECIDUOUS SHRUBS.

They setup appointments twice and cancelled both times. First, was a day before and the other was on the same day. I had planned on using them for many services but moving on to another company. The arborist was professional and helpful but the scheduling and inability to actually perform the service when scheduled made me move on to another company.

I told them we already had a regular arborist we were happy with and so weren't interested. Later I discovered they'd left a flyer on our porch before leaving. I guess the thought process was, maybe we just need to invasively grab their attention just a little bit more than we already have. Maybe, on the way to delivering this litter we left on their porch to the recycling bin, they'll happen to glance at the astonishingly persuasive words we put on it, and be totally won over. It's this kind of bold thinking and business judgment I can't help but reward with a review here.

The arborist (aka the sales person) came by on Thursday, reviewed our property and offered a few different options, but too wasn't pushy. Our trees were more in need of some routine maintenance rather than any safety issues. We agreed on the work and the price. He said they could probably have a crew back our here the following week. He called me Saturday morning and said the crew can be there Monday afternoon by 1PM. The crew showed up a little early and were very professional from the start. We went over the job details before starting, the lead crewman asked me good questions and then got right to work. They cleaned up nicely and the trees look great. I still feel the price was on the high side, but overall it was a good experience and I will use them again.

Called them to get an estimate for getting trees removed and trimmed after the neighbors landscaper notified us of a dead tree on our property. On the appointment day, the guy called and said he needed to come early because they had a tree emergency they needed to get to. I said no problem, because I understand that things happen. He was at my house for all of 10 minutes, rushed through the whole thing and didn't seem like he was even paying attention to what I wanted to have done. Gave us a price quote that was equal to the other quote I got (but not nearly as thorough). Then tried to say that the charge removing just the dead tree would be $3000 on its own (but all of the other work would be much cheaper than the other provider - which means their quote was the same but they didn't want us to be able to do a bit at a time). Also tried to tell us that the tree was going to fall over any day and we needed to book immediately. Well, guess what, we did book immediately with the other company who didn't try to cheat us and paid attention to what we wanted. We couldn't be more happy with our choice not to go with evergreen tree care. They need new staff to bid jobs because their staff is clearly troubled.

They dropped branches indiscriminately on my landscape ruining a rhododendren bush and a pecan tree.The crew was more focused on doing a fast job than showing respect for my landscape. Very sloppy workmanship.They were supposed to pile the larger pieces by the tree and instead left the largest tree spread out across the hill side. I've hired tree removal companies before that removed trees in trickier situations and did a professional job so I know it can be done. 1/2 hour before the job was done they were shoving an evaluation form in my face and insisting I fill it out. Needless to say I won't be using this company again.

Excellent! Arborist did a thorough job of examining all of my greenery, and gave some maintenance recommendations and tips. Very knowledgeable. Work crew was on time, professional, and was done in about an hour. The plum trees, which were scraggly and heavy with undergrowth, were beautifully thinned and shaped -- neighbors even stopped by with compliments! Clean-up was immaculate. I have used this company before and do not plan to look elsewhere.

Arborist who provided advice, pricing and coordination with working crew was very attentive and returned promptly when work was finished to review that work was done adequately and professionally even though he had a family medical emergency that was taking him out of town. Upon his return he came back an additional time to again approve all work to his satisfaction as well as our own. Another arborist working on site found one of the birch trees scheduled to be trimmed and cleaned up found a severely diseased section toward the top that could not be seen from the ground. He descended from the tree and provided a detailed and informed discussion of his recommendation based on the dangers associated with letting the trees remain. We felt confident this was educated advice regarding the hazard involved and not a "bait and switch" tactic. Overall, we were very satisfied with the work performed and the care and attention to surrounding property, shrubs and plants as they removed the two diseased trees, piece by piece; bit by bit.

Friendly crew of 4, all wearing good helmets and ear protection; did an excellent cleanup job including cleaning deck, driveway, etc. Even remembered to close the backyard gate to prevent dog escape. Trees look much better/safer: I'm not an expert, but seems they did just what we asked. Didn't try to push the job or price higher at all; in fact, suggested NOT doing a couple things. Perhaps varying "grades" depend on the crew?

They were overpriced, they didn't do what they promised and they didn't clean up their mess.

This worked out well. We had some back and forth on scheduling, mostly because I wanted to wait for the rhodie to bloom before they pruned it and I wanted to be home when they did the work. After a couple of tries, Christopher was able to sort out a time that worked for us both. Michael and his crew arrived on time and walked around with me so we could discuss what needed to be done. They listened to what I wanted and were good about checking with me as they went along to make sure they were taking off enough but not too much where I wanted to preserve screening of the road/neighbors. They were also great about answering my questions. This crew hustled! They got a tremendous amount done in the few hours they were here. Clean up was excellent.

They did way more than they had told me they were able to do so I was really really pleased. They called me again to see if I needed any work done. They still recalled that I had said I may need them again in spring so they are not forgetful. They got to work on time. They didn't even take a lunch break. They actually got done quickly too. They cleaned up beautifully afterwards.

Sales person came to house to schedule arborist appointment. I felt hustled from the beginning to the end of this experience. Arborist came next day and walked around for about 10 min. Arborist did not know the species of all of our trees and mis-labeled one. From what he said, it sounded like he'd just passed his arborist exam a few months before. Arborist claimed our job would easily take his crew of 3 - 4 people 4 long days of work. He exaggerated how much time and effort the job would take. Then he wrote an estimate then said if we paid 50% by credit card that same day, he'd give a discount. He also said they had a huge backlog of work and we really needed to get onto their schedule ASAP to be assured the work would be done sometime in the next month. Due to a misunderstanding between my spouse and me, we agreed. Later that day I checked price competitiveness and realized the quote seemed high. I was going to call and ask to reverse charges but saw on fine print of contract I'd signed that 10% ($600) was non-refundable upon acceptance of the contract. Cancellation required a written notice sent by US mail within 72 hours to Spokane, WA. I felt they had us over a barrel with $600 in their hands. That same afternoon they called and said they'd be at our house within a week (so much for the long backlog). When they arrived, they came an hour later than promised, showing up at 9 instead of 8. They couldn't get to work right away because the arborist was late by 30 min. When the crew got to work at 9:30, they were efficient and knowledgeable. Unlike the arborist, they could correctly identify the species of trees they were trimming. They did a nice job, worked efficiently and were gone by 5 PM. The next day they were done with everything. I calculated the number of man hours worked on the property and found 3 guys worked 11 hours (33 hours). This gives a billing rate of $127/hour. Plus I paid $400 in taxes on top of the amount collected by Evergreen.

Well Glenn Simpson was congenial and prompt for the estimate, which was almost $1000 cheaper than one of the competitive tree companies. I chose based on price which was a huge mistake. When the crew arrived I was surprised that several of the guys were wearing skate board helmets. In watching the skate board helmet workers it was clear that their only job was to drag the limbs to the chipper and stay our of the way. Maybe that's how they get their prices so low? I removed the entire fence and all plants to allow the crew easy access to the yard (and had permission from neighbor for use of their yard). The technical removal of large branches requires a guiding line to be pulled to apply tension on the limb so that it does not freely fall. The crew repeatedly stood behind a small ornamental forest pansy tree in order to pull their lines taught. The tree suffered a massive broken limb when the rope was pulled taught. They wrapped the limb with tape after the maple was down but the damage was too substantial and my tree now has lost its symmetry. The crew took such wide loads away from the drop zone that they severely damaged my neighbor's house. Had my neighbor not been in a nursing home and the house managed by people out of the area I have no doubt that restitution would have been required for the damage. The young crew was rude, unprofessional, damaged my property and my neighbor's. A few weeks later I received a call from the company asking about my experience and customer service .. I said I wanted to speak to an owner or manager but no one called me back. I learned my lesson, cheapest is not always best. I will never hire then again, nor will I forget their name.

My experience with them was great. The tree looks great. It's a big tree. It looks great now. They worked quickly and cleaned up the yard completely afterwards, of all the debris and hauled it away, as part of their complete service. They came and worked diligently and got the job done quickly and very well. They're very professional and very courteous.

Update 03/11/2015 I was contacted by Evergreen almost immediately after reporting my dissatisfaction on Angie's List. They assured me that my satisfaction was their highest concern and that my case was not an example of their normal quality of work. I truly believe them. Their response was immediate and their workers showed up the same day and they fixed all problems and did some real nice work in my yard way beyond the original scope of work. I have upgraded my scores on their services as a result of my being very satisfied with their work.

They take care of a good job and clean up afterwards.

Came in, did the job, cleaned up. Courteous, professional. 4 guys, done in 1-1/2 hrs. We responded to phone cold-call. Very satisfied with their work, but feel we should have shopped around on price, that's all.

The crew was punctual. When topping the trees, they made sure we were happy with the height and also checked with us about how much pruning we wanted done. They cleaned up our yard and both the neighbors' yards that were impacted by the topping and pruning. We don't have any issues with the crew that worked on our site. What we do have an issue with is that no one from the company contacted us after the work was done to find out if the work was done to our satisfaction and if we were happy with the job. Of course, they charged our credit card the next day! But a follow up phone call would have been nice.

Evergreen Tree Care did a great job trimming and removing trees from our property. I had originally talked with Christopher Assaf, who is the consulting arborist....we made a plan as to what needed to be done. The crew was scheduled to come on a Monday but I was phoned asking if I would like them to come on Friday! It all worked out as my husband was home and he "added" some work to the original contract. The crew (and Christopher) were VERY accommodating, said" no problem "and got everything, (plus the added) work done in one morning. The crew was professional, very approachable and efficient. I was amazed how much was done in the (approx) 4 hours they were here. They cleaned up and left our property looking amazing. We would defiantly use Ever Green Tree Service again.

Bill and his crew were extremely professional, communicated all aspects of the job in a professional, concise manner. The team was extremely hardworking and dedicated. The work they provided was exceptional!

Everything went very quick and courteous and very clean. They did exactly what I wanted I was very pleased.