Steven R Bassett Inc

When confronted about the lies and the unreasonable price compared to his competitors he refused to adjust the price and was combative and abusive over the phone. I refused to pay him out of principal and he took us to small claims court - which I (mistakenly) blew off. When refinancing our home we had to pay off the lien to close on our new loan and he was abusive to the CLOSING AGENT who was doing nothing but trying to give him his money and was completely unrelated to the situation and wasn't even hired by us. She said she understood why I hadn't paid him and had no interest in dealing with him or speaking to him ever again. I have passed on my experiences to my clients (I'm now a real estate agent) as well as my colleagues who are looking for recommendations for their clients. His unwillingness to work with a customer after missrepresenting himself to get the business and then his abusive and juvenile behavior has resulted in the loss of multiple jobs (that I'm aware of) and a Title agent (who works with MANY agents in town) who also thinks he's unhinged and a horrible person to hire. My father was a forester (and has a Southern WI arboretum named for him) and many people come to me for recomomendations in this field. There are MANY great arborists in Madison - I wouldn't list Bassett as one of them. I wouldn't recommend him to y worst enemy.

I feel that the pruning work wasn't done carefully. And the over all design was a little boring.

After asking the company to give me an estimate on some yard work I needed done, including having 5 dead shrubs removed, Ernie came out and met with me in a timely fashion. I explained what I needed done and he seemed quite knowledgeable. He wrote down the info and took some pictures and measurements. Before leaving he told me that he would have the estimate out to me by the end of the following week. I waited about a week longer than that and called the company and spoke to Ernie again. He apologized for the wait and said it was with a stack of estimates he was hoping to get through by the end of the week. That was at least a month ago and I have heard or seen the estimate since. It is my understanding that the company is quite busy, but it would have been nice then if they would have just told me that they can't do it instead of stringing me along. I did have this company do some landscaping for me at my previous home a few years ago and was extremely satisfied. It's a shame that their communication has gotten so poor.

I contacted this landscaping company on Angie's List and described the landscaping we wanted to complete. They wrote back and told me that, although the project sounded interesting and long-term, they were busy enough right now and didn't need my business!

They did the job fine. My only complaint was that I sent back in the signed proposal and didn't hear back from them. I had to call them up and asked if they got it. They said they did, and were planning on being out there the following week, but I had to initiate the contact. They should have called me and told me about it a lot sooner.

The initial communication was pretty good via email. We set up a time for them to come and give us a quote. The company representative arrived at the agreed upon time, but that was when things started to go down hill. As I work full time and my wife is a stay at home mother, she handles the situations when company representatives come for quotes for work. When the company representative arrived, he treated my wife with a chauvinistic attitude and was displeased to be working with a woman on what needed to be done. My wife is college educated and capable of explaining what needed to be done. His attitude towards her was deplorable. I would not recommend this company to anyone based solely on how they treated my wife during the quoting phase

He was really prompt, came out right away, and honest. I would definitely recommend him.

He did a good job. I really don't have any knowledge about the fruit trees in the back, but I expected a little different. There's very small young trees. I had expected a little more expertise in that area, but we'll have to wait and see in the spring. I was a little concerned about that.

It has been awhile so I am not exactly sure of the date or the exact price charged per visit. The lawn service was only good at best. My first call was that an area of the lawn was being skipped half the time they had come out to spray. After my call, that area was for the most part was sprayed, but on occasion, it was missed half the time. It was the long strip of grass between the fence and the driveway. The second time I called was in regards to dandelions not being killed. The person answering the phone acknowledged, "yah, it has been a bad year for them (meaning the dandelions)." And agreed to return for additional spraying. However that never happened. I gave a follow-up call a couple of weeks late,r and again, received a promise someone would be out to take care of it, but no one came to check it out, or respray. I did not renew my lawn contract the following year.

We are working to get our lawn in to good shape (it needed help). It was looking pretty good before the snow, and the trees look better too. We will start up with them again in the spring.

Suggestions and options for work was provided both in scope and prices. Work was appropriately staged and staff professionally completed plan. Will continue to use them for maintenance work in spring 2014.

They have done work twice for me, once last year and once this year. Their work is excellent. However, the wait is long. For example, this year, I got an estimate on pruning three small trees in early June, but the work wasn't done until late August. This concerned me because one of the trees was diseased and the diseased area needed to be pruned out . When I called with my concern, they explained they were understaffed. I called a second time, and they came later that week. I wish that they had told me there would be a delay when they gave me the estimate. This is a dilemma for me because they are very knowledgeable and professional otherwise and do excellent work. I would use them again if I had a problem that I was concerned about, but for routine work I would reluctantly go to another arborist.

When I called with my initial questions, they were very responsive and the arborist came out within a couple of days. I was originally told that he would call and let me know what the issue was, but it took several days for me to get ahold of him. He said he would send a written estimate, which took about a week. The estimate was clear and reasonable, so I agreed to have the work done. After several weeks, it still hadn't been taken care of, so I called again and was told that it wouldn't be scheduled for about 6 more weeks. I wanted this resolved before winter, so I told them to take us off the list and I would take care of it, and then was told they could get out and take care of it the next week (which they did). Overall, no real complaints but I would have appreciated clearer communication about the speed with which they they were planning to do the work.

Responded promptly and cleaned up after the work was completed.

They did pretty good. I think they did a good job. I think the price is good.

They were wonderful. I am going to use them because they are really nice. They were very timely and responded to my calls appropriately. They were out within a number of days. They were courteous so it has been a great experience so far.

Provided the free estimate within one week.

Kim Nelson designed a beautiful plan that fit the area perfectly, incorporating existing landscape. The crews were efficient and professional - it was clear that they wanted things done correctly. We were very pleased! We've worked with Steve for years and plan to continue to do so in the future for all of our yard, tree and landscape projects. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Had gotten 2 estimates and theirs was nearly $400 less. They were about 3 hours later than the appointment because of a previous job and traffic and I would have appreciated a call instead of my calling to find out if they were still coming, however it worked out fine and they were done much faster than expected

They came out really timely, professional, and courteous. I have no complaints or nothing negative to say about Steven R. Bassett.

Steve came out to look at the spot and talk to us about what we wanted, and then his landscaping person sent us the drawings and estimate within a few days. The work was scheduled and done in less than two weeks. The guys who came out to do the work were very nice and polite. They were also sweet to my little kids who wanted to see what was going on. The finished product looked very nice and the plants were mature and very healthy. They gave specific instructions about how to care for the new landscaping, and Steve called a few days later to see how we liked it and to reiterate those instructions for how to establish the plants before fall. We have also used Bassett for a couple of years to fertilize and aerate our lawn. Steve came out first to look at the yard, and then he chose a program based on the state of the lawn. We were very happy with the results. The guys always called the day before to let us know they were coming, which was something that didn't happen with other yard services we had used in the past. We have had great experiences with Bassett and will continue to use them for landscaping, lawn upkeep, etc.

They performed very well, removing the deep, heavy snow from our driveway and walkways. They were able to fit us into their busy schedule when approached while they were working at a neighbor's house, and without their help, we would have been stranded for many more hours because the deep, heavy snow was too much for our backs and small snowblower. The price wasn't discussed ahead of time, and came in a bit higher than expected, but again, without their help we would have been stranded since shoveling or snow blowing with a small Toro were not an option given the size of the storm.

Ernie arrived on time for the scheduled appointment. We walked the property together. The first tree we inspected he miss labeled - he thought it was an Ash tree but it was a Bitternut Hickory. I don't know if he was testing my knowledge or what! I received the estimate via snail mail which surprised me - I thought I requested to send via email. By the time I received his estimate I already contracted a different company. Good thing I did because his estimate was over $6,000 - which was over $4,000 more than I paid. Ouch!

The tree trimming has always been prompt and professionally done. The landscaping is beautiful, perfectly suited to our house and yard, as well as solving the erosion problem. People tell us it "looks like a resort." In the early days they fertilized and treated the plantings as appropriate, and Steven has always been great about answering questions or concerns. I'd highly recommend them.

The crew showed up on time and did great work; however, upon arrival the lead of the tree trimming crew informed us the one of the trees would need to come down in the near future and a large limb would have to be removed to keep it from landing on the house. I was a little surprised that the arborist didn't catch this when he came out to do the estimate. We also had a tough time scheduling the trimmers. After sending in the signed contract it took a second call to schedule the work even though we were assured that we would be contacted to schedule the work.