Rogue Tree Workers/Gardeners

[Lammylee]

I’m sure most people on here would use due diligence when getting applicable work done but worth passing this story about my neighbours on to vulnerable neighbours/relatives.

My new elderly neighbours rang up tree workers after getting a leaflet through the door.

They said £800 for the cutting of a few mature shrubs ( it took them 3 leisurely hours for 3 people ) and then said £1.10 per kilo to get rid of the waste and allegedly had a set of scales to weigh the van before and after. This measurement of weight to charge doesn’t give any indication of the final price and is used to con people into paying far more than they would think.

It costs around £100 per tonne ( 1000 kilos ) to tip this legally, they charged well over £1,100 per tonne and probably dumped it Illegally.

The neighbours were given a bill £4,000 for a job that any proper tree worker would happily earn £350 for. At this point they felt obliged to pay as they agreed to the charge per Kilo and were fearful of comeback.

As someone who works in the industry it gives those who earn an honest living a bad name.

Some leaflets will be from genuine tree workers/gardener but always seek an independent reference/recommendation first before committing to a quotation, don’t be fooled because they have signed vans, landline number and a logo on their jumper or a nice website and always get a final price preferably in writing for the completed job.

These people will rip you off and give genuine tree workers a bad name.

[thieuster]

Sad to say that their cousins/brothers (also English speaking, license plates on the vans are British or Irish) have the same modus operandi here in Holland. Houses with big gardens and elderly people in those houses are their target. A few years ago, a man living down the street with his family addressed those guys next to their Irish-plated van. He almost ended up in a fight with them: agressive response and threats about braking his house' windows. It ended with the police arresting those guys and removing the van. Later that week, the local newspapers had an warning-article about those fake gardeners.

[Franco]

Got the same, asked to inspect and quote me for regular maintanance of garden. This guy came with his moped, looked at my front and back garden (total about 50m2).

After a week he sent me message that it would be £ 200/month for mantainance.

[tixntox]

Some neighbours had a brickweave driveway done. The "employers" were "white transit owners" and the employees were eastern europeans. The job looked good on top but the underneath wasn't stripped or prepared properly. I was told by the neighbour to "Keep my sneck out" when I suggested that he take advice on the first day. (We no longer speak) The driveway is now sinking in various places and the bricks wobble, even with foot traffic. I understand that he paid in cash (to get a good discount) and had no receipt. The "transit owners" spent a lot of time on the phone, did no work at all and pestered all the neighbours offering their "services"! No way!!!

[Mj2k]

This exact thing was on Watchdog late last year.


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[Bonzodog]

Some Herbert came to my door yesterday offering to wash my roof as there were signs of moss and perhaps slipped tiles.Told him the roof was stripped and new felt/batterns used,not long back. Had to loose my temper to get him to clear off.

[Lammylee]

Some Herbert came to my door yesterday offering to wash my roof as there were signs of moss and perhaps slipped tiles.Told him the roof was stripped and new felt/batterns used,not long back. Had to loose my temper to get him to clear off.

Another neighbour had a firm with a full powered jetwash clearing moss off a roof/ chimneys. can’t imagine there will be much pointing left and he will probably charge extra to replace slates he blasted off.

[g40steve]

Another neighbour had a firm with a full powered jetwash clearing moss off a roof/ chimneys. can’t imagine there will be much pointing left and he will probably charge extra to replace slates he blasted off.

LOL, roof tiles overlap to be water tight.
Using a pressure washer pointing up the slope is not waterproof!

[adrianw]

our five lime trees have TPOs on them and we live in a conservation area, we obtained planning permission and paid £350 per tree to have them reduced by the maximum 30%.

people across the road got the pikey's to pollard theirs, £100 a tree, no permission, made a mess in the road, no barriers just parked their van and machine in the road causing chaos, people had to walk around it with blokes with chainsaws above. and no bugger did anything about it, four people reported it to the council while it was going on.

[Rod]

Call them out on Watchdog, thieving b***ers.

[deanlad]

Not a tree surgeon, but I have done some clearance before undertaking landscape works, but there’s a few bonafide, licensed green waste recycling centres round here. £25/30 a van load.
Literally money for old rope as it gets chipped up for bark/mulch. I believe some of it even gets sold as fuel in some other plants....

[IAmATeaf]

As above Watchdog did a piece on a company with a similar strategy to fleece the elderly. Exactly the same, rough costs, little work, make it look like they’ve done more work and then finally exorbitant disposal costs.

Get onto the Watchdog and take a look and then warn the local community as they no doubt will be looking for their unsuspecting elderly customer.

[oldoakknives]

4 grand a day ripping people off, usually the elderly or infirm. What delightful people they are.

[Spoonbed]

4 grand a day ripping people off, usually the elderly or infirm. What delightful people they are.

I do hope that Boris and Priti Patel sort out this lawless element of society. For far too long they've got away with ripping people off, trespass, nicking stuff, coursing etc etc

[bomberman]

Asked a local firm for a price to fell 1 tree and to remove a stump. Initial price was £630.
Seemed a little steep, however as this was the first price I thought I would test the water elsewhere. A day later it was £260, later in the afternoon it was £250 and a day later it was £180 and they could do it the follow morning. Needless to say I went elsewhere and paid £450 despite the temptation of using the cheaper quote.

The firm who initially quoted me are still in the area as I see their truck every now and then. I should add that they only have a mobile number displayed on their truck, but on the flyer it had a local number which I called.

I can see how people can get pressured into accepting a cheaper quote, however who knows what would have happened if I had accepted the cheaper quote!

B

[village]

Even with 'proper' firms you should always haggle especially if they are just knocking on your door on the off chance.
I had a knock at the door last year..."do you want your tree topping?". As it happens I did really need to get this tree topped and shaped and the bloke was one of a crew of an established firm that I see doing a lot of tree surgeoning (is that a thing?) for the council so I was happy that they knew what they were doing. They had finished their council work and were touting in the area for some extra cash jobs before Christmas. Quote started at £180 to top and shape one tree......it finished at £60 to top and shape two trees.

[Bryan Munich]

I do hope that Boris and Priti Patel sort out this lawless element of society. For far too long they've got away with ripping people off, trespass, nicking stuff, coursing etc etc

Johnson and Patel are the lawless element!

[Matt8500]

Johnson and Patel are the lawless element!

Politics is for a few shouty threads in the BP, not here.

[Matt8500]

Had the same before Christmas offering to tarmac my gravel drive, very persistent until I got firm. I can see how people get ‘bullied’ into saying yes.

[oldoakknives]

Johnson and Patel are the lawless element!

I thought this thread was about rogue 'tradesmen' ripping off the unsuspecting or elderly and infirm.

There are other threads where you can show your worthy political credentials. Good luck.

[oldoakknives]

I do hope that Boris and Priti Patel sort out this lawless element of society. For far too long they've got away with ripping people off, trespass, nicking stuff, coursing etc etc

Yes, it's long overdue. Although of course it would be totally unfair to say that a certain section of the community was more responsible for these types of crimes. Oh yes, totally.

[Kingstepper]

I do hope that Boris and Priti Patel sort out this lawless element of society. For far too long they've got away with ripping people off, trespass, nicking stuff, coursing etc etc

Yes, it's long overdue. Although of course it would be totally unfair to say that a certain section of the community was more responsible for these types of crimes. Oh yes, totally.

There are other threads where you can show your worthy political credentials. Good luck.

[JasonM]

A mate had a dozen conifers running around his front garden, he had a door knocker one morning offering to cut them down or trim them, he wanted them cut down but was on his way to work so gave them the cash, they started the work and felled two as he was leaving, the second he was up the road they packed up and left as those two were the only ones done when he came home later, we've never let him forget that one.

[Kingstepper]

Maybe they’ had run off?

[oldoakknives]

There are other threads where you can show your worthy political credentials. Good luck.

Was merely commenting on the subject of the OP, didn't see any political comment, social maybe. But nice of you to say so.

[Kingstepper]

Was merely commenting on the subject of the OP, didn't see any political comment, social maybe. But nice of you to say so.

Commenting on a political post then castigating others for doing the same.

[oldoakknives]

Commenting on a political post then castigating others for doing the same.

Which part of the post was 'political'?

[Mj2k]

When I was between contracts last year (or unemployed as my wife put it), had someone who’d just been doing a job in the neighbourhood & needed to fill his truck; did I want trees trimming at a great rate as he was only here today.

Same story when he rang my doorbell the next day & the one after that. He denied it the 2nd time, said I got it wrong. 3rd time I showed him the camera footage & he’s never been back.


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[Antc]

As someone who runs a tree surgery business, I assure you unless you are in the business you wouldn’t know a good one from a bad one. To assume a generic number and mobile is the giveaway of the business, it isn’t. A lot of tree surgeons state “NPTC qualified” fully qualified and fully insured, this is rubbish.

To call yourself a tree surgeon people think they can do 4 qualifications and that qualifies them, which it doesn’t.

I know guys that have been the industry a year got a truck, chipper and a groundsMan (non climbing tree surgeon) and go around working on trees and their work is abismal, but I also know guys that have done the same and their work is spot on. There is also the opposite, guys who have been in the game 30 years turning out butchery, it also other doing amazing work.

Things to look out for are “Arb Approved” and “TrustMark” accreditation’s, these are Arb specific, CHAS and SMAS are good, but not tree specific they are Health and Saftey hoops.

If they have to knock on your door, don’t use them.

Also forget Trust a Trader, My Builder and Bark.

Anthony

[oldoakknives]

When I was between contracts last year (or unemployed as my wife put it), had someone who’d just been doing a job in the neighbourhood & needed to fill his truck; did I want trees trimming at a great rate as he was only here today.

Same story when he rang my doorbell the next day & the one after that. He denied it the 2nd time, said I got it wrong. 3rd time I showed him the camera footage & he’s never been back.


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Nice one!

Had an encounter with a ground working company. Our property is next to a narrow lane which basically only leads to our garage at the rear, a neighbours house or the farm next door. Had an alert from the CCTV of a vehicle, white Transit pick-up, which drove in and seemed to stay a while. Walked out the gate to the gravel parking area to see said Transit driving slowly back down the lane. They stopped on seeing me leaning on my gate and a young guy who looked about 14 got out and walked over. "Hello Sir, I'm taking orders for my fathers company for tarmac drives and paving" says he. "Perhaps you'd like a quote for this gravelled parking area here?" "No thanks", said I, "I like the gravel, it means we can hear if there are any unwelcome visitors about". Walked off and never even said cheerio.