No more.

[treeman82]

A couple of weeks back I helped this lady and her husband out with some trees at their house. I knew her through this guy I used to work for, she got laid off, and her husband is retired... money is tight. I told them that I'd come by on a weekend with the truck and chipper, give me something for the worker, and fuel, and we'd be alright. I would put in a solid day with 1 guy, and that's it. Well we put a couple of good sized norway maples on the ground, chipped up, removed the chips, and pruned 1 good sized black oak. Didn't get around to cutting up the norway maple wood, but I told them to get on Craigslist and somebody would be there in a few days to get it with the price of oil being what it is. A few days later they start calling EVERY day wanting me to come back and get rid of the wood... good sized stuff... 30" DBH trees give or take. I'm not a firewood guy, and am not into moving lots of wood around... not to mention the fact I don't work in the area at all if I can help it. I asked about Craigslist, or other people... they are unhappy with me... they want everything gone.. don't want strange people on the property, blah blah blah. So I go over last night to start moving wood down to the road and tell the guy to put up a "free wood" sign. Well tonight I drove by and all the wood is gone... great I said to myself. Call up.. WRONG! they hired somebody else and are unhappy with me...

I guess I can't be nice to anybody anymore.

 

[ropensaddle]

A couple of weeks back I helped this lady and her husband out with some trees at their house. I knew her through this guy I used to work for, she got laid off, and her husband is retired... money is tight. I told them that I'd come by on a weekend with the truck and chipper, give me something for the worker, and fuel, and we'd be alright. I would put in a solid day with 1 guy, and that's it. Well we put a couple of good sized norway maples on the ground, chipped up, removed the chips, and pruned 1 good sized black oak. Didn't get around to cutting up the norway maple wood, but I told them to get on Craigslist and somebody would be there in a few days to get it with the price of oil being what it is. A few days later they start calling EVERY day wanting me to come back and get rid of the wood... good sized stuff... 30" DBH trees give or take. I'm not a firewood guy, and am not into moving lots of wood around... not to mention the fact I don't work in the area at all if I can help it. I asked about Craigslist, or other people... they are unhappy with me... they want everything gone.. don't want strange people on the property, blah blah blah. So I go over last night to start moving wood down to the road and tell the guy to put up a "free wood" sign. Well tonight I drove by and all the wood is gone... great I said to myself. Call up.. WRONG! they hired somebody else and are unhappy with me...

I guess I can't be nice to anybody anymore.

Yes you can be nice but bend over noooooo way.
People will always let you down as your expectations
is what does it, you expect one thing and then wham they
do something that blows your mind. I am firm on my price
and live with it if I underbid, which I seldom do anymore
unless I am hurting!

 

[skyhightree1]

That is the exact reason I don't do :censored: like that because it always turns out bad... I am in business to make money not be someones friend if they couldn't pay me what I wanted the tree's would have stayed there till they rotted...

 

[BC WetCoast]

Send them a bill for the total amount. When they don't pay, write off your taxes as a bad debt.

 

[Happyjack]

That was very generous of you to not charge them for your time.

Maybe you should have told them up front what you were willing to do, and not do regarding the tree work. I think you and the customer had different expectations of what work was going to be done.

 

[skyhightree1]

Another point that my Lawyer stresses me .. PUT EVERYTHING in the contract and have then initial buy it like you were to help chip but there responsible for removing blah blah blah

 

[Billy_Bob]

That sounds like a neighbor of mine. She wants everything done for a rock bottom price. Finds the lowest cost person to do the job. Wants them to use the cheapest materials. Cut corners to save money...

Then the work is done and she gets what she paid for...

Then she "switches" and the complaining starts. She now expects top quality. This is not right. That is not right. You need to fix this, etc. This is not good quality. Etc. (Luckily I have avoided doing much of anything for her and have just watched the show on the sidelines.)

 

[ropensaddle]

That sounds like a neighbor of mine. She wants everything done for a rock bottom price. Finds the lowest cost person to do the job. Wants them to use the cheapest materials. Cut corners to save money...

Then the work is done and she gets what she paid for...

Then she "switches" and the complaining starts. She now expects top quality. This is not right. That is not right. You need to fix this, etc. This is not good quality. Etc. (Luckily I have avoided doing much of anything for her and have just watched the show on the sidelines.)

That show has too many actors in our country.

 

[treeman82]

I told them I'd do whatever I could in a day... 2 guys. That's what I did, and then some.

 

[ropensaddle]

I told them I'd do whatever I could in a day... 2 guys. That's what I did, and then some.

Then I would tell them to have a coke a smile and shut tfu

 

[TimberMcPherson]

Some people appreciate when you help em, some are just leeches and can never have enough. Happens sometimes. But in this life you cant just not try to help people out, it would make us sharks-just swimming around looking for someone to bite for a meal.

My motto for these occations is
No one got hurt, nothing got broken, good day otherwise.

 

[Sunrise Guy]

It is a sad comment on people these days, or maybe since our species came onto the world stage, for that matter. There will always be those types who want something for nothing and then will complain that they didn't get enough. Sometimes it's hard to keep on keeping on, but we just have to, somehow. Sorry to hear your story. As others have said, get it all in writing and have them sign off on it, before you start a gig.

 

[TDunk]

Any time you do a favor for someone it turns around and bites you in the :censored: . The people were tight on money and didn't want to pay you :censored: for the work you did, but they had no-prob paying some other guy (that probably didn't give me a deal) to get the wood off there property. You gave them a smokin' deal on the work you did, and there still p!ssed at you. Unreal......

 

[Locoweed]

While I do enjoy helping people in need, I get upset at people who are only interested in using you. Sadly, I have run into enough folks in the second category that it has impacted my attitude and I am far more critical in determining who I help anymore.

 

[Booshcat]

The saying that "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" comes to mind.

 

[strongback]

Any time you do a favor for someone it turns around and bites you in the :censored: . The people were tight on money and didn't want to pay you :censored: for the work you did, but they had no-prob paying some other guy (that probably didn't give me a deal) to get the wood off there property. You gave them a smokin' deal on the work you did, and there still p!ssed at you. Unreal......

Amen! Forgive my posting here whilst not being a pro tree guy, but I run into similar business issues as this and felt compelled to comment.

We often get requests from charities/churches for donations. Some we can do many we can't. (If I said yes to all of them I wouldn't do anything else) We've had to deny requests for donations to people who "know" us only to find out that they PAID someone elses' full price to do their event. I would have taken a discounted payment had they offered, but from me they want it for free. With feul being what it is we don't do anything without at least a token payment for gas and driver. I don't even give freebies to family anymore.

For the events we do donate equipment to we have found it necessary to be very specific about what they are getting - for a tiny fraction of normal costs mind you - so we don't get a COMPLAINT call from the loanee (I refuse to call them customers) about some minor detail of the arrangement.

We've had to start a policy of being "customer selective". We don't take customers whose only concern seems to be trying to get our services as cheaply as possible. "Sorry ma'am, that date seems to be completely booked. Try [insert name of competitor with whom we are not particularly friendly]".

 

[ms310]

on my way this week

to do a freebie for an older gentlemen 1/2 mile down the road. He used to buy alot of fire wood from me, until his grandson over loaded his pot belly stove and started his house on fire! So anyway there are two trees on his property that got damaged in the fire, the insurance company took him for a ride ( he is actually siding his house at 65+ years of age) and he asked me if i would come over and cut down his trees for the free firewood. Mind you they are big blue spruces and have no firewood value. However i told him i would do it and be over there this week to help him out. Now you all got me thinking maybe i shouldnt do it and leave him hanging.... I dont know what i should do now!

 

[gr8scott72]

to do a freebie for an older gentlemen 1/2 mile down the road. He used to buy alot of fire wood from me, until his grandson over loaded his pot belly stove and started his house on fire! So anyway there are two trees on his property that got damaged in the fire, the insurance company took him for a ride ( he is actually siding his house at 65+ years of age) and he asked me if i would come over and cut down his trees for the free firewood. Mind you they are big blue spruces and have no firewood value. However i told him i would do it and be over there this week to help him out. Now you all got me thinking maybe i shouldnt do it and leave him hanging.... I dont know what i should do now!

I think as mentioned before, just be very specific with what you are going to do and for exactly how much BEFORE you start cutting.

 

[strongback]

I dont know what i should do now!

I'd hate to think I'd discouraged you from doing a favor for a neighbor or longtime customer. If you are reasonably sure of his character by all means help him out. Just a couple of recommendations though:

1) Charge something. It doesn't have to be cash. Old(er) guys tend to have cool stuff. See if he'll barter something for your work or even trade you a days work for a days work, if he's got a skill that is of practical value to you. Sounds cynical but this will let him know that your time is valuable and won't leave him feeling as if he took a handout.

2) Be very specific about what it is you are and are not going to do. This would include telling him that the "firewood" isn't any good to you.

Like I said, it's all about the character of the individual. I'll take a favor for a favor as trade if I'm convinced that the person in question has sufficient moral integrity to pay up when the time comes. I'm not above going "Godfather" on someone and letting them know "If I do this thing for you..."

With that said, I'll leave what remains to the Pros.

 

[strongback]

However i told him i would do it and be over there this week to help him out.

Sorry, I missed that part. Looks like you've already got your answer. Still not to late to review the specific details of the agreeement though.