I had it happen once !
What's the worst you've done to an idiot customer?
- Thread starter Chucksta
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this is the first piece I hit, cut it perfectly in half with a nice sharp chain on the 500I like 3 cuts in once we got into the bigger wood, honestly thought it was wood but its clearly not since it wrecked my chain, guys on the ground all commented on how it didn't sound right while I was cutting, and its super freakin heavy, almost like a chunk of steel but no way I could have cut it if it was steel, im thinking mortar or grout mix?
yes thats an 881 in the background, yes we were climbing with it, yes it hit a LOT of concrete, and yes, I sent the 500 up and was filing chains as fast as I could so they would atleast try to cut, we went through about 10 chains before calling it quits and handing the guy the bill
yes thats an 881 in the background, yes we were climbing with it, yes it hit a LOT of concrete, and yes, I sent the 500 up and was filing chains as fast as I could so they would atleast try to cut, we went through about 10 chains before calling it quits and handing the guy the bill
How old do you figure the tree was?
If I'm not mistaken about what I've read, it used to be common practice for arborists to recommend filling tree cavities with cement. Not so much any more though.
I googled cement filled trees and this thread came up:
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/cement-filled-tree.36566/
https://www.arboristsite.com/threads/cement-filled-tree.36566/
>150 years, maybe around 175
GL0B0TREE
Confidante
Well what an interesting thread, I remember "back in the day" I remember lots that needed to be cleared I remember lots that didnt get cleared, not by me anyway. The old guys with fish hooks in their pockets, yea the farmers chewing on a blade of grass, liftin their hats and spitting out what seems like chewing tobacco slime...lol. Cheap as a pair of white cotton work gloves. Idiots never do well when dealing with Tree guys, seems we posess an immunity to stupidity, we have something the regular joe just dont have, balls. So a similar situation occured where the client wished to deal with the mess, he was adament that my "Big Blade" do the slicin'up of the logs, I was reluctant. See here we had a guy who had never heard of a throw ball, to be honest I don't even know if he even seen my throw ball. So hees a breakdown I basically ended up being paid 2800. to set two ropes for falling, then falling and slicin up the trunk wood, 4 hours in and out. But he figured the disgustingly full of deadwood tree, in order to be felled, required a Pull rope, we couldnt fall it freely due to "safety", so some poor ******* (me) would have to go up into the dirty tree and try and position a rope so as to serve us in the procedure. Now the house was right there and I didnt have any room for error, but he was so rude and not to mention a major pain in the ass, like I want you here today or I will call someone else kinda guy, rude about everything, so when he was diddling himself or whatever he was doing while I set that rope (first shot btw) about 15 minutes later had the rope anchored to my come along I then cut the pie and backcut her then flopped her over total 30minutes first one on the ground, same for the other one total 1 hour, meanwhile idiot diddler still in the closet i guess and Both monster dead Ash on the ground, I started slicin' fully sharp saw and an hour later I started on the other one, changed the chain five or six cuts in, hour or so later, done. So he comes out just b4 noon and just about **** a brick, it felt like lunchtime my gut was gumbling as usual and I was packin my gear and counting 50's .
yes he was humbled finally~the worst thing I did was i just failed to mention that I hadnt planned on climbing at all or that i was a really good shot, so i didnt reveal my secret powers (throwball action)and I may have even left out that my climbing gear may not even be needed, he agreed to 1400 per tree, but he really expected me to piece it all down, so the idiots need to pay extra for trying to pass their idiocy to a perfectly normal Man with plenty of expert Tree removal experience. People who especially feel empowered when they have made every effort to get the better of you, or undercut you or insult you, because they lack the nerve i believe that it is called Karma~remember tree guys can issue karma like circumstances if they wish~ so remember that very important fact and never say too much never ever allow some selfish, lazy clown to dictate to you how he would like to see the job done, thats not the way it worx, when in doubt we can choose the safest quickest method(to optimize profit), not always or we will work ourselves out of a job, but when required~issue karma.
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gthompson1245
ArboristSite Lurker
This thread should be titled “What’s the craziest tree thing you ever did on Meth”
if the customer was always right, then who would be the professional?
food for thought
Good point. Maybe that applies only to retail customers.
Sales is my day job, although biz to biz and not retail. The customer most definitely is NOT always right.
Gotta watch out for them treehuggers!
Tree removal here at this side of the pond has become a real challenge because every one in town thinks they are entitled to interfere with your business and how you have to handle trees on your property.
I inherited my folks house which had 5 considerable size red beech trees (fagus sylvatica purpurea) on the property fence line. They were really nice trees but they were almost on the property limit and right next to a public gas and electricity station, so there was a considerable risk for collateral damage in case of a storm. So I asked and got writtten permission from the local community hall to remove them and replace them with other green stuff (hedge or else) to mitigate the obvious risks.
When me and a professional arborist started the work, I almost had the complete neighbourhood verbally attacking me. Comments from people I have never met such as 'can you please stop your activities as the kids are crying over the cutting down of these nice trees and we don't know how to explain, I am going to call the police, or do you have a permit for such ? etc. were really firing me up. One crazy old cow who walked her dog in my area told me trees are very important and necessary and that she was going to raise hell with the regional forestry services to stop the works. When I asked her how many trees she had planted in her entire life, she took off with a red face.
I don't envy tree removal companies or arborists in this country who have to deal with Treehuggers all the time. "Mind your own business" has sadly become a saying of the past I reckon.
If the trees were "really nice" it seems pretty stupid to have them removed "in case of a storm." As I know arborists here has said so themselves... if we cut down every tree "just in case" there would be very few trees left.
If the trees were on your property, why did you have to get permission from "the local community hall" to have them removed and replaced?
Good for them!
If more people did that there would be more trees.Unfortunately, yes, minding ones own business isn't a luxury we have any more. We, stewards of the land and watchdogs for the environment, have to spend much of our precious time watching what jerks are doing to pollute and destroy the environment.
A tree that is on "your" property, as you quickly learned, isn't only your concern.
Trees were really nice indeed after so many years but planted entirely at the wrong place. There is a law out here that trees that grow big need to be planted at min. 6 ft from the property limit. If the neighbour complained I had to trim almost half of the trees. Our laws also tell you that if the circumference of the tree is bigger than 1m (3ft), you always need to ask permission to cut down a tree even if the tree is on your property.
So if the local community hall recognized the risk involved for a tree hitting a local gas distribution station during a storm, who are you to call me stupid ? I have planted more trees in my life than you probably ever will, so I don't need your arrogant tone of telling me why we cannot cut every tree down.
Good for them!
Your name says it all... Go plant some trees by yourself before judging other people. I don"t need no tree huggers to tell me what to do, especially when I have the backing of the community hall.
LOL. that may be true for public domain and state forests, but I reserve the right what to do with trees that I or my folks planted on my property. That's my take on it. Too bad for watchsdogs like yourself.
"if the neighbor complained..." So, the neighbor didn't complain. Yet, for some unknown reason you decided to take down entire "nice trees" rather than trim them. Uh huh.
Good law. Wish we had that around here. I know they do in some areas of TX.
I didn't call you stupid - I said cutting down "nice trees "just in case" is stupid.
How old are you? I'll bet I've been planting trees since before you were in nappies.
Name calling and being judgmental seems to be your stock in trade.
Um, bad news for you.
If you had the right to do whatever you want with your trees you wouldn't have had to get permission from your community hall.... probably consisting of old cows, treehuggers, and watchdogs to protect trees from misguided people with chainsaws.
@belgian
PS... You did quote me and call me out in your first post, bitching like a little girl about "treehuggers" "old cows" and "watchdogs." If you hadn't done that, I likely never would have even seen your post. But since you addressed it to me, it was only fitting I respond. Don't pretend you didn't expect that to happen.
PS... You did quote me and call me out in your first post, bitching like a little girl about "treehuggers" "old cows" and "watchdogs." If you hadn't done that, I likely never would have even seen your post. But since you addressed it to me, it was only fitting I respond. Don't pretend you didn't expect that to happen.
I've been cutting down trees for over 40 years, now. I'm pretty certain no one has ever tried to convince me to save that tree I am working on.
There are some pretty big cultural differences in this world. Around here, trees are nice and well thought of, but are considered quite disposable. No one reveres a tree around here enough to make them interfere with a guy holding a chainsaw. Maybe the tree guys just have a bad enough reputation that the civil folks know better than to even try.
donmakesallthefuelbegone
ArboristSite Member
Honestly… I’d be proud if I did it.
You sound a bit like a doormat to me, granted it’s not the best thing to do, it’s a bit mean(ish) but do you know what money that guy could have made by working that entire hour that he was just being used as a walking calculator.
I personally would not have done this in this situation but there sure are situations where I’d do the same.
This guy did not damage anything and if you’ve ever worked with a chainsaw you’ll know that takes about 15-20 minutes to free out the driveway. You just cut the tree at both sides of the driveway and then chunk that log up, then you can work on the pieces of the tree that are on both sides out of the way whenever you want.
I will indeed say: this is more something to do to a Karen, an aggressive costumer, a friend who you know will find this funny…
donmakesallthefuelbegone
ArboristSite Member
As a Belgian who moved to Bulgaria I can tell you that saying has become a thing of the past in the west. Here in Bulgaria no one cares about what you do to the point that if you own an illegal firearm or something like that, no one cares and no one calls the cops on it as long as you don’t annoy them. Here you can cut down whatever tree you want and no one will care unless it’s the forestry police who sees you doing it. (Just don’t try it with walnut, that’s very illegal and probably will get you into trouble)
Here everyone minds their own business and no one cares about what you do
I had this old man that used me for a diag and never paid and changed the parts himself, a user of others.. he contacted me again and again about a truck he wanted to get running and I knew it would be a good bit of work and he would stiff me at all costs. turned out to be a bad fuel pump in 80's pickup , I used his oxy torch to blow out all of the bed bolts and used his tractor to lift the bed....I knew the tank was rotten and the pump was too, told the guy a triple price estimate packed up my floor mats and left, I left all his crap just as I used it taking up his whole barn in a trapeeze bed lifted mess that can not be reassembled and went home. Fixed his manipulative sorry arse for wasting my time and the funniest part was he was a renter and none of the tools, truck or property were his. Pretty sure he no longer lives around here now...
You were greatly inconvenienced again with this customer, but this time you did it to yourself. He not only didn't learn a darn thing, he got you to diagnose it and remove the bed for him.
Next time he calls, "Not interested. This isn't a hobby, this is how I feed my dog and keep my lights on, so I only work for paying customers. Good luck with your truck." Click.
Done.
