Unbelievable...yet believable

[stihlmadasever]

Hey all,

Could'nt quite believe what i was being told today-hence the title of the thread.

So anyway we were out cutting back branches overhanging a public path with pole pruners when the elderly lady in the gable end property came out to speak to us,turns out she was the one who had phoned in the job to the local authority.She was in her 80's and was obviously quite lonely as she was more than keen to chit chat to myself and the rest of the boys.

Several cups of tea and what seemed to be an endless supply of choccy biscuits later she told us a story of "That wee tree in ma garden".

Shes got a small cedar in her back garden that had some branches over hanging her neighbours property,much to the annoyance of the neighbour.After much protestations from the neighbour she asked a local "gardener"to come and remove the branches,trusting the guy as he was recommended to her by a friend.

This plonker turns up,bow saws off 5 branches-at the exact point where the branch crosses the boundery line and charges her 50 quid! 10 quid per branch,he then tells her he cant take the branches away as technically the branches belonged to her neighbour because the hung over her property.Neighbour returns too see 5 branches dumped in her garden,a butchered tree and a neighbour 50 quid down!

WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE ?everyone has to make a living but to blatantly rip off pensioners is despicable.

I was utterly shocked at this guys actions

Unbelievable...yet sadly believable

[Mick Dempsey]

Seems quite cheap to me.

[Mesterh]

I would charge well more than£50 if I had to use a bow saw.

 

Old people are bonkers, he probably did it for free.

[base]

You have to have a minimum charge £50 does sound cheap, you can be busy doing 5 minute jobs earning nothing. but sounds like they recieved poor service, but thats the way of the world.

[stihlmadasever]

Seems quite cheap to me.

 

50 is not acceptable for 5 little branches even if he trimmed back to the bark collar,removed cuttings,fired them through the chipper and tidied the area after,none of which he did.

[stihlmadasever]

I would charge well more than£50 if I had to use a bow saw.

 

Old people are bonkers, he probably did it for free.

 

Just because someone is old doesnt mean theyre bonkers or deserve to be ripped of,would you be happy if it was your mother being done over for half her pension for 2 mins work

[Billy]

It's a cheap price, it's not really practical to do anything for as little as that, but a poor service justified by lies is unacceptable.

[Shane]

The quality of work and the lies are an issue but £50?

 

If I go out, do the RA paperwork, get the gear out of the van, climb, cut, drag, chip, tidy, drive to next job - I'd want more than £50 to do one branch (maybe only £60 for 5 branches) but the cost sounds OK to me.

 

That's why a lot of us have a minimum charge. theres no such thin as a 5 minute job.

If you charge say £24 per hour then a 5 minute job is 1/12 of that ..... £2.00 - NFL!

[Mick Dempsey]

You don't know what was agreed between the old girl and the gardener.

Either way 50 quid is not really extortion.

[Johnpl315]

I would not go and do a job for less than £50 unless it was really local to me or I thought more work would come of it.

You mention chipping but I definitly would not got to a job equipped with a chipper for less than £100 although he could of taken said branches away and chipped elsewhere.

So to conclude, in my opinion, the issue is not with the price but the quality of the work.