Nick K on BBB 6 months ago
07/31/2020, 06:51 AM
Do not sign a contract with this company.
I had a tree marked by the city for removal. I reviewed the list of approved contractors and Northeast Tree seemed close and no different than the rest of the companies I saw. I had never had to pay for tree removal before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I wish I had done more research.
I contacted them through their website on June 11th, and within a few days George came out to review the tree. He looked at the tree and lot for about ten minutes and had what he needed. On July 1st, I was sent a contract for the work and signed it. I was told that they were very busy, and they would schedule the tree removal in August. It seemed like a long time to wait, but so far everyone had been friendly, so I went along with it.
On July 9th someone from another company knocked on my door. They said they had another job in the neighborhood and they could remove my tree for half the price Northeast Tree had bid. Not only that, but it would be done that Saturday (two days away!). They had insurance and certification at the ready, so I said yes.
I contacted George from Northeast Tree and respectfully asked to cancel our contract. The contract didn’t list any fees, only that their permission was required to cancel. I assumed that since they hadn’t even scheduled the work yet, this wouldn’t be a problem. I was very wrong. George’s tone changed immediately. He told me that there would be a substantial fee to cancel the contract.
I asked him why the fee was so high. He said “The fee is based on a typical profit margin for a job of this size.” Not that it represented any time/effort/labor that had gone into the project - but the profit he expected to make from me. For doing nothing. For not even scheduling the work.
I asked him why he wouldn’t just cancel and his response was “If there were a compelling reason to cancel there would be no charge. Your convenience does not seem a very compelling reason to release you from this contract.”
I signed a contract, and I honored that contract. I sent in my payment today. My tree was taken down by the other company weeks ago and they did an amazing job. If I had stayed with Northeast Tree, I would still be waiting for them to schedule the work. I still saved well over $1,000 - even after paying their absurd fee and tipping the other contractor an extra $100 for being so amazing. Do yourself a favor and look elsewhere.