A Southern Tree

Vague description of service and horrible customer service– stay away! We contacted A Southern Tree and communicated with Darren on our project to remove several trees from our yard. A bad sign that should have tipped us off is that Darren refused to meet me at our house so we could review the scope of work together. Instead, he INSISTED I provide a description of the trees and the approximate locations for him to observe on HIS OWN time. Shouldn’t the customer come first?! We have a very wooded lot, so this was confusing. Thankfully another company who did meet me on-​site reviewed trees in person so I could reference Darren to the trees tagged by the other company. I cannot begin to imagine how we would’ve come to terms on the scope of work without the tags from the other company.
As frustrating as this was, what sold us on the company was that the other companies we talked to would cut the trees down, then leave the logs on-​site for a few days before picking them up. Darren said all the trees cut down would be removed the same day. Unfortunately, we found out later that there are many other companies that provide same day service for cutting trees and removing the logs– we just didn’t know at the time.
On the day of our service, the crew arrived on-​time, but Darren was not present. I was away from my home during the time of the service and when I returned home I was disappointed. They damaged the landscape and surrounding trees. I understand that with tree removal, there’s going to be some impact to the yard, but this was atrocious. I’ve worked with other companies since that tie off branches and gently lower cut limbs and sections of trees slowly and precisely to the ground, so that the only damage to the ground is made by their equipment. But Southern Tree must not have tied off branches or lowered limbs slowly to the ground because a Ginkgo Tree and Japanese Maple were mutilated– and these were not immediately below the dripline of the trees being cut. I imagine they must’ve just cut limbs then thrown them down to the ground, crushing out other trees in the process.
To make matters worse, they left off a tree, but because they only provided a vague description of the work, we had issues trying to determine which tree was cut off. During our conversations, Darren became argumentative and beligerant– which I still can’t believe. He never met me on-​site to talk about the trees, he never tagged the trees, he ruined our landscaping, he did not complete the full scope of work, but when was questioned him about the work he was rude and made me feel like I was the one being unfair. RIDICULOUS! He eventually came back to the house to cut down the tree he left off, but he never apologized for anything.
PLEASE do your homework and find another tree company. Do not judge based solely on price or on when logs are picked up. Ask your neighbors and I guarantee you will find somebody with a reputable company who will do good work for you.

Had a very good experience with Darren and a southern tree. Their bid was substantially less than 2 other bids I had from other reputable companies. (about a $ 1,200 difference) They did the work on time and cleaned up nicely. Even took out an additional tree he missed on the 1^st survey at no cost. Highly recommended.