What Would You Do?

Well My neighbors tree hangs over into my yard and its the only place to park my boat. I asked the neighbor if he would mind if I trimmed back his tree and he said OK to trim back to his fence. I called a tree guy and he said he would come by and take a look at the tree and his minimum charge was $200. Never herd back from him but 4 or 5 days later he shows up with his crew but I'm at work and the wife is out of town. I talk to him and he said $200 to cut back the tree to the fence line. He starts work and the neighbors wife comes out mad he is trimming the tree back. He calls me and I tell him I talk to her husband and he said it was ok to trim tree to fence. Tree guy says ok he will let her know. I get another call from the tree guy and now she is out there again saying her property goes 4 feet past the fence. I tell him that's not true and I had a survey saying their fence is like 9 inches off the property line and I also point out my new garage that has to be 8' off the property line. He see's the garage and agrees that I could not have gotten a permit to build that there if their property was 4' on my side. He says he will take care of it and we hang up and I also said if he had any problems have her call me. He calls me back and said she was OK and he got the tree cut back. I ask him if it was cut back to the fence and he said yes. I get home and the tree is still hanging 4 to 6 feet over my property but it is better than before but not what I wanted. So I call him back and his story now is that she was ticked and without having the property line marked that was all he could do and he feard she would call the cops. I then asked him why he said he cut it back to the fence and why he did not call me back if he had an issue with her. I also said I'll talk with them and he could come and finish the job but he said he is going to charge me another $200 and I got mad and said no thanks. Its only $200 but I'm trying to figure if I should send him the $200 or should I send him like $125 for what he did. So what would you guys do?

HELL NO!
No job.......
NO pay
These kinds of contractors are some the most unreliable out there. Your offer to meet him at the site is more than adequate. You can deal with the homeowner and he can finish what he started.
Is this his first job? Property owners in similar situations are routine and he should be accustomed to dealing with same.
No finish!
No pay! And the SOB lied to you??? WTF

I probably shouldn't comment, since there are lawyers here who are much better qualified to answer than I am. However, if you didn't sign anything agreeing to the terms of service beforehand, then I would check into whether verbal agreements are binding in your state. If they're not, then maybe your not obligated to pay -- I don't know. Just a thought. Good luck.

I'm thinking of paying the guy $100 half as the job was not completed but he did get the tree trimmed back some or maybe I'm being too nice. The funny part is in my business (insurance) when we have a bad storm I can refer alot of business to tree guys and the guy I used in the past retired. If he did a good job for me I was going to send him other business.

Dude, forget the tree. How come you've never invited us to ride in your boat?

Dude, forget the tree. How come you've never invited us to ride in your boat?
Come on down. The fishing right now is getting ready to peak for the next 2 to 3 months and now that I don't have to waist Sundays watching the skins I'll get out even more.

Douse the tree in petrol and light it up, deny everything!

Come on down. The fishing right now is getting ready to peak for the next 2 to 3 months and now that I don't have to waist Sundays watching the skins I'll get out even more.

I am going out on a charter on Sunday, we were supposed to go last Saturday, but the captain called it off on the account of the rain. I love the Charters because we always catch a crap load of fish. Whenever I go out with just my dad on his boat we don't ever seem to do quite as well. It is sad if you think about all the money he has invested into his fishing equipment.

I wouldn't pay him at all. You have no signed contract, so there's nothing he can really point to in a legal setting. But more importantly, the verbal agreement was:

Cut the tree back to the fence line, I pay you $200.

Job wasn't completed. You don't owe him jack.

I am going out on a charter on Sunday, we were supposed to go last Saturday, but the captain called it off on the account of the rain. I love the Charters because we always catch a crap load of fish. Whenever I go out with just my dad on his boat we don't ever seem to do quite as well. It is sad if you think about all the money he has invested into his fishing equipment.
Its not just about fishing. I love being on the water and throw in a couple of good friends and a few cold beers and there is nothing better. Charters have an advantage as they fish almost everyday knowing where the fish are located and they also net work with other charters to find the fish. Where is the charter going out of and what are you fishing for?