SavATree – The Tree and Shrub Care Company

I called to have an expert remove poison ivy that was growing in among my azaleas in front of my house,. The representative who came out first said, if effect, that this job was too piddling for his firm, but they would do it when someone was in the area. Their minimum price was extremely high, but I said it would be worth it if they got all of it out, specifically including the roots, so it wouldn’t grow back. The rep said it might be hard to get all of the roots, and some poison ivy might eventually return. I said OK. One day, I noticed that the visible poison ivy was gone, although no one had rung the bell or left a note. There was no sign of digging. A week or two later, poison ivy was growing in exactly the same spots. I called Sav-​a-​Tree and was promised that the rep would call back, the person on the phone saying they could provide a second treatment or spray the ivy. A week later, when no one had called, I called again and was connected to the original rep, who said there was nothing they could do and would not be coming back. They kept the money, of course.

After the tornado this past summer (2013), we took some tree damage. We called these guys and they sent an arborist to look at the 2 trees with the worst damage and give us an estimate. Our neighbor had given us permission to go thru his yard to see the tree from his side, and she waded thru the debris back there without batting an eye (which was pretty impressive given the enormity of the task!). She wrote us up an estimate and we did the ¹⁄₃ down. We asked her to itemize the cost of the tree that neighbor was concerned about as he’d verbally agreed to pay half (note to anyone in our position: get it in writing. Seriously.), which she did, and also included the cost if we decided to take down an additional tree in our front yard (already was half-​rotten).
The team came back and did the work and were utterly professional. Seriously, it was poetry in motion watching these guys at work. Even though much of the work needed to be done over that neighbor’s yard, which was so full of stuff that nothing could have been hauled out through it, they managed to get everything onto our side of the fence and remove it from there. Took them even a little less time than anticipated, and the cleanup was completely thorough; they stacked the stuff we wanted to keep and hauled off the rest. And a day or two later, the arborist came back to make sure the work had been done to our satisfaction.
The only thing I would suggest is to NOT rely on the number with the big circle around it as your «estimate» amount. No, that’s the number BEFORE the hauling fee and BEFORE any cables are attached to trees (we opted for this). NOT putting a circle around that number would have alerted us to it not being the final cost in the least. Suggestion: circle the REAL total. That’s the kind of number most normal humans expect to have circled, and it was a pretty big shocker that the numbers under that one were yet to be added in, so when the final bill came, there was some sticker shock. Otherwise, we were very pleased with the work done.

I would not recommend using this SavAtree. Things started off fine — their very knowledgeable arborist Kyle gave me an estimate of $ 1,000, and I gave him my credit card number for a $ 300 deposit. But, realizing right after he left that I wanted to get a second estimate, I immediately called and asked them not to charge my credit card. They agreed not to.
Four days later, Savatree charged my credit card $ 300 anyway. I called and explained the situation, and they very nicely said they would refund me the money. But four weeks — and many phone calls to manager Susan and her manager Kevin — later, I was still waiting for the refund. When I called again to see what was happening, I was told «we’re refunding you as a favor» because I canceled after the deposit was charged (I didn’t). They had no time frame for when I would get it.
Finally I decided to call the corporate office, who nicely helped me resolve the issue in 5 minutes. Got my $ 300 back. But only after 4 weeks of checking my credit card balance every day and many ridiculous calls to this business.
I did get a second estimate of $ 400 from Care of Trees, who did a great job. I imagine SavAtree also would have done a great job with the extra $ 600 more that they charge. But I can find other uses for $ 600 and don’t enjoy doing business with a company whose office would act that way (so rude felt a little much, but up to you).
I’m giving two stars for aborist Kyle and tthe corporate office.

This was a terrible service. They trimmed a tree in an illogical manner, with no esthetics, and when I asked them to rectify, they only pressured for payment and charged a surcharge during the time that I was dissatisfied and trying to get them to return. I finally paid the entire amount, but they never moved a finger to meet my expectations.

The experience with SavaTree was great — We used them for tree pruning and we liked them so much we are thinking about the lawn care options! They won’t have the lowest price, but they offer competitive prices and the quality and care of work is excellent.
When Dave came out to scope the job and come up with a job quote, he was on time and was very knowledgeable about the trees in our yard.
The day of the job, the crew showed up and reviewed what was going to be completed to be sure it matched with the job scope and my expectations. They took care of the tree pruning work quickly and professionally. Even better, the crew was very careful about cleaning up the job site and making sure it was in the same condition as before they left.
I would highly recommend Savatree because of their quality, customer service, and competitive prices.