Rant: That guy who argued with me about a dead oak for 20 minutes

I had a homeowner last spring, guy in his 60s, nice house over in Oakwood, called me out to look at this big red oak in his backyard. I climbed up, saw the crown was maybe 40 percent dead, bark falling off in strips, and there were these little beetle holes all around the base. I told him straight up, this tree is coming down in a storm, it needs to go. He got all red in the face, told me I was just trying to upsell him, said he'd had that tree for 30 years and it was fine. I showed him the photos I took up close, pointed at the dead branches, even scraped some bark off to show the powdery stuff underneath. He kept saying his nephew had a tree service and could save it for half the cost. I packed up my gear, told him good luck, and sure enough got a call from him in August after a windstorm took half the tree onto his garage. Has anyone else dealt with a client who just won't listen to the obvious signs?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella_murray1mo ago

Did you actually sit down and explain why that nephew’s cheaper option would fail, or did you just give him the bad news and walk away? Sometimes people need a slow walk through the facts, not just a quick diagnosis from a pro. I’ve found that taking an extra ten minutes to break down the why can save a lot of angry calls later.

patricia3171mo agoMost Upvoted

Oh come on. You really think spending an extra ten minutes playing teacher would have changed that guy's mind? He wasn't confused about the facts, he was just cheap and stubborn. His nephew told him what he wanted to hear for half the price. No amount of hand holding would have made him admit the tree was dangerous when his own family was lining up to take his money. Sometimes the slow walk just gives people more time to argue back at you.

simons2814d ago

Question whether it's really that serious though. Sometimes people just want to vent and we don't need to turn every tree removal into a whole thing about communication styles.