Tree King Tree Service

BEWARE! UNSAFE, DANGEROUS PRACTICES! This business is Cal OSHA’s worst nightmare (and yes, I’m sending my photos and videos to them).
First let me say that I did not hire Tree King myself. A woman on the street behind me hired them to trim a stand of very tall, very overgrown eucalyptus trees. The owner of this company may be a licensed arborist, but the qualifications of his crew are questionable at best. I’ve seen many large trees pruned in the neighborhood, all with the utmost of professionalism. I have NEVER experienced anything like the six hours of pure terror that we endured while the Tree King crew was here. Rather than lowering the heavy pieces with ropes (as true professionals always do), these guys hacked up the trees with chainsaws and simply let the branches drop to the ground, in the street, into adjacent back yards, and onto neighboring roofs. We’re talking logs that weighed easily 100 pounds each. It literally sounded like bombs were being dropped around me.
I have pet tortoises in my yard that could have been killed by these falling logs. I ran out to try to save them, while branches fell around me. I kept screaming at them and pleading with them to stop, only to receive disrespectful words and gestures.
I finally called 911 when tree limbs the size of automobiles started crashing into my yard within a few feet of my house. THAT’s how bad this got. The police arrived and had a talk with them, after which the ropes suddenly appeared. Unfortunately, the damage had already been done. I guess we were lucky in that our damage was limited to two lost citrus trees and a smashed up fence. My next door neighbor didn’t fare as well. She came home to a back yard that looked as though a bulldozer had gone through it. They crushed most of her landscaping and just left it that way.
The LAPD officers who responded to our call noted what they believed to be several safety violations, and gave us some recommendations on which agencies to report this to. I cannot emphasize enough how incompetent this company is. The first paragraph on their web site says «the knowledge and use of specialized equipment is very important, not only for the safety of the person (s) pruning the tree but also for the surrounding property where the tree stands; homes, businesses, automobiles, on lookers and passers by can be put at serious and unnecessary risks.» Horse crap! While they did appear to take measures to protect the home of the woman who hired them (and paid them), they had zero regard for the lives of the neighbors, our pets, and our property.
I’ll upload some photos of them in action, including a pic of their truck so the owner doesn’t try to claim that I’ve mistaken them for another company, as he did on another Unilocaler’s post. I wish I could upload video so you can see how horrifying this was. This company needs to be shut down!

I don’t write reviews on Unilocal very often, but I feel compelled in this situation to comment on my experience with Tree King. I’ve used them for years, and have always been pleased with the quality of their work. Recently, I suffered significant tree damage due to vandalism, and have two estimates from other tree services, both citing the need to REMOVE all of the trees. Setting aside the matter of cost, it would break my heart to lose all those trees. I called in Mark & Paul, who agreed that, with proper care and a little luck, we can probably save these trees. The crew was out the other day, a team of five meticulously groomed men, who worked well and harmoniously (most of them have worked together for decades), left the property as clean as when they found it, and did the work contracted for, including the removal of the one giant tree that just could not be saved. I cannot sing the praises of Tree King enough, and I didn’t just use them once. I have used them for pretty much most of the years I’ve lived in this house. I also value that Paul is an environmentalist and an animal rescue person, who cares about the earth we live upon and the four-​legged creatures who share it with us. The reason I felt compelled to review Tree King is not so much that some people have had negative experiences, because I respect that everyone’s experience is different, but I find it more than a bit strange that Lizbeth W. took more than FIFTEEN YEARS to negatively review Tree King. If a person has a bad experience with a vendor, it ought not to take fifteen years to get around to making a complaint. That review just doesn’t pass the smell test.

THEY DON’T CARE. I tried for weeks just to get them to put my job on the calendar. I finally got a call one evening from Mark, asking if he could do the work the next morning. I had to scramble to take the day off of work to be there, only that day to have them call me an hour and a half AFTER they were supposed to be there to tell me that they weren’t coming. They promised to have Mark call and reschedule. He called to apologize, but couldn’t give me a reschedule date. It has now been 5 weeks since I accepted the estimate! Ridiculous! I gave the job to someone else, and they made me an appointment on the spot.

Mark gave me a fair estimate to do quite a bit of work including trimming some towering eugenias that had never been trimmed, a huge podacarpus and very large Brazilian pepper tree. His crew showed up on time, did a great job and did a really good clean up. I would use them again.

I hired Mark, the arborist, and the Tree King Tree Service to trim some small dead limbs off one of my large trees in front of the house. He told me he also wanted to do work on the tree next to it, and I told him I didnt think that was necessary and that I would only want him to trim the sick one a little and to just fertilize the healthy one.
I was horrified when I returned home yesterday… Both of my once-​full and beautiful trees were RUINED. The team completely hacked off nearly all the branches, leaving only sparseness at the top. To make matters worse, my entire front yard was filled with heavy limbs that I spent two hours cleaning up myself. I now have no shade or privacy in my front yard. I am so saddened by this.
I called Tree King Tree Service yesterday, and tearfully spoke at length with the secretary. She promised me that Mark, the arborist, would call me and explain everything. He never called me. I again spoke today with a secretary, and she told me I was «silly» and being «very negative» about the work they did. She told me that I am being irrational and that after a few years my branches will grow back! She told me she now does not see a point in Mark, the arborist, calling me back.
This is horrible customer service! I was even told that Mark, the arborist, was not even present for the job that he was supposed to oversee!
Please, whoever reads this, do not use this service. If you love your trees, you will be heartbroken by the damage they will do.

We have the correct company. Called from the yellow pages.
Sadly, the follow through on Unilocal is more than we received when we hired Tree King Tree Services, «Licensed Arborists». We have documentation from Tree King Tree Service for services provided. I suggest you check your records back to 1999.
The damage caused to our ficus hedge and unfortunate customer service was irresponsible and unprofessional. As stated before we called several times. Someone came out and surveyed the damage. Offered to replace broken trees in hedge and that’s the last we heard. Called for months and finally gave up. Never used you again.

Mark & the Tree King crew were awesome! They worked a really difficult mature cherry tree that had never been given any TLC and an old beloved Japanese Elm in a tough corner between houses. They were SUPER nice, hard working, spot on time and cleaned up with tweezers. Perfection! Everything looks great and it was a fantastic experience. They are on my list and should be on yours too!