Alberto Tree Service

I really wanted to give this company a 5 star review; I really did. But I feel that I was lied to and scammed.
We had a huge tree in our front yard that was so large, our entire front lawn was a mound of grass being pushed up by tree roots and our garage floor was cracked-​so, it was time for the tree to go.
This company shows up, on time, and gives a reasonable quote. They weren’t the cheapest, nor the most expensive. I also liked the fact that they had insurance and happily provided a copy of the policy.
They were polite, but not pushy with their follow ups. and I decided to go with them.
Now, in my contract it CLEARLY stated, «Stump and root removal.»
Here’s where it quickly goes downhill.
They had to postpone starting the job three times to various, but understandable issues.
When they did start, they started on time, but were not equipped to handle such a large tree. I came home and found half my tree and part of the trunk cut up on the front lawn (they had to, as they said, «make room at the yard» for all the wood).
It takes them another few days to come and get everything; in the meantime, I still have a large mound in my front yard.
When I ask the owner about this, he lied to me. He told me that they removed the stump and the roots, and that the dirt was just dirt, that’s it; they tightly packed it in there when they covered the hole and that he would come back in a few days and check on everything and remove some additional root.
He comes back with a guy with one ax and a minivan and takes out some small roots.
they. lied. to. me.
If I had been smart, I would’ve taken a shovel right then and there and checked, but, I didn’t.
a few days later, we were digging in the front trying to loosen the dirt they «tightly packed in» and discovered a HUGE tree stump.
When we measured we discovered that they only removed about 6″ of stump.
When I called the owner and reminded him what the contract he sent me said (tree and root removal) he didn’t seem surprised at all to hear from me.
They didn’t fight me on coming back and finishing the job that I paid them for (a week later; but he was willing to come pick up his checks within 24 hours) and removed all of the stump they should’ve the first time.
In the process they made a mess of my front; woodchips everywhere. They also, after I explicitly told them not to, started to fill in the hole before showing my husband what the job looked like.
If they had just done the job I paid them for, and hadn’t lied to me about it, there is so much more work we need done around the house that we would’ve been happy to hire a licensed, insured company to do and now we have to go elsewhere.
**EDIT: I’m changing this to a 1 star review. The dirt has finally started to settle and more and more of the roots that were supposed to be removed are coming through.