Here's one for ya.. Local landscape guy.

Grab something to sip on, i type alot.

So... sometime last fall i started hanging out with these tree cutting guys..
I was in no shape to move logs..

I took the wood, they loaded my trailer for me, id have it unloaded.
They would call when they had more wood for me.

Cool.

Well, i became friends with the climber, he introduced me to his friend who runs a landscaping
buisness..
Things have changed.. No longer getting wood from the first group of guys. We simply just
stopped talking.

So now this landscaping guy, which i ended up becoming friends with for the time being, he cuts
the trees, well he mostly watches.. His employee and the climber do the cutting.
Ive been hauling the good wood, taking the stuff i want, and so on.

The landscape buisness guy, the owners name is Harold.
The climber guy, his name is Rick.

Rick and Harold.

Rick is an alright guy.. hard worker. Harold.... is a stalker.


So.. Harold will get a tree job, bid it out, cut it down, contact me to come and get it.. and
just expects me to drop everything that im doing and come and work for free for a few hours
to clean up his job site.

Ok this worked fine for about...5 occasions. And then it hit me.. wtf am i doin.

Harold hit me up, wanted me to build him some wood sides for his 16' trailer.
Done. I built them, 2 months ago, they are still in my garage leaning against the wall.
Its always 1 story after the other. "yeah man i need them sides put on" and then nothing
happends.. I told him $60 for the sides, 4 weeks later he thinks that includes installation.

Now its a weedeater.
He dropped off a weedeater to me to work on for him.
Well, i cant get him to pay for these trailer sides, ive already invested $12 in fuel lines for this
weedeater, and he wont pay up. Ive got his weedeater, it needs a new carb. He tells me to fix
it and give him a call when its done.. Well buddy, i need some money. You obviously dont stick
to your word..

Back to the wood thing, he pressures me to take this wood, like cool.... free wood.
But i have too much. I literally have about 12 cords cut to length, but not split.
Why in the hell would i take in more?!
Especially fresh cut wood.. what the. no.
I have 1 little wood burner in my shop.

No... he is literally stalking me.
He has shown up to my house 4 times just today.
I took the day off from work, and since my truck is in the driveway - Im up at the hospital -
I can see him come and go on my video camera.
He pulls in my drive, either honks or revs up his engine. usually both.
He'll call me, i wont answer and he wont leave a message.
an hour later, he's back.

yesterday he hit me up about a tree he cut down.. says he needs it picked up within 24 hours so
he can get paid.
Putting the pressure on me..
Keep in mind, i havent asked him for wood in about 4 months...
I dont want this crap, anymore. at all.

You guys ever had any run ins like this?
Anyone experienced this type of stuff?

So right now, he's pressuring me to come pick up this tree, so he can get paid.
He wants me to just drop what im doing, leave my Grandma's side in the hospital to come pick
up a tree that he cut, and cant dispose of it obviously.


Him and his employee showed up a few weeks ago, just randomly show up in my driveway with a
trailer thats about 2/3rds full of maple.
He's like yeahhh got some honey locust for ya and some oak.
what the hell...
its all silver and red maple.
I wish i wore a body cam for these types of deals.


He's terrible at following through with money.
I helped him and his crew a few times with cleaning up limbs and stuff after they had cut down
a few trees, he paid me twice.. the money sucked. After that he claimed "oh i'll get ya i'll get ya paid".
That was the last dime i saw..

Yet he had to have these wood sides for his trailer, like now...4 months ago.
And i havent received a penny.



Input?

This guy calls me, and im like ffffffuuuuuudddge here we go.
I just ignore the calls.

 

Harold sounds like a D Bag to me....lazy sumofabich!!

 

We cut down a massive elm tree, i helped.
I loaded my 18' trailer 4 times!

4 freaking times!
Heaping loads of elm.
This tree was every bit of 80-100ft tall.
The base was 63 inches across.


I simply cut firewood, and this Harold charactor kept nagging me to go cut up the trunk.
With what?!
I dont have a locomotive powered chainsaw.
Man, that went on for about 2 weeks before he got the hint.
I kept telling him i had no use for the wood of that size, i cant handle it, i dont own a single piece of heavy equipment.

Good wood, but god dang is it horrible to split, and ive got a crap load of it.



You talk about making someone feel uncomfortable..

 

Anymore, he refuses to give me a dollar because he claims there is just so much money in firewood.

I sell wood, but he doesnt have the slightest clue as to how much hard work it is.
After ive CSS'd.. and i sell a stack for what i sell it for... Ive made about $5...

Last time he brought up the money thing and how theres just so much money in firewood..
I said yeah man, im rich.

 

He has been a D bag in my book since about day 4..

 

I can arrange something like that..

Not even plan on harming anyone, but just a simple "hey man, this is what im working with, we can do this the easy way or the hard way".

 

You gotta be careful, they may be with the wood mafia. You don't want to wake up with a Maple with its crown cut off in your bed.

 

Just end it, there's too much free wood out there to put up with that.

 

Im already ignoring his phone calls.

He'll call and not leave a message.
And then when i do touch base with him, usually he'll catch me outside.. what am i gonna do, run inside? lol

He'll hit me up then "yeah mannn i called ya the other day 5 times"
Yeah no kidding, ya dont know how voicemail works or what?!


I'll answer him when he says " hey i need to pick up my weedeater"
And then when i tell him i need $25, and he doesnt have it, i'll simply yank off the fuel lines and hand it over.
Here ya go, see ya.

 

For sure, cut your losses and the loser.

 

I dont have much respect for him at all.
He bids these jobs and then leaves a mess.

Just around the corner from me, he cut down a standing dead oak.
Cut it and left.
Literally.

I cleaned up the tree trunk because i wanted it.

He left all the limbs, all the mess.
left it.

That was 2 months ago..
I drive past this house every day.
The house is a vacant rental.. im guessing it was the home owner that drug some of the limbs
from the back yard into the driveway, there they sit...


That big elm tree i mentioned above..
The landowner hit him up constantly about cleaning the mess up.
He had dropped the tree on the University's property and then left it for me to clean up.
The landowner hit me up 3 times about where has Harold been and when will this be done and so on.
I had no answer for him, finally i told him that i was just an aquatints and did not personally work for
Harold.

LIke the tree he is bugging me about now.. this is what he says

The homeowners just bought the house and want the tree cleaned up, i need it cleaned up within 24 hours.
Whats crazy is... He didnt mention a thing to me about this tree until after he had cut it.
LIke shouldnt you have all this lined up before you commit to a job?
Like.. how am i going to get this cleaned up and taken care of.

He assumes that im just going to do all of the labor intensed work, for absolutely free and he wants me
to do it now.

 

I bought a tool box one day from craigslist, had it on my trailer.
I bought it and then went to his job site to clean up a damm tree he cut down.

He starts asking me about the tool box..
I paid $25 for it and intended on fixing it up and flipping it.
I tell him $100 and it'll come with new locks.
He insists on paying me $30 for this tool box that i never even offered to him.
This went on for days.
I finally settled on $75, for about a week after that he did nothing but complain about it.


I can go on and on..

I need to get going to my Dad's..
Im racin this weekend and need to get my trailer lined up and everything loaded.

 

Unfortunately if you pull this card, you have to be ready to lay down. The othere thing is it seems like this duck might come calling when LinkedXJ might not be home and might be enough of a jerk to mess with his home or family. I say you need to work him over... then give him his sides, weed eater, extra wood......

 

No one, absolutely no one, can take advantage of you unless you let them!

 

So far, you are out a few bucks and fed up. papadave has the right answer, in my opinion. I think it is a matter of not wanting anymore to do with this person. That is is the answer, have nothing more to do with him, Give him his weed eater, unfixed. Then say, we are done. I wouldn't want to feed him a need to seek out some sort of revenge.

 

Wanna borrow my wife to straighten him up? I will even pay shipping!

Gary