I hate Asplundh

[RecycleMichael]

They have been in my yard for a week chopping down eight really big trees. I know that is their job and these trees were close to the power lines. The guys were real talented having to climb so high and to make sure that the branches they cut did not fall on or break our playground equipment.

They said they were done, but had left firewood stacked all around the yard and have left these big ugly stumps in our gardens. They said to us they were done.

We complained and AEP-PSO officials have assured us that they will come back and finish the job properly. That is not why I hate them today.

While they had parked in front of our house each day and entered our backyard through the front gates, one of their crew must have gone out the back gate to our property and left it open. Our little pug got out the gate and was killed by a car yesterday.

I can't 100% sure say they left the gate open because I did not see them do it, but the gate has never been left open before and they were stacking firewood only about twenty feet away. There was no reason for them to use that gate and I didn't even think to go around and check it as they left.

Now my wife and kids are crying and we have lost the best dog in the world.

I don't know what to do except vent to somebody. I hate them today.

[Renaissance]

I'm sorry about your yard and dog.  Good luck with everything.

[cannon_fodder]

I'm extremely sorry to hear that Michael.  That dog was way too much fun and it was obviously part of the family.  I've seen the care you take to keep an eye on that dog, watch the doors, etc. and if it has never happened before it probably was the workers fault.

I agree with your general assessment.  They are just doing their jobs and doing the best they can, but it is still isn't an excuse.  What is a small matter to them, leaving a gate open, turns into a catastrophic event for your family.

Do to my own experience, I will never again do anything more than required by law to help a city contractor.  I understand they are trying to do their jobs.  I tried to be the nice guy and help them and I got screwed.   Sorry to hear you got burned in a worse way.

Vent away.

[carltonplace]

So sorry RM.

PSO, please bury the lines and leave our trees alone.

[Kashmir]

  I'm so sorry RM.  Can you post a picture of the little cutie?  I would love to see her (or him) in happier days.
Poor kids and MrsRM and you too.

[Townsend]

I'm very Sorry.

[sgrizzle]

So sorry RM.

PSO, please bury the lines and leave our trees alone.

Wouldn't they have to remove the trees to put the trench?

As I understand it, PSO should do the work to your satisfaction and Asplundh works to PSO's satisfaction. Not a good direct relationship. PSO employees are trained in how to handle dogs (given employees are attacked by dogs regularly) but I doubt asplundh does the same. I would call PSO and try to find out if asplundh used that gate. If not, there are meter readers, surveyors, and neighbor kids going after frisbees.

[RecycleMichael]

I am better now. I just needed to say something and I am thankful for everybody's nice comments. I really don't hate them anymore, it was just the anger talking.

[Red Arrow]

Wouldn't they have to remove the trees to put the trench?

A few years ago Bixby put in sanitary sewers in our neighborhood.  The workers disconnected our fence from the corner post in the back yard and did not even attempt tie it back when they left for the day.  It was hard to see from the back door. We were more lucky than RM, I found our dog in the neighbor's back yard.  I don't expect it was caused by anything but not thinking.  Still no excuse.

I'm sorry to hear about your dog RM.

[Gaspar]

I'm so sorry RM.  I don't know if I would have handled that situation as well as you have.

A tree, a flower bed, a fence or swing is easy to replace, but you cannot replace a member of the family.

[Hometown]

After decades of being burned by handy people I've decided that there isn't much to be said for most of them.

The painters were doing the outside of my house last summer and they pulled all the old caulking from our old windows, saw storm clouds approaching, and left.  It took us several days and a couple of rain storms to seal up every window.  There was thousands of dollars of damage to our interior plaster walls. 

Oh, I've sued a few here and there but there really is no satisfaction in that.  It would be more gratifying to find out where they live and go damage their property.

One of the painters had a decal of a hand shooting the finger on the back of his truck and beneath it the words "Don't say I never lift a finger."  That about said it all. 

One of these days I'm writing a tell all with the names and numbers of the handy men from hell laid out for all to see.

I am very sorry about your precious dog.  Two of my baby cats died because of similar negligence.

[TurismoDreamin]

I never knew how to properly pronounce that company. I always thought it was pronounced "as-plun-duh"....as if it were some crazy anal torture device.
On a more serious, I'm so sorry to hear about your dog though. I just recently lost my twelve year old dog last month and understand how hard it must be.