Removed several trees from the neighbor's yard.
I'm reviewing this business because they performed work on a neighbor's yard and damaged our fence in the process. To add insult to injury, the boss on site handled it in a very rude and dismissive way, often interrupting me. Here is what happened. While cutting down a tree in the neighbor's back yard, the company allowed large tree limbs to build up against the chain link fence, reaching the height of the fence in some places. The fence is old and already had damage in other places (e.g., years ago, a neighbor's tree fell on it during a storm, and rather than accept the neighbor's offer to pay for repairs, my father did the best he could to correct itself.) Admittedly, a new fence probably could have withstood the pressure better than ours did. That said, before Stecko Contracting began their work, the fence was standing upright on the side they later damaged. After they started to perform their work and limbs pushed against the fence, the fence leaned inward towards our yard. I told one of the workmen, and he told his boss. The boss spoke to my mother when I was not there and said that they did not damage the fence. My mother explained that while there was preexisting damage to the fence, it was not slanted beforehand. That damage was new and caused by their company. The man mumbled something under his breath and walked away. When I returned, the boss walked over and introduced himself and said that they didn't cause the damage in the fence and that it was already damaged. I told him that I was aware of pre-existing damage and wasn't claiming that the prior damage was caused by their company. Instead, I tried to explain that the fence was not slanted prior to their arrival and that now it was. He proceeded to show me all of the ways in which the fence was in poor condition, often interrupting me or talking over me to do so. He then began to criticize the condition of the fence in other places. I told him that just because the house wasn't the nicest on the street, he didn't have the right to damage what did exist. I didn't think there was a need to be rude or insulting, and I told him that I didn't think this was how to conduct good business. At one point, he snapped at me and said, "I'm not buying you a new fence." I explained that I wasn't asking him to buy a new fence, or to pay for anything. I simply wanted him to leave the fence the way he found it: standing upright. He said he guessed he could try to bend it back. Eventually, he walked away from me while I was still talking. The damage was one thing, but what really caused me to write this review was the way that the company handled the situation. The site boss was rude, dismissive, and often interrupted me or spoke over me. He spoke to me like I'm an idiot. I gave him the chance to discuss things and resolve them professionally, but in the end, he walked away from me without rectifying the situation to my satisfaction. Ultimately, we will probably take the fence down or replace it altogether, so what happened today won't affect the fence much, and I won't be losing any sleep over how rude the man was to me. His rudeness and poor choices will probably come back to him in some form sooner or later. I know a lot of people, though, and I have a very big family, most of which is local. A few of them run businesses themselves. When I hear that they need work done on their house or their yard, I'll be sure to tell them to stay away from this company. Their workers have a lot to learn about doing business and about how to treat people.
Service Provider Response
We did not damage Jessica's mother's fence. I was there the entire job. Every job we do, we are very careful and respectful to our customers properties and our customers neighbors properties. If we ever damage property, it will be fixed or replace without hesitation. This being said, neither I or any of my employes, in any way, damaged their fence. I explained to Jessica that one of the line posts was rotted off underground, that several top rail loops were broken and that was the reason her fence was in poor condition. I would approximate there is 300' of fence in that yard and not any 1 foot of that fence is straight or in good condition. I guess she feels that the 30' by my customers trees was the only straight section, prior to us working next door. The fence was painted, and the paint was over prior damage. Absolutly no fresh evidence of new damage is available, because there is none. It is truly ashame that she is able to put a negative slanderous reveive without any merit what so ever. I spoke with my customer about Jessica's claim. She started to laugh and shake her head and was in shock of her claim. My customer told me that years prior during a neighborhood pickup football game, the fence was laid over from guys running into it. Included in that game was Jessica's brother. He apparently had all the guys help him raise the fence back up before his parents could see what had happened. Stecko Contracting LLC DID NO DAMAGE TO THIS FENCE. THIS ACUSATION IS NOT FOUNDED AND HAS NO MERIT. As far as my behavior as me being rude and unprofessional, I disagree with this accusation also. I listened to Jessica, I tried to explain multiple times her fence issues, and that was simply all. I did walk away from her while she was speaking, that was the best thing to do after 15 minutes of getting nowhere. Jason Stecko owner and operator of Stecko Contrating LLC
