A local woman was so upset about an incomplete tree-clearing job she took up the matter with law enforcement.
Friday afternoon, the problem may have been resolved.
Mary Ingram-Harris saw the work Carolina Landscaping was doing in Kinston and made an agreement with Kevin Sawyer of the company to have some trees cut on her property. She said she was promised the wood would be off the property on Feb. 24, but she was still waiting for the company to come back Thursday. So Friday, she paid another company to haul it off.
“They’re working as hard as they can to get all this stuff up,” Harris said. “They’re taking it to the landfill. And (Carolina Landscaping is) over there working across town. Every time they say they’re coming they don’t ever show up. This has been since Feb. 24. And I’ve paid them $1,650 of my money, cash.”
Sawyer said he had been open about the situation with Harris, and said he told her his crew would try to be at her house Tuesday or Wednesday, but definitely before close of business on Sunday.
“We had some equipment failure,” Sawyer said. “The chipper went down. We’ve been to her house several times, did some other work, and we also cut down nine trees for free for Ms. Harris. We didn’t charge her anything, because we felt as if she’s been kind to us and patient with us.”
Sawyer said the company actually did the work at a steeply discounted rate, and that the amount of work done totaled more than $3,800. Work on each of the nine extra trees was completed at about $200 a piece.
Harris said she sees work crews around town and wondered why her project was still incomplete.
“I got them to do some work for me, and then it’s like my work don’t count,” Harris said. “It’s work elsewhere that counts. And they’re talking about the chipper, always the chipper, the chipper, the chipper, the chipper. And they’re over there working — why don’t they come get my stuff up? And I’ve done paid them all that money. Now I have to pay more money now.”
She went to make a criminal complaint to the police, but was told it was a civil concern.
Sawyer explained an equipment failure has a domino effect through other pending jobs, and other customers are having to work with the company through the same problems.
“That happens everywhere,” Sawyer said. “People have problems, they communicate with the customer, and the customer would have to be a little but more understanding and patient when it comes to that.
“We’re a small company, who is starting out, and I guess that’s why she went with us, because we were giving her the best price. And we did way more than what we were paid for.”
Sawyer planned on hauling the wood off by the end of the week, chipper or no chipper. Informed by The Free Press that Harris had another company take the wood away, he said he would reimburse her for the cost.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.