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  1. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Jason, I think you've put your finger on it. The "while you're here" game: a game whereby informal add ons are requested on game day, usually towards the end of the job. It is a way of circumventing the price structure of the quoting apparatus. When the sales arborist is not consulted about the...
  2. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Just wanted to take stock here at mid-thread. A lot has been said. I want to emphasize that "game" isn't necessarily a pejorative term. Some games are fun, some are even expected. Bargaining to get the best price is a kind of gaming and it is acceptable up to a point. On the other hand, gaming...
  3. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Which raises an interesting point about how a company should view the ratings systems online: e.g., Yelp, Angies List, etc. I think most ratings are favorable and we evidently have no problem with them publicly rating us this way but the worm turns... it chafes when a bad review occurs. Should...
  4. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Perhaps one of the criteria could be "vendor feels that client honored all of the terms of the contract". A lot of vagueness built into that rather than specific information about debt. It should be noted that this is a dangerous course to chart (generally speaking). Our customer service based...
  5. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Three words: Set For Life. do it, Nick.
  6. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Sounds like an instance of the Priceless Shed/Priceless Vase Game. You are in a tough spot with this one. Not even the most umbrella-like dogshit clause could be written to protect you against this kind of shit slinging. You've done your mitigation: let the insurance work it out. My 2 cents.
  7. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Perhaps a little more detail might help us. Insurance offering them $816 for "a handful of stone dust" that should have been gotten by pressure washing, which you apparently were doing? This needs clarification. Also, did you not offer to make things right with them before it got to the...
  8. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Real Estate Games occur around the buying and selling of property. There are two sides to the real estate game: buyer and seller. The buyer's interest is in getting a free quote on tree work around the property in order to lower the seller's price by suggesting all sorts of work that the new...
  9. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Ha ha ha. I know the type. I usually try to get them to tell me if they themselves originally suggested the work to said neighbor. If so, well, there you have it. Game over. Sometimes the neighbor is immediately a good prospect, a lot of times its a gimmick the would be customer is deploying to...
  10. ward

    Jacket

    A vest is what you need. I like the Arborwear Bodark Vest--have the crew outfitted in them with our little logo on it, too. Arms are free, core is warm. If it rains, a shorty goretex type jacket is nice for climbing. Beanies on under the helmet. Good as gold, mate, good as gold.
  11. ward

    The trouble with Jameson extendable poles

    Love those wood handled saws. Make great polesaws from ground work and I like being able to chuck them into the ground like a javelin without any worry of damage when climbing. They are really too long to maneuver around in a dense tree and, for this reason, I supplement the wood polesaws and...
  12. ward

    Tree forks - codominant stems

    Thanks for this reference. This is a master's thesis here that tends to support a lot of anecdotal experience about relative stability of red maples, pears, vs. oak codominant stem crotches. The study was limited to younger age trees, though, and didn't make any claims about mature trees, let...
  13. ward

    The trouble with Jameson extendable poles

    The cost of silky polesaws are too much (although I equip the crew with silky zubat handsaws...there is no substitute). Loss and damage are frequent occurences, despite the ring issue that I mentioned. $250 for a pole saw made out of destructible aluminum vs. $75 for fiberglass....well, one has...
  14. ward

    The trouble with Jameson extendable poles

    Had to bring this up again. The guys brought in another Jameson with the same problem yet again: the tightening mechanism had worn out. Leads me to reinvigorate the thread with a new find, a potential solution. Anybody have any experience with "Ergo-Schnitt" telescoping saws? They are on the...
  15. ward

    Climbing prongs

    I'm liking this idea. A pair of wesco jobmasters coated with small, hook-like claws (like the dewclaws on a german shepherd) made of titanium. The elusive 'magic boots' are at hand!
  16. ward

    Are you afraid to die?

    I have to admit that I am both afraid of dying and of being dead. Being dead seems really horrible to me, to be nothing and experience nothing at all or, rather, to be sealed inside of the casket that you were lowered into the earth in for eternity. Horrifying! It gives a life a particular...
  17. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Been thinking that on some instinctual level we arborists accept the free estimate paradigm because it is to us like hunting and gathering. Any hunter knows that each time he goes a-hunting there is a good chance he will come home empty handed. Likewise, it is easy for us to accept that going...
  18. ward

    Trees from a distance

    Parrotia persica?
  19. ward

    The Games Customers Play

    Couple of questions if I might. What was your customer call drop off (as a percentage of leads from all sources (advertising, word of mouth, next door neighbor to work being done, etc) once you implemented the charge? 1/3, 2/3...what # seems roughly correct? Second question: of the existing...
  20. ward

    Angry, let off some steam... Yo its Friday!


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