Hamish Lodge, "Cut Above" tree management

[stevie23b]

so glad alex has been put in his place only hamish who i do not know or have ever met has loads of good feed on here he would have been destroyed work wise on here why would some one do that ? i think there more to it ,or alex thinks he is just better than the rest of us

[HelBel65]

My own experience with Hamish was 100% positive, and by that I mean not only did he do a great job but was reliable and punctual too. Having said that, I HATE being let down in the way Alex K describes. I am fussy about that. The difference is I wouldn't dream of coming on here and try to ruin the reputation of such a highly rated trades person after one disappointing incident. I'd be p*ssed off, accept the apology (he apologised, right?) and move on. Respectfully suggest you do the same Alex K - shame this thread was started at all. H

[edcam]

Summed up well by HelBel65

[stevie23b]

feel a bit sorry for alex k now but it was uncalled for and hopefully he/she will think twice before running a good man down

[Cora]

Hamish has also been very generous with his time and expertise to local community projects including my sons' primary school. I don't think it is his default to let people down, and therefore to be vilified in such a strong post is an over reaction and not helping the OP or a local tradesman with a good reputation.

[Jeremy]

Exactly... everyone makes mistakes now and then... and yes, people get sick (sometimes too sick to get out of bed). Alex's experience is the exception rather than the rule, so Hamish is still one of the good guys in my book.

[granadaland]

Hamish and his guys are indeed a Cut Above.

They did a great job for us.

[m bond]

Shame on you Alex. We have used Hamish Lodge several times and so has half our street. He is well respected in this community and has been for several years. He has always been reliable punctual honest and completes his work to a very high standard. He was sick for goodness sake - what is wrong with you? Hamish Lodge we will definitely use you again.

[MaxMirza]

Alex,

I understand that you may have had a bad experience but nobody is perfect. I'm sure that it wasn't intentional and that circumstances must have been really serious.Don't forget Tree surgery is immensely strenuous and occasionally very dangerous.

Hamish lives on my road and we always call Hamish when when the need arises. The last time Hamish did some work for us it was in my front garden. I wasn't home and Hamish gave me his home address for me to pop an envelope with his fee in through the front door.

I've always found his work to be second to none & his service outstanding.

Max

[Hamishlodge]

I would like to thank people for their overwhelming support on this thread, it is much appreciated and motivating.

I apologise again to Alex for the inconvenience caused. As explained I was ill in bed for three days and lost my voice. Despite this I should have informed you in advance as I did for a majority of my customers but you were unfortunately missed.

I do however believe that things have lost perspective. It was a small 1 hour job for which it was discussed and agreed in advance that you did not need to be present or take time off work for me to complete the work.

In this context I do not understand why the error on my part is being blown out of all proportion and, in particular, why you are trying to damage my reputation and make it harder to make my living. This is something that is highly unreasonable in my humble opinion.

Hamish

[scotslass]

As mentioned before we have used Hamish and would have no hesitation in using him again. He came and completed our work while we were away on holiday, so no need for us to be there. Hamish, I don't think you have to worry about your reputation - on here at least.

[Herne Hill Guest]

Hamish I think this thread, in the end, is the best free marketing you could ever want.

You are obviously respected by all.

[RZB]

I would like to add my views. Hamish has been to deal with a number of tree "issues" for me. This has included pruning an enormous sycamore in weather pretty much like we have right now. He and his team were unbelievably stoic and did a fantastic job. Another job included pruning a Holm oak which he did beautifully so it grew out in a way that was as unintrusive as possible but maintained the shape of the tree. I have recommended him to many friends and family and will continue to do so

[StraferJack]

AlexK has been posting on the forum in February and hasn't deigned to respond to all of the rebuttals on here

Speaks badly of him/her ...

[Zepp1]

I would highly recommend Hamish and his team and would not hesitate to recommend him to friends and neighbours. They

spent four hours today in the pouring rain and once again did a fantastic job for me,

[olly]

Had Hamish over this week to work on a large silver birch. This is the third time I've used him, and as before, the work was done amazingly well and my garden was left really tidy. He was perfectly happy to do some extra bits of work, which I hadn't originally asked him to do and also cut some of the wood to shape so that I could make a couple of rustic benches.

Great service and highly recommended!

[Guest]

Would echo those positive recommendations of Hamish. We had him over to cut down a large tree and he worked in the dark till the job was done.

Did a great job and a top bloke as well.

[heleny]

Another vote of support for Hamish and his team. They worked on our ash tree a couple of times over the years and even handled negotiations with the council when we decided to remove it. He quoted a very reasonable price, did a great job on schedule and was very tidy and respectful of the garden and other plants. He also gave us some good advice about our other small tree.

The only very slight delay was him organising to collect his payment which probably shows was a decent bloke he is!

[Claref]

Another recommendation for Hamish and team. Sadly had to have our cherry tree taken down and it was dealt with quickly and efficiently and the property left spotless. It was in a very awkward position but this caused no problems for them. Always a pleasure to deal with Cut Above - we have also used them previously for cutting back.

http://www.cutabovetreemanagement.co.uk

[montassa]

Another vote for Hamish.. great job.

Garden is looking awesome - finally got some light back in the house. amazing transformation

[suewoo]

Here's yet another vote for Hamish and his team. He managed to make our out of control eucylyptus tree become much more manageable and gave us good advice about future care. They left the garden really tidy and were polite and curteous to neighbours. We will definitely be using them going forward. I found their services very good value too! Thanks Hamish!

[Huggers]

Hamish, what do you do with your logs? we are always on the look out for wood.

[Mason]

It is really sad that someone wishes to in fact ruin a business that has been so good within the community and surrounding areas over one bad experience. Problems happen, and it happens to the best of us. What used to happen before the days of the forums would be to deal with this at source, to complain and maybe view at some recompense it might be more fruitful. If nothing happens then and you receive no help at this stage, then possible complaints could be made to these sort of forums, but not as a blatant defamation of a company. I am so happy that Hamish has so many loyal followers, and think posters like the OP just are spiteful. How many times has one waited for an engineer or a delivery from a larger company to come and have wasted a day. Well suck it up it happens. So go through the procedure, phone your gripe through, and deal with it in a civil manner rather as an agressive business hating poster.

[Alex K]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> AlexK has been posting on the forum in February

> and hasn't deigned to respond to all of the

> rebuttals on here

>

> Speaks badly of him/her ...

Sorry, StraferJack. I didn't flag this thread as one for which I was to be apprised of follow-up posts. Hence the silence.

I had a remarkably bad experience with Hamish Lodge. I reported my experience. Others' experience seems to have differed. Good for them, and, I'm sure, for Hamish Lodge.

To recap: Although he had several routes through which he might have made contact with me to say, "I can't make our appointment today," he used none of them. Instead: I took a day off work, since I'd never seen him at work and wanted to ensure that errors in communication didn't lead to mutilation of the tree to be trimmed -- and was left cooling my heels awaiting him; he never showed up.

And although Hamish Lodge writes above --

"I apologise again to Alex for the inconvenience caused. As explained I was ill in bed for three days and lost my voice. Despite this I should have informed you in advance as I did for a majority of my customers but you were unfortunately missed." --

losing his voice shouldn't have kept him from sending an e-mail.

Has he pulled up his socks since, is he dealing better with others after I voiced my unhappiness? Perhaps. But the Hamish Lodge with whom I had dealings is a man whose word is not good.

It's all water, or blood, under the bridge. Good luck to Mr Lodge and to those who hire him.

[Alex K]

Mason Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It is really sad that someone wishes to in fact

> ruin a business that has been so good within the

> community and surrounding areas over one bad

> experience. Problems happen, and it happens to the

> best of us. What used to happen before the days of

> the forums would be to deal with this at source,

> to complain and maybe view at some recompense it

> might be more fruitful. If nothing happens then

> and you receive no help at this stage, then

> possible complaints could be made to these sort of

> forums, but not as a blatant defamation of a

> company. I am so happy that Hamish has so many

> loyal followers, and think posters like the OP

> just are spiteful. How many times has one waited

> for an engineer or a delivery from a larger

> company to come and have wasted a day. Well suck

> it up it happens. So go through the procedure,

> phone your gripe through, and deal with it in a

> civil manner rather as an agressive business

> hating poster.

Mason -- no wish to ruin a business. A wish, instead, to spare others annoyance and frustration. "Suck it up", the mustn't-grumble attitude that leaves things no better than they were? Not my way. "Defamation"? No. My experience, factually reported. And, you'll note if you scroll through the postings, acknowledged as factually reported by Hamish Lodge.

Glad for Hamish Lodge and others who have employed him that their interactions have been different. Good luck to them, and to him.