PORTAGE, Mich. -- Michael Alford came home to a pleasant surprise Saturday. For five months, the legally blind veteran waited for Top Notch Tree Experts to follow through on a job he paid a $2,000 deposit on. His daughter, Jenny Deleon, dropped him off after dialysis on Saturday and was also surprised to see the two Maple trees gone.
"I can't get over how different and nice it looks," Deleon said.
"It's just so gorgeous," Alford said.
After the original Problem Solvers story aired, people from all over reached out to the Problem Solvers and the family.
Deleon explained, "We had asked people to kind of hold off and that we would contact people as soon as we found out what Brian [with Top Notch Tree Experts] was doing."
She continued, "But these guys just felt it in their hearts that they wanted to come do this, and they surprised us by showing up and doing it."
Saturday, the veteran came home to find Sharp Edge Tree Service volunteering their time, tools, and talents. The family wants to thank everyone who reached out to help.
David Pryor, the owner of Sharp Edge said, "When I saw this it made me sick to my stomach, and it upset me."
Pryor said he's thankful for his crew volunteering and for the veteran's sacrifices.
"This country owes him a lot and anything we can do to help him he deserves it," Pryor said.
Alford said, "That was really nice of the people to come and do that."
The Problem Solvers caught up with Top Notch Tree Experts out of Hartford, Michigan. That's the tree service that was originally paid to do the job. Owner Brian Vanlandingham spoke with us at Alford's home.
Vanlandingham said, "I really appreciate his service to our country. We've had a lot of great conversations."
He added, "I think we all are in understanding where we are now. I think we all agree that this was a big misunderstanding."
"Not timely but big misunderstanding," Vanlandingham said.
He said he never intended to give the family the runaround.
"There was a thousand dollar check that was written to us. It did not clear. Jenny soon explained to me that she had some remodel stuff at her house, asked if we could wait the month. We didn't have no problem with that. She did hand us $2,000 shortly thereafter," he explained.
Since Sharp Edge beat him to doing the front yard, the family agreed to let Vanlandingham cut trees in the backyard to call it even. Vanlandingham acknowledges there's been some good weather since November but said he needed to coordinate Alford's job with another job financially, with regard to renting equipment. Given how things began, he said he was going to do the job at his own pace.
As of Monday, he's already put a dent in the backyard.
"We're going to make sure these people are happy and that our good name still appears," Vanlandingham stated.
Sharp Edge Tree Service is based out of the small town of Scotts. The owner suggests you hire an ISA-certified arborist. Pryor also said the trees' health may have been compromised since Top Notch made certain cuts several months ago.
The Better Business Bureau offers tips on choosing a tree service. You can find them here.
