During Hurricane Sandy on 10/29/12, our 50 foot twin blue spruce split in two and half of it fell between our house and next door. <br /> The half of tree that was still standing was leaning towards our house with all of the weight of the branches. Since the Nor?easter was expected with heavy snow and winds of 50 mph, we needed to have a tree service take the tree down before damage was done to the house and neighborhood powerlines. <br /> Drew Trien of Trees Plus, Inc. in East Hanover, NJ replied to my call around 10 AM Tues., 11/6, and said he would assess <br /> the tree as he was near by and would be there in 5 minutes. He showed up around noon (2 hours later). After looking at the tree, he agreed that my tree would surely fall in the Nor?easter and that I needed to act fast. He said ?in a normal circumstance, you?re looking at a $2,000 job. But because of the Hurricane, I need to look out for me.? He told me it was $5000 to take down the tree, $750 to grind/haul away debris, and $450 to grind the stump. I called my husband who screamed he was gouging us. I did not want damage to my house or to have my newly restored powerlines be damaged or cause any damage to my neighborhood. Drew could hear our conversation. He said $4000 to remove the tree, so I agreed. I gave an $800 deposit. The crew was supposed to show up in a 1/2 hour. <br /> The crew came at 4:00 (4 hours later) and cut down the tree leaving a 10 foot stump They put half of the debris in front of my <br /> house and the other half in front of next door as it didn?t all fit in front of my house. They said they would clean up the following day <br /> (11/7/12) at 9 AM.I said OK. <br /> The crew did not show up at 9 AM on 11/7/12. The arrived around noon. The wife of the owner asked for the <br /> remainder of the balance for the crew to finish the job (cut the stump, grind the tree, and haul away). I wrote a check for $3950. I made sure that the crew knew that it was to clean up in front of my house and next door to remove all of our tree. They agreed. <br /> I watched the crew work from my enclosed front porch. They cleaned up most of the tree in my yard but did not have a chain saw <br /> to cut the 10 foot trunk and said someone would have to come back later. The crew started to clean up to leave without removing the debris next door from my tree. I told them they were supposed to do that. They said, ?no.? I had to call Drew back, talk to him, and have him talk to the crew to get them to complete the job. While on the phone with Drew, the owner Peter showed up, cut the stump down and told the crew to get to work. The crew stopped working for 30-45 minutes to eat lunch in the truck in front of our house. <br /> I do not mind paying for the work that was done, but, according to the email I received from Congressman Leonard Lance, anything over 10% higher than normal is price gouging. Since Drew Trien told me that the ?normal?price of my work was $2000, not $4000, I think they should not demand any more than $2200 (normal price + 10%). Trees Plus, Inc. increased their price to remove the tree by 100%. <br /> While I do appreciate that Trees Plus, Inc. came and completed the job, I believe they took advantage of the situation to make as much money as they could from a natural disaster. We filed a price gouging complaint with the NJ Office of the Attorney General but haven't heard anything from them yet. <br /> <br />