J & J Tree Service

I will say that I had a certain reluctance to hire J&J based on the very mixed Unilocal reviews. We have a 70+ foot tall pine tree in the front yard of our new home that has clearly never been professionally trimmed in it’s life. With some of the recent rainstorms and wind, we had considered taking it down altogether, but hadn’t made up our minds yet. Then another storm hit and a large branch broke and was dangling from the mid-​section of the tree. The time had come. We called 3 tree companies to get quotes — both for trimming and lacing the tree, and a separate quote for complete removal. The first quote for trimming came in at $ 1900; the second for $ 1850; and finally Rene’s for $ 550. I was completely shocked. I checked their license with the CA state board and saw that it was legit and current. I checked Unilocal and saw the mixed reviews, but the price differential was too much to ignore and we called to book them. Rene called back just a few hours later and scheduled the job for the next day. A 3 man crew showed up and trimmed and laced our tree for FIVE HOURS! They were extremely kind and courteous. I moved our car to the street so they had enough room on the driveway, and their lead guy even knocked on the door to let me know that it was getting close to street-​sweeping time and I should move the car. My toddler son was also at home at the time and they swept a path in the driveway so we could wheel the stroller out to go to the park.
We were so incredibly pleased with our experience. I checked multiple times to ensure they would accept credit cards, since they appeared to be an issue some Unilocalers had. I was assured they did. Then when I went to pay, they asked me to write down my credit card info on a piece of paper and they would process it. That made me very uncomfortable, but the experience had been positive so far, so I did, and then closely monitored my credit card activity. I had no issues. We were so grateful for the detailed, prompt, and professional job they did that I tipped them $ 100. Considering they must’ve taken at least 1,500 lbs of weight off our tree, it was a screaming deal even at that price.

I have used J & J twice. The first time they did a competent job and I was satisfied, but this last time they completely ruined my previous positive experience with them. About 8 months ago I called to get an estimate for some tree services and the employee was almost an hour late to the estimate appointment. Not even a call to let me know he was running late. I let it go and still hired them based on my positive previous experience. The day came when they were due to perform the work and no one showed up. I had to call looking for the workers. The guy who was the «lead» on the project apologized and made arrangements to come a few days later. Apparently he just forgot. They did show up at the new time/​day and at the end of the service asked for cash or a check. I wanted to pay with a credit card (hello air miles!!! And no one ever told me that they only took cash or check) but there was no one equipped to run my credit card. So the next day I called the office to process the payment. Again, the woman who answered the phone couldn’t process my card for some reason. I left my name and number and told her to have the one employee that was able to run my card call me at his earliest convenience. That was about 8 months ago. The other day I received a call from a number I didn’t recognize and picked it up (I usually never answer calls from numbers I don’t recognize and wait to return calls after a message is left. Pretty normal, right?) Well, it was an employee from J & J accusing me of «never paying him.» I was shocked to FINALLY receive a call after I immediately called the office after the service to try and pay them. And it was my second time using them. I had obviously paid the first time and made a reasonable effort to pay the second time. But I am not chasing down a company that shows up late, doesn’t show up at all, and then doesn’t return my call for 8 months. Anyway, his tone was INCREDIBLY hostile and accusatory. I calmly explained that I had called the office and had been waiting for a call back for MONTHS. He accused me of «never answering my phone» and he declared he had been «calling and calling.» I told him I had NEVER received a voice message from him — he NEVER LEFT ONE. He sort of mumbled an unintelligible response to that. I’m sorry I don’t read minds or pick up numbers I do not recognize but I DO return voice mails like most of the population. I gave him my credit card info, just as I had been willing to do the day they performed the service and the day after when I called into the office to pay.
Needless to say, I will NEVER use them again (I mean why would you call a customer and accuse them of intentionally not paying when you don’t even leave them a voice mail identifying yourself!!! Don’t you WANT repeat business???) I found this customer blaming behavior COMPLETELY unprofessional and also completely out of line.

Rene was timely and responsive in answering calls and showing up for the inspection. They did a thorough job in clearing brush and tree trimming, and when I needed an additional tree fixed, they did that in a timely fashion. Overall, very impressed and would recommend Rene and his team highly.

You get what you pay for. and they were the cheapest bid. four projects. three were fine. one looks pretty bad with a five inch branch chopped four feet from the trunk. both the crew foreman and rene shrugged and said ‘it’ll grow back’. clean up fair. The crew foreman the first day kept telling me he was going to cut one tree ‘under the wires’ — he apparantly meant under the electric wires and around the phone wires, but couldn’t make that clear… and when Rene came to translate, he left the job so it became a two day job. My driveway was hosed down in the middle of a drought. The second crew foreman confirmed he had done so, until i mentioned the drought, then his english failed him and he said they were watering the flowers and shrugged.
You get what you pay for, and they will waste water during a drought emergency.

I had them work on a large, overgrown Ash tree in my front yard and they were very professional. Got the job done in 6 hours and when they were finished, cleaned up leftover sticks and leaves in my yard, so you could not tell that any tree work was done. They are reasonably and fairly priced and they will be the first ones I call for future work.

J&J and Rene were responsive, timely, and fair in their pricing. And they did a great job.
Professional and competitively priced, we’ve used them twice now since moving to Topanga and have been very happy both times. Would definitely recommend them to anyone!

My tree was about to fall due to the storm earlier this week so I called the owner of the company. Hezy was really nice and was able to remove the tree within a day of our meeting. A couple guys came over, carefully took apart the tree, and in no time it was gone. Very efficient service!

Do not use these guys. I took a day off work to have them come and trim some of the over-​hanging trees in the back garden. The crew showed up and walked around the property but before work could be started Rene called his guys off the job, citing and «emergency» somewhere else. I think they thought it was too much work for the money and decided they had better (more high paying jobs to do). Rene would not return my calls despite me leaving numerous messages on his company’s answer machine. Not the way to do business.

This is the second time I’ve used J and J for my trees– the quotes are fair, they came today and spent all day, did a beautiful job trimming and shaping the trees, and cleaned up so well– the crew is really great, they obviously care about the trees and the customer. Highly recommend!

Had an appointment for an estimate and Rene did not show up for it. Called again and he said he forgot about it. I asked him to come back later in the day and we set up another appointment for 4:00. Again he did not show up for it. I will call another company to do the job.

They gave me exactly what I could afford — A CHEAP JOB.
No attention to quality or details, but it it was what I could afford.
Rene told me he would be on the job, but he wasn’t. When I tried to tell the supervisor what I expected, all he would say is, «Rene didn’t tell me that. I don’t have time, I have to get to another job.» They cut corners every way they could.

Had J & J suggested to me by a friend who had used them and said they did good work with fair prices. All true– I had my gardener, who also does tree trimming and removal, give me what he said was a great price of $ 1500 for 3 large pines.
Rene came and quoted $ 1000 for the same trees– I hired them on the spot. Very nice job-​on time, and complete clean up afterwards. Can’t go wrong with these guys AND licensed, bonded.

I called J&J tree service for advice about a huge Pepper tree in my backyard that was dropping lots of debris and leaves constantly. First of all they have a live person answering the phone which is so rare these days. The receptionist told me someone would contact me soon. I got a call back in less than 2 hours and Rene was able to come right over. He looked at the tree and we discussed options and he gave me prices. I decided to have the tree removed. Rene didn’t pressure me, he said to just call him back with my decision. He gave me his business card with his cell number on it. I called him the next day and he scheduled a crew the following morning at 9 am. The crew arrived before 9, and immediately got to work. I had to leave to go to work myself. I paid them with a check (which was very reasonable) and when I got home from work the job was complete and the yard was all cleaned up with no sign of branches or leaves or anything. Very professional job, on time and good price. What more would you want. If I ever have a tree issue again I will definitely call these guys. They are great.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

Rene came to our house and gave us a quote. I asked point blank what forms of payment they take and he said «We take all credit cards.» I repeated it back as a question to be sure, while my husband was standing there listening «You take all credit cards?» He said yes. I wrote him a check for a deposit. After they completed the job, I handed the guy a Visa card and he said «We don’t take credit cards.» Then he called his boss to confirm they don’t take credit cards. They lied to get business and now put us in a bad position financially this month. If we had known they didn’t take credit cards, we would have waited to get the work done. Don’t do business with this company, they are not ethical.

I have used J & J Tree Service three times now, and I think they are wonderful. Very reasonable prices, and the crew couldn’t be nicer. They were also very careful to let the branches down so as not to damage anything. They cleaned up carefully at the end. I would recommend them highly.

Rene came out and gave a fair estimate to remove a tree from my backyard. We scheduled a time and his crew showed up and delivered great service. I would highly recommend this company.

Fantastic. excellent fair pricing. They are insured, bonded and licensed (which was important to me). You never know what happens if someone cuts a power line or gets hurt.
Rene came out and gave a very far estimate and his crew came earlier than scheduled. Cleaned out every tree and branch that was agreed upon and the clean up was amazing. William and his crew were fantastic.
I would highly recommend them and will use them again next year.

I’ve never met a ruder crew in my life. Relentlessly inconsiderate. Spoke perfect english, but when I tried to communicate to them about something I wasn’t happy with, suddenly they went wide-​eyed, «Oh, so sorry Missus, I no speak english.» I was very unhappy with their service. Go elsewhere if you need a tree trimming service, is all I can say.