Tony’s Tree And Landscaping

At first I was impressed (these guys can really cut down big trees safely it appears), then they spoiled it– let me explain.
A new neighbor behind me absolutely HATES trees. He bought an older house– basically surrounded by lots of mature trees and systematically cut them all down within 6 months of moving in. It kind of grossed me out to see him spoiling the house/​yard… but nothing I could really do about it– and it wasn’t Tony’s Tree Service’s fault that this guy wanted to cut down all his trees.
Anyway, the neighbor came over and told me in addition to cutting down all his trees, he would be cutting down all of my tree’s crown that was over the property line. This is actually within his rights if he doesn’t do any damage to the tree that could result in the tree dying or becoming diseased. I told him– we weren’t OK with it– and the tree was cabled and regularly trimmed by both us and the power company. The neighbor said he «knew his rights» & it was happening. Oh, well then, welcome to the neighborhood.

At this point, I had my arborist (Wright-​Frontier) out to look at the tree. He stood shaking his head at the situation and said no way you can lop it off at the line– or cable– because you would remove all or most of the leaves leaving a leafless trunk to either die or «sucker out» and either way it was a terrible idea. He also said that when their company trims trees in the neighbor’s yard they get everything in writing that it’s OK with both parties. Hey– sounds like a good idea to me.
OK– day of the trim– over the fence I told Tony, careful the tree is cabled and please don’t make the tree unstable with the pruning and avoid the cable. He said no problem– just trimming some of the branches that are over the property line– not to worry. No big deal. Well– at first that is actually what they did. I watched– nice trim. Then the worker came down and the neighbor kept telling the guy to go back up and trim more. I could tell the tree trimmer knew it was bad– he kept saying it’s cabled… I can’t trim more & shaking his head and the neighbor kept sending him back to take more. And the guy did it. He whittled it down to an almost entirely leafless stick. They took about ¼ of the crown. It not only looks stupid– it might even make the tree sick. I will have to pay to attempt to have the situation fixed– if it’s even possible. I called Tony 2 times during the decimation of my tree to tell him cease and desist they were potentially injuring the tree– but you just get an answering service with the promise of a return call. Once he did call me back– but not the second time I called, after they went back about 6 times (literally) to remove more branches… until there were none (almost).
Honestly– it is not OK for a tree service (my neighbor hired) to go damaging a tree in my yard without my permission. I realize the neighbor is a somewhat aggressive individual– but maybe don’t cave to his unreasonable pressure! Think about all the parties involved not just the guy paying you. Not cool.