A widowed woman has voiced her frustration online after her neighbor cut down her trees without her permission and then sent her the bill. Taking to Reddit, the woman revealed that the neighbor, who she barely speaks to but is cordial with, had a large number of trees removed a few weeks ago. However, the neighbor then sent an invoice-like email to the woman, which included the neighbor's name, the cost of the tree and stump removal service, and the payment deadline.
According to the woman, the service was going to put her over $1,000 out of pocket. 'I replied with shock although I was pretty calm, more along the lines of "What are you talking about? I never agreed to take down trees or pay for them." She then sent another email with some quick legal stuff saying I wasn't liable,' she added.
However, the neighbor immediately got nasty and insisted that he had tried to contact her but claimed she had ignored him. 'He sent an email months ago saying he was having tree work done if I wanted to discuss; two sentences - nothing about taking down MY trees.' The neighbor even tried to gaslight the woman into believing his email clearly meant he wanted to discuss cutting down her trees. 'I told him I wasn't paying and said I'd contact insurance and see what I was liable for,' she said.
The neighbor further claimed that a tree had fallen into his yard, hence why he needed to remove it. 'Honestly I didn't see it, and I don't know if he has pictures. The trees in that area were all pretty small though,' she added. Finally, the woman requested he stop contacting her. 'I really don't care about suing him - like I said, I thought the trees were his anyway - but there's no way I'm liable for anything, right?' she asked Reddit.
Social media users flooded the comments section of the post, with the majority in the woman's corner when it came to the tree dispute. 'He destroyed your trees. Send him a bill for the trees you lost,' one person suggested. Another person added: 'Great, not only has he committed crime, he sent you the evidence. Hire a lawyer and make him pay.' 'Bro you need to do the uno reverse and send him a bill in the form of a lawsuit,' a third chimed in. Another added: 'He owes you the value of the trees.'
The woman later added in the comments section: 'I think he thought that since my husband passed away (less than two years ago) and I've got kids and a new job to worry about, he could just scare me into paying without questioning. When I did push back he changed his tone to "I'm not demanding money, you should want to help, I did you a favour" tone. But still insists that I'm in the wrong for not meeting with him about it back in April even though I had no idea he was talking about MY trees.'
