Our neighbour had a tree removalist/pruner come round to their house the other day. When he was pruning their trees he has cut down a small tree of ours.
My partner got his business card to call him up to complain/ask them to replace it and got a very rude response and a "how can you prove I did it". So my question is, who can I report this guy to? I'll name and shame as well - Inga the Tree Man, Cheltenham area Victoria.
That's terrible of the tree guy! But I doubt neither your neighbour nor the tree guy would give any sort of financial compensation. Maybe you can leave him a bad review at google reviews, yelp or other small business website reviews.
I don't expect the neighbour to do anything about it, as it's not really their fault. But clearly a very unprofessional businessman, who through their behaviour, now wants me to make sure that others don't use their services. I would have left bad reviews. Unfortunately there appears to be no net presence whatsoever.
Neighbor can withhold payment until the contractor returns to finish the job (ie cleans up the mess they've made of your yard)
Civil claims court if you are desperate, are you much out of pocket here?
No, definitely not worth it. Not sure of the replacement cost, but it wouldn't be worth the time and effort.
How did they manage to cut down your tree? Was it growing on your neighbour's property?
Was the tree growing onto your neighbours property?
We need more facts here, because something doesn't add up. For example, if there is no fence dividing the properties and your neighbour gave 'Inga' unclear or insufficient instructions re where the property boundary is, then it's your neighbours fault, not Ingas. If the property boundary is clear, then why on earth would the guy cut down a tree on your property?
There is a small fence dividing our front yards, you couldn't miss it. The neighbours tree is extremely large and was coming over onto ours. Not sure why they were getting it pruned to be honest as it wasn't bothering us. Clearly when cutting it down some branches have either fallen on our side, knocking down part of our tree, or it was close enough that they cut through both without noticing.
Contractors like this should have insurance. So should you.
Claim on your insurance and let your insurer contact Inga's insurer. They can work it out.
I'd bet you London to a brick that 'Inga' has no insurance. But in any case, the story has now changed. Now the OP states that "part of our tree" may have been "knocked down" by a falling branch; rather than the tree-guy actually actively "cut[ing] down a small tree of ours", as was originally stated.
It's annoying when peeps jump onto OzBargain and present an embellishment (or what subsequently emerges to have been a blatant over-simplification) of the facts, and ask for opinions on it. It's annoying because numerous peeps actually take the time to analyse the "facts" initially provided (including many who after due consideration decide not to post any response at all), and some provide considered responses based on them. When it subsequently emerges that the original story was just that, and that the facts are far less clear-cut ( ;P ) than originally presented, it becomes clear that everyone's time has been wasted. Including, ironically, the OPs.
talk to your neighbour and discuss it with them.