"I thought you would take it down in sections"

is what I heard when I went to look at a couple of Oak trees advertised in the free section on CL. I responded in my email very politely that I do not cut trees that are near dwellings or power lines, that I did not remove brush, and I would need to be able to back my trailer to where the trees would land. About 2 weeks went by with no answer. One day at work my cell phone rang. It was the land owner, a female, telling me they were still available. She was about 1 mile from where I work so I went over there after work that evening. Now on the phone she assured me they we not close to a dwelling as well.

When I arrived at the dilapidated residence, I met the lady and she showed me the trees. I told her they would clearly fall on her house and something would be broken on it. She replied "I thought you would take it down in sections." No ma'am, you'll have to pay a professional for that" I don't have climbing gear though I do have a rope. "Those spikes do all the work, you just climb up there." I explained that a climbing setup cost hundreds of dollars and knowing how to rig the ropes etc was the tricky part. Plus it is dangerous.

On top of that, one of the trees was completely surrounded in poison ivy. And there was no access to the trees with a vehicle, they were at the bottom of a steep hill that backed up to a ravine.

But they were 2 oak trees.

Ha. Classic cl ad. "must be insured, must be a pro, but you can keep the wood". Ha

Yep, I ask a ton of questions before making a visit...but, as you see they still don't get it sometimes. Still, I have had reasonable luck with CL scrounges.