Money doesn't grow on trees...
Tonight we're up in the tree tops investigating a company called Oakland's Tree Care, also known as Oakland's Tree Services. They're based in Banbury and shouldn't be confused with any other firms using similar names.
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Rogue trader' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
The man behind the company is Jason Butcher. He's been dropping company flyers through letterboxes all around Oxfordshire. Nick Payne, who's 83 years old, received one of these flyers and called Oaklands to come and trim his conifers. Nick paid Jason £150 for the work but he was soon persuaded to part with even more money. Jason claimed that a different tree was infected with Honey Fungus and unless it was chopped down it would spread around the garden. Nick was concerned and agreed to pay another £150 to have the tree removed.
We brought in tree expert James Pinder to have a look and see if it was money well spent.
James inspects what was left of his tree and couldn't find any sign of Honey Fungus. He explained that the fungus grows at the root of the tree and not in the high branches where Jason claimed he found it.
And thing's go from bad to worse when Matt and James visit another garden... This one belongs to Kay Goodband who also hired Oakland's to trim her Conifers. The work in this garden is so shoddy it doesn't take an expert to tell us it's been done to a poor standard. Kay's Conifers have been left in a real mess, the tops are uneven and the work clearly hasn't been finished. But what's even more shocking is how much she paid for the work, Jason asked for £2300.
And even that wasn't enough. He started the work and came back the next day to supposedly finish it off but told Kay his chainsaw was broken and would need another £700 to get it fixed. In desperation Kay loaned him the money with the promise that he would be back later to finish the work. Kay hasn't seen the money since and has been left with a string of excuses as to why he's not been back.
It's clearly a lack of knowledge Jason Butcher preys on, and most of the victims we have come across are elderly.
Last year Jason even cut down branches in the garden of a 92 year old man without permission and then charged him £2000 for the privilege.
After seeing all of this we get to work tracking Jason down.
We call him out to a house in Oxford where our actress, Mrs Green, needs two of her trees looking at. The first tree just needs cutting back, Jason doesn't have a problem with that but when it comes to the second tree it has him stumped! He doesn't even know what type of tree it is which isn't a great start.
Jason has a look around the garden and another tree catches his interest. He tells Mrs Green this tree is infected with Honey Fungus. While the tree does have a fungus our expert James say's it's obviously not Honey Fungus. Jason goes on to say if he doesn't take it out it will spread and kill her lawn, he claims the disease is so bad he would have to incinerate the tree to stop him getting fined for having it in his yard. This isn't true. It looks like Jason is trying to scare Mrs Green into having more work done.
We decide not to get the phantom Honey Fungus removed and instead Jason gets to work on the two trees we called him about. He charges us £400 for the work, four times the amount it should have been.
To get another look at his standard of work we call Jason out to a second house with another actor, Jim.
Jim has asked Jason to remove two trees, he quotes £500 for the work which is pretty pricey. Jason gets to work chopping down the trees and this time he's brought along some help, his wife and his mum! From start to finish the work is a health and safety nightmare. Jason also struggles with the chainsaw, he's using it in the wrong way and it breaks. Rather than fixing it the conventional manner he throws it around in a temper, his mum's certainly not impressed! To top it off he even manages to upset his wife, which is never a good idea.
After a few arguments the Butchers finish the job. But it's not over yet Jason tells our actor there's plenty more work to be done. We asked for some hedges to be trimmed back but he claims our willow tree is in a bad shape and will need to be trimmed to stop it dying, in actual fact the tree is perfectly fine. Jason quotes a massive £2000 to trim the willow and one other tree, a huge price for work that doesn't even need doing.
We decide to call Jason back the next day but this time we've got a bit of a surprise for him. As he seems to only know one variety of fungi, the honey fungus, we try and introduce him to a new one, a Portuguese "fun guy" otherwise known as Dan!
Jason doesn't hang around to chat to Dan or even Matt, he rushes back to his van where his wife is waiting. Before speeding off Jason tells Matt he denies not finishing customers work or carrying out work without permission.
