ALBANY, N.Y. (CN) - An upstate tree service gouged consumers with "repeated and persistent illegal conduct" after Hurricane Irene, charging $20,000 and more to remove trees after "show(ing) up uninvited" on their property, New York's attorney general claims in court.
The state sued American Tree Co., of Lake George, and its owners Daniel, John and Merwin "Skip" Stranahan, in Albany County Supreme Court.
The Stranahans "exploited the extensive damage" Irene caused when it blew ashore as a tropical storm in late August last year, "to price gouge vulnerable consumers who desperately needed tree-removal services," Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in the complaint.
The Stranahans charged "more than $20,000, and in one case nearly $50,000, for tree removal services," far more than it charged for identical work in the months before the storm hit, the attorney general says.
The complaint states: "In repeated instances, respondents showed up uninvited on consumers' properties during and immediately after the storm and offered their services but repeatedly failed to provide consumers with written contracts, as required by New York Law. When consumers asked about respondents' fees, respondents gave them oral estimates that were a fraction of the fees respondents ultimately charged for the work. Respondents advanced their price gouging scheme by obtaining consumers' signatures on 'proposal/invoice' forms that did not disclose the scope of the work to be performed or pricing information and, in some cases, subsequently inserting this information without consumers' knowledge. Consumers were ultimately charged unconscionable prices that exceeded by thousands of dollars the prices respondents charged for similar services in the month preceding the storm. In some cases, consumers were charged more than $20,000, and in one case nearly $50,000, for tree removal services. These charges included undisclosed and exorbitant additional fees, such as a $1,500 'emergency tree service call', charge, even when consumers had not called respondents for services and a $1,000 'after hours' fee, even when consumers did not request that the work be performed at any particular time."
The attorney general says in the complaint that Daniel Stranahan is the company president, John Stranahan the vice president, and Merwin Stranahan, like Daniel and John, an owner of American Tree.
The job titles are unconfirmed because the men failed to appear after the Attorney General's Office subpoenaed them, Schneiderman said.
In a statement blasting American Tree, Schneiderman warned that his office would not tolerate similar conduct in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.
"The tactics used, and the excessive amounts charged, by this company during a time of crisis in the community shocks the conscience," Schneiderman said in the statement. "Whether it is Tropical Storm Irene or Hurricane Sandy, our office has zero tolerance for price gouging."
Heavy rain from Irene caused extensive damage to interior New York and New England on Aug. 28, 2011. Estimates of damages from this year's storm Sandy are as high as $50 billion, for sections of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
In the lawsuit, the state claims that "before the storm [Irene] had fully subsided," American Tree was soliciting business by knocking on doors in affected neighborhoods in the Lake George region.
"Most consumers, many of whom had trees leaning on their homes or otherwise creating a dangerous situation, did not ask [American Tree] how much they would charge for the work and respondents did not disclose the charges," the complaint states.