Ah, good luck!! The only thing I know (and I speak from personal experience) is to check your town's ordinances regarding tree trimming -- many towns require that a trained aborist supervise and/or do tree trimming, and that any trimming (I assume this tree is on a town easement?) be done in accordance with approved aboreal procedures. If that wasn't done, you may have a case, but I doubt very much that they will replace it -- they may offer to prune it down further to even it out, but I'm guessing the "hole" you refer to is for the wires to run through? In which case, sadly, that is done all the time and is considered by many to be preferable to topping the tree. As a question, did you give your permission for pruning, and if so, what did they say they were going to do?

We had these problems -- ongoing ones -- with both our town public works department and the power company (one was concerned with branches near the street, the other concerned with the tops of the trees --the poor trees took it from all sides). Basically, we were powerless (no pun intended) because the trees were on an easement and the power lines were above them. They will ask your permission to prune (at least the power company did) and you can request "minimal" pruning, but the reality is that they are permitted to do whatever they have to do, whether you agree to it or not. And as for the town's hatchet job, all we could do was write a lot of letters and demand that they come back and clean up the job so things looked a LITTLE better. I asked -- since the trees were such a mess when they got done -- if they would please just remove them. "Oh NO, ma'am. We CAN'T do THAT!" Not unless I wanted to pay for it -- they were not about to take them down themselves even though it would have solved many problems. They did come back and prune further, but the trees might as well have come down (which they eventually did, on the town's dime, not because of the branches but because the roots were impeding the sewer line).

Check your town's regulations about trimming. I guess I would call Comcast, too, and complain -- demand that a supervisor come out to look at what was done. Put your complaint in writing and keep a record of all correspondence with everyone involved. And GOOD LUCK!

That's really sad - the loss of a big tree can really set you back.

Personally, I think you're out of luck, though. The utilities own the poles and the airspace around them, and around the wires too. It's dangerous up there, and they have the right to trim with no regard for the health of the plantings - and that's true even if you're not a customer.

The trick is to plant in such a way that your trees, vines and shrubs won't get anywhere near to the poles or the lines.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had luck battling the utility companies over this. As far as I've read, on the trees and shrubs forums, you essentially have no chance of getting anything from comcast.

Thanks for the replies. The tree in question is on my property, next to my house. The "trimming " was done to prevent interference on the line attached to my house. I assumed when they did it that they would take into consideration the tree's health and looks.............HA. I do not like the utility people in general for their lack of respect for people's property. They just don't care period, and that's because, in most cases,one has no choice in regard to where to go in their stead. I. E. the gas co.
salbwil

There is an alternative -- just get rid of Comcast (all cable/satellite, etc)! We use an HD antennae to pick up HD broadcasts for free over the airwaves. The HD broadcasts are clear, full HD and not compressed (downgraded) as they are on cable unless you pay an extra fee. We haven't had cable for 15 years now and don't miss it! With Netflix you can rent the popular series on cable for fraction of the price of the typical cable bill is $100 - $125 a month. When on vacation we check out what is available on cable and really find we are not missing anything.

It's outrageous when companies commit this form of vandalism. It looks like a giant monster has taken a bite out of the tree. I've seen dozens of trees around the greater Boston area that have been disfigured in this way. It's particularly sad to see it on a large majestic Beech, Oak, or Maple that has been alive for tens or in some cases hundreds of years. In this country, we need to follow the lead of many if not most nations on this planet and run these lines underground. At the very least, there should be some alternative gameplan for running lines around healthy trees that are above a certain size and age.

I agree with sedum37 in the alternative to using all cable/satellite etc. as well as having lines run underground.

Having said that, we have to deal with the reality that the lines are mostly above ground.

Comcast, like all other utility companies are concerned with protecting their property, IE the wiring etc. that run to our homes.

It would have been nice if comcast gave the the opportunity to trim the tree on your property to keep the wires from going through the tree branches, but even if they had, the tree would have had to be trimmed to their satisfaction for the wires not the asthetic beauty of the tree.

Recently a similar situation occurred in my neighborhood with the electric company power lines.
Some trees where on private property and some where on the town side of the street.
Residents where constantly complaining about power failures and the electric company was constantly replacing wires that where damaged by these tree branches, especially on the trees on the residents property.

All where told that the tree branches needed to be trimmed to prevent continued damage of stripping the wires and causing electrical shorts that could cause serious fires.
Residents refused to do anything because they didn't want to pay the expense of professionals cutting limbs to satisfy the electric company.

2 months ago they where giving 30 days to have the trees trimmed or it would be done and branches that where needed to be removed would be cut.

None of the residents did anything, and 3 days after the 30 days where up, the electric company sent people down to remove the branches that needed to be removed on both private property and town property.

Yes the trees don't look as they should, but the private property owners had been repeatedly warned to do something, then given 30 days to do something and they refused to do anything.

The same with the town and now the result is hysterical neighbors, outraged and the appearance of the trees both on the street and their property.

I might add that the night before the electrical company came down to cut those branches, my hubby and I heard this strange crackling sound and then saw huge flashes of light across the street. Within seconds a tree was on fire and we lost electricity.
We called the fire department who where here in less than 2 minutes. Though no one suffered serious damage of any kind except for a few trees on the street, the cause of the fire was tree branches stripping electrical wires to bare wire and the sparks coming out set the town trees on fire.

Had they been trimmed as ordered by the electric company, that fire would not have happened, putting 4 homes in danger of burning down.

I would assume there is a similar risk with the comcast wiring as well.

As I said before, it would be nice to have had them ask you to trim the tree, and you didn't say if they did or didn't or if they did and you refused.
A beautiful appearance to a tree is nice to look at, but having that and risking the damage of a fire to save that beauty, as well as the risk of loss of life and injury is nothing to ignore.

I one has to make a choice between life and safety or a pretty tree, I'm sorry but the life and safety comes long before the tree.

Fran