DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - Customers of a tree removal company are demanding answers. They told WAND News a local business took their money and never completed the work. But the business owner said it wasn't a scam - just a case of bad luck.

It all started with two trees Carol Sincebaugh wanted out of her front lawn.

"So they came out, gave me a quote mid-December," Michelle Royer, Sincebaugh's daughter, told WAND News.

She helped her mother hire Parrish Tree and Landscape to do the work.

"At that point, she told me they needed a deposit to hold the date, and needed to get a signed contract," Royer explained.

On Jan. 31., one of the owners came to Sincebaugh's home to sign a contract, receive the check and set a Feb. 20 work date.

"She told me the deposit that was requested and I just made it larger so I just had a third paid and just needed to pay the other two-thirds upon finishing," Sincebaugh told WAND News.

But the day of the scheduled job, the company asked to postpone because Oran Parrish had a COVID-19 infection.

"I said, I hope everything is fine, please let us know when you're ready to reschedule. We hadn't heard anything by the middle of March, so we started contacting - my mom started calling the number provided," Royer explained.

She and her mother called and texted dozens of times with no response. Royer was worried she had been scammed.

"We're filing a report with the Better Business Bureau. We have filed a report with the Elderly Consumer Division of the Illinois Attorney General. We're going to go up to the courthouse and file a small claims court claim," Royer added.

But Oran Parrish said he simply fell on hard luck and has gone bankrupt.

"This was a rough one - injuries, problems getting help, equipment was 2, 3 weeks getting delivered from anywhere," Parrish told WAND News.

He admitted to having outstanding creditors, and hopes to resolve the issues through the legal system.

"After almost 20 years, 18 or 19 years in business, we messed up," Parrish said, "I really do want to apologize to everyone involved."

Sincebaugh told WAND News she just wants answers.

"If they weren't able to do the work, they should have at least had the dignity and responsibility to contact the person with whom they were dealing," Sincebaugh said.

She has since hired a new company to complete the work. She also plans to file a police report.