Any homeowner lacking the handyman gene can attest to needing to call various people into their homes to render them some service. Early last year when we decided to finish our basement we began the process of having many people through the space giving us estimates.
It is here that the lack of service in a service-oriented industry revealed it’s ugly head. You would imagine that if your job was in the service industry, then the gauge of your work was not only how well you performed it but also how well you treated your customers.
We had handyman arrive at our house only to stand outside chatting on the phone for 20 minutes before addressing our
need. We had others roam the, then open, basement with the odd look of confusion and apprehension. We also had the third, and worst kind, of handyman that never bothered to show up and didn’t bother to call to inform us of their lack of presence.
It is this third, more flagrant, disregard of our time as service seekers that irritates me the most. Needless to say, when that fellow offered to come at a different time, he was strongly rejected.
If this sort of behavior was a one-off, I think we could easily forget and move on. But I think the ones that behave in such manner have very little respect for their prospective future clients. We had a repeat performance of this outrageous behavior with a paving contractor that was supposed to come on Sunday morning to give us an estimate. Needless to say, he didn’t feel the need to call and explain himself and I didn’t feel the need to follow up with him to give him my business.
The reason for this post was instigated by the plumber that was supposed to show up today at 8AM, but never did. Nor did I get a phone call with an explanation.
None of these gentleman are in a business all by themselves, there are many countless others providing similar and better service and will surely get my business. As insignificant as my tiny leak in the bathroom might be, it is the name of these various services that I will remember and will surely tell others to avoid. Most of these guys get business by word of mouth, and this mouth surely has nothing good to say about their lack of service.
Cheers
I’ve had good experiences with this guy:
Schuster Plumbing: 978-534-7068
And here’s my other vendors I’ve used in the past with good experiences.
JC Vinyl Siding & Windows: 978-537-6768
A-1 Overhead Door, Inc.: 978-342-3344
RITETemp (for Central AC): 774-696-0224
The previous owner referred me to these vendors.
Thanks for the numbers. I’ll give this plumber a call and hopefully have better luck.
Alas, Schuster turned out to be no different by not even bothering to call back after I left them a couple of messages.
I finally managed to get a hold of “Leominster Heating & Plumbing” and had someone show up promptly, and by then the issue was not an issue anymore..
Does it HAVE to be that hard??
I guess Schuster has enough business, or was on vacation. At least the issue has been resolved.
I was once told that the plumbing business was booming, the rates were high and getting plumbers attention was tough. Hard to imagine, but I guess I experienced it for real.
In one way I’m glad that there wasn’t any major problem that would require work in the bathroom.