Reply With Quote
You spent the time to make this long ass post because of that, one mistake?
Last month as a joint Christmas present my wife and I decided to replace the nasty fading laminate countertops with granite. So we do our investigation and go with a place that does their own manufacturing and millwork (as opposed to going to a place like Home Depot). Highly recommended by several sources, good prices, work looks good, good customer service up front. So we have them come out before the holidays, they do templates of the install, we select the sink and edges, fill out the paper work (which has all the details on it) and sign up for an install date of today, January 2nd. They offer to do it earlier but we were out of town (in SA, ironically enough). We look over the bid, it's to our liking, we sign it, fax it back, and pay our 50% down.
Fast forward to today. Both my wife and I take the day off from our respective jobs. 10AM arrives and so does a truck. Hmm, no granite in the truck. Well, they are doing the remaining demolition so maybe this is just the advance guy. He comes in, starts poking around and removing some of the existing countertop to verify that there's a good substrate upon which to mount the granite. OK. I ask him if he needs me to turn the electricity off so he doesn't get electrocuted when they start doing the demo. "Oh, that's OK, I won't be getting into that." Hmm? Try another tack, then, and mention that the power really should be off before they start to put the backsplash in over the sink. "Well, maybe so, but there's no granite being installed today." WTF?? I ask when the granite is going to be installed. "Oh, I don't know that, I'm just here to do a template of your install."
Needless to say, at this point I'm going all I can to avoid exploding and tell him that the templates were done weeks earlier. "Oh, really? Sounds like we have a problem." You betcha, ace, and I ask him to call the guy who sold this stuff to us in the first place. They hem and haw for a while at which point I tell the guy I need to talk to the sales guy. "We need to do a template so we know what to make for you." Yes, he has totally forgotten what was done before the holidays. I point out that someone already came out and did the templates. "Are you sure? What was his name?" How the I am supposed to know, all I know is that I have a bid sheet on it (that the sales guy wrote) which clearly states the templates have already been done. My wife finally remembers the guy came in from some outlying town at which point salesguy finally agrees that there must have been templates made. Then salesguy says well it's not his fault, that assistant salesguy must have arranged for the templates and not told him. Look, dude, is this your writing on the bid saying "templates done" or not? So just admit you ed up and that you cost both of us a day off because you were too incompetent to follow through after you got my fax and payment, get the crap cut and a crew out here yesterday to install it.
So as I write this we are still waiting to hear when the install will be done. This is a reputable company - just had someone take their Christmas holiday mentally a few days early. But in the mean time our kitchen is unusable - gas disconnected, old sink demo'd and removed, outlets hanging from their openings, drawers all removed etc.
All this said why is it people who work on houses up so much of the time? They are getting paid out the wazoo and yet you hear nothing but horror stories. We paid with a credit card so if they continue to be obstinate we can get the money back and go with someone else if we need to, but hopefully these guys will just pull their together.
You spent the time to make this long ass post because of that, one mistake?
You both took the day off to have counter tops installed?
I feel you. Some of these guys can and moan about you not having a legitimate complaint but you do. I agree that sometimes happens and sometimes you have to turn the other cheek because society as a whole lacks patients and understanding but the simple fact of the matter is that you specifically went out of your way to insure a smooth install that you could be present to witness.
Had the guys simply owned up and said "well , I(we) or someone has obviously ed up here. Sir I'm sorry for the trouble and we'll fix this right away". That alone can make the difference in a bad situation being tolerable. Its about owning up to it and getting it squared away all while insuring confidence of a job well done to the customer. Nothing pisses me off more than someone attempting to shift the blame or ignoring the problem altogether. I'm willing to bet that if he would have simply seen the issue and addressed it appropriately you wouldn't be half as mad. people skills and problem solving abilities seem to be the backbone of the workforce.
I've never understood why people feel the need to hide or lie about or worse they attempt to avoid fixing the issue because they don't think it's their fault. When I have something looking bad or not done properly I tell the customer "sir/maim it looks like we have some damaged trim (or missing chair, yada yada), go ahead and take your unit and I'll order the proper piece to be installed on another day of your choice at your convienence, sorry it couldn't be handled right away I hope you understand and we'll make it right". Most people prefer to just not mention it as if we had no idea that was ed up or missing. You'll find it later and it'll annoy you that it wasn't caught up front. I hate the way people do .
Good luck on your install.
I just read a story about a guy that bought a 360 Premium that had a cracked face plate.
He went through Microsoft and they told him he had to send the original cracked face plate back, so he does but they never get it, he finally convinces them to send him a replacement and they send him a white one (the Premium only comes in black). So he contacts them again, they ask him to send the wrong one back and they'll send him another, he goes round and round and they finally agree to send a replacement without the need for a return, he waits and waits and finally gets... you guessed it, another white face plate.
The story is actually a little longer and more annoying than that.
My point is, when someone goes through the trouble to complain about something, they usually have something to complain about.
So they ed up, happens, not everyone is perfect like you...
Next time have your whole family take the day off, maybe they'll get the install right then...
So your solution is to complain about it?
Of course...
I wish that were true.
Like I said earlier.....nothing is more annoying that people trying to shift blame vs. solving the problem.
Had the guys simply owned up and said "well , I(we) or someone has obviously ed up here. Sir I'm sorry for the trouble and we'll fix this right away". That alone can make the difference in a bad situation being tolerable. Its about owning up to it and getting it squared away all while insuring confidence of a job well done to the customer.
All this said why is it people who work on houses up so much of the time? They are getting paid out the wazoo and yet you hear nothing but horror stories.
Most satisfied customers never say a word, good or bad. And the pool of job applicants in the construction industry rivals that of the fast food industry. Most educated people think that this work is beneath them.
Plus, homeowners can be real s. Things I've had to do in the last three months:
Rearrange an entire master bath layout of the homeowner's choosing after it's been installed because the trash basket wouldn't fit next to the toilet. Wanted to stab her in the neck with a Philips head screwdriver.
Tear out brick surround on a front door, raise the door 3/4", replace brick; all because the door wouldn't pass over the dumb 's 3" rug. Wanted to stab her in her sloppy vage, preventing future generations of itude.
Not only do some people demand things out of the realm of possibility, they like to about it. To anyone who will listen. Repeatedly. And the stories always change.
Sounds like you had a simple scheduling issue brought on by the impending holidays. A real horror story would be cutting the stone wrong, seams showing, wrong stone, etc, etc and then telling you to get ed.
The responses to my rant this morning have been amusing. I guess that my expectations that a $5K job be done according to the specifications and terms on a written contract are totally unreasonable. , accidents happen. The fact that the kitchen is totally unusable for another week is totally irrelevant. I guess if they come in and bring some red and green next week instead of what we ordered I should laugh and say "hey, that's OK, some clowns on a message board straightened me out so you just go ahead and take another couple of weeks to get it right. , take a month."
B2B seems to be the only one who gets it. I've paid for a service and it ain't no stupid video game. When you pay for a premium service part of that premium is that it is delivered properly and on-time. Had the guy simply said "we screwed up, I apologize, here's what we'll do to fix it" instead of madly trying to shift blame it would have made a huge difference. Especially when the evidence was on a piece of paper in black and white. He STILL hasn't done that. When he failed to call me back this afternoon I called and it was "I forgot to call you, we can do it next Wednesday."
Yes, nobody is perfect, and I less so than most. But when I screw up, I take responsibility for it most of the time and it's amazing how well that works. I know the "r" word is a big phobia for a lot of people these days and it's a shame. It is annoying to be mocked for expecting service providers to be responsible, but it is also very much a sign of our times.
Don't rule out that last you wrote. Everyone knows that when things get screwed up they go quickly down hill from there. This could trun into areal horror story before it is over.
And what's with all the stabbing people in the neck ? Maybe smash their skull with a hammer ocassionally?
Cuban,
Tell us the name of the contractor...so none of us ever use them.
That is a bit of justice.....outing them on the www.
No, you just simply have a bad temper, you act like it's just because nobody manned up and took responsibility for the mistake, but as soon as you found out he wasn't there to install, but rather to make a template you said this:
"at this point I'm going all I can to avoid exploding"
That's not something you explode for, or at least that's not something a reasonable person would explode for...
Gets what? They made a mistake. Whoever you talked to handled it poorly after that simple mistake was made.
Blaming someone else in the company is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It's still the company's fault. Finding fault within the company is on their end and in no way, shape or form should he even of brought that up when talking to you. It's not like he had to wait for cabinets/another trade.
Simply, the guy you talked to is an idiot.
I feel you man.
When I had my first home built....I was on all the contractor's asses. EVERY time I turned my back, they tried to cut corners. I have a couple of friends in the biz and even they said to keep close attention to the work they did. At the same time I can say I feel for the guys that have to fix outrageous requests from unreasonable customers.
I would be PISSED if my kitchen was unusable because someone f'd up over at that company.
You shouldv'e P.M.'d me, my S.O. is the best, in the west!
Craig's List Rant and Rave Section.
Mo, Larry, and Curly.
I have been doing part time private contracting since 1979 and I find it's 90% how you talk to the customer and getting them to like you.
If you know what to say and when to say it, your good to go.
I would have said the granite is the last thing I install since I want it to be scratch free. I was stopping by to make sure the area was completely ready before I have my men make the final delivery since I really don't want the granite to be just laying around anywhere for 5 days I rather it to go straight from the truck directly to the counter tops!
I also have to make sure there isn't any last minute staining,painting or carpentry that needs to be done.
But since it's going to be 20 Degrees tonight and the adhesive will not dry properly and may cause unwanted hairline cracks I would recomend we continue Monday around 1 PM.
So due to the unexpected time delay I will replace the sink for free.
For now let's go eat some cheese Enchilada plates from Blanco cafe before we go look at some custom sinks......................
Whats even more ironic is the at ude about having tolerance for mistakes from a board that considers themselves more intelligent than the average consumer.
One minute you guys demand justice and the next minute complete incompetence is acceptable.
Somehow showing an at ude towards someone who is going to do something for you can be a little risky. Kinda like chewing out the waitress if your mashed potatoes are to dry!
You could betting yourself up for an unexpected surprise.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
