Oh, I think it’s time
for a customer experience story; I’ve not done one of those in a while, I
think.
Actually—let’s have a
couple.
I have two bathrooms
and a powder room in my house. The toilet in the master bath started running
maybe a couple of years ago. Since I haven’t used it since the first night I
was here, I just shut off the water. Then, the pull rod in the froofy top-mount
flush device in the powder room broke, and I jury-rigged a kludge. That was in
March But around April, the flapper started intermittently running, and I
thought maybe I should not try to make it through the pandemic with only one
toilet working, so I called a company a friend had recommended, Marines
Plumbing.
Now, I knew they’d not
be cheap—I had them out to give an estimate on installing new faucets in the
kitchens and two of the bathrooms (along with a shower head in one of them) in
2018; their quote was ludicrously over the top and I got someone else to do the
work.
Also, pro tip: any
company with their name and red-white-&-blue artwork painted all over
their vans has a lot of overhead. And their customers are footing that bill.
But I wanted to get the
work done, so I arranged for them to come out; they gave me a window of two
hours. When they blew past the deadline, I called to find out what was up. The
chick who answers phones had no idea, but she thought the plumber would be here
shortly. And she stopped with that. I had to ask, “Please call him to find out.”
She rang back a few minutes later to say that his previous job had run over,
and he’d be at my place in [some period of time; I don’t remember].
The kid did eventually
show up, and he fixed the toilets competently, for which I was charged $346.67.
(I told you they were not cheap.) It was high, but I knew it would be.
What pissed me off was that for $350 they should have done a hell of a better job
at communicating.
They’ve churned out the
follow-up emails, including one wanting me to tell them how [name] did as a
plumber. Marines: consider this my answer to your survey.
When I posted this on Facebook,
an acquaintance said that the company is usually much better than that, and he
could have a word. I replied that he could tell them why they lost my business,
but I was not interested in speaking with them. I am done.
Well, currently I’m
getting estimates from electricians for adding outlets and another circuit to
my kitchen. I spent a week trying to get sense out of Autumn Electric, who have
previously done work for me. I liked the guys who came out that time, so I was
pretty much ready to just get an estimate and give them the job. But the guy
who answers their phones asked a few questions, guessed the number of hours it
would take and told me it would be about $650. Well, I’m not comfortable with
verbal estimates, especially when someone’s not seen the physical layout, so I
asked for someone to come out.
“We don’t send anyone
out for a job that’ll cost less than $1000.”
Really?
Eventually, I emailed
him photos of the circuit panel, the powder room and the entry hall (which are
between the box and the kitchen). And, dear Lord, what a palaver; the company email
address he gave me (nothing on their site) bounced, and eventually he gave me
his personal/company address. That did not bounce, but neither did I hear
anything back from for the next four days.
So I rang him again,
early last week. He at first claimed he’d not received the email, so I resent
it as we were speaking. Then, oh, yes—he had indeed got the email and
tried “several times” to call me. (Rest assured, I have Caller ID and there was
no call from Autumn Electric.) Yes, he would send out “Dave” to give an
estimate. The earliest Dave could get here is the week commencing 23 November.
I bit my tongue and
made the appointment. Then I reached out on Facebook for recos. I got two—a one-man
shop and a company recommended by Mr. Marines.
Well, the one-man shop
showed up yesterday, made a through inspection, asked me what I want to do (this
is an extremely important question to ask; not what do I want, but what am I
trying to do) and has gone off to work up a quote.
The other one, Beacon
Electric, told me they’d be happy to come out to give an estimate, for $59. So,
with one phone call they not only lost my business this time (possibly
negligible to them), but forever. Yes, they apply the $59 to the eventual bill; I don't like ransomware of any stripe.)
And—as with Marines
Plumbing—Beacon have also earned my low, low Net Promoter Score, in that I will
always tell anyone who asks for a recommendation whom not to call. (Autumn
is on the cusp, too.) They may be great technically, but even in “these
challenging times” I do not have to reward people who don’t understand the
concept of customer service.
