Lesson in Business Etiquette ( This Post is a MAJOR RANT)

One of my biggest pet peeves (next to people telling me not to worry about getting therapy for my son until he starts school, that way he STARTS school BEHIND) is when a company tells you they will be there at a certain time, and does not show up on time (or at all).

For example, when I call the air conditioning company at 4:30 on a Friday and ask for them to come back AGAIN because the house is not cooling properly and I am told that all of the guys that work are gone for the day and to call back another time (this was an actual person not an answering machine) early in the morning. The better way to do business would probably be to get my name and number and either set an appointment or have someone call ME!! Or just do the job right the first time!

Then, when I call at 8 am on Monday morning and talk to the same woman and tell her the same thing, she takes my name and number and asked if I would be home for the day. I tell her yes and she says they will be out - so I sit at home ALL DAY and no one shows up or calls to let me know they will not be there.

So on Tuesday you HAVE to be gone for the morning because you are trying to get your son registered for Kindergarten, but they require a ton of paperwork and proof of this and that so it takes all morning. When you get home you have a message from the guy that is suppose to come out. This conversation takes place at 11:40 and he says he is at a restaraunt waiting for someone, and as soon as they are done with lunch he will be here. So I sit and wait (even though I need to go to the store while the kids are at school). At 2:15, I call him back to tell him I have to pick up my kids from school and he tells me he gave the job to someone else and he thought he would have been there already. So I tell him I am going to be gone until 3:45.


Oh, and lets not forget the tree service who calls on a Sunday and says he will be out that Monday to see what needs to be done. So I sit at home ALL DAY waiting and he shows up at 5:30. He then calls me at 6:30 in the morning early in the week to tell me he will be out on Friday. At 5 pm he calls to tell us he landed in a ditch trying to avoid a school bus that pulled out in front of him and he totaled his truck (while this was not his fault and I can understand not being his FIRST phone call - he should have had SOMEONE call and let us know he would not be there), but that he would be here Monday. So, Monday comes and goes without even a phone call. I call today and ask when they are planning on coming and I am told they were planning on tomorrow - but it looks like it will be raining, so he is not positive.

I asked a time they expect to be here and he said between 7 and 8. I told him to call me in the morning and let me know if I should be sitting at the house waiting for day #3.

The point is - you are getting paid to do this work. Why am I having to spend a week sitting at my house for you not to show up!! Believe it or not, I have lots of things I have to do that does not include waiting for you NOT to show up! I don't feel like the person paying the bill (ok - this stuff is covered by the builders under our warranty - but this is not the first time stuff like this has happened and usually I am paying) should be expected to sit and wait on the person getting paid to do the work!