We had someone out on a Friday to come give us a quote for new sprinklers. After over seven years of living in this house, we've finally decided we probably need automatic sprinklers to water our grass, especially with the kind of summer we've had this year. I'm not going to get into that now as that's not what I wanted to share today.
He came out Friday afternoon, walked around our yard, answered our questions, and told us the following before leaving:
- he was going to get a quote to us that weekend
- he would send a text message when he sent the quote in case something happened
So he left and I felt very encouraged that I wouldn't have to create my own "watering zones" for hours every summer by moving the hose.
We were out of town that weekend but I kept checking my email periodically to see if the quote had come through. It didn't. On Monday afternoon, I still hadn't received anything in my email from him so I texted him saying I hadn't received the test and included my email in the text to make sure he was sending it to the proper one. Never got a response to my text message.
On Tuesday, I called the office number in the morning. They said they saw the quote in the system but wasn't sure it was ready so they were going to reach out to him to ask if it was done and then have it sent. Wednesday and Thursday I didn't do anything. Didn't get the quote.
Friday rolls around and I still haven't received it. I called the office again at 4:30 pm. A different person at the office answers from Tuesday morning and it is then that she confirms the email with me which is incorrect in their system. I correct it for her and she says she will send it. At 4:45 I haven't gotten the quote yet so I call back. I got voicemail a few times, so I called three times until someone picked up the phone. She told me she hadn't gotten time to send it yet but she would. I again confirmed she had the correct email in the system, hung up, and waited.
Now I want to make it clear that although I "bombarded" the office with calls on Friday afternoon, I was very polite and kind, no cursing, no name calling every time on the phone. We'll get to this again later.
Friday evening around 9:30 pm, I finally get the quote in my email. We look it over. It's a competitive quote. We had an idea from the start that this company was going to be competitive and wanted to sign with them. But getting the actual quote in my email was a nightmare.
Saturday at noon, I received a text message from him saying the quote was resent (resent??) and I should have received it. I responded saying I did receive it and would be in touch with him when we made a decision.
Wow.
Are you tired from reading that? Let's break it down now.
When he originally came out to give us the quote, he told us two things that I specifically outlined. He failed to do both. I got neither a quote that weekend nor a message saying he sent it. Later when the quote was actually sent, he told me it was "resent" which means it was sent it a first time. Why didn't I get a confirmation text that time? After all, he did originally say he would send it. Also, I purposely confirmed my email in the text message to him when I sent it on Monday. There shouldn't have been any kind of email mistake between Tuesday to Friday because he had the email on his phone in a text message by Monday. Most importantly, I never got an apology when clearly the business dropped the ball on something. I can't stand it when people don't own up to their mistakes. Is it hard? Absolutely. Should you? Yes. Especially if you want to be a business owner.
Here's the flip side of the situation. People are manipulative. People are rude. People are mean. These people have ruined the concept of "The customer is always right." I'm positive at some point in business, he was trying to be nice and it ended up biting him in the butt. Why am I positive this has happened? Because I run a business and it has happened to me and people are still people. And the problem with today's progressiveness is that I would be seen as the antagonist. I would be seen as the crazy lady who "bombarded" an office with calls on a Friday afternoon so close to business close.
But if you knew the whole story, you'd understand that they dropped the ball first. He did not keep his word in doing what he said he would do. And I gave him an entire week. And it still took me calling the offie on the next Friday afternoon before closing to make sure I got the quote.
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