In all fairness its not his fault your phone company didn't get you his emails....if it was the other way around and you sent him emails and he didn't answer ,you would be pissed too!
I see your point Hemi, but the guy had his phone number, so why no call. I own and run a business myself, and there is a reason I am successful Pweel I am sure there are a couple reasons}, but the most important one is because the "customer is always right", I know that sounds crazy this day in age, BUT its the only way to be.
For instance, if you have time to read a long story, I had a customer that we did a geo thermal HVAC system for in their new construction home, a good sized home 3800sq feet, 20 foot ceilings in some rooms, etc. The heating system was like $75Kish with out the wells drilled, he had a company doing his domestic water well and his irrigation/pool well, which happens, that is not out of the norm, you have a company there with the drill rig, they will give you a better rate drilling the 4 geothermal wells than my company can, the problem is the guy never did it, and I warned there was a bit more to it than just drilling 4 400 ft deep hole, but they already got a price and it was cheap, I admit that...
So the wells go in, they are not great a little closer than I spec'ed them and sloppy but no big deal. well the entire summer goes by and the system works no complaints, I did an energy audit a month in and it seemed to be using about 20% more energy than I would have thought, but nothing to be too alarmed about, its a big house, and I am not familiar with their habbits, they may leave doors open and cook a lot, who knows? Then winter comes and the first service call, its 15 degrees out and they cant get over 68 in the house and the unit is running non stop, that is a problem, because we go below 0 here and that would equate to them being in the 50s inside the house...
So I personally go and check it out, I dont send a tech I went my self. The unit is not shedding enough energy in the wells, the fluid is coming back too cold so I after some thermal imaging, I call my well guy to come and take a look, he cant come for a couple days, and in the mean time the temperature drops we get a snow storm and the house is freezing cold, they are using electric heaters, and calling me 3 times a day screaming at me!!!! I got called a lot of names and threatened with law suits and to have my name destroyed and be on the news, blah blah blah. But the entire time I just apologized, offered to bring them heaters, pay for a hotel, what ever it took until we got it figured out.
So my well guy get there a day earlier than he said because I explained it to him, he laser measures them and they are only 150-200 feet!!! This is a huge ISSUE, my specs were 400+ each!!! So now I explain it to the customer, not my fault, not an easy or inexpensive fix, etc. They call their well guy, and he pretty much tells them to go fk themselves as soon as the husband starts talking to them the same way they were previously speaking to me...
So they ask their options, and I explain, I can install an electric duct heater for this season until the ground thaws and then we will have to drill 1 or maybe 2 more 400 foot deep wells at a cost of $5800 each, plus my labor and materials will be around $6K for the electric supplemental and hooking in the wells....
I am a no good *** whole again, lol, they are going to call their lawyer etc etc etc.
to shorten up this story, I was nice to them through out the entire process, and when I was dealing with them on 2 occasions they had a pair of friends over their house that witnessed these altercations, I never lost my cool, I apologized and tried to make it right... It turned out that couple was in the market to build a new home, and they called me to do the hvac and contract the solar, their houses was almost 10K sq feet and they spent over $280K on HVAC and mechanical {complete geothermal, pool heaters, driveway snow melts, heated counter tops, $3K towel warmers in 3 bathrooms and 2 sets by the pool!!!!}...
Also the first customers ended up paying my well guy and me to repair their system, they used electric ceramic heaters for that entire winter {this is just last year, it was cold}...
So if you want to be successful and you are in a business where you have customers {most businesses
} you need to remember the customer is always right, I did jobs where people owed me thousands of dollars far beyond an acceptable billing period, but I knew calling and screaming at them would not get me paid, kill them with kindness and learn for next time, because I know if we go to court, I will end up with either nothing or % on the dollar... I drill this into my sons brains, "do GOOD WORK, ALWAYS SMILE, BE ON TIME, TELL THE TRUTH, KEEP THE TRUCKS CLEAN, DONT LEAVE DIRTY DISHES IN THE SINK, SHUT OFF THE LIGHTS WHEN YOU LEAVE A ROOM, TREAT PEOPLE HOW YOU WANT TO BE TREATED" ok a couple of them dont apply to work but still good lessons...
I think this guy should have called and found out what the deal was, and even if he is not smart enough to think of that after not getting an email reply, when the customer does get in contact with you, BE NICE,
business man"hey I tried to email you"
customer"why didn't you call me?"
business man"I didnt think of that sorry, you stuff is all done, you owe me X amont, how would you like to take care of that"
customer "Ill send a check"
business man "awesome that is what I like to hear, Ill call you when it clears and forward you the tracking info after I ship your parts, I worked really hard on these parts I hope you are happy with them, if you know anyone else that needs work done please give them my contact info, I would appreciate that"
customer "I will do that I cant wait to get my parts, Ill talk to you later"
business man "OK, thanks for calling me and again I am sorry I didnt think to call you"....
now you can hang up the phone and think to your self, what an *** whole he got my fkin emails, god dam liar, you can say and think what ever you want, go home and take it out on your dog, I don't know, but smile, be polite, and nice to customers, NO MATTER WHAT, because it takes a lot of praise to make up for one forum post like this, do you know how many people will search this guys name and then never call him, where if this was a post like...
hey FBBO I just got my cluster back from XXXXXXX the guy was super nice, my email was out and he understood, the work looks great he called to follow up and see if I was happy and I am, so use him if you need him he is worth what he charges....
He would have more business vs less, and on day 3 of business school {the first 2 days is just training on how to hold a coffee mug, nod to a coworker, and dial a phone at the same time} they teach you more business = more money more money = more mopar...
