Good service is hard to find

Whatever happened to good service? Got my ranty pants on because it’s Monday.

We’re currently building a big shed. This is so that the cars/car parts which currently occupy my patio can have a home, and the mechanic of the house can have a Man Cave. This has involved getting in experts – because much as C believes he could lay a concrete slab, he did concede that perhaps it was best to leave it up to people who know what they are doing.

So we called a few concreters. We got word of mouth recommendations and even a family friend to do a quote. But they kept making appointments and not showing up. ALL of them. Not just one or two. Every contractor we were dealing with broke appointments without so much as a courtesy phone call.

I was frankly shocked – how can they run businesses like this? In a trade industry where reputation can sink you as easily as it can get you work, why give such bad service?

Long story short, we finally got a good quote and a firm promise to begin work. A loud beeping bobcat showed up at my house at 6.30am this morning and commenced making eternal enemies of my neighbours. The actual shed kit is being dropped off in a few weeks, I guess we’ll see if that goes smoothly.

Let’s just say, I’m glad we’re not building a house. I’m beginning to see why people on Grand Designs have such headaches. Wouldn’t be a building project manager for quids.

Have you been let down in the customer service department recently? And did you badmouth the company to your friends or on social media afterwards?