howie Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Sat here twiddling my thumbs waiting for the carpet fitters to arrive. First thing this morning they promised and still no sign of them. Gave them a ring 10 minutes ago and it was the usual problems with the van and somebody called in sick blah blah. Trouble is that i,m so used to this sort of thing that I can,t even be bothered to complain anymore. Should adopt the American attitude when it comes to customer service and tell them what to do with their products when they fail to deliver. :-S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Go on then Howie, I dare ya >:-) >:-) D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 Waste of time Dave. What happens when you have a van in ready to work on and the parts you need fail to turn up. Its like Tony,s new van being delivered next march. Lets hope he checked the small print re. which year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Trouble is, if you adopt the ' American attitude' you could end up with no carpets ( and no furniture, no fridge, no cooker etc etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Newell Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 howie - 2007-10-25 11:57 AM Waste of time Dave. What happens when you have a van in ready to work on and the parts you need fail to turn up. Its like Tony,s new van being delivered next march. Lets hope he checked the small print re. which year. Well its only happened a couple of times as I usually make sure I've got the necessary bits in before the day I need them. However we can all still get caught out and I have on one occasion told the supplier that they had lost my business by not getting the ordered parts to me in time and I will no longer deal with that company. If customers come to me now and ask for something from that company I tell the customer to get it direct from them and I'll fit it. This does eat into my profit magins somewhat but at least that particular company doesn't let me down personally any more and leave me looking bad. D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 25, 2007 Author Share Posted October 25, 2007 There you go Malc. Dave,s attitude typifies the way Americans approach this problem, and if we all adopted this way to deal with poor customer service the improvement would be immediate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 25, 2007 Share Posted October 25, 2007 Such a shame that some of you are not as tolerant and patient as I am? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 howie - 2007-10-25 11:57 AM Waste of time Dave. What happens when you have a van in ready to work on and the parts you need fail to turn up. Its like Tony,s new van being delivered next march. Lets hope he checked the small print re. which year. Bit of paper definitely says 2008 Howie - actually, he said it'll be ready mid-late Feb but suggested I might like '08 plates. However, printed words are nearly as cheap as talk; he & I both know that if it's a few days late I'm not going to cancel and start all over again with someone else - that way madness lies! So ask me again on 1st March. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordThornber Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 A brief (?) yarn about Argos customer service for you. A colleague buys a TV from them, it's faulty. They collect it and bring a replacement, it's the wrong TV but it's much more expensive. This is faulty also! Colleague contacts them and they inform that they will not only replace it with an even MORE expensive one than the 2nd one but will throw in £50 of vouchers for the inconvenience. So a £300 TV turns into a £450 TV (+ vouchers), all for a few days messing. Not bad in my view. Martyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 LordThornber - 2007-10-26 10:52 AM A brief (?) yarn about Argos customer service for you. A colleague buys a TV from them, it's faulty. They collect it and bring a replacement, it's the wrong TV but it's much more expensive. This is faulty also! Colleague contacts them and they inform that they will not only replace it with an even MORE expensive one than the 2nd one but will throw in £50 of vouchers for the inconvenience. So a £300 TV turns into a £450 TV (+ vouchers), all for a few days messing. Not bad in my view. MartynFound it the same at our Asda,s Martyn. Took our faulty telly back and they offered either a replacement or a full refund there and then. The telly was coming up to twelve months old and still under warranty, but try getting that at Curry,s etc. People are to quick to moan and complain on this forum. Carpet fitters turned up yesterday afternoon, End of the roll and fitted out the upstairs toilet as well for free because they were late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 Tony Jones - 2007-10-26 10:37 AM howie - 2007-10-25 11:57 AM Waste of time Dave. What happens when you have a van in ready to work on and the parts you need fail to turn up. Its like Tony,s new van being delivered next march. Lets hope he checked the small print re. which year. Bit of paper definitely says 2008 Howie - actually, he said it'll be ready mid-late Feb but suggested I might like '08 plates. However, printed words are nearly as cheap as talk; he & I both know that if it's a few days late I'm not going to cancel and start all over again with someone else - that way madness lies! So ask me again on 1st March. TonyGoing to seem like an eternity waiting for that new van bro, but having it with a 08 plate makes sense as you still have "Hannibal" to fall back on if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Jones Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 'Fraid not, we're burning our boats next week - well parting with Hannibal anyway. He's going to a good home, a young couple at church who'll get good use out of him. So I'll be confined to an Escort Estate until the new van arrives! Can I still be on the Forum??? Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Tony Jones - 2007-10-26 4:22 PM . So I'll be confined to an Escort Estate until the new van arrives! Can I still be on the Forum??? Tony You can do lots of things in an Escort Estate, as I recall, but sleeping was never one of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Parke Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Tracker - 2007-10-26 4:39 PM Tony Jones - 2007-10-26 4:22 PM . So I'll be confined to an Escort Estate until the new van arrives! Can I still be on the Forum??? Tony You can do lots of things in an Escort Estate, as I recall, but sleeping was never one of them! Surely if you lower the rear seat and push the front ones right forward!! May have difficulty trying to cook, shower and use the 'loo' though!! Regards Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Well, maybe playing devil's advocate here...can you imagine a situation, say, the plumber's in your house doing a job and it turns out to be a little more involved than first thought. Would you be pleased if he said, "Sorry mate, I've got another job booked at 12 so I'll have to go. I'll fit you in some other time" Probably not. So, the 12 o'clock appointment is now going to be late, and the person waiting at home is going to curse the plumber for not being on time....and so the rest of the day will go the same way. The moral simply is, if you have a tradesman coming to your home to deliver, or do a job, give up the whole day. Reminds me of a guy in Russia some years ago who ordered a brand new Lada. The car salesman said, "We will deliver it on April 18th next year" The buyer asked, "Would that be in the morning or the afternoon?" The salesman said, "Is it important?" and the buyer said, "Well yes, I have an electrician coming in the afternoon" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Mike Parke - 2007-10-26 6:41 PM Tracker - 2007-10-26 4:39 PM Tony Jones - 2007-10-26 4:22 PM . So I'll be confined to an Escort Estate until the new van arrives! Can I still be on the Forum??? Tony You can do lots of things in an Escort Estate, as I recall, but sleeping was never one of them! Surely if you lower the rear seat and push the front ones right forward!! May have difficulty trying to cook, shower and use the 'loo' though!! Regards Mike Nothing's impossible to achieve if you need it enough? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 being in business as a carpet seller i also employ 2 fitters, the worst part of my job is from custumers constantly ringing about what time is my carpet coming. you simply cannot forcast what happens throughout a typical day. a delivery might turn up unexpected and set you back half an hour. somebody might not have removed furniture or old carpets thus taking the job longer. my fitters may see a more convinent rought to take rarther than going from one side of town to another only to go back for a later job. we try to tell custumers am or pm or take notes as when they wont be in but will not commit to times only an estimate of at least a couple of hours. big companys say brittish gas give you 4 hour time slots. sorry but my answer to waiting is wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 I know and understand how anyone's day can get screwed up unexpectedly and I am quite happy to wait for any tradesman to arrive, as long as he affords me the same diligence in completing the work that he afforded those who were at the root of the delay. What does really hiss me off is the lack of a phone call to say that he will be late, and then to arrive with a silly grin and make it out to be one big joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel B Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 howie - 2007-10-26 1:47 PM People are to quick to moan and complain on this forum. Carpet fitters turned up yesterday afternoon, End of the roll and fitted out the upstairs toilet as well for free because they were late. Ooooo .... men + carpet in the toilet!!!!! Yuk. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Posted October 26, 2007 Share Posted October 26, 2007 Wear slippers!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 Mel B - 2007-10-26 10:36 PM howie - 2007-10-26 1:47 PM Ooooo .... men + carpet in the toilet!!!!! Yuk. :DEither get a bigger pan or go see a gynaecologist Mel. I also like artex and uvpc windows, another two big no no,s on these home improvement shows. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
howie Posted October 26, 2007 Author Share Posted October 26, 2007 K&D - 2007-10-26 8:14 PM being in business as a carpet seller i also employ 2 fitters, the worst part of my job is from custumers constantly ringing about what time is my carpet coming. you simply cannot forcast what happens throughout a typical day. a delivery might turn up unexpected and set you back half an hour. somebody might not have removed furniture or old carpets thus taking the job longer. my fitters may see a more convinent rought to take rarther than going from one side of town to another only to go back for a later job. we try to tell custumers am or pm or take notes as when they wont be in but will not commit to times only an estimate of at least a couple of hours. big companys say brittish gas give you 4 hour time slots. sorry but my answer to waiting is waitAgree Dean, and always two sides to the story. I,ve found that as long as you let (in this case carpet fitters) exactly what work is involved then there,s no problem. Try to clear the room as much as possible, but as when we had the living room done there was the problem of moving and storing large items of furniture. Explained this to the lads beforehand and they were only to happy to do the room one half at a time and then put back everything as it was. Well worth the tip and saved me a lot of heavy lifting as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 as much information as possable is always an advantage but the minority will just expect us to do everything ourselfs even though the shop staff me included tell them the room as to be empty with old carpets up. in one ear out the other. my lads are not paid sick pay therefore wont risk doing their back in say moving a fridge or washing machine or 44 inch tv if they cant move them we cant. obviously you make exceptions for elderly or desabled people but we expect people to have least made the effort. my lads need to do 7 jobs a day to earn a decent wage and need to be in and out to get them done in a shift Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BGD Posted October 27, 2007 Share Posted October 27, 2007 K&D - 2007-10-26 8:14 PM being in business as a carpet seller i also employ 2 fitters, the worst part of my job is from custumers constantly ringing about what time is my carpet coming. you simply cannot forcast what happens throughout a typical day. a delivery might turn up unexpected and set you back half an hour. somebody might not have removed furniture or old carpets thus taking the job longer. my fitters may see a more convinent rought to take rarther than going from one side of town to another only to go back for a later job. we try to tell custumers am or pm or take notes as when they wont be in but will not commit to times only an estimate of at least a couple of hours. big companys say brittish gas give you 4 hour time slots. sorry but my answer to waiting is wait All of what you say is, I would hope, fully understood by everyone. But the one thing that really would positively differentiate you and your business from the others, would be if you or your fitters actually RANG the waiting customers as soon as you knew you were not going to be able to keep the appointment with them at the time that you had promised. I would suggest that customers are generally understanding of unexpected delays, SO LONG AS the supplier/tradesman actually bothers to keep the customer (the person who is paying their wages) informed. Sounds to me that if you are constantly having your customers having to ring YOU to find out when you are going to turn up at their houses, that you might want to have another detailed look at the time-planning and customer communications systems that you are currently employing in your business - because that to me is a pretty clear signal that something isn't working right in the way your business is being managed at present, and unhappy customers lose businesses a huge amount of future potential sales. Cheers, Bruce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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