Since moving into the new house in June, The Wife™ and I have experienced an inordinate amount of home repairs, broken items and failing stuff. Still bitter over the heat pump that we replaced at the end of last winter in our previous house, mentally I don’t think we had recovered enough to take on this new bundle of problems.
I’ve been cranky most of the summer, like an old man who’s routine of Red Lobster and Wheel of Fortune has been disregarded, because of this ever-growing list. Within a few weeks of moving in, we learned that the garage door was having issues. And by issues I mean it wouldn’t open or close automatically. So if we were grading this appliance I would give it a doubtful “D” solely based on the fact that the physical door was still present, but it’s initiative to do what it should is non-existent.
We went through months of “fixing” it ourselves only to find it still broken. Finally, on our one year anniversary we were given the news that the opener and all the accompanying hardware had failed and needed replacing. Approximate cost: $too much. We now operate it by hand each morning and evening, and our neighbors can suck it because AT LEAST WE PARK IN THE GARAGE LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE AND NOT ON THE FRONT LAWN. Hilljacks.
Next to go berserk was the air conditioning, followed by the heat, and then a mysterious leak in our roof which caused two water/mold spots on two separate ceilings. Oh, and the lawn mower which is not ours but has been in our care for several years decided that it wanted a new shiny carburetor this past week. That was $157-worth of fun. I almost forgot about that one.
My point here is that, as anyone will tell you, homeownership sucks. It’s really terrible. We have carried a balance of at least three things in the house that are actively in need of professional repair since we moved in. Once one gets crossed off the list, something else breaks, if not for any reason other than to complete the Circle of Wallet Pain and thus restore balance to the universe. I sense we’re not alone in this phenomenon either. Houses just break.
But what I’ve found over the past few months is that if the repairman or service center employee is genuinely friendly or helpful, all the bottled up rage and spite bubbling inside me in the form of an ulcer is immediately quelled. I’m not angry anymore if I’m treated well, or if I don’t feel like I’m being swindled.
Today, a roofer came out to look at the house. I knew the basics of what was going on but lacked a sizable ladder to get up to the topmost section of the roof to have a look-see. For several weeks I’ve been seething because The Wife™ called for an appointment, and we’ve been jerked around since. Not returning calls and not making a customer a priority is righteous ground for me to get out my soapbox and stand tall. I was within seconds of taking my business elsewhere, forgetting the glowing recommendation that led us to this company in the first place.
The gentleman that showed up at 8:15 this a.m. couldn’t have been nicer if he tried. From that point on, they get an A+ in my book (with an extra gold star to boot!). It was a fast trip from anger to praise. And the lawnmower repair shop? A similar experience yesterday. Though I was handing over an unfortunate sum of money for something that should not have broken down, I left with a feeling of “well, it happens,” as opposed to, “those asshats probably just spit in the gas tank, changed a spark plug and charged me for two hours of service!”
Good customer service meets the emotional level of the customer, soothes it, and is honest about the outcome. If the customer is irate, indifference is the last thing a service professional should convey (but most often does). Apathy would only breed more anger in the customer, and lessen the chances of return business.
As the contractor pulled out of the driveway today, he stopped to ask if we wanted him to repair the ceilings as well. I kindly declined as I can handle that myself, but was left with the idea that I might just give them a call to do some advanced electrical work in the kitchen.
After all, a good service person is hard to come by these days, you know?
