Archive for the Category »Customer Service «
I never thought I’d see the day when NOBODY “knows somebody” locally that they would dare send their friends and family to. Yet, here I am. Over the course of the last several years, I’ve had a need for dozens of different service providers in our area and haven’t been able to find one solid referral from my (extensive) personal network.
I shouldn’t have to go to Angie’s List or Kudzu to get a referral to a business down the street. We should be able to ask our neighbors, friends, parents of our children’s friends, and the person in line next to us at Kroger. When you specifically go looking for quality local businesses to spend your money, it should NOT be this damned hard!
Not once have I had someone say “Oh, you have to go to my … salon, mechanic, contractor, dentist… they’re so great!” The warmest suggestion I’ve found in all this time has been “well, I’ve never had x done, but they do ok with y… I guess you could try there”. Trust me folks, if the highest recommendation you’ve got going for you is “I guess they’re ok”, I’m gonna keep looking!
When did the world at large decide that receiving substandard quality of work and service is just something you have to put up with unless you do it yourself? What the hell kind of sense does that make? “Here, I know you just filed the skin off my knuckles while you were doing my nails, but please take my $45 PLUS TIP to make up for the trouble of having to clean my blood off your equipment. See you in 2 weeks!” ????????
If I have to have screwed up fingernails, scary eyebrows, and a broken porch railing for the rest of my life, I will not spend any more money on shitty service from people who are phoning it in at work.
Local Small Business Owners… listen up… we’re out here. We have money to spend on the services you provide. We WANT to be able to refer you to our friends and become loyal repeat customers. We WANT to be able to say “why yes, I do have a fantastic mechanic, nail salon, tax person, dog walker, lawn service…” We just can’t find you (or you’re one of the ones doing a CRAPPY JOB). Give us reasons to refer you to our network and we’ll love you forever.
Dear Mr. Big Radio Talk Show Host,
The endorsements that come out of your mouth are bullshit at its finest. Which is a shame, because your real message is amazing and changes lives. I believe in your financial advice… and until I found out how WRONG I was, I believed in your famous Endorsed Local Providers.
After hearing you talk about how your Endorsed Local Providers are the cream of the crop who “have the heart of a teacher”, I decided to take your advice and get my taxes processed by someone on that list. Your financial advice may have never steered me wrong, but so far the other companies you endorse are shit.
After spending almost 2 months repeatedly answering questions, following their suggestions, and trying desperately to get them to return a telephone call or answer an email in a timely manner… we finally got our taxes for last year filed… only to find out months later that they didn’t do the whole job. So we had to file an amendment and flurry of other paperwork to get things sorted out.
Last month, the IRS told us that none of the numbers on our personal return matched the numbers on our business return and now we have to file ANOTHER amendment.
Oh yeah… and we’re going to get audited.
OH YEAH… and the IRS rejected our otherwise qualifying Offer in Compromise, costing us SIXTY THOUSAND FUCKING DOLLARS.
OH YEAH AND… now these amazing Endorsed Local Providers refuse to return phone calls, return emails, or schedule an appointment so that we can file yet another amendment to fix their continued screw ups. YIPPEE!
I should have learned my lesson, but no. I thought that, since this wasn’t the first time we had been unable to find a reliable tax accountant over the last 5 years, this was just the way tax firms worked in the 2000s. Completely lazy, unresponsive, and incompetent.
Holy Cow was I wrong! Last week, I took my car to one of the shops you advertise in my area about 10 times every single episode. Good mechanics that don’t screw you out of hundreds of dollars a pop are getting harder to find, so I took another shot with someone that you recommended.
After two full business days (not including the holiday weekend), we still didn’t get a call from the garage with the ESTIMATE. So, my hubby called today and guess what… oh, I’ll bet you know… they haven’t even looked at it. Amazingly enough, not even an hour after he called, we got the estimate.
They say we’ll get a call today when the repairs are finished. Maybe. Given the track record, I’m not holding my breath.
Lesson learned.. Rest assured that this bitch won’t be using your endorsed insurance, investment, or real estate providers.
Truly,
Bitchy Momma
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