Three weeks have nearly passed, and my anger has long since boiled over and evaporated. I needed time to let the memories fade a little before sharing them, otherwise the entry would have just been a long winded angry rant, and that's just not my style. In general, my style is pretty laid back, finding humor in everyday stuff. I believe in hard work, respect and honesty, and I expect that back, especially when shelling out my hard earned money. I am not the type of person to yell and scream when something goes wrong, but rather try to be understanding that sometimes things go wrong, or get screwed up... just fix and move on.
Keeping that in mind, I continue with my story...
This company has a reputable business, have been around for many many years. I've had my oil delivered by them for several years, as well as had many service calls, ie: spent lots of money. I had some misgivings about them after the miss communications over the last week, but was willing to forgo them, after all, s*it happens. I normally keep names out of my blog, for privacy reasons, but after weighing how I was treated and continue to be treated (three weeks later), I feel I'm doing a service to anyone that may search for reviews or comments regarding this company. The following is a true story, with no embellishments. This is how Niccoli Brothers in Brockton treated me.
Keep in mind, it's now been over a week I've been without heat & hot water. It's been a complete inconvenience boiling water for dishes, finding places to shower and do laundry. Thankfully, my 16 year old spent the majority of time at his dad's house, so there is one less thing to worry about.
Anyway, I once again call Jim, because apparently he doesn't know he can make outgoing calls to customers, and he tells me the crew will be out that afternoon... he promises me. And true to his "word" three guys do show up.... however, the foreman, Joey, informs me that there is an emergency that he needs to get to. He instructs the other two what he needs to get worked on, and off he goes. And true to Jim's "word" again, the crew IS great. All three were polite, neat and courteous. Unfortunately, it's already late in the afternoon on a Friday and it's obvious that this isn't going to be done... I'll have to go the weekend without what I once took for granted.
They did manage to disconnect the furnace and physically move it into the garage on Friday. But they needed the carpenter to come out to cut the hole in the roof for the pipe, for which I was told would be here mid Monday morning. At this point, I can't afford to take any more time off, and since the crew is respectable, I hand off the key to Joey Monday morning. He promises me that when I come home after work (after working until 7pm) I would be able to take a hot shower. I spend the day at work daydreaming of lathering up and wiping the steam off my mirror (My X-rated dreams of late).
However, come 5:30 I get a call from Jim telling me that he "hates having to make this call" because the carpenter NEVER showed up so the furnace was still NOT connected... no heat... no hot water... I'm ready to blow a gasket at this point, why am I just finding out now?? I've owned my own business, I've had to make these types of calls. It doesn't matter that the carpenter is someone they farm work out to, it still comes down to the company being responsible. Again, yelling and screaming isn't my style. I tell him how sorely disappointed I am, that I expect that he'll make up for all these inconveniences and that I expect the job WILL be done Tuesday. He will call me the moment the carpenter arrives at my house, and I'll leave work and remain there until the job is done. He tells me he agrees and he'll take care of it, blah blah blah (that's what I hear)
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By the time I come out, the carpenter is gone... thankfully having finished his part of the job, and escaping my wrath. Joey is beside himself and assures me it will be done. This was around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. He and another tech were busy little beavers, and a few hours later a third shows up and joins in the fun. It wasn't until 8:30 that night that Joey gives me the OK to turn on the heat and run the hot water. He's not fully done, he tells me he'll personally be back on Saturday to tidy up and insulate the pipes. I know he's doing that on his own time, and it means the world to me. I go to bed after a load of laundry, running the dishwasher (filled with dirty dishes from 2 weeks ago) and finally, a long hot shower. Ahhhh!! Life as I'd known it restored!
I expected that I'd hear from Jim the following day, to follow up and to grovel for my forgiveness, but apparently I have too high of expectations, because the entire day goes by without a word. The following morning I call, but he's not in the office, so I leave a message. When I get home from work later on, amazingly the bill for the work is ALREADY in my mailbox. Floored, I open it, and even more floored to see that Jim took off a lousy $175 off a $4,000 job that left me inconvenienced for 2 weeks.
One hundred and seventy five dollars!
Now I know some may say that I'm being sexist, but I know that he'd NEVER have tried getting away with that if I were a man. Of course, most men would have bitten this guy's head off long ago. Maybe most people too. Maybe I am too patient, too much of a push over. But regardless, he thought he'd get away with this?? Ha!
Boy, was he wrong. By the time he returned my call, I'd had plenty of time to get worked up. Those that know me know that I can be pretty damn patient, but when I lose it, you don't want to be on the receiving side. And that's exactly where Jim ended up. I told him how thoroughly disappointed I was with him, that I should have been called after the job was complete to see if it was acceptable, to apologize again, to verbally tell me how he was going to compensate me. I shared with him what an unprofessional person the carpenter was, I told him what he said and how insulted I felt, not just by him but by the entire way I was treated, outside of the crew, which again I can't say enough of.
I went on to tell him how I work with many people that live in the area and that they were aware of how badly this job went. I told him I write blogs on home improvement, with over 10,000 hits and how I'd hate to have to write a review using his name knowing that if anyone Googled it, my story would come up. I told him my patience and understanding being abused was unacceptable, that a lousy $175 off was insulting.
Saturday came, and so did Joey, just as he promised... and apologized again. He told me he was in the room when Jim called the carpenter and how not only did he get a "new one drilled", that the company would no longer be doing business with him again. He thanked me for all my patience. He then went about his business on his day off and finished up.
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And if he doesn't like it, well... I'm OK with that.








