The Quagmire

This was just emailed to Roto-Rooter

Dear Sir/Madam/Etc:

You may notice it’s 10:28pm as I write this. Why, you may ask? Good question since my appointment was at 530pm.

I called you guys on Saturday and set up an appointment for Tuesday from 530 to 730pm. I’m a long-time customer and I gave you, in advance, a list of all the work to be done. That would take about 3 hours.

I arranged to leave work early so I could be home in time and I arrived at 505pm. At 715pm or so you called and said he’d be 30 minutes late. I never got another update, so I called at 830pm, was put on hold for 9 minutes (my phone has a timer) and then disconnected. I called back and got apologies and was told he was running late. The apology was weak and I asked for a supervisor and spoke to a nice guy.

We spoke, I explained the situation. He apologized and said that the tech had to move a tub or something like that. (You only have one tech?) He aid the guy was the same one who did my last job and that made me happy. He said he’d find out the story and an ETA and call me back.

He didn’t call me back but he had a lady call me and say the guy was wrapping up and on his way. It’s 1028pm. Nobody came and at 1015pm I called you and said I wanted to cancel. The lady said “do you want to reschedule” and I said “I’ll never use you again.” Her reply “Okay”

That is some fine, upstanding, excellent customer service. I am sure you’re proud of it. Tomorrow, I will call a reputable plumber who will show up. And I will never use you again. The best part is I will tell everyone how excellent your service is. (And since I decide on the plumbing contractor we use at work, you’ve lost my company’s business too. Lucky you — two for the price of one.)

You know, I understand ’shit happens’ — but Roto Rooter is a national chain. They show (via Google) over a half-dozen offices in Dade and Broward county. They only have one technician working? ONE? They have nobody who can call regularly with status updates? They think sending someone after 10pm to do 3+ hours worth of work is a good idea? Why would anyone put their trust in these folks? (I don’t impugn the quality of their actual work, mind you — just their customer ‘care’ attitude.)

I’m looking for a plumber that doesn’t suck. If you live in South Florida and can recommend one, email me. I will, otherwise, begin my search tomorrow. I am very irritated.

What is the purpose of an appointment with a two hour window when they’re three hours late and still haven’t shown when I cancel? Why is it my job to keep calling them to find out where the tech is? Why is that okay?

In happier news, Ed Rice shares this URL with me entitled “The Greatest Story Ever Told” — good for a laugh.  And relating to my often amusement with Led Zeppelin fans, I present The Onion’s take on the Led Zeppelin’s fanatical fan base. Good for a laugh also.

In other great amusing things “Team Logo Urinal Pucks” when used as a Yahoo Canada search term lists my blog as number one. Well, at least Michael Yormark will be pleased.  This blog is rated number one in some useful areas, “Led Zeppelin Sucks” being one of them (they don’t suck for the record) as well as some medical posts and other things. That one, however, is just very amusing.

I posted a Pro Bowl picture of Karen and myself over at Flickr for those interested.