mild rant, contractors and repair folks

4x4van wrote:

WTP-GC wrote:

4x4van wrote:


I have no problem being told no. I DO have a problem being ignored, or worse, being told that you will show up at a certain time and then you don't bother. Newsflash, my time is just as important as yours, if not more so.

That statement shows a strong sense of entitlement. You don't like being ignored? Well, how does your rights of attention trump my rights of not being bothered? In this case, the customer calls the contractor, not the other way around. Should I feel a required to respond to something that I didn't request? That's really no different than a spam call or junk mail. Your time is absolutely not important than my time...and vice versa.

Wow, seriously? Sense of entitlement? Your rights of "not being bothered"? "Something you didn't request"? Am I missing something here, or are you actually saying that a contractor doesn't want anyone to contact them for work? Then how do they get their customers in the first place in order to stay in business? Do they not have advertisements? A business/phone # listed online? So you consider someone who sees an ad and calls, to be spam or junk mail? I'm really confused as to what business considers every potential customer who calls "spam/junk".

Keep in mind that if your particular business does NOT advertise and relies on either word of mouth or you actually going out and soliciting for business only (which seems to be the case for you), then I wouldn't be cold calling you in the first place, would I? I see absolutely no "sense of entitlement" in expecting a business owner that is advertising for work to actually answer/return the calls of those who he is actively pursuing. I also see no "sense of entitlement" in expecting someone to actually show up when and where they said they would. You see a "sense of entitlement" from that????:?

At 57 years old, I'm well aware of the fact that some businesses want customers and some evidently don't; and I'm perfectly willing to give them exactly what they "want".

You're cherry-picking a statement to create an incorrect narrative. If I do electrical work and you call me and leave a message saying you want to have a deck built, there's no rule, law or moral obligation I have to return your call. My business is actually better suited if I focus on calls related to electrical work. Once I call all those potential customers back, if I have time and I remember, then maybe I'll call you back to decline the work. Perhaps you're better than most and you don't call people for jobs outside their trade, but (as already mentioned in this thread) walk a mile in our boots and see how many calls you get that are absolutely of no interest.

No, I don't advertise, and yes, I work in a very specific field. But thanks to contractor listing aggregating services, I frequently get calls from people who want something done that I don't do. Imagine getting this call:
"Hello, ABC Electric"
-Yes, I need a new roof
"Sir I don't do that type of work"
-What do you do then?
"I do electrical work"
-For remodels? Or new houses?
"Doesn't matter, I don't do roofs"
-Do you know someone that does?
"No"
-Who should I call then"
"I don't know"
-But you're a contractor, don't you know someone
"No"
-Well what happened is a tree fell on my roof and I told the neighbor that they needed to get that tree taken down but they didn't listen...
"Click"
-Well that was rude, guess I'll never call him again...

And listen, if you tell someone you'll be there or that you'll do something, then honor your word. I never disagreed that that notion.