Renovation thoughts...

Okay, so back in June we got a bunch of quotes to get our chimney repaired. We picked one and my husband called to book a time. Well, we waited and waited and no call back. At the beginning of August I got talking to a colleague who's family is in construction and she mentioned that her son and husband both did chimneys, although he son tackles them more often since her husband runs the company and that she was pretty sure they had a few free days coming up because someone canceled a job. She gave me his number, I called, he gave us a really good quote and said they could do it this past weekend if the weather held, but if not it wouldn't be until Fall becaue they were booked.

So, weather held, they showed up yesterday, bright and early, did the work, did a nice job and cleaned up. All in all, I'm happy.

Husband then tells me that the original guy were were going to get to do it called on Friday and left a message apologizing for taking so long to get back to us (he was busy). Was I out of line to book someone else after we didn't even get a response from the first guy in over 5 weeks? I mean, we expected at least a call and a "we're really busy untill X date, but can do it after that." We were cool with possibly waiting until the Fall, if someone would have just let us know they were still interested. since it wasn't a bit job, we just presumed the first guys wasn't interested - 5 weeks is a long tme.

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Ms. Freya

Husband then tells me that the original guy were were going to get to do it called on Friday and left a message apologizing for taking so long to get back to us (he was busy). Was I out of line to book someone else after we didn't even get a response from the first guy in over 5 weeks? I mean, we expected at least a call and a "we're really busy untill X date, but can do it after that." We were cool with possibly waiting until the Fall, if someone would have just let us know they were still interested. since it wasn't a bit job, we just presumed the first guys wasn't interested - 5 weeks is a long tme.

Thoughts?

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5wks? Heck, I would have given it less than a week.

IMHO, it wasn't very professional of the original person to not phone you back at all. It does NOT take long to pick up the phone and say "I'm really busy right now, but could get back to you in the fall". That would be professional courtesy.....

How can anyone expect a potential customer to wait 5wks for a response of any sort Rude and unprofessional IMHO.

I would have done the same as you, and sought out someone else.

Five weeks? I give them 1 day!

When I worked in a real estate office, we required agents to return all calls before they quit for the day. If we had complaints about a lack of call-backs, they were terminated. They had to call back, even if they were calling to say that they hadn't gotten an answer or whatever yet.

The boss was a former AF colonel, and he only accepted two answer for anything:

1. The correct answer

2. "I don't know, but I'll find out and get right back to you."