Comments on: No wonder small businesses are suffering

By: Mom

Mom — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:43:48 +0000

I hope you managed to get the situation taken care of it. It’s frustrating when companies don’t take our time seriously.

By: Greg

Greg — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 08:54:05 +0000

Meghann

You are so correct, but I try to use small businesses for that reason, as I expect better service. On the other hand, the second Tree Surgeon did turn up yesterday and done a good job, the first tree surgeon phoned me last night and offered to come straight out, he didn’t give a reason or apology though.

By: Jan from BetterSpines

Jan from BetterSpines — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:51:39 +0000

Glad to see you now have your non-smoking self on your location map! Good reinforcement.

By: Tina T

Tina T — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:56:05 +0000

I always think that to have a successful home services business you just need to return phone calls and show up. I refuse to make more than one phone call to these businesses, since I have no desire to beg them to take my money. Of course from time to time that means doing the job ourselves if no one calls back.

By: Meghann

Meghann — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:59:07 +0000

You do tend to get service just as bad from large companies, but for some reason we expect it more from them. “They’re busy” or, “They have 2000 employees” seems to let them get away with it more than a one person business. It is true that if you have your own business and you are small, you need to be ten times more vigilant with client service than the larger companies. It is just unfortunate that the smaller businesses, when run properly, in general give far better service and quality than the big guys. Let’s hope there are still some little guys out there after this economic crap has settled

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 08:08:14 +0000

Jan,

The 2nd tree surgeon did call back last night and apologised, he said he will be here this morning, let’s hope he does turn up. The third tree surgeon who said he would call round between 8:30 and 9:00 this morning did turn up at 7:30 and gave me a quote twice as high as anyone else.

By: PJ

PJ — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:23:18 +0000

i had that same thing happen to me with a plumber. the bad thing about it was that there were only a few in the little town i was living in and none of them showed up. no call, nothing. piss me off. i ended up finding a handyman that came and solved my problem.

By: Jan from BetterSpines

Jan from BetterSpines — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:26:52 +0000

Yes small businesses really need to go the extra mile, to keep their existing customers and keep their businesses afloat. I find it hard to believe that both of the tree surgeons who said they would come, didn’t! Good luck with the next one.