Customer Service - the bad and the good

Seven years ago, the HVAC (heating and air-conditioning) unit in this house broke down. This was just seven months after I moved here, and I knew nothing about air-conditioning and heating systems. A company Bruce called came to the house and diagnosed the problem - we needed a new condenser and evaporator coil. They sold us a 2.5 ton unit, and it cost $2,700 (including installation). The house was instantly much cooler than it had been for years, Bruce said, so it seemed worth the price. Last year, our furnace stopped working and we were also informed that the evaporator coil needed replacing. (It was past its warranty by that time, of course.) That cost us another $2,550. So, you'd think that spending over $5,000 on HVAC equipment for this small house would put us in good stead for a long time. You'd be correct if we'd been serviced by reliable companies. Unfortunately, both times, we called people in emergency situations and basically hired the people who answered their phones and showed up. (Hindsight suggests that people who come that quickly might be able to do so because they don't have very many customers - for a reason.)

In the past couple of years, the house has seemed very dusty and dirty to me. Despite the fact that the doors and windows remain closed almost all the time (except when the dogs go out or when it's cool enough outside to enjoy the fresh air), dust seemed to be collecting very quickly on the furniture within hours of me dusting and vacuuming everything.  I thought there must be some dirt in our air-conditioning system that just wasn't being caught by the filter (which I was having to replace much more frequently than seemed normal).  Several weeks ago, we found a very bad mould build-up around the vent in one of the spare bedrooms that we now use as a junk/storeroom. I never go into that room so I didn't know how bad it was getting until Bruce noticed a dank odour one day and saw what he thought were mould spores on the furniture there. So I decided enough was enough - it was time to get the air ducts cleaned.

I called a duct-cleaning company (didn't know until then that some companies actually specialise in duct cleaning) and set up an appointment. Two guys arrived as scheduled two weeks ago. One of then, Dennis, came up to me after they'd been here for about half-an-hour and told me that our mould situation was really bad (he's been doing this for 20 years and hadn't seen such a bad infestation (I'm using that word because that's what it looked and felt like). Because Dennis was an honest man, he didn't just try to clean the ducts. He knew cleaning it wouldn't get rid of the mould, which would grow back and give us the same problem. He said if we wanted them to still try and clean the ducts, they would, but he recommended getting new ducts put in. And that's not something his company does, which means they were actually giving up a cleaning job that would have made them money. That is why I knew I could trust him - excellent customer service, and I'd now recommend that company to anyone here.

I called the HVAC company that had directed me to these guys (it was only after going through some paperwork the other day that I realised we've used four different HVAC companies in the time I've been here) and asked them to give us a quote for new ducts. The man who came to our house to do that didn't make a very good impression on me, plus he took several days to get back to us with a quote.

Bruce and I decided we should get a second opinion. Best decision ever! I looked up HVAC companies in Snellville online and then checked their rating on the Better Business Bureau website. I found one that had been in business for 22 years and had an A+ rating. Their office was closed (since it was Saturday), so I went to their website and sent them an appointment request, explaining in the "Comment" section what we needed.

Bruce received a call from them on Monday and Joe came to our house on Tuesday afternoon. Joe is an engineer and looked at things no other repairman/salesman in the past and even thought about. The first thing he said, after looking at all the HVAC equipment, was that the company that put in the condensor and evaporator coil in 2002 gave us a unit that was too powerful for this house. We should have had a 1.5 or two ton unit at the most. Because of that, the system was cutting off before it was supposed to and wasn't drawing moisture out of the air. This is what led to the mould build-up, which was made much worse when the junk/storeroom somehow got flooded. (We're not sure when that happened but it was most likely during The Great Flood of September.)

We decided to go with the company Joe worked for, since he seemed so much more knowledgable than any of the other people whose services we've used in the past. Unfortunately, we found out on Thursday that the mould problem was much more serious. When the two HVAC servicemen came out that morning to replace the ducts, they found that the mould was in the furnace/AC unit. That meant that even with new ducts, we wouldn't be rid of the mould problem - it would just grow back because it's in the HVAC system. That, and the wrong size/weight condenser, meant we had to replace the whole HVAC system. Otherwise we'd eventually have the same moisture problem.  Since the mould problem has been affecting our health, that was not a risk I wanted to take.

What this means in a nutshell is that we're paying twice what we would have needed to if we'd gone with the correct company in the first place - one with well-trained, well-qualified employees.  We're having to spend another $5,000+ that we weren't expecting.

At least we now have a company we can trust - I've told Bruce we're never calling anyone else when we need HVAC service.  Even when we move, this company is going to have to come to us wherever we are!  They are knowledgable and efficient (and the air in the house already seems much cleaner).

My boss likes to say that I epitomise excellent customer service.  I've not really understood why he thinks so highly of the way I respond to requests at work, because it just seems right to want to solve people's problems or get them the information they need as soon as possible.  It's what seems like a natural response in me to want to do what I can to help people, and to do a good job - the best job I can.  I don't think I'm particularly outstanding.  But apparently that desire to please and to do a good job is not inherent in most people, and certainly not in a lot of businesses.  That makes no sense to me.  Good customer service is what gets you return business.  Why wouldn't any company want to have only well-trained staff who do an excellent, reliable job?  Why don't more people want to do the best they can?  Or is their best just not very good in some cases?

On Bruce's birthday, we stopped at one of his favourite restaurants to get him a steak.  We'd decided to take the food home to eat because we were both tired.  I wasn't all that hungry and am not particularly fond of that restaurant because of a couple of negative past experiences with food there (including one case of food poisoning), so I only ordered an appetizer (crab-stuffed shrimp).  By the time we got home and I had feed the dogs, I was feeling quite hungry and looking forward to some good food.  I opened my packed meal to find three tiny prawns (literally shrimps!) and nothing else, apart from some sauce in the box.  No crab stuffing.  The three prawns looked like someone's leftovers.  I was extremely fed up (third bad experience with that restaurant) and hungry by this time, but was too irritated to drive back to the restaurant and demand the actual order.  So I just had some cereal for dinner.  The next day, the memory of those three shrimp (for which I was charged $5!) was still bugging me, so I went to the restaurant's website and wrote to them about my experience.  I wasn't really expecting anything (although Bruce though I might get a coupon for another appetizer) - I just needed to vent.

Two days later, I received an e-mail from manager of that restaurant.  He apologised for the mistake (apparently someone packed the wrong order for me) and asked for our address, so that he could send me something in the mail.  I sent him a nice reply, thanking him for the apology and said I wouldn't ordinarily have complained but it was the third negative experience at his restaurant.  A few days later, I received a meal voucher for that restaurant from the manager - for $25!  Later that week (the day I got the bad news about our ducts, that they needed to be replaced, not cleaned), UPS delivered a small package addressed to me.  Since I wasn't expecting anything, that in itself was a nice surprise.  The box contained some extremely delicious cookies, along with another apology from the restaurant.  I was stunned!  This was customer service way beyond what I expected.  Of course, it was done so that we wouldn't boycott that restaurant (as I had been seriously tempted to do), and I'm sure the current recession is making them take extra care to keep customers happy, but that is exactly the point of good customer service - to ensure your customers return.  It worked in this case, and I wish more companies would learn to treat their regular clients or customers like this.

A World Without Books ...

... is a world I can't imagine and wouldn't want to live in.  Even though I spend most of my work day reading newspapers and websites, I want - no, need - to spend at least a few minutes (if not more) reading for pleasure.

I get so much from reading books - they feed my imagination, and they make me think, laugh and/or cry.  They also cause envy sometimes (over the talent of such amazing writers whom I would love to be like but I don't see myself coming up with the tales they do).  All that from something that comes in one pretty package.  One of the good things about Bruce being so busy in recent weeks is that I've had plenty of time to read in the car while waiting for him to finish work.  I don't go anywhere without a book these days.

I've managed to make my way through quite a few books in the last few months, and will slowly be building a list in case anyone is interested.  I've started with a "Currently Reading" list that I'll update as I move down the pile of books beside my bed, and am also going to create a "Recommended Reading" section.  Let me know if you have any books you want to add to that list - I am always on the lookout for books to read.  Perhaps I'll also add a "Just Finished This, Stay Away!" list if I happen to come across something bad (although that's doubtful, because it has only rarely happened in the past and I'm becoming choosy about what I buy these days).

A couple of books I read in France in July made their way to Singapore, thanks to a certain niece of mine, so if I forget the titles, I hope she'll nudge my memory by leaving them in the comments section.

As far as possible, I'll try to link the titles to either a review of the book or some sort of summary/background, as I have done for the two in my "Currently Reading" list.  One of the marvels of the computer age that I intend to make the most of, since I either won't have time to write a review myself or have found someone who can do a much better job.

I will try to get back to borrowing books from the library instead of always buying them, where possible, but buying books has long been my weakness (I buy books the way some people buy shoes).  The reason for that is two-fold - I want to have my own little library in my house, filled with my favourites that I can return to at any time, and I want to support the writers I love by purchasing their books instead of only borrowing a copy from a library.  I am a huge fan of libraries and don't ever want the world to be without them, but I want to have my own.  Even if I borrow a book from a library, I'll probably end up buying a copy for myself if I like it enough.

The Great Flood

September 21st, 2009 was the day of the Great Flood in Georgia.

When we left the house for work that morning, I had no idea how bad things would get by the end of the day. The fact that there was a traffic jam on the highway just a few miles from our house that early in the morning should have been an indication. There was a mudslide on the highway, with only one lane open at that time, and those giving traffic updates on the radio and TV were saying to stay at home and try getting to work later, when the sun was up. So that's what Bruce and I did - turned around and went back home.

I started working from home and decided to just stay at home and work that day, after speaking with my boss, because more and more often, the traffic and weather people were saying to do that. Bruce couldn't, because of the project they were working on in his office, but by the end of the day, he was wishing he had. It took him an hour and a half to get to work that morning, and four-and-a-half-hours to get home. He had tried to stay off the highways because there were quite a few traffic accidents and bad traffic jams, but going on the back roads turned out to be a bad idea as it rained quite heavily several times on Monday and caused floods on so many of those roads that he had to keep turning around or taking detours. At one point, he was only about seven miles from home, I think, but the road he was on goes over the Yellow River at the bottom of a hill and was no longer passable as a result of the heavy rainfall. He finally ended up on the highways he had tried to avoid and got home at about 8:30 that night.

The floods were so bad that some people could not even return to their homes that night - the houses were inaccessible. My intern wasn't able to get to work that morning because the area she lived in was completely cut off by the floods - she was only able to get out on Thursday. There was almost non-stop news coverage on TV that night and the next morning about the damage wrought by the floods - some houses were almost completely covered by flood water. Ironically, in the middle of all that water, one lone house was on fire - it had apparently been struck by lightning. Lots of people had flooded basements, at the very least, if not more - lots of damage to furniture and appliances. I can't even begin to imagine how heartbreaking it must have been to lose so much at one go.

The worst of it is that most houses in Georgia are not covered by flood insurance, because they were not built in flood plains. One man said that he had tried several times to purchase flood insurance but was told he couldn't because it wasn't allowed, as he wasn't in a flood plain. That is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard in a while, and I hope it changes soon. (I'm sure insurance agencies would be fighting that, though, because they would have had to make huge payouts after this flood, if enough affected people had bought flood insurance beforehand.) People should be allowed to buy whatever insurance they want, if they want it and are willing to pay the premium. There is so much nonsensical bureaucracy in this world.

We, thankfully, had no damage. We had a bit of a lake in the backyard at one point that afternoon, but that soon disappeared into the ground.

October is supposed to be a dry month but we've already had more rainy than sunny days in the last two-and-a-half-weeks, I think, and lots of people are now paranoid every time it rains. The sun seems like a stranger these days. Even today, when it was supposed to be sunny, we've only seen clouds and some rain The one good thing about all this rain is that the lakes are now back to full pool, as they call it, after two or more years of drought.

Hum ...

... is for hummingbirds. There's one perching on our hummingbird feeder as I write this. Perching, not hovering as they normally do. We've had two regulars in the last few weeks; one of them seems to be a little less confident, so it hovers while drinking and flies off quickly. The other actually settles down on the feeder, drinking long and hard. Yesterday, I was standing at the French doors that lead to the backyard because I'd seen a bird on the ground I didn't recognize, so I was trying to get as close as possible for a better look without going outside and scaring it away. While I was standing there, probably about two feet from the hummingbird feeder, which was on the other side of the glass in the door, the perching hummingbird arrived for a feed. I've never been that close to one before - it was amazing! The throat muscles were moving as fast as their wings do when they hover. Then, just now, one of our "regulars" seemed to be in a fight with another hummingbird - perhaps a newcomer? They were diving through the air at each other, and one (the percher) apparently won the challenge because the other backed off. Our feeder has four separate flowers/holes through which they can get to the nectar, so it's a shame that they aren't willing to share.

... is for humans, 40,000 of them in one place at one time, Bruce and I among them. Our friend Amy Jackson was with us, as well (her husband, John, was working, unfortunately, so couldn't be with us). We were at Peidmont Park in Atlanta on Saturday, August 15th, for the outdoor Paul McCartney concert. Bruce was thrilled to be there, because he's a huge fan of Sir Paul as well as the Beatles but hadn't seen McCartney live before. It's difficult to believe that Paul McCartney is 67 - he sang/performed for almost two-and-a-half hours without taking a break. It was a great concert, despite the heat (we went there several hours before he came onstage so that we wouldn't be too far from the stage, which meant we had to bake in the sun) and the sudden downpour during the concert. It didn't rain very long (about 20 minutes) and no one minded (although I wish we had brought along our ponchos). Since the concert was outdoors, there were no seats, so we sat on the ground on blankets. Once Paul McCartney was on stage, we were all on our feet (which happens at most indoor concerts, as well). The best thing was seeing teenagers and kids in the crowd, dancing and singing along. We weren't close enough to the stage to see Paul McCartney up close, but there were two huge screens on either side of the stage with close-ups of him and the band.

August has been a humming month.

Chortle

Joey: "It's a moo point."

Rachel: "A moo point?"

Joey: "Yes. It's a cow's opinion. It doesn't mean a thing. It's moo."


I was watching a re-run of Friends last night and that exchange reminded me why I loved the series. I was laughing so hard and so loudly that Bruce came into the room to see what was so funny.

I think that particular bit struck my funny bone more than any others because several people in Bruce's old office used to say, "It's a mute point" when they meant "moot", and genuinely thought that was the expression. I'd never heard variations of the phrase before, but Joey's takes the cake, especially because of his delivery. I think I have a new favourite saying ...