... literally and figuratively. It's been raining all day. We've probably had four to five centimetres of rain. There have been floods in Florida and over a foot of snow in D.C. Our backyard is a mud pit and the dogs have been happy to stay in today. Usually when we're at home and it's a sunny day, they enjoy being outside sniffing the air, chasing squirrels and sunning themselves every once in a while.
And now to the figurative part of that expression (I much prefer Shakespeare's "When troubles come, they come not single spies but in battalions." However, the rain quote is more fitting today and for this blog): Did we really dare think that we had identified all problems with the house and were getting everything fixed? That was, of course, tempting fate.
The result? We found out on Tuesday that we have termites. The rotting wood in the wall with the leak was apparently nirvana for them. We have a pest control guy coming out on Tuesday to begin the termite treatment. (He was supposed to come today but postponed the appointment because of the rain.) We were planning on getting a termite contract anyway, because it's one of the many things that will make it easier to sell this house, so that's one more thing off the to-do list.
On the plus side, the mould room is no more! The wall has been fixed and painted, the termites will soon be dead and the new carpet will be laid on Monday. At some point, I'd like to get a futon for that room, so that it can be turned into a bed if we have guests. (Futons are apparently more comfortable than sofa beds - I like the fact that it would take up less room than an acutal bed and can also be used for seating during the day.) For now, we're going to put the single chair from our living room set and a reading lamp in that room, once the carpet is down. That will create a little more space in our living room and also give us a nice reading room.
Just four more days of work next week and then I'm on vacation for the rest of the year. I'm looking forward to the break and to doing a little Christmas baking - some cookies, perhaps. I like trying new recipes and keep coming across yummy-sounding ones in the newspapers and online.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Mountains and curves
Bruce loves mountains. I think we'd be up north in the Georgia mountains every weekend, if he had his way. I like mountains, especially the view from the top of one, but getting to (and leaving) a mountain has never been my favourite thing because of the curvy roads (especially those hairpin curves). I don't feel quite so seasick if I'm the one driving, or if I sit perfectly still, but I'd still prefer not to be on a mountain road if possible. Now, however, we appear to be metaphorically stuck on one.
I have come to the conclusion that home renovations are the equivalent of a ride to the top of a tall, tall mountain. The promise of a great view is beckoning from the distance, and I know this house is going to look wonderful when all the work is finally done, but the road is long and winding a great deal. So much so that I'm beginning to treasure every lull (i.e. break from a hairpin curve) we have.
One such lull - our kitchen/dining room floor looks wonderful! The tile is gorgeous and goes very well with the kitchen cabinets (I forgot to take the "before" photos, so unless you've seen the floor at its worst you may not understand why I'm so giddy about the tiles). Bruce and I both love, love, love our newly tiled floor, and I think that's what is keeping us going amidst this chaos.
Our contractor came by on Tuesday with one of his guys to look at the wall in our mould room in order to try and figure out where the leak was situated (only the insane insurance guy thought it came in at ground level). So the contractor, George, and his colleague, Frank, started removing some of the drywall around the window (which is where we normal folk thought the leak was, which is why we ordered new windows in the first place).
It's not always pretty to be right. (I'll put in photos when I get them from Bruce, so you'll be able to see what I mean.)
The wood around the window in the mould room is almost completely rotted through. And, according to George, it looks like there's been a leak there before that someone tried to fix (but not very well). I don't know how long this leak has been there, but judging from the condition of the wood, it's been quite a while.
So Bruce took photos, George took photos, and then Bruce called our insurance company. They said they needed a letter from George stating what was found (since apparently a contractor is more believable than a mere homeowner). George faxed them a description of what he found as well as his estimate of what it will cost to repair the damage. Then we had to call the insurance company yesterday to follow up, i.e. make sure they received the fax. They had, but naturally they weren't going to do anything with the fax until they heard from us. Now that Bruce has followed up the fax with a phone call, they can officially move to the next stage of the process, which is to get the inspector to call Bruce to set up an appointment to come to our house and look at the damage for himself. We have no idea when that phone call will take place, but at least we've got the ball rolling (uphill, of course, since this is a journey to the top of a mountain).
This means we can't do a thing with that room until the inspector gets here - we can't get the wall fixed and we can't put in the new carpet.
But the rest of the house needs attention, too, so we'll just close the door to that mould room and focus on everything else.
We're getting new closet doors installed. That sound simple enough, right? Take off the old ones, put on the new. Except this is a nausea-inducing journey, remember? The closet doors we had were from the '80s. They were heavy, made of metal (heavy metal being a very '80s thing!) and were continually coming out of their tracks. They were a pain to open and close. These days, closet doors are made from wood and are much lighter. So that's what we've opted to have instead of our iron monsters. Except that closet doors are now about 80 inches tall (a little over 2 metres), and the metal ones were taller (perhaps another 20 cm or so). That means they have to put in a bit of a filler between the ceiling and the new closet doors.
That in itself has turned out to be a complicated process, because it's not just a matter of putting in the fillers. No ... First, all our closets have to be emptied. Otherwise, the plaster that covers the wood used to fill in the space will get all over our things when it is sanded down. So, we have a FUN weekend ahead of us. We have to empty out every single closet and pack stuff into boxes. We can use one closet for work clothes that we'll need in the coming week, but everything else needs to be put away. In a small house with very little empty space. FUN!!! And then after all this is done, we'll have more chaos when the new carpet is put in, as I don't know how the men will be moving around furniture. All the dining room furniture had to go into the living room when the tile was being laid, which meant we could barely move around in the living room. Goodness knows where the living room furniture is going to go when they have to put down the carpet. But hopefully I'll be in the office that day and Bruce can enjoy that madness all by himself! (I had to endure the tile turbulence by myself, so it's only fair that he has a turn.)
The men will probably be working on the closet doors most of the coming week. I'm working from home on Monday and Thursday (my wonderful boss agreed to my request without hesitation) and Bruce will be here on Tuesday and Friday, his usual work-from-home days. We both have meetings on Wednesday that we have to be in the office for, but the rest of the week will be filled with hammering and loud air guns that scare Belle and unnerve Beau. (Have you ever heard an air gun drive a nail into wood? It is jarring and almost deafening.)
The guys doing the work - Frank and Mike - are nice guys and are doing a great job so far. My only concern is the amount of dirt and dust that all this work is kicking up. My lungs are not happy.
As our muscles and backs begin to ache from all the moving and packing we'll be doing this weekend, I'll just have to keep reminding myself about the lovely house we'll have in January when we finally get to the top of this mountain ...
I have come to the conclusion that home renovations are the equivalent of a ride to the top of a tall, tall mountain. The promise of a great view is beckoning from the distance, and I know this house is going to look wonderful when all the work is finally done, but the road is long and winding a great deal. So much so that I'm beginning to treasure every lull (i.e. break from a hairpin curve) we have.
One such lull - our kitchen/dining room floor looks wonderful! The tile is gorgeous and goes very well with the kitchen cabinets (I forgot to take the "before" photos, so unless you've seen the floor at its worst you may not understand why I'm so giddy about the tiles). Bruce and I both love, love, love our newly tiled floor, and I think that's what is keeping us going amidst this chaos.
Our contractor came by on Tuesday with one of his guys to look at the wall in our mould room in order to try and figure out where the leak was situated (only the insane insurance guy thought it came in at ground level). So the contractor, George, and his colleague, Frank, started removing some of the drywall around the window (which is where we normal folk thought the leak was, which is why we ordered new windows in the first place).
It's not always pretty to be right. (I'll put in photos when I get them from Bruce, so you'll be able to see what I mean.)
The wood around the window in the mould room is almost completely rotted through. And, according to George, it looks like there's been a leak there before that someone tried to fix (but not very well). I don't know how long this leak has been there, but judging from the condition of the wood, it's been quite a while.
So Bruce took photos, George took photos, and then Bruce called our insurance company. They said they needed a letter from George stating what was found (since apparently a contractor is more believable than a mere homeowner). George faxed them a description of what he found as well as his estimate of what it will cost to repair the damage. Then we had to call the insurance company yesterday to follow up, i.e. make sure they received the fax. They had, but naturally they weren't going to do anything with the fax until they heard from us. Now that Bruce has followed up the fax with a phone call, they can officially move to the next stage of the process, which is to get the inspector to call Bruce to set up an appointment to come to our house and look at the damage for himself. We have no idea when that phone call will take place, but at least we've got the ball rolling (uphill, of course, since this is a journey to the top of a mountain).
This means we can't do a thing with that room until the inspector gets here - we can't get the wall fixed and we can't put in the new carpet.
But the rest of the house needs attention, too, so we'll just close the door to that mould room and focus on everything else.
We're getting new closet doors installed. That sound simple enough, right? Take off the old ones, put on the new. Except this is a nausea-inducing journey, remember? The closet doors we had were from the '80s. They were heavy, made of metal (heavy metal being a very '80s thing!) and were continually coming out of their tracks. They were a pain to open and close. These days, closet doors are made from wood and are much lighter. So that's what we've opted to have instead of our iron monsters. Except that closet doors are now about 80 inches tall (a little over 2 metres), and the metal ones were taller (perhaps another 20 cm or so). That means they have to put in a bit of a filler between the ceiling and the new closet doors.
That in itself has turned out to be a complicated process, because it's not just a matter of putting in the fillers. No ... First, all our closets have to be emptied. Otherwise, the plaster that covers the wood used to fill in the space will get all over our things when it is sanded down. So, we have a FUN weekend ahead of us. We have to empty out every single closet and pack stuff into boxes. We can use one closet for work clothes that we'll need in the coming week, but everything else needs to be put away. In a small house with very little empty space. FUN!!! And then after all this is done, we'll have more chaos when the new carpet is put in, as I don't know how the men will be moving around furniture. All the dining room furniture had to go into the living room when the tile was being laid, which meant we could barely move around in the living room. Goodness knows where the living room furniture is going to go when they have to put down the carpet. But hopefully I'll be in the office that day and Bruce can enjoy that madness all by himself! (I had to endure the tile turbulence by myself, so it's only fair that he has a turn.)
The men will probably be working on the closet doors most of the coming week. I'm working from home on Monday and Thursday (my wonderful boss agreed to my request without hesitation) and Bruce will be here on Tuesday and Friday, his usual work-from-home days. We both have meetings on Wednesday that we have to be in the office for, but the rest of the week will be filled with hammering and loud air guns that scare Belle and unnerve Beau. (Have you ever heard an air gun drive a nail into wood? It is jarring and almost deafening.)
The guys doing the work - Frank and Mike - are nice guys and are doing a great job so far. My only concern is the amount of dirt and dust that all this work is kicking up. My lungs are not happy.
As our muscles and backs begin to ache from all the moving and packing we'll be doing this weekend, I'll just have to keep reminding myself about the lovely house we'll have in January when we finally get to the top of this mountain ...
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Chaos diluted
We're not adopting Blondie, after all. On Thursday morning (we were supposed to pick her up from Lisa's house that evening), Lisa called Bruce to tell him that Blondie had attacked Lisa's dog, Oliver. One of Oliver's ears was damaged badly enough to require surgery. Both Lisa and her mother didn't think we should take in Blondie, in case she attacked our dogs, as well, and Bruce and I agreed.
It's difficult to understand why the attack happened, since Blondie seemed so sweet when we met her on Monday, and she had been living with another dog so it's not like she wasn't used to that. Bruce and I think perhaps it's because she was in heat when Lisa's mother brought her over to Lisa's house on Monday, and after a couple of days she might have begun feeling threatened by Oliver. Whatever the reason, we didn't want to risk having her attack Belle or Beau. She may be better off in a home with no other dogs. She was taken to an animal shelter, and I hope someone sees and adopts her.
Our dining room and kitchen floor will be installed on Wednesday. I'm SO excited about that (because the current linoleum is torn up in many places, thanks to Beau's puppyhood, and looks awful, and the tile will look so pretty), but it's going to be a challenge. The dogs will have to be kept out of that area all day Wednesday and perhaps even Thursday and Friday, while the grout dries (otherwise we'd have dog hair stuck in the drying grout). The door to the backyard is in the dining room, so that means I'll have to take the dogs out the front door and around the house to the side fence to get to the backyard at night and early in the morning when they need to go out/run around. And we'll have to put up one of our doggie fences to block off the kitchen and dining room. However, that's a temporary inconvenience and the end result will definitely be worth it. I'll ask Bruce to take before and after photos. (We should have done that before we had the new kitchen cabinets put in a couple of years ago, but didn't think of it at the time.)
The mould room, as I call it, is very bad for my lungs, so I'm glad we are getting closer to having that redone. Someone will come here next week to pull out the carpet in that room and take away some of the old furniture that has water damage, so that the room can dry out some more before the new carpet is put in. Also, we had a contractor come over yesterday to take measurements - he's going to replace the damaged wall once the room is dry enough. Then all the icky mould will be gone for good. My lungs can't wait!
It's difficult to understand why the attack happened, since Blondie seemed so sweet when we met her on Monday, and she had been living with another dog so it's not like she wasn't used to that. Bruce and I think perhaps it's because she was in heat when Lisa's mother brought her over to Lisa's house on Monday, and after a couple of days she might have begun feeling threatened by Oliver. Whatever the reason, we didn't want to risk having her attack Belle or Beau. She may be better off in a home with no other dogs. She was taken to an animal shelter, and I hope someone sees and adopts her.
Our dining room and kitchen floor will be installed on Wednesday. I'm SO excited about that (because the current linoleum is torn up in many places, thanks to Beau's puppyhood, and looks awful, and the tile will look so pretty), but it's going to be a challenge. The dogs will have to be kept out of that area all day Wednesday and perhaps even Thursday and Friday, while the grout dries (otherwise we'd have dog hair stuck in the drying grout). The door to the backyard is in the dining room, so that means I'll have to take the dogs out the front door and around the house to the side fence to get to the backyard at night and early in the morning when they need to go out/run around. And we'll have to put up one of our doggie fences to block off the kitchen and dining room. However, that's a temporary inconvenience and the end result will definitely be worth it. I'll ask Bruce to take before and after photos. (We should have done that before we had the new kitchen cabinets put in a couple of years ago, but didn't think of it at the time.)
The mould room, as I call it, is very bad for my lungs, so I'm glad we are getting closer to having that redone. Someone will come here next week to pull out the carpet in that room and take away some of the old furniture that has water damage, so that the room can dry out some more before the new carpet is put in. Also, we had a contractor come over yesterday to take measurements - he's going to replace the damaged wall once the room is dry enough. Then all the icky mould will be gone for good. My lungs can't wait!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Certifiable
I think it's official - Bruce and I are crazy. Well, he was crazy to begin with and now I've been caught in the whirlpool.
We have so much going on right now. We:
Because of all that work being done at around the same time, thanks to the mould infestation, we've had a bunch of different people coming and going. People dropping in to tell us what sort of services they offered, different people to take measurements, people to do the actual work ... (Beau and Belle have been delighted, because they, especially Beau, love visitors.) A lot of time has been spent on research and phonecalls, and our lives have been rather chaotic in the last few weeks.
Apparently that wasn't enough for us.
Yesterday, Bruce's co-worker, told him that her mother had rescued a couple of female labradors (one golden, one black) from someone who was apparently somewhat abusive towards them and was trying to get rid of them by dumping them in different neighbourhoods. Bruce has always liked labs, but ever since we've had Beau, Bruce has really, really become a huge fan of the breed. They certainly are very sweet, affectionate dogs. So when he heard about these labs, he became very interested, especially when he saw a photo of the golden one. We went to meet her yesterday and she was adorable. Bruce fell in love with her because she paid him a lot of attention and was cuddling up to him. I've thought for the last year-and-a-half that Beau needs another labrador to play with - he and Belle get on very well but Belle doesn't play like he does, so he doesn't have anyone with whom he can run around and get crazy.
So, despite the fact that we live in a tiny, tiny house that already feels crowded withe the two of us and two dogs, Bruce is ready to trip over yet another dog and we're going to adopt this one. We'll be picking her up on Thursday, so that we'll be at home for a few days before we have to leave the three dogs alone at home while we're at work (both Bruce and I work from home on Fridays).
Oh, and guess what, Ranee? She's going to have a name that begins with the letter B, as well, despite my protests. Bruce wants to name her Blondie.
Wish us luck - I think life is going to get even crazier. We need to sell this house and buy a bigger one!
We have so much going on right now. We:
- just had the air-conditioning/heating system replaced;
- are getting new flooring in the next few weeks (that needs to be done quickly because there's mould on the carpet in one room and we don't want to risk it spreading anywhere else or getting back into the air-conditioning system);
- are going to hire someone to repair some holes in our ceiling (where the old vents used to be) and wall (where Beau ate a chunk of it when he was a puppy);
- need to find someone to replace the closet doors in all the rooms (these don't open or shut well and are heavy as well as constantly coming out of their tracks);
- are getting the siding on our house replaced (hail damage means insurance is paying for most of it).
Because of all that work being done at around the same time, thanks to the mould infestation, we've had a bunch of different people coming and going. People dropping in to tell us what sort of services they offered, different people to take measurements, people to do the actual work ... (Beau and Belle have been delighted, because they, especially Beau, love visitors.) A lot of time has been spent on research and phonecalls, and our lives have been rather chaotic in the last few weeks.
Apparently that wasn't enough for us.
Yesterday, Bruce's co-worker, told him that her mother had rescued a couple of female labradors (one golden, one black) from someone who was apparently somewhat abusive towards them and was trying to get rid of them by dumping them in different neighbourhoods. Bruce has always liked labs, but ever since we've had Beau, Bruce has really, really become a huge fan of the breed. They certainly are very sweet, affectionate dogs. So when he heard about these labs, he became very interested, especially when he saw a photo of the golden one. We went to meet her yesterday and she was adorable. Bruce fell in love with her because she paid him a lot of attention and was cuddling up to him. I've thought for the last year-and-a-half that Beau needs another labrador to play with - he and Belle get on very well but Belle doesn't play like he does, so he doesn't have anyone with whom he can run around and get crazy.
So, despite the fact that we live in a tiny, tiny house that already feels crowded withe the two of us and two dogs, Bruce is ready to trip over yet another dog and we're going to adopt this one. We'll be picking her up on Thursday, so that we'll be at home for a few days before we have to leave the three dogs alone at home while we're at work (both Bruce and I work from home on Fridays).
Oh, and guess what, Ranee? She's going to have a name that begins with the letter B, as well, despite my protests. Bruce wants to name her Blondie.
Wish us luck - I think life is going to get even crazier. We need to sell this house and buy a bigger one!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
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.
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.
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