Upon returning to the car, the attendant immediately pointed out the damage, apologized for the incident & assured my wife that they would take care of the expense of the repair. This was later followed up by a phone call to the house. A cynic might think that this was nothing more than  VPA playing CYA, but its not like there was a threat of a personal injury suit here. This was just old fashioned customer service.

Our body shop faxed the estimate to Valet Park of America & VPA quickly made a direct payment to the shop. No jerking around. No money out of pocket. Sweet!

This was followed up one more time with a letter from Michael Chagnon, Director of Quality Control, Valet Park of America. In the letter Mr Chagnon apologized again for the “unfortunate experience” and thanked my wife for her patience. He also included a gift card to a local restaurant and his business card with an invitation to contact him in the future. IMPRESSIVE!

Isn’t it ironic that while Toyota is cutting back on QC, a company like VPA takes it seriously?  It takes a lot to impress me, but I am thoroughly impressed by the actions of Michael Chagnon and Valet Park of America. I would strongly encourage every company to follow their lead when it comes to Quality control and customer service.

As I walked in, I found a shop full of patrons waiting for a haircut. Not known for my patience, I turned and walked out, intending to return later. Little did I know that Alex was hot on my heels, and caught me outside the shop. (Mind you, he was in the middle of a hair cut at the time:)

“Hey - where you going?” he asked with a booming voice and pronounced Italian dialect? C’mon in - it won’t be 20 minutes before you get a chair”. I’m not sure if it was the shock of his being so direct or a profound respect for a man so passionate about his work, but I did as Alex asked. I came back in and waited my turn. In less than 20 minutes, Alex had a customer for life.

Alex was another one of those guys that really “gets” customer service. His Barber Shop is the real life “Cheers” where everybody knows your name and they’re really glad you came.  It’s hard to believe that 22 years have gone by.

I fondly recall my young daughter accompanying me to the shop. Alex would make her day by pointing out where the lolly pops were and allowing her to take two! As a right of passage, my son got his first haircut from Alex and delighted in sitting on the child’s carousel style kids chair.  As the years went by we would exchange stories about kids, grand-kids, mortgages, employees, small business, politics, horse racing - just about anything that you would discuss with a friend that you saw every few weeks for 20 + years.

On the morning of  my flight to Las Vegas to attend the PubCon Internet Marketing Conference, I needed to make a quick  trip to see my buddy Alex Dimeo. Despite having a lot less hair than I did 20 years ago, the cruel reality is that it needs to be cut more often (yeah .. counter intuitive, isn’t it). I didn’t see Alex, but it wasn’t uncommon for him to make a coffee run for himself and everyone else in the shop, first thing in the morning.

Since time was tight, I decided not to wait for Alex and took a seat in another Barber’s chair. Not long into my cut, I got a gut check from the guy next to me. “I wasn’t sure that they would keep the shop open after Alex passed.”

WTF? Alex was only 59 years old. He was in the last year of his Mortgage. He was looking forward to selling the shop and retiring. How did I know all of this? Alex was more than my barber - he became my friend.

So as it turns out, I was indeed a customer for life. In the 20+ years that I knew Alex he never lost the passion for customer service. If he ever had a bad day, I never knew it. He didn’t just have customers, because everyone that entered that shop was his friend.

I’m going to miss Alex and I feel for his family and friends. He was larger than life and he can not be replaced.  He represented the best in small business and humanity. Rest in peace, my friend.

Better Business Bureau, Inc.
100 Bryant Woods South
Amherst, NY 14228

re: John Anderson, Pro-Tech Masonry, Pro-Tech Boat, RV and Mobile Home Supply (518) 899-4780 or (518) 466-5439 (complaint ID #ACFD0-C9F09-2C432-7A4E1-7D7F5-4F042-9F)

Dear Charles Price:

The Better Business Bureau has processed your complaint to the above referenced company. Our purpose is to serve both parties in a dispute by acting as a neutral third party. We attempt to help both sides find a voluntary solution to the complaint.

We have enclosed a copy of the response we have received from the business. Your complaint will remain in the company file and will be reported to the public for the next three years as “unresolved”. This means the consumer and the business could not reach an agreement. If a company should develop a pattern of complaints in this category,  it may result in a negative change to the company’s BBB rating. The company in question is not a BBB Accredited Business and therefore we are unable to pursue your complaint further. You might want to seek the advice of an attorney or file in Small Claims Court.

If this message contains a PDF file you will need Adobe Reader software to open it. If you do not currently have Adobe Reader installed on your pc, you can obtain it by visiting www.adobe.com and clicking on the Get Adobe Reader button. If you do not wish to load this software onto your pc, please respond with a request for the correspondence to be sent to you via regular mail. The BBB is not responsible for any problems that you may incur while downloading software onto your pc.

John Kaiser
Trade Practice Specialist
jkaiser@upstatenybbb.org

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This post was inspired by John Anderson of Mechanicville New York. Mr. Andersen was advertising his company, Pro-Tech Masonry on craigslist, the best website on the whole interweb. The heading: AFFORDABLE STAMPED CONCRETE (Saratoga/Capital District), was exactly what I was looking for, so I gave him a ring.  He listed two numbers for his business business: (518) 899-4780 and (518) 466-5439. He came to my house, presented himself very professionally, quoted a fair price & I signed a contract with his company, Pro Tech. (Note that I failed to mention the part where I checked his references or checked out his reputation online. Unfortunately I failed to mention it because I made the classic rookie mistake of not doing it. My bad - aauugh!)

Pro-tech was hired to re-antique & reseal a patterned concrete patio. The sealer bubbled up immediately and the patio was a mess. The contractor from Mechanicville agreed to power wash & redo the job.  Less than one week later, the job was redone, with the same result: a bubbled up mess. John Andersen then agreed to do the job a third time - using a different sealer. His failure to completely strip the sealer from the previous two jobs left the surface with a crazed, pitted and uneven gloss finish. The bubbles also appeared again. Mr Andersen was slow to respond to the third botched job & would not return my calls. He finally did come to my house (when he knew I would not be not home) & left me a note refusing to acknowledge the problem nor honor his guarantee.

Furthermore, John Anderson of Pro-Tech Masonry informed me that if I were to take action against him in small claims court that he would retaliate with a counter suit which would seek to recover court costs and attorneys fees. I’m not sure if Mr Anderson is naive to the rules of small claims or merely bluffing and hoping that I didn’t know any better. Either way, this did not set particularly well with me.

Should you find yourself in this position, I suggest that you follow the same steps that I have taken:

1) Ignore the threats of a counter claim. Courts take a dim view of contractors that ripoff homeowners and I have yet to see a homeowner lose a suit like this. I am not aware of any provision for the party being sued to reclaim his defense expenses in a small claims action.

2) If you are in New York state, file a complaint with the attorney general.  If enough homeowners file a complaint, these guys get shut down and / or sent to jail. I hope this homeowner filed a complaint after getting ripped off by John Anderson.

3)  File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Although they have little influence over a lousy contractor, the point is to get the word out & to spare others from suffering the same abuse.

4) Alert others online. Websites like the Ripoff Report , Complaints Board, Yelp and Angies List do a great job of alerting unsuspecting homeowners of the practices of predatory and shoddy contractors like pro tech.

5) Take the contractor to court! If your claim is $5,000 or less you can sue him on your own, without the expense of an attorney. If you are in New York,  check out this Guide to Small Claims Court.

6) Tell all of your friends & co-workers  about your experience. The contracting business relies heavily on word of mouth.The more people that learn about a bad contractors reputation, the better off the community will be.

7) Blog about it:)

I will keep you posted as events unfold. I sure hope that John Anderson treats his customers at Pro Tech Marine, 382 Route 67 Mechanicville, NY 12118-3110, (518) 899-4780 better than the homeowners that hire Pro-Tech Masonry.

Alan Chartock, the Rambler’s banjo player, recently wrote a piece for the Troy Record. He advocates naming a bridge in honor of fellow musician and activist Pete Seeger. As President and CEO of WAMC, Northeast Public Radio, he may carry a bit more weight than the average banjo player:)  I hope Pete gets his due.

The bottom line is this - the next time that you hear The Ramblers are going to appear at an event - don’t miss it. If you want to keep up with Alan Chartock’s daily musings, you can always follow him on twitter!

Perhaps you know Steve Rodrigue of FECoding http://www.fecoding.com.  If so, he could use your help. You see, Steve took $950 from me as a down payment for a website that was never developed. Steve says he really wants to pay me back, but he doesn’t have the money. When I asked Mr Rodrigue what was completed on the job, he ignored my email.

I’m sure that Steve doesn’t want to be known as a thief or a deadbeat,  and would welcome a loan from a good friend, so he could clear his name. Just in case Steve has burned all of his friends in Quebec City, I have another idea. If you happen to know anyone that needs a website or programming, have them speak to steve.rodrigue1@gmail.com. Perhaps Steve Rodrigue is working a Ponzi scheme and will take your money to pay me.

Of course that would suck for you, but at least I would be whole:)

I’m hoping that Steve does the right thing and issues a refund. If he does, I will let you know.

Dr D complains that “Most patients will freely admit that they have, at one time or another, researched health-related information on the Internet.” Imagine that - individuals without an MD behind their name having the nerve to research their symptoms. This does not sit well with the “good” doctor. In fact, Bobby D offers the following model as the ideal:

“At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and their families, are instructed not to conduct any Internet-based research on their condition—at least for the first few days following diagnosis. This edict eliminates the misinformed patient.”

WTF - are you kidding me?  I hope this isn’t true. Perhaps someone from  Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia can set the record straight on this.

Dr D then bemoans: “If only this model could be cloned and used for all patients in every specialty.” Ah, yes Doctor. Damn those (mis?)informed patients who dare to take an interest in their own health. Why can’t they just shut up, listen to your diagnosis then do as you say without question?

When my son was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, I spent the next 24 hours straight (no kidding, there was no sleep) learning as much about this disease as possible via the web. The diabetes educator was stunned the following day by my knowledge & understanding of the disease. It seems that I was bright enough to separate the BS from the facts. I’m guessing that most patients have that same ability.

I also discovered the world of clinical trials for the treatment of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetics. This is something they DON’T discuss at the hospital and the window of opportunity is short. Many type 1 diabetes trials are limited to newly diagnosed patients. If you don’t act immediately, you will miss the chance to participate. I was on the phone to Columbia, Harvard & Yale 48 hours after my son’s diagnosis looking to get him enrolled in a clinical trial. I learned about the trials and the locations from internet research.

So why does this Doc have a hard on for patients that use the web for research? It might have something to do with this warning letter that I turned up when using the web to look into his background. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that D’Ambrosia would be cited by the FDA for  “Failure to obtain proper informed consent prior to involving human beings as subjects.” This guy’s attitude appears to be that Doctor knows best & the patient should have no information nor say in his or her own treatment

Note to Robert D. D’Ambrosia, M.D.: This is 2009 - The days of Doctor as God are long gone. Get with the new plan or retire - no kidding. At least get in compliance with the FDA.

The class was a wild success. The presenters were all great guys. Everyone learned a lot & had a great time in the process.

Outside of the conference, I was somewhat surprised to discover that it is impossible to get decent service in a UK hotel, restaurant or pub. Need a room after flying all nite and arriving at the hotel at 7:30 AM? Too bad. Wait till 2:30. Never mind that these were arrangements made in advance.

Need to combine some tables at the restaurant for a large group? Well those tables aren’t going to combine themselves. Have at it my friend.

Ready to order your meal? Well, belly up to the bar, buddy. That’s right - all 10 in your party. You don’t expect the server to handle 10 orders do you?

Tipping in the UK is a “foreign” concept, so there is ZERO incentive to do anything, but scrape by. From what I heard, this even extends to the strip clubs (.)(.)

A note to visitors to the US from the UK: Please tip your server / strippers generously. The value of the GBP vs the USD is exceptionally strong . Sure, I used to be a cheap SOB who hated the idea of tipping, just like you - but I have seen the light.

Thanks Edinburgh

So, she placed the order & Got the following confirmation on Dec 18 at 9:25 AM

Dear XXXXXXXX Price, Thank you for ordering from the CVS.com Photo Center.We received your order and will begin processing it soon. Your order information appears below. Your order number is: XXXXXXXX Contact Information XXXXXXX Price Order Details: Item Quantity Unit Price Price 4×6* 1 $0.19 $0.19 Happy Holidays 40 $26.99 Subtotal: $27.18 Total $27.18 * Approximate pickup time is 12:00 PM on 12/18/2007. You will receive a second email when your order is ready to be picked up. Pick-up Information CVS #2259 215 Whalley Ave New Haven, Connecticut (203)401-4660 If you have questions or require additional assistance, please contact us by email at CVS Customer Care or by phone at (888) 607-4287 As always, thank you for choosing CVS.com. We are committed to your satisfaction and we greatly appreciate your business. Sincerely, Customer Care Department www.CVS.com (888) 607-4CVS (4287) CVS Customer Care

Fantastic!

For some crazy reason, my wife figured that if she went in that evening - a full 6 1/2 hours after the available pick up time that she could pick up the cards & be on her way - WRONG!

Instead, the clerk couldn’t find the cards & couldn’t give an explanation as to why they might be MIA. When asked what the store did in cases like this, the clerk had no answer. When asked when the cards might arrive - you guessed it - no answer.

That’s when I called Amy at the customer service number. It would appear that that little asterisk in the email designated that the 19 cent photo was ready - but NOT the cards. Nice. Amy admitted that the confirmation was “confusing” and the website was to be redesigned. But… since this doesn’t happen often, its a low priority.

I suggested that it might be a nice gesture to drop the cards off at the Ronald McDonald house, when they did arrive, to save my wife another trip to CVS. Amy would have none of that.

Sooo - when ordering cards from CVS, make sure you call ahead to make certain that your pickup location has the equipment to print the cards there. I’m really not sure why I have to spread the word about this, when CVS could easily explain the lead times on their website.

I bet if Penn & Teller were chairman & CEO of CVS, this wouldn’t happen!

Penn and Teller are not only great magicians, but they are great marketing guys, too. They aren’t afraid to push the envelope - going so far as to yell “FIRE” in a crowded theater (no kidding) and even blowing up the American Flag (which they make sure the audience recognizes as an illusion). Not many people can get away with that!

At the end of the show, both magicians bolt for the exits - not to escape the crowds, but to GREET the audience as they exit the theater. Both Penn & Teller HAPPILY signed show tickets & posed for autographs with their fans. These are two guys who really understand who pays their way. Sure its old school - and it works! There was a time when most businesses in America treated their customers the way that Penn & Teller treat their audience. Customer service standards seem to be steadily eroding, as I have eluded to in previous posts. It’s a shame that Penn & Teller stand out as the exception, not the rule - but for that very reason - I would encourage you to catch their act the next time you find yourself in Sin City!