Are You a Bad Buyer?
by Mr Credit CardOne of my biggest peeves is contractors, plumbers etc. Any one that has anything to do with your home repairs. They as a group are generally unreliable, never complete their work on time, do not show up when they said they will show up. Dealing with them is just a horrible experience.
Here is the most recent experience. We hired a plumber to fix a few things in our toilets (and yes, we are changing our toilet seats). He told us that he does work for Home Depot and was hence able to get us better prices on our parts! Mrs Credit Card gladly went along. He also charged us lower rates (or what we thought to be reasonable).
The plumber came a couple of times. But he did not finish his work. For the last three times he was supposed to make, he came up with all sorts of excuses. Firstly, his parent in law passed away, then he forgot about this daughters’ school concert. Just last week, he had his appendix taken out! When is our toilet seats going to be installed?
However, as I looked back at my other pleasant experiences with contractors, I found one thing in common. The really good guys taken the time to explain how they will repair your stuff and what was the problem. Their contract was at least 10 pages long specifying what they would exactly do. Lastly, but most importantly, they charged higher price that their competitors and they were not afraid of saying so. In fact, they were proud of that fact and guaranteed that the jobs would finish on time. My kitchen contractor got me to sign a contact about 50 pages – with every screw, nut and bolt in the contract! When fact, when it was finished, he actually went through everything to make sure that the parts were there! The company that repaired my basement leak was great as well. They came on the day they were supposed to come and did their jobs on time.
Yesterday, I had lunch with someone who worked for a roofing company. He told me that they charge more than most contractors, but they do great work (strictly adhere by the codes) and finish their jobs on time. He said he encountered so many people who had bad experiences with contractors and when asked why they chose them, they simply replied that they were the “cheapest”. My friend then said that he often told these people that they were bad buyers”. They wanted a certain quality of work done, certain professionalism, but were not willing to pay the amount that was required for such good services.
So are you a bad buyer? Are you being too frugal and too cheapskate? Is that a reason why you end up purchasing inferior products? Are your buying habits resulting in costs and hassles as a result of inferior products and?
February 5th, 2008 at 12:03
[...] Are You a Bad Buyer? at Ask Mr. Credit Card. A bargain plumber isn’t a bargain if he doesn’t finish the job. [...]
February 11th, 2008 at 23:07
Given that I just had to have some plumbing work done, this hit a nerve.
I didn’t pick the lowest. He didn’t show up when he said he would for the estimate and when he did show up, he gave off a strange ‘vibe’ that made me uncomfortable. I was glad my son is home on leave from the Marine Corps and was there in the house when he came in.
The higher end guy didn’t want to bid a job as small as mine, but the one that I did choose had a very detailed bid and a professional attitude. He was also the one recommended by a friend who had a good experience as well.
You’re right, sometimes you get what you pay for. And to feel safe while he was in the house is a good thing, too. I’ll pay the extra $75 for that peace of mind and good reputation.