There’s One Born Every Minute

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I consider myself a bright, smart woman with some common sense. I can look at a glass and tell you if it’s half empty or half full (Hint: I always say, full!)canstockphoto2969036-240x300

I can add 550 and 339 in my head and know that it equals 889. I always remember to say my “p’s” and “q’s.” Furthermore, my vocabulary (which I credit to years of reading the classics) can leave most of today’s college grads in the dust. Indeed, I can go toe-to-toe with any Shakespearean character, and no, this lady doth not protest too much!

So why am I a complete dunderhead when it comes to dealing with maintenance and repair technicians?

The answer is simple. It seems I have a tendency to put my complete and unequivocal faith and trust in them. I am putty in their hands, with mush for brains. A sap, if ever there was one!

Because if it’s one thing I know bupkis about, it’s fixing, repairing, constructing anything. I’m all thumbs, with no sense and certainly no patience to read a manual. If I can’t save time by not having to read instructions, then it’s not worth it!

In fact, IKEA is my worst nightmare! Why would I buy furniture that I have to then figure out how to put together myself when I can go to Ethan Allen, buy a bed or a dresser and know that it’s going to be delivered, completely built and ready for use?

So naturally, if anything needs repair or maintenance in my home I call the experts.

The alleged experts, I mean.

These folks are really glorified salespeople and they will try to up-sell you just about anything, including the Brooklyn and Golden Gate Bridges. Of course most people can see right through this? Me? Not so much. Make that, not at all.

If I told you all the extra things I’ve bought or agreed to, when the technicians come to my house, it would make you shake your head and take pity on me. Well, can I help it if there’s a fool born every minute?

I once had a leak in one of my toilets and the plumber convinced me I needed to replace all the toilets in my home. Thankfully I mentioned it to my friend, Gale–who is the best handy woman around–and she saved me. Of course, first she laughed her head off. Then, one quick phone call and the toilet-bowl caper was flushed down the you-know-what.

Another guy told me I needed a new water heater. The one I had was barely eight years old and working fine, but yada yada yada, an hour later I had a new water heater and was out 1,500 bucks.

Fast forward this month, I bought a $49 voucher to get my air ducts cleaned. By the time the technician left I was out an additional 800 clams!

Am I just a girl who can’t say no? Who succumbs to sales pressure and scare tactics? I’m pretty sure if a salesman came to my door today, selling me a set of encyclopedia–in this age of the internet, mind you–I’d buy them!

But shelling out the $800 for what was supposed to be a $49 service (That’s what the voucher was for, right?) has finally made me super wary of technicians. I don’t trust any of them any longer. Not as far as I can throw them. Which is why I’ve decided I’d rather let all my appliances fall apart. I’d rather buy new ones than call in the repair folk.

I once watched “Dateline,” where Chris Hansen, that nice man who normally catches predators, fiddled with a water heater screw to make it leak and called in several different plumbers to get a quote for fixing the “alleged” leak. It should have been a simple fix but the quotes given varied from the ridiculous to the outrageous. Pretty much every plumber said the problem could be fixed with a new water heater. Sound familiar? It does to me!

So whom can you trust and how do you handle these technicians? Or are you the kind who can fix everything yourself and avoid this headache altogether? (If you answered the latter, lucky you!)

Do tell!

 

25 thoughts on “There’s One Born Every Minute”

  1. The perks of living in a small town: Everyone knows everyone so if some fix-it guy messes up, he’ll hear about it over his ham & eggs the next morning at the Longhorn cafe.

  3. I’m lucky enough to be married to a farm boy who can fix almost anything. But when he can’t, I call a certain friend. She’s lived in San Diego her entire life and has had everything in her home repaired or replaced at one time or another, so she’s developed a very reliable list of service people. I’ve never been disappointed.

  4. Oh gosh, I’m hearing you. I carefully called around every internet provider I could find to take notes on bandwidth, reliability of service, etc. for our new rural address. I need the internet to work at high speed all the time with my online classes that I teach, web meetings, blogging, etc. I settled on a plan that offers 20 G’s a month. Then my internet slowed down to dial up speed. I called in the technicians, etc. Then I called the provider who informed me that for the $75 I’m paying a month I only get 10 G’s from 8AM-2AM which was all used up so instead of charging more, they sloooowed me down, but I had plenty of 2AM to 8AM G’s left. Imagine my shock when my carefully selected provider informed me of that after I signed the two year contract. For nearly $100 a month I can increase my G’s. Sheesh! I have NEVER paid so much for internet service with such little service. Oh dear…me thinks I vented a bit much. I feel your pain and am so sorry about the 800 clams later.

    • Georgette, we seem to be in the same boat–and it’s sinking fast! Man oh man, I find these salespeople so frustrating. But it’s worth whining about. I complained the very next day and they credited me back $200. So, go ahead and give them a piece of your mind! They might cut you a deal, too. 🙂

  5. I pay an annual fee to use Angies List! Since I started doing this I have been happy as can be with all the service I have received and all the providers I have found. Always.

    I feel your pain, believe me.

    • I had no idea you could do that. As long as they don’t try to convince you that your house will explode if you don’t buy a whole bunch of equipment from them, that you really don’t need, then sounds good. Glad it’s working for you!

  6. I hear you my friend! My husband is handy but likes to have the so-called experts check things out. I’m always the one unsure. Thank goodness for our friend Richard who gives us his honest opinion, then calls in the expert if we need one.
    I don’t know what it is, but I feel I can’t trust anyone these days. We always end up spending more than we wanted or needed even if it is a reputable company – our garage door is good example of that.

  7. Monica, I do sympathize. Growing up with a skeptical mother taught me the value in weighing “advice” from “experts before committing (but my dad was terribly trusting and thought everyone was as honest as he!). I tend to vacillate between the two. That said, in my business, I always “err” on the honest side, even if, as ^Robert^ mentioned, I short-change myself. One can’t reclaim a bad customer review, you know. I find it hard when repairmen and technicians and such “take” customers, and too often, that occurs when the customers are senior citizens or women.

    • Repair folks need to be honest and just tell you what the problem is without trying to up-sell. In my case, I complained about the $800 bill and they ended up knocking off $200. They also said to me, “Well you could’ve said no.” Ha! That guy wouldn’t leave my house until I agreed. The only thing I didn’t buy was a piece of equipment that would’ve added $450 to my bill. Sheesh. Never again. Famous last words, right?

  8. I live on an island that requires a ferry so waiting for the repair man takes longer than getting into see a top surgeon. The cost of the repairs make it easier to get rid of them and buy new. The last repair guy here came from 50 miles away because he was the closest “authorized technician”. Any other would have invalidated my warranty. He was very good and told me they can’t get people to go into the field. Supply and demand makes these guys invaluable compared to all the college grads who can’t find work in their field. I too have paid for the extras on rug cleaning deals and the extended warranties that give you nothing if your appliance breaks on a Tuesday. We are a huge club and expanding!

  9. Sisters in maintenance scams! I ought to know better, but I too am hopeless when it comes to these kinds of things. What’s even worse is when you shell out the money and a month later find the problem is back again! I wish I had Gale on speed dial. 🙂

  10. Monica you are one of many who sometimes get taken in by so called experts. An expert can often be defined as somebody who knows more and more about less and less until they know everything about nothing!

    As part of my business I sort out computers and computer networks, it’s not my main line of business which is web design, site maintenance and hosting, and it never fails to amaze me what previous people have told my clients by the time I get to them.

    In my experience they stand look at the equipment, then look at the client, draw in breath between their teeth and mutter the fateful words “Oh dear this is worse than it looks!”

    An example is a friend of mine over your side of the pond but way north of you. He had a computer problem, took it into a shop and was quoted just a shade over $500. He mentioned his problems to me in an email, I connected to his problem machine remotely and took just less than five minutes to sort it. Cost in parts zero and cost in actual time peanuts!

    Wether it be computer technicians or plumbers, or for that matter any tradesman there are those who like to take advantage of those who know little or nothing about a product or service. I have no time for them at all, personally I am always 100% honest with a client even if it mens I loose a little money. In the long run it pays off through other work and personal recommendations.

    The best pieces of advice I can give are if you find a tradesman look back through journals or even on the internet and see if they have been in business for more than five years, it’s amazing how many haven’t. Look for long time established businesses. If they give an address and you don’t know it look at it on Google Street View, just to check it’s not a shed somewhere or a caravan on a bit of waste land (In my time I have come across both.) Never ever trust online reviews it’s not unknown for people to fake them. That’s the best advice I can give to be honest.

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