Appliance Smarts by Glenn Allen

"Thank You for the back handed positive review. I did the service call within an agreed amount of hours or days. I gave you an estimate based on the best scenario but also informed you that L&G was not an easy or cut and dry diagnosis. So I also gave you the alternative possibility. It ended up your machine was hit with a power surge and did more damage than we were hoping for. Your concern is time frame and some extra many. This is understandable to me as I am also a consumer.. I did a service call and diagnosis with possible circumstances. You took a few days to decide. I ordered the part and came to install it within a business day. Then we realized the worst. The main control was also damaged. You had a power electrical surge. This surge took out more than one component. This is L&G.! For your information I replaced two parts Not three. The delays was was because of You making decisions, orders floating the weekends and a back ordered part, thanks to L&G availability. When your parts came in I was at your house within hours. Also, Looking at your labor numbers I gave you over $100.00 labor discount. I did you a good straight job. I was upfront about the cost and possible extra cost. This was L&G, not me.."

"Seems, to me, You mention several times in your complaint that most of your dissatisfaction is that I was busy assisting other customers. Before I actually comment about this complaint, I would like to introduce a comparable scenario. If I were visiting a town or area that I was not familiar with and I become hungry, I would consider eatery options. My thought process has always been that I will choose a busy eatery over an eatery that has no or few customers. The no patron or few patron eatery normally means that the food is a bit less than tasty and along with that the customer care is probably less than acceptable. The busy eateries would normally indicate that something in that establishment is good and is drawing the customers in. Good food, Good people, Good service, Something good. So Ma'am, being busy as a small family owned business in these difficult economic times is a good thing and I will not apologize for that. You say I seemed irritated. You called me initially in the morning so I was likely in the middle of a service call at a customer’s residence. When I am at a service call I am actually on that customer’s time. I still attempt to take telephone calls and assist the caller but I do tend to keep the conversation brief and to the point. I ask for name, phone number and a brief description of the purpose for the call. I at that time inform the caller of what information may be helpful and that we will talk later to tie up the loose ends and consider service options. You said you could not see the numbers clearly so I recommended do what you need to do to see them, write them down and call me back. That would mean, Get your reading glasses a magnifying glass a flashlight or maybe even a younger set of eyes. For you to do this would mean possibly several minutes. During that several minutes I could be getting something done concerning my job. Taking calls, looking up parts, doing paper work, or fixing something out in the work area. It would also be highly likely that I had a customer standing at the service counter in need of parts or professional assistance. If I recall at the time of that call I did have a customer there at the store needing my help. Lost time is one commodity of my business that I cannot get back. Every minute counts. If you give me the wrong or incomplete number then I can not look anything up and I cannot be as helpful and knowledgeable about your appliance as I otherwise could be. This goes back to get your readers and a flashlight and write it down. Allow me to clear this up about the model number. I don’t absolutely have to have the number but it can be helpful in the service and part availability. This helps me which ultimately helps you. At the time of this call I do know I had several customers in the store needing assistance and had more coming in. This store can get busy. The customers that are in the store at that moment do get priority over incoming phone calls. I take a name a number a brief description and I call back later when the customers have cleared the service counter. You and I did discuss service call options. You called on Tuesday I told you the next day Wednesday was already booked for service. I informed you that I would likely get to you on Thursday or no later than Friday. On Thursday morning about 10:00 I did call you to inform you that I was ready to head your way, if you still needed me. You got a bit Snippy and told me you had it taken care of. Here is my complaint on you. I had you scheduled with a time slot for service. That time could have been given to some body else that may have needed my help. The right thing that you should have done would have been to call to cancel the service call (This is called Courtesy) so that I could have opened that time slot for somebody else. Good Luck, Ma'am"

"I appreciate the kind words and your recognition of quality work at a fair price. This company has two motto's. *1 is, "We'll be here, When you need us". and my personal favorite is *2, "At Glenn Allen's, Job Quality is #1". When I attempt to hire a new employee *2 is one of the first things I tell them and remind them through out their employment and learning process. If they can't handle that, they're not with me very long. P.S. Call me, my bike wants to run."

"Thank You, For the kind words. My time on the job site was actually longer than 15 minutes, however, you are right. I was not there very long. It was more like 45 minutes. Knowing how to diagnose a problem and repair it in a timely manner comes with experience and having the parts needed on the service vehicle. I am mostly happy for you that the route I was running on that day and my other appointments allowed me to juggle them in a way that I could squeeze you in. Thank You, again, for trusting me to help you and the kind words. Glenn Allen / Appliance Smarts"

"Yes the working conditions was less than optimal. The work space was very tight. The lighting was inefficient so I had a difficult time seeing.I had to work by a flashlight. The laundry area was full of stuff and was also being used as, what appeared to be, a clothes overflow closet. As I attempted to move in the area it did knock my hat off, I think once. I had to clear a bunch of stuff from the area and remove a lot of clothing before I could even begin to diagnose the dryer. The dryer did need considerable repair. A heater fuse kit, a belt, a serious lint cleaning and motor and bearing lubrication. However the dryer was not the only problem. the broken dryer was caused by a ventilation blockage. This was a fire hazard. The price I quoted also included cleaning and correcting the blocked exhaust hose and vent. The original service call was on Monday. [member name removed] seemed a little agitated on that day concerning the quote and appeared doubtful about the work needed and began second guessing my diagnosis. On Tuesday he called and authorized the work to be done, but he sounded somewhat negative. We agreed that I would return on Friday. I reminded him that collecting with a credit card costs money, so his best price would be payment with cash or a check. On Thursday late afternoon, the end of day, I did call as a courtesy to verify that we would both be available the next morning. Contrary to what [member name removed] says, I did introduce myself at the beginning of the call. I was waiting for his confirmation but instead he snapped at me saying, "I thought we had already agreed to that"! Three days had passed, things change including minds. Also people sometimes forget. I was only being courteous. Because of [member name removed] snappy attitude and negativity from day one of the diagnosis and now on Thursday afternoon, I felt it safer for me to consider other options. I called him back and left him a message concerning these issues of my concern about the work needed and his apparent aggravation. I did postpone the Friday appointment and asked him to respond to me with a direct Yes or No. Instead he did call me back and left a message with harsh demeaning tone and words. I felt it safer for me and the sake of further agitation to just let this one go. He has a written estimate with the part descriptions and work needed. He can pass this on to what ever service company he likes."

"Wow. This is not a fair review. I speak to most every customer that contacts my store / company. I of course can not possibly remember each and every name. However some of what this person says is true, so, I must have spoken to this potential customer. Contrary to their statement that I would not speak to them. Fact is "I DO NOT" service any of Jasper Florida. It is too far from the Lake City area so Unfortunately Jasper is just not in my service range. From what you stated you would have been informed of that. So we did speak. I also do not send the service vehicle to Tallahassee or Jacksonville or Ft. Lauderdale. Too far is just too far. I do service 95% of Lake City, some of Branford, O'Brien, Live Oak and White Springs, and some other surrounding towns, but I can not send a service van to 100% of all these areas as the mileage and vehicle time would kill me and the service vehicle. For this reason I have to cut it off some where. There are other small companies in this area and I will not name names but I know they will not go to Jasper either. For the outer areas I do offer opportunity to bring the appliance to my store. If you are going to slam this company at least slam it for a legitimate reason. I am sure I spoke to you. I would have been sympathetic to your issue. I would have been courteous to you. I would have been apologetic that I could not help you at your location. I apparently did offer to help you by you coming to me For you to slam me like this and for this reason is just not right."

"Thank you. I remember you. You were a pleasure to do work for. Glen"

"Thank you, Customer. That job will be memorable for me because you had more than one problem with that refrigerator / ice maker. With a little patience and understanding we got r' dun. Glen"