I've had a small apartment building for 38 years and depended on the Fernandez family to do numerous jobs including rodding and installation of a sewer backup system.
But older people in the business drop out and newer ones take over, and sadly I have today crossed these people out of my address book for good, as the service has been increasingly poor in recent times, and today was the last straw. Over the years they've received thousands of dollars in business from me, but this is the end. They will never get another call from me. Too much hassle and lack of dependability.
When I called today to see if they could rod some drains, the man quickly said "Let me call you back in 2 minutes!" and hung up. An hour and a half later I called again. This time he said, "Give me just one minute...." I thought he was putting me on hold but he had hung up again. (He didn't know who I was, I could have been anybody.)
Forty minutes later I called a third time. This time, and I don't know if it was the same guy or a different one, I was told "We can't come out today." I said I didn't ask about today, I asked about tomorrow. He said, "We can come next Tuesday," which would be a week from today.
I know plumbers are busy, but a week? I think these guys just work when they want to, anymore, and this experience today was like the last few times I've called them... they seem disorganized, unable to just take a call and either make an appointment, or not. And it just becomes a huge waste of time.
I'm under the impression the old man of the family takes calls and then maybe, if you're lucky, he'll call one of his relatives to see if they want the job, and they might get back to you or they might not. When I identified myself as one of their long-time customers (and someone who has gotten them lots of business through referrals from me), it didn't seem to make any difference at all. Not that I expected them to automatically make some kind of exception, but they didn't even act like it mattered or that they cared. It was as if I was bothering them just to call. Seriously! It was as if I was some yahoo off the street bothering them. Who needs that kind of indifference?
Years ago, when the dad was full time in the business, this outfit was great. No more. read more