As someone who's subject to reviews myself, I understand the power of online reviews. Given that,…read moreI've never left a bad review before. In the case of 'Blinds by design', though, my experience was so bizarre that I'm making an exception.
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I found this company on the internet and gave them a call. I spoke with the owner, a self-described retired machinist. He seemed nice, if exceptionally chatty. We made an appointment for 9:00 am the next day. He showed up a tiny bit late, but no big deal.
He then came in, and he immediately commented on some blinds we already had in the kitchen. He said, he would never do a shoddy job like that, and I was like, great. He then proceeded to measure the window, and speak with his supplier about what would work best. He talked in a nonstop stream-of-concisouness fashion the entire time.
He made some assumptions about what I wanted, but I wasn't sure. He offered to leave some swatches for a couple of days. I said, "let me first check with my wife and see if that's necessary".
Unfortunately, I then misspoke.
I meant to say, "You say you'll do a good job; so you might as well measure this window too, and there's also one upstairs you can do."
The words that came out of my mouth were, "If you'll do a good job, you might as well measure this window too, and there's one upstairs you can do."
Five minutes later, when I was done discussing the choice with my wife, he was leaving in a huff.
He thought I was suggesting that I wouldn't hire him for the other two windows if he didn't do a good job on the main one for which we had setup the appointment.
I do understand how my words did not match my intent. I tried to explain the misunderstanding, but he refused to even listen or consider that I had misspoke.
He just left.
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In retrospect, I'm extremely glad we didn't hire him.
Even if there was no misunderstanding and I meant what he thought I meant, this should not have been a problem.
We made the appointment based on ONLY THE ONE WINDOW. Any potential for other windows was extra business for him. (Never mind the fact that, if I really was testing him, I wouldn't have even mentioned the extra work.)
That said, if he wasn't willing to base the extra business on the quality of work from the initial job, then he probably isn't very good at his profession.
If his ego is so fragile that he was insulted by the mere suggestion that he might not do a good job, then he probably isn't very confident in his abilities.
I'm really happy we dodged this bullet.
