WoW! What an awful example of mansplaining, shushing, interruption and word-juggling. The service I requested from "Maintracts Services" was to write a report listing the heating- and water-related issues in a one-bedroom property. The appointment with "Maintracts Services" was pre-booked two weeks ago, but wasn't quoted. A company representative gathered all the details from me when I called there the first time at the end of August. He also confirmed this is the sort of service they provide on a regular basis. (which resulted in an inclusion of this company's name as a preferred contractor on some of my legal papers; I made a person that I spoke to aware of that)
The reason for my recent call was, in fact, to pay and arrange the date for plumber's visit.
However, when I dialed "Maintracts Services" couple of days ago, I spoke to a different person. As it turned out later - it was Malcolm. He listened to me carefully for several minutes. I told a brief summary of my request making pauses from time to time. Malcolm didn't wonder for any clarifications and didn't seem to know anything about my initial request. So every time the silence lasted for longer than 3 seconds I continued filling my narrative with details until, eventually, I told the whole thing again. At that point, Malcolm asked me to repeat. He said, "Can you repeat that, please?" - After me talking for around 6 minutes. I did. This time, I didn't have to make any pauses, as I was interrupted twice within each sentence. Malcolm was repetitively asking rhetorical questions (where the only difference from what I just said was the order of words), sighing and very condescendingly noting: "we're getting there." He was very interested, though, in the end-purpose of this report, which makes me question how exactly document's function reflects the quality of "Maintracts Services" work. Malcolm wondered if I was given a quote previously. I wasn't. Then, I was told he would get back to me in 15 minutes with the price. In 40 minutes I called them by myself. As apparently Malcolm already knew, this company's name was on my legal stuff - everything I wanted was to avoid additional hassle changing the contractor. Malcolm told me that the price for their services would amount to £110.00 per hour, parking on top, minimum order 2 hours. £250.00, Carl, for 15 mins work with a pen and paper! Apart of that, Malcolm audibly disapproved when he got to find out that I am getting similar reports from several independent plumbing agencies, which seems made him lose interest in me as a client completely. Malcolm used the credit I have given to "Maintracts Services" based solely on Google reviews to his advantage to call the price off the charts high. His patronizing tone and satiric snobbery in best Dickens' tradition were truly awful. If you still wish to proceed with this company, I advise you to take written confirmation of all service costs. Sincerely, Eva
Ps: Maintracts Services was the 13th plumbing company I contacted within the last two weeks. Through their hourly rate within an adequate standard, this is the only company who stated 2-hour visit as a minimum & parking cost on top of that read more
