I initially had a very positive experience with Ernesto. I needed someone to come out quickly, and…read morehe was able to schedule me on a Sunday, which I genuinely appreciated.
Unfortunately, things went downhill after that.
He came out, said he repaired the garage door, and left. Shortly afterward, I discovered the original problem had not been fixed. The garage door still would not close, which was the entire reason I called him in the first place.
I called to let him know the issue was still happening and had him speak with my brother, who was at home at the time. He immediately suggested that I had touched or moved the sensors. I did not appreciate being blamed for the issue, especially since neither my brother nor I had touched anything.
More than a week later, the garage door was still not working properly, so my brother contacted Ernesto again. He agreed to come back on Monday morning and said he would make himself available. Because of that, I stayed home waiting and rearranged my schedule, including picking up my car from the tire shop and attending a chiropractor appointment.
When I called in the am to confirm his arrival time, he told me he would be there between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. By 12:40 p.m., he still had not arrived, and I had received no communication that he was running late. I called simply to let him know I needed to step out briefly and would be back around 2:30 p.m. Delays happen, and I would have completely understood if he had communicated with me.
At approximately 1:20 p.m., he texted saying he was about 35 minutes away. The problem was that he already knew I would not be back until 2:30 p.m. Rather than working with the schedule I had communicated, he expected me to rearrange my day yet again after I had already spent the entire morning waiting for him. As a result, I had have my brother go to the house and accommodate a repair that should have been completed correctly the first time.
What made the situation even more frustrating was his reaction. I was not upset that he was running late. I simply wanted communication. Instead of acknowledging the delay, he became defensive and started talking about how he needed to get paid on the job he was currently working on, did not want to work past 4:00 p.m., deal with traffic, or work late. None of those issues had anything to do with my call. I was simply letting him know when I would be available.
He then complained that this is why he does not give customers arrival windows and said that next time he would not provide a timeframe at all. Throughout the entire conversation, I remained calm and flexible. I honestly did not care whether he came Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday. My only expectation was that if he gave me a timeframe, he would either honor it or communicate if something changed.
The issue was never that he was late. The issue was the lack of communication!and the defensive attitude when I tried to coordinate a solution. Waiting all morning is frustrating, but what was most disappointing was being treated as though I had done something wrong simply for asking for an update.
Based on my experience, I did not appreciate the lack of professionalism, the defensive attitude, the poor communication, and the unwillingness to be flexible when scheduling issues arose. What makes this even more frustrating is that the original issue was never properly resolved, and the situation ultimately ended up creating additional inconvenience for me. Had the repair been completed correctly and communication been handled professionally, this entire situation could have been avoided.
