Okay: On this rare occasion I will steal time from my precious lifespan to compliment a company for doing things right. You may encounter many fake reviews on Yelp and elsewhere, but this praise is not fake and could not be faked, as the honesty of what I am about to describe will silence any thoughts that this review is anything but well earned by Terra Nova. [For those who wish to cut to the chase and skip the details, see the last paragraph.]
My wife and I have recently moved to Eugene from the state just south of here, one in which concepts of "back flow testing" and "winterization" are seldom if ever encountered. As our move has required shuttling back and forth from the Bay Area, we found ourselves calling friends in Eugene from California just as the weather turned cold, with them asking, "Have you winterized the house yet?" Well, babes in the woods as we are, I did remember calling the company that conducted the back flow test, just so I could find out what that was, and during that conversation the customer contact mentioned that they cover various aspects of property needs, including winterization, and that bundling services results in a discounted price. So I said, Sign us up, that sounds great, but we will be away from the property in Eugene during the fall; I was assured that the work could be managed without our being there.
All of this was forgotten owing to the ensuing countless hectic days and weeks of moving, and when in the last week of October we were questioned about winterization by our friends, I immediately looked up and called the company, Terra Nova...at 4:00p.m. on a Saturday prior to a prediction of 27 degrees the following Sunday morning. Despairing of any reply before Monday two days later, I then began to imagine what the cost, and the mess, might be, if our pipes and extensive landscape irrigation system were to freeze.
Within 30 minutes I had a return phone call from Roxann, who had been my initial contact with the company. Hey, she said, we did the work three days ago! Didn't you receive our e-mailed invoice? Happily flabbergasted, I hastily checked, and yes, I had missed the e-mailed notice and the invoice owing to long days of packing all week long. "If you are signed up with us, we will get you winterized in time," she said--"It's the people who call in droves after the first snow, when we can't handle all of them at once, that I feel sorry for!"
Mightily relieved and now ready to relax and count my blessings as Friday night dinner approached, I thanked Roxann and told her how rare her company's follow-through was in these days of widespread miscommunication and absence of real customer care. "Oh, we take our customers very seriously," she said, and she added that her boss would appreciate a review on Yelp if I felt like it. I told her that I seldom took the time for such things but that I would think about it, as I looked up the number to cancel the service of the irrigation services provider that had previously had the job.
Terra Nova, you have an invaluable ambassador for your services managing your contact with customers, the kind of person who instills a sense of trust and confidence and no doubt is responsible for much of your enduring client loyalty. Together, of course, with your outstanding work and very reasonable discounted prices! We will see you in the Spring when you de-winterize our system!
R. C., San Francisco Bay Area, California read more
