We try to buy local whenever we can so it made sense to choose a carpet shop located really near to our house when having carpets fitted at the end of a three month extension and renovation project (all of which has gone ridiculously smoothly to plan). The carpet fitters turned up to complete things and put carpet down upstairs. When they arrived, the guy got out of the van clearly to do a recce to find out how many problems he could see which could get him out of just getting on with the job. He found several 'ishoos' which he said meant he couldn't carry on with what he needed to do AND YOU KNOW SOMEONE IS GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR MY TIME TODAY! Over a 3+ month project, with loads of contractors, issues have come up from time to time, and our other contractors have been brilliant, coming up with ways around them, working with each other to find solutions etc etc. This guys attitude was quite simply - I want paying and I can't do what I'm supposed to be doing. All of the issues he raised are completely surmountable I should add. Anyway, the thing that has REALLY riled me is the way he spoke to my DH - very aggressive from the off - and then subsequently talked about my (female and excellent) project manager "That Michelle woman" (names changed to protect the innocent) - which is nothing else shows that the guy is a bit of an idiot as of course that was going to irritate his (female) customer. He was adamant that she didn't know what she was talking about - which is weird since she deals with this stuff all the time and has had no problems with any of the other contractors on site. The full story is even worse than the above but I'd like to warn any future customers to be very very careful before using this (London-based) company. We fully understand that there were some issues that needed to be resolved, we will pay them all that is owed, but their attitude has been completely outrageous, rude and quite clearly they were not going to take any instructions/advice/guidance - whatever, from a woman.
Rant over.
p.s. is there a consumer whinge page anywhere on MN? Somewhere where we can vent about these sorts of outrageous customer service-type issues. Could be a good way of researching potential suppliers before you spend your hard-earned on them?