Seattle Craftsmen Contruction

"I understand that this individual is angry and wishes to besmirch our great reputation among Angie's List members (and all our customers in Seattle). So it is worth providing a bit more information. Please note this work was done in mid-August. When this appointment was made, it was very important to the customer that we arrive the next day since appliances were being delivered and the house was going to be sold. It was also necessary that two technicians be present to install these large and heavy appliances. We charge per technician-hour and this was made clear to customer. As such, we arranged for our technicians to arrive in the early evening after the completion of another project and after business hours, with no after-hours charges. They found the following: 1. The house was crowded with other service people, making it difficult to gain access to the kitchen areas where work was to be done. 2. Plumbing had not been completed and was not in the proper location for the appliances requiring water. 3. The range was delivered without connectors. In addition, it was a non-standard European brand which did not use standard plumbing fixtures. 4. The cabinets installed in and around the area for the refrigerator provided too small an opening for the fridge. 5. The owner was there and clearly agitate from the beginning--things apparently had not been going well, a not uncommon phenomenon in remodeling in general and in houses being prepared for flipping in particular. The crew spent much time installing the appliances (12 man hours) and then departed late evening. It was a Thursday night and, while payment is due at the time of service, as recognized by the customer by her signature on the terms and conditions portion of our contract, she informed our technicians that she would not be able to pay until the following Tuesday. Consequently, we followed up with the customer via voice mail email on probably 8 occasions starting on Friday a.m. but received no response. Apparently she had left on vacation. On September 17, more than a month later, because the house was being sold and because we had received no payment or communication from the customer, we started the process of filing a lien on the property, which would have prevented its sale prior to our being paid. This elicited an angry response from the customer, including some complaints about the work and its cost and threatening legal action as well as to defame us publicly. To appease her, we discounted the cost of the second technician by over $400 or about 73%. I have found that is best not to try to win battles like these when a customer is so strident. About a month later we received a further angry email about a gas leak. Given the history of this customer, her general tone and manner and the fact that other workers were in and out of the kitchen trying to prepare the house for sale and likely caused any damage that was discovered as much as a month later, I decided to not respond. My bad, I suppose, but I did not wish to engage with this individual any further. In any case, given that we liberally discounted our invoice at this customer's insistence and due to her threats, despite having provided special service during non-business hours at no premium and the less-than-ideal working circumstances and customer demeanor, I feel that we have fulfilled our commitment to this customer. Furthermore, having received payment on the discounted invoice, albeit one month late, we have no further expectations of her."

"It is unfortunate that this customer is dissatisfied because we have done much work for them over the years. We work on a time and materials basis and only charge for the time spent on a project, but we do charge for all the time spent on a project and sometimes this includes hunting for difficult-to-find materials, as was the case with some of these specialty light bulbs, which were not available at ordinary stores. What is odd about this case is that this customer has hired us many times in the past. However, one time, a few years ago, she had similar concerns about how we work and I had advised her that we might not be a got match for her. We certainly don't want any of our customers to be disappointed or feel like they haven't received good value. So I was surprised to see that she had made an appointment with us again, tho it made me a nervous. And now this unfortunate outcome--no one is happy. I did speak with her about her concerns and tried to explain everything that had been involved in completing these tasks but she still felt they had taken too long and were too expensive. In a case like this, I (the owner) don't know exactly what we should have done differently. Knowing our past experience together, we should probably have turned down this assignment but that's hard to do without insulting someone. I do take solace in the knowledge that most of our customers are thrilled most of the time, as our Angie's List review show. So please consider this review in light of the history I've discussed above. Thanks."

"Many thanks for your kind words. It was a pleasure to work with you. Just to clarify one important point about electrical work: all our electrical work is performed by our sister company Handy Electrical Services, a licensed Washington State electrical general contractor, license number HANDYES916P8. This is important because in Washington State, only electrical contractors may employ electricians and all electricians must, themselves, be licensed by the State. In the end, that's a consumer safety issue we take very seriously. Because we operate both Mr. Handyman of Seattle and Handy Electrical Services, we are able to provide safe, licensed, insured and legal integrated services for carpentry as well as electrical, and all with the excellent customer service for which we're known (and for which we keep winning the Angie's List Super Service Award)."