[bell3156]

well said skip
There is always going to be a place for small one and two man operations, the down fall is customer service. there are only so many hrs in the day, when the phone starts ringing, your stuck in the position of making money on the calls that are coming in, or taking care of your customer and chance loosing a new one, it is a tough position to be in. The smaller guys have great loyal customers and have a great relationship with them. The problem is when they do have a problem and they cant wait for you. Or have lost confidence in you or your one or two employees. A large company has the resources to satisfy more complaints and handle more potential customers. customer may see a new face here and there and it is just not as personal of an experiance..And they charge more...there are pro's and cons to both...

 

[DanW13]

Skippedover I am not going to get into a nasty arguement here over what I said and I surely am not NAIVE !!!! I could high light some of your analogies and repost them here especially when you compare cars to your trade and say you get what you pay for is really a terrible comparison for you to use, I know what this industry is as well as others of how they work and operate I really do, Do you really think everyone has to pay high dollars to get quaility workmanship. But here the problem was the install not the equipment and to say if you go with a low bidder your not going to get a quaility install is ludicrious to say the least, and to insinuate that getting the contractor who was one of the highest bids will get a good install is way out of line as well. I am sure there are alot of guys here on this forum that can prove you wrong on your theory of high bid better job, low bid bad job. If a small contractor does low bidding and quaility work why does the majority in this forum always feel people are not going to get the same or better quaility of service than a high bidding contractor who has more guys working for him, I just do not understand that thinking !!! My contractor who has himself and 3 other guys work for him do great work and also give quaility service to his customers just the same if not better than a large outfit who may have 20 guys working for him, service is service and should not matter if that same service is coming form a large or small company, or from one who was the low bidder. If the guy is able to bid the same job with the same parts and same service more power to him and as dynamic stated the little guy might not have the overhead as he may have the trunks paid for, the shop paid for, and is able to pay for all his tools and equipment upfront, and have all parts on his trunk paid which enables him to bid jobs low. Maybe he does all his own hiring and firing and is able to hire competent people without having to worry about POT HEADS, or the like, there's alot little guys who give the same quaility service as the bigger outfit's in this world it's just a matter of how far they stick there necks out into the furture for work and later get themselves into a bind because they can not do all the work they promised 3 or 4 months ealier when they were slow and needing "job security". I have see this happen with alot of contractors and not just in this trades either. So I don't think the small guy or low bidder should always get the blame because they are who they are or because they came in on the low end and won the job. And as far as equipment goes that should not matter as it's all about the proper install not the equipment, granted you can only convince the customer of doing so much as far as suggesting they do this or that and have this installed now and not later as that may play a role in the call back end of things because of the customers failure of not going with what the contractor suggested prior to the install. But bottom line is big or small, low or high equipment is equipment and craftmanship will always have your name on it.

 

[bell3156]

Dan w

It sounds like you found a great contractor, and your happy with him. Are you a general contractor? A large contractor cannot mach the price of a smaller company for many reasons. I can tell you of the low bidder nightmare installs that I have seen and repaired. Some have been so bad we have to refuse to work on them untill the unit was reinstalled, I have lost our customers to only return and give estimates to reinstall the unit. that being said. When I come upon a customer and I know he is going to shop around I will give him the name of companies that are lower in price and do great work. we are getting off topic here....

 

[HeyBob]

Hi,

I don't want to go into any details while this is still pending and I won't release the contractor's name.

fletch

Fletch,

Bad idea, do not name that contractor. Thanks!

Bob

 

[Twilly]

Fletch,

Bad idea, do not name that contractor. Thanks!

Bob

Twilli says thanks HeyBob, Twilli don't need the bad press

 

[Twilly]

Not likely. We run a very open company. Any of our personnel is more than welcome to inspect the books at any time. And they have. They know what it costs to provide the level of installation expertise and warranties and guarantees we provide. So far, in 20-years, we've never lost anyone who's gone into business himself. The make good enough money to stick around and not have to worry about how to bring in the next lead.

Twilli isn't really sure thats such a good testimony.

 

[Dog]

Awfull Cocky A Twilli, I agree who wants to work for a guy who says that ?
Be carefull people will start to resent you for saying things to them like that!!!

 

[irwin_fletcher]

Fletch,

Bad idea, do not name that contractor. Thanks!

Bob

In the text you quoted and in my original post, it specifically says that I have no intention of naming the contractor here.

fletch

 

[irwin_fletcher]

Awfull Cocky A Twilli, I agree who wants to work for a guy who says that ?
Be carefull people will start to resent you for saying things to them like that!!!

twilli is an artist with the written word. Go back and study his prose, as you have missed the subtlety of his message.

fletch

 

[irwin_fletcher]

If you have concerns about the new system then call the manufacture express your concerns and ask to have thier rep come and look it over. Keep in mind if the rep comes he will also bring the installing comtractor with him

Thank you. I was hoping that someone here would help me with a contact at American Standard. At this point, I just want to chat with them on the phone about what happened and ask about what I should do next. Specifically I was hoping for something like, "Yeah, Bob at American Standard is a nice guy and here's his number..." I thought the manufacturer might be good to talk to, as they have to warranty it for the next 10 years.

As to the other questions, the original contractor and I are still working through the process.

fletch