October 11, 2007
Dear Everyone:
My townhouse has all new windows. And therein lies a tale.
A couple of months ago, someone came to my door to ask if I was interested in having my windows replaced. He had a flyer and I was, as it happens, very interested in replacing the windows. (They know whose windows need replacing by simply looking at them.) I gave him my phone number.
About a week later, I started getting phone messages from “Daisy” asking to set up an appointment to measure said windows. So I called the number given and got “Fred”. “Fred” said he could come to measure the windows on August 21st after work.
“Fred” did show up and did a “rough” measurement of most of the windows. Based on this he gave me a bid that was significantly lower than what two of my neighbors had said they paid, so I accepted the bid and gave him a down payment of $1000.
The next day, August 22nd, “Barney” called to make an appointment for a more exact measurement, to take place on Thursday, August 23rd. Since he called on his cell phone, and my phone has caller ID, I now had “Barney’s” phone number. Thursday, “Barney” called me at work to leave a message that he was sick and couldn’t come. I called him back and left a message that we would reschedule the following week.
The following week, I waited until Thursday for “Barney” to call. When he didn’t, I called him.
“Oh, I was just about to call you.”
Translation: “Oh, I completely forgot about you.”
“Barney” said he could stop by on his way home, to
On Saturday, September 1st, “Barney” finally put in an appearance and measured the windows and patio door. “Fred” had told me that the windows would be ready to install ten days after the order was placed. “Barney” said to expect to wait 4-6 weeks. I made a point of not holding my breath.
Before leaving for “Hobby” the last week in September, I made sure I had the code and instructions to remotely access my home phone machine to check for messages while I was away. Sure enough, on Wednesday, the 26th, “Barney” had left messages on both my home and work phones. The windows were ready and he wanted to install them tomorrow.
I called him the next day, explained that I was in “Hobby”, and we scheduled the installation for Monday, October 1st. I then arranged to take that as a vacation day.
All weekend, I kept waiting for “Barney” to call and tell me what time to expect him Monday morning. (Honestly, what was I thinking?) Finally I called Sunday evening and left a message.
Monday morning, there was no message on the machine. I waited until 7:21, then I called “Barney”. He answered on the third ring.
“Oh,
yeah. I was going to call
you. It was too late last
night. We’re at the
Three hours later, “Barney” showed up with the windows. And he had “Wilma” with him. He should have had two assistants, but his regular guy, “Dino”, wasn’t feeling well and “Wilma” was all he could rustle up.
They immediately started tearing out the kitchen window and patio door. Luckily, the weather was perfect: Clear skies, not too hot, mild evenings. I spent some of the time catching up on all the TV shows I couldn’t watch the week before because of being in “Hobby”.
When “Barney” tried to install the kitchen window, he discovered a problem which he told “Wilma” was “major”. It seems he measured the window correctly, but wrote the numbers down incorrectly on the order. “Barney” and “Wilma” did a quick re-measuring of the windows and determined the kitchen was the only one that was wrong. “Barney” called the factory and put in a rush order for a new kitchen window. He told me it would be ready on the 10th.
Then he put the old window back into the space it had just recently vacated. As far as I could tell, it was held in place by two screws and lots of good thoughts. “Barney” then proceeded to put in the new patio door. There was quite a bit of space between the wall and the frame of the new door. “Barney” filled it with some kind of foam, explaining that it would harden over the next few hours and he would probably augment it with additional foam tomorrow.
This was the first time that “Barney” had said the “T” word: Tomorrow. As in, he knew they wouldn’t finish in one day. I called the office and arranged to take Tuesday as a vacation day, too. And, knowing that I would be home that day, I called a local locksmith and arranged for someone to come out and put in a lock on the patio door so that I could lock and unlock it from the outside as I had done with the previous door.
Once they knew they could finish the next day, “Barney” caulked the patio door and put the frame on, with “Wilma” following behind, vacuuming up all the dust and polishing the glass. “Barney” also finished the living room window on Monday. Before they left, I made sure that “Barney” understood that I expected them to arrive at, or around, 9:00 AM on Tuesday.
In fact, they did show up just before 9:00 AM and this time “Barney” had “Dino” as well as “Wilma”. Good thing because “Barney” immediately left to check on the next job. I quickly found out that “Dino” was much better at his job than “Barney” was.
He replaced one of the bedroom windows in less than 90 minutes, with “Wilma” cleaning up behind him. By the time “Barney” showed up, there was only the bathroom window to complete.
When they were finished, “Barney” called “Fred” to report that the job was done except for the kitchen window, which would be ready on the 10th. I spoke with “Fred” on “Barney’s” cell phone and told him I would pay $2500 on Tuesday, with the remainder to be paid when the kitchen window was done. Agreed.
(In the meantime, the locksmith, whom I had totally forgotten about, showed up at noon to install a new lock cylinder in the patio door.)
Last
Monday, the 8th, as I was doing something in the kitchen, the
phone rang. As soon as I
heard the 209 Area Code, I knew it was “Barney”.
The kitchen window, which would be ready on the 10th,
was already finished and could he install it the next day.
I checked my calendar and told him he could do it in the morning.
He had some poor sap in
What time in the morning? “Between 10:00 and 11:00.” I told him I’d be there at 10:00. He arrived promptly at 11:05, but I put the time to good use by reading a textbook about Managing Electronic Records, in preparation for next month’s CRM Exam. This time “Barney” brought “Bam-Bam” with him. They finished the kitchen window in 90 minutes.
I paid the balance of $611 and they left. I got back to the office with just enough time to grab a sandwich at the cafeteria before my 1:00 teleconference. That night, it rained. No sign of any leakage. So the adventure is over.
And the windows, especially the patio door, look fantastic.
Love, as always,
Pete
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