I totally understand unforeseen problems that cause delays, but to not call? I can think of absolutely no excuse, short of some sort of tragedy. That stinks, and I'd be spittin' mad as well.

Boy, I wish I had the answer to that one. You're lucky you could even get someone to agree to come out! I've had no luck getting repair people to come, only the commercial franchises will return my calls. I've even had service people not even show up at all.

Inexcusable. I got a new job in January and I work from home. That means I can always be here if needed for repairs/deliveries. So I guess I'm less offended by tardiness/absense than when I was burning a day of PTO. Of course, this also means I have 8 days of PTO that I have not yet taken this year. I never realized how much PTO I burned just meeting the cable guy, etc.

Thankfully I can carry over five days to 2010 -- but I'm hustling to get ahead this week and next so I can take the whole last week of December off. As problems go, it's a good one to have!

Well, in their defense...
Yesterday the HVAC guy ran into much bigger problems than he expected so he was at my house longer than they scheduled. BUT he called in to base and reported it so that they could make arrangements with the next person on his list. I guess I'm lucky that he was delayed at my house and not on the way to it AND that this business respects their clients enough to make the tough call to say we're running behind or can't get there.

In this day & age of everybody and their mother (or their 5 year old) having a cell phone, there is no excuse for not calling you to report the delay or reschedule. Why would they want to show up at the next job with the homeowner already annoyed with them? We all can understand problems develop but there's no excuse not to call & tell you that.

I guess if they're the only game in town they feel they can be rude but it's really basic human decency, along with good business practice, to do what you can to keep the other person informed and prepared.

That guy has some bad Karma coming his way.

As you said, there are some good guys out there. Our furnace quit working on a Sunday. I called a local guy and he said he'd come on Monday morning. But a little later he called back and said he come over as soon as his wife got home to watch his kids. He heard the temps were going to dip pretty low that night and he didn't want us to be without heat. He came at 5 that evening and got us fixed up with no extra charges for week-end service. I recommend him to everyone now.

I swear. If you find a good repair person who is an electrician, ask him/her for the name of a good plumber. Every single workman we bring here has a personal reference. We've never been stood up, left hanging, etc.

People in the repair industry know who the other good ones are (and who the bad ones are).

I would be seething and I think the furnace man would be made to understand that you had to take a precious day off work. This should be billable time, IMO.

My daughter just rented a new apartment. She had to wait a week for the gas company to come and turn on the gas. She was told that they would be there sometime between 8am and 8pm! If she wanted a "window" she would need to pay $25. Fortunately, my husband had gone down to help her buy a new car and move, and he was still there to do the waiting. Even better, they showed up at 8am, so he didn't have to wait at all. But I don't understand how the gas company can't have a better idea of the schedule. I feel that the $25 fee was a ransom.

I feel better! Thanks for letting me rant. I think the thing that has me most upset is that this guy is a true craftsman who I absolutely loved. We have a 1950's furnance (yes, 1950's), and he has restored/upgraded it beutifully. Now I am starting to think we may end up replacing it sooner than budgeted, because I can't imagine anyone else having the skill set to take care of it.

Grrrr.

Terriks, that is highway robbery! How ridiculous. And, Nan, your story reminds me of all the great people out there... if only I could fine one of him in my town!

A couple of years ago, a similar thing happened to me. No show, no call. I was livid; it was Christmas week and I had other things to do than sit at home all day. When I called to complain the next day, it turns out the repairman had called in sick and the shop had not called to cancel. Hopefully, he has a similar excuse (Sick child, death in family?) and you won't have to stop dealing with a usually reputable repairman.
Dee

Did he ever come?

It all depends on who is coming out; if they are a large company or not. Also depends on the actual worker and their mood that day.

My son does DirecTV; you wouldn't believe the amount of wrong phone numbers he has; wrong addresses. They do NOT pay for his cell phone; he uses his own cell to make calls. He has had days where his cell turned off without him knowing; charger broke. My son tries to follow up on everything but some service people could care less.

Roselvr, he owns his own one-man company, so when I booked, I booked directly with him. When I called him (twice) on the day he was supposed to come out, I left voicemails on his own cell phone.

So, barring some sort of personal emergency on his part, it's looking like this relationship is over!

Sad thing for him is we were planning to use him when we did an $8,000 furnace replacement. So now he's lost $8,000...

Oh, well. Once I got over my rage, I was able to reorganize my files (yes, I typed up all the labels, so now I have a seriously OCD file cabinet), and I started on Christmas cards, which was nice.

I wish we could start a gardenweb Angie's List, because I trust all of you a ton!