Father's Day, bad electricians, more
Father's Day was spent at my youngest sister's house in Dayton, Maine. Dad and his wife were there, my other sister and her husband and kids and Susie and her husband and kids and her in-laws.
I brought a bucket full of bubbles and wands and soon had the kids blowing bubbles with me. We had lobster, chicken and pork (the latter two were done in a smoker that Susie's hubby had gotten for Father's Day) for dinner, then blew more bubbles.
I'm a bad Aunty. I was blowing bubbles so much that one of my nieces finally marched over and said, "That's enough - I'm taking that away from you!" and took my bubble wand. The grown ups thought it was funny (me included). It's pretty bad when you annoy the youngsters, LOL.
I got Dad a couple of polo shirts and he was happy.
I left mid-afternoon, got home and was exhausted. Those kids wore me out!
Rob (the contractor) and I are extremely frustrated with the electrician. The electrician and I had made a deal and signed a contract that he would provide electrical services in exchange for Chris' gun safe for a total of $1500. He needs to come in to finish up the connections for the drop ceiling lights in my new office and turn it all on and remove the old hardware. I called this guy at every number listed on his web site, faxed and emailed him and got no reply.
Rob called him and he actually responded to Rob that he'd gotten "welder burn" on his eyes and would be up this past weekend or this week to finish and made some remark that the work he'd done already covered the safe. I don't think so, unless he charges $100 an hour. He's spent less than 10 hours total here doing work.
Plus, he left floorboards and insulation open in the attic because he was going to finish some work Chris had going. Now I have to ask Rob if he can do that for me.
I tried calling again yesterday and am pissed off. If you don't want to finish the work, be a man and call me back and explain why. Rob is frustrated as hell and is going to talk to a friend of his who is an electrician who won't charge me an arm and a leg.
So, I learned a valuable lesson - when doing a trade, have the work done *first*. Although in this case, I wanted the gun safe out of the house ASAP.
I would never recommend this electrician to anyone - Dan Gilmore dba Northeast Electric out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He not only is unreliable, but when Rob was here one of the times Dan was, Rob complained to me this guy talked his ear off and Rob refused to charge me for the two hours Dan was here.
At least Rob is an honorable guy. Well, he is a Marine after all, and all Marines are honorable.
My Good Morning, America appearance was short, but the segment was well done. I had a friend from Tennessee who knew me in Okinawa email me. She wrote that she couldn't believe I looked the same as I did in Okinawa (over 10 years ago, LOL). I wrote back that I knew she was a good friend for a reason!
I'm doing a local radio show this morning over the phone and am scheduling another appearance on the local Fox Morning News in Portland, Maine.
Phew! I'm busy, busy, busy!
I brought a bucket full of bubbles and wands and soon had the kids blowing bubbles with me. We had lobster, chicken and pork (the latter two were done in a smoker that Susie's hubby had gotten for Father's Day) for dinner, then blew more bubbles.
I'm a bad Aunty. I was blowing bubbles so much that one of my nieces finally marched over and said, "That's enough - I'm taking that away from you!" and took my bubble wand. The grown ups thought it was funny (me included). It's pretty bad when you annoy the youngsters, LOL.
I got Dad a couple of polo shirts and he was happy.
I left mid-afternoon, got home and was exhausted. Those kids wore me out!
Rob (the contractor) and I are extremely frustrated with the electrician. The electrician and I had made a deal and signed a contract that he would provide electrical services in exchange for Chris' gun safe for a total of $1500. He needs to come in to finish up the connections for the drop ceiling lights in my new office and turn it all on and remove the old hardware. I called this guy at every number listed on his web site, faxed and emailed him and got no reply.
Rob called him and he actually responded to Rob that he'd gotten "welder burn" on his eyes and would be up this past weekend or this week to finish and made some remark that the work he'd done already covered the safe. I don't think so, unless he charges $100 an hour. He's spent less than 10 hours total here doing work.
Plus, he left floorboards and insulation open in the attic because he was going to finish some work Chris had going. Now I have to ask Rob if he can do that for me.
I tried calling again yesterday and am pissed off. If you don't want to finish the work, be a man and call me back and explain why. Rob is frustrated as hell and is going to talk to a friend of his who is an electrician who won't charge me an arm and a leg.
So, I learned a valuable lesson - when doing a trade, have the work done *first*. Although in this case, I wanted the gun safe out of the house ASAP.
I would never recommend this electrician to anyone - Dan Gilmore dba Northeast Electric out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He not only is unreliable, but when Rob was here one of the times Dan was, Rob complained to me this guy talked his ear off and Rob refused to charge me for the two hours Dan was here.
At least Rob is an honorable guy. Well, he is a Marine after all, and all Marines are honorable.
My Good Morning, America appearance was short, but the segment was well done. I had a friend from Tennessee who knew me in Okinawa email me. She wrote that she couldn't believe I looked the same as I did in Okinawa (over 10 years ago, LOL). I wrote back that I knew she was a good friend for a reason!
I'm doing a local radio show this morning over the phone and am scheduling another appearance on the local Fox Morning News in Portland, Maine.
Phew! I'm busy, busy, busy!
Comments
You *never* returned phone calls after the initial work was done in early 2007 in the basement for *me,* not my late husband - this has nothing to do with him and you know it.
I called you many times *and* emailed you. Rob also called you. We couldn't figure out why you wouldn't at least call back to explain why you suddenly didn't show up when you'd promised to finish the work.
You took an expensive gun safe in trade, promised to do work for me and never finished. End of story and shame on you.
I have never dealt with any professional tradesman that would consider collecting full payment before satisfactorily completing work and having a client's approval and a sign-off. I am a sole proprietor and ALL my call backs on messages are within 48 hours. Most within 12. My contracts are very specific as to the work to be performed for the contracted price. At my discretion, I sometimes add small extras at no additional charge. These things are just good business practices, that along with quality work assure happy customers, a top-notch reputation and multiple referrals.
He says he has copies of ALL incoming and outgoing calls for five years? Why? Is this suppose to be intimidating? Wow. A huge red flag.
To you, Anonymous Dan, wake up and see this as a sign that you need to shape up your business practices! You've done more to damage your reputation by your comments than any dissatisfied customer. You were served an ideal opportunity to make the situation 'right' when you read this post and you missed it.
The personal attack thrown back was bizarre. He can not deny the contract ( I am sure you have the copy still ). He did not perform those duties...he fucked up. Enough said. A good excuse, something came up, I screwed up, let me make it right....nope, just a no-show. Dan goes to sleep at night and knows, and that is fine.
For you, courtroom spectators, and your local newspeople, not for him.