Why don't contractors / vendors seem to care about selling a product or
service?

I don't know if its because business is so good right now that they
don't need my money, or that they are over stretched and can not accept
any new clients, but I am completely amazed at how contractors and
vendors do not seem to care about making a sale.

I'll call them up saying that I'm interested in getting a particular
job done. The receptionist takes the message and says she'll forward
it to the sales/service department, and half the time they don't bother
calling me back. I end up having to "chase" them for days calling them
over and over until I finally get a response.

Others don't seem to care about finishing the job, and getting the rest
of their payment. This summer I paid a company to replace all of my
windows (a $8,500 job). They replaced all of them except for two (one
was the wrong type, the other was broken upon arrival). So we agreed
that I'd pay half of the job now, and the other half when the final two
windows would be installed (this is what they had suggested, not me).

Long story short, 4 months later, and countless, countless aggravating
phone calls on my part to finally get them to come over and finish the
bloody job, they got the remaining of their $3,500 payment (they had
already received $1,500 down-payment when I signed the sales contract
before they started the job)

Total time it took them to finish installing the final two windows?
About 2 hours.

2 hours of work to bring in $3,500 is a pretty sweet deal. If that was
me I'd be there in a second.

Why don't they care? It seems to me if I walk into an electronic store
and say to the first salesman "I'm here to buy a new TV. I'm looking
to spend about $2,500", it won't be long before I'm walking out of the
store with a new TV. If I call an investment firm and tell them I'm
looking to open a new investment account with them, I have an
appointment booked by the end of that same phone call.

If I call a heating contractor and tell them "I'm interested in getting
a new furnace installed", it takes days before somebody calls me back
to book an appointment for an inspection / quote (which will be booked
next week). And that's if they ever call me back.

I've spoken to various friends about this issue, and they've had the
same experience. I don't get why this seems to be so prevalent in the
home renovation / construction industry.