wrote in message
...
On Wed, 15 Nov 2006 05:57:40 GMT, (Malcolm Hoar)
wrote:


Good, then you'll have some idea of how to examine some more
detailed data such as:

http://www.bbb.org/about/stat2005/us05compsort.pdf

In addition to the numbers of complaints, you'll want to
look at the numbers of unresolved complaints.

You'll also know how to dig out other sources of data
and note how frequently contractors (of various kinds)
consistently deliver lower customer satisfaction than
most other industries.

You really don't get it, do you?

You are citing pseudo data.

Let me use myself as an example. At this moment, I have a very
unhappy woman client. She has complained to the BBB.

Her lawyers have told her she is wrong and unreasonable. My lawyers
have told her she is wrong and unreasonable. The BBB has told her
there is nothing they can do.

So, her complaint is unresolved.

Which means that 100 percent of the complaints against me in the last
ten years are unresolved

Which means that all the complaints against me by female clients in
the last ten years are unresolved.

Another way of looking at it: I have NEVER YET been willing to
resolve a dispute with a female client.

Or perhaps another statistic --- of 57 female clients in the last ten
years, only one was a whacko.

Please, please, please. If you want to think contractors are crooks,
do so. If you want to say you think contractors are crooks, say so.
But please, leave the numbers alone.

You're only proving Mark Twain right.

Ken

I'm don't know about what others here think, but I'm not saying that many
contractors are crooks. However, it *is* a field which can attract people
who imagine themselves to be top-notch craftsmen. There are no regulations
for skill level.

Then, you have to consider what some people think is a ripoff. I got 3
roofing estimates. One was almost ten grand. The other two were $4700 and
$5300. The expensive guy came highly recommended by several people I know,
but these were people with money to burn. One of them watched the roofer's
work very closely, and explained why he thought he was worth so much more
money - insane attention to details that you'd never see after the shingles
were in place.

You can probably imagine some customers thinking Mr. High Price tried to rip
them off, right? But, it depends on whether they understand that they're
paying for what some might call a disorder - an obsessive fixation with
details which may or may not matter. If I could afford the guy, I'd use him.