I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

On Jun 19, 8:52*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.


I guess it would have been too easy to just tell him
that the price should be $90 plus tax, if any?






FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

And what exactly is the objective at this point? If
they are too dumb and or lacking in customer service,
why not just find another company?

wrote:

And what exactly is the objective at this point? If
they are too dumb and or lacking in customer service,
why not just find another company?

I did. $118.00. Total.

On Jun 19, 8:52*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Why? While some people are able to do that type of math in their head,
why is it a "bad sign" when the estimator pulls out a calculator?

The guy cleans furniture for a living - and I say that with all due
respect to a hopefully hard working guy. Odds are he doesn't have a
degree in mathematics.

I work with numbers all day and I'd be lost without my calculator.


Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

OK, so this might be a silly question, but why didn't you simply point
out the math error to the tech? If at that point he was still
confused, he could have called his office for verification.

What did you gain by cursing him like a red-headed step-child and
escorting him from the building?


FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?


Continuing...

Now that's a shame.

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jun 19, 8:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a
bad sign).

Why? While some people are able to do that type of math in their head,
why is it a "bad sign" when the estimator pulls out a calculator?

The guy cleans furniture for a living - and I say that with all due
respect to a hopefully hard working guy. Odds are he doesn't have a
degree in mathematics.

I work with numbers all day and I'd be lost without my calculator.


Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

OK, so this might be a silly question, but why didn't you simply point
out the math error to the tech? If at that point he was still
confused, he could have called his office for verification.

What did you gain by cursing him like a red-headed step-child and
escorting him from the building?


FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and
politely inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I
speak to whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?


Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must ALWAYS
handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable to even
acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups the righteous
indignation level.

It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon thousands of
potential customers are lost to Coit (who shall remain nameless).

But you raise a good point. I wasn't cursing him for a math error, I was
dismayed that MY calculation of $90 was nowhere close to their final offer
of $200.

I am not the sort of person who falls for the "Invisible Rust Protection
Coating" on a new car either.

On Jun 19, 3:19*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jun 19, 8:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a
bad sign).

Why? While some people are able to do that type of math in their head,
why is it a "bad sign" when the estimator pulls out a calculator?

The guy cleans furniture for a living - and I say that with all due
respect to a hopefully hard working guy. Odds are he doesn't have a
degree in mathematics.

I work with numbers all day and I'd be lost without my calculator.

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

OK, so this might be a silly question, but why didn't you simply point
out the math error to the tech? If at that point he was still
confused, he could have called his office for verification.

What did you gain by cursing him like a red-headed step-child and
escorting him from the building?

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and
politely inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I
speak to whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?

Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must ALWAYS
handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable to even
acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups the righteous
indignation level.

Huh?...right back at you. The only thing that you posted was that the
rep who answered the phone offered to put you through to the manager's
and a supervisor's voice mail. If what you said that you said is true,
i.e. that you politely asked to speak to whoever handles complaints,
the rep did the correct thing: (S)he told you that the person(s) were
not available and offered to put you through to their voicemail.

Where's the lack of acknowledgment of the misunderstanding? If you've
left the rest of that conversation out of your post and you were
actually treated badly by the person you spoke to, then don't "Huh?"
me because there is no way any I or anyone else reading this thread
could have known that. For all we know, you spoke to a receptionist
who is not responsible for dealing with complaints but who *is*
responsible for getting you to the right person, which, according to
you, (s)he tried to do. (S)he in fact did acknowledge your situation
by trying to get you directly into the proper person's voice mail so
that you could explain the situation in your own words.

That's a lot better "acknowledgment" than simply saying "No one is
available, call back later." or "Leave your name and number and I'll
have someone call you."

The fact that you chose not to leave a voicemail with the person(s)
that *you* asked for doesn't give you any right to be indignant.

It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon thousands of
potential customers are lost to Coit (who shall remain nameless).

Have you noticed how many people have not said a single thing about
the company, but have only talked about how poorly *you* handled the
situation?

It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon thousands
of potential readers will ignore the furture posts of HeyBub (who
shan't remain nameless).


But you raise a good point. I wasn't cursing him for a math error, I was
dismayed that MY calculation of $90 was nowhere close to their final offer
of $200.

You were "dismayed" so you cursed out the guy and then got indignant
with the person who answered the phone? Did you ever ask for an
explanation of the estimate when the guy said $200.36? If you did, you
sure didn't mention that in your OP nor show any other numbers that
would support that value. What you posted appears to nothing more than
a math error.


I am not the sort of person who falls for the "Invisible Rust Protection
Coating" on a new car either.

How does that relate to this thread? Did the tech try to sell you
something extra - something that you never mentioned in your OP - that
caused the estimate to be higher? If so, how are we supposed to know
that?

Go re-read you OP and see how silly you sound.

DerbyDad03 wrote:

Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must
ALWAYS handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable
to even acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups
the righteous indignation level.

Huh?...right back at you. The only thing that you posted was that the
rep who answered the phone offered to put you through to the manager's
and a supervisor's voice mail. If what you said that you said is true,
i.e. that you politely asked to speak to whoever handles complaints,
the rep did the correct thing: (S)he told you that the person(s) were
not available and offered to put you through to their voicemail.

I admire your position. Mine is that a human being should record the
particulars at the first hint of trouble. Equivocating, putting me off, or
shrugging off the issue to someone that's not there is, again in my view,
unacceptable.


Where's the lack of acknowledgment of the misunderstanding? If you've
left the rest of that conversation out of your post and you were
actually treated badly by the person you spoke to, then don't "Huh?"
me because there is no way any I or anyone else reading this thread
could have known that. For all we know, you spoke to a receptionist
who is not responsible for dealing with complaints but who *is*
responsible for getting you to the right person, which, according to
you, (s)he tried to do. (S)he in fact did acknowledge your situation
by trying to get you directly into the proper person's voice mail so
that you could explain the situation in your own words.

Agreed it wasn't her fault, and I was not unpleasant to her. She was only
doing what she was told. It's the bosses' fault for not having an acceptable
(to me) complaint procedure in place.


That's a lot better "acknowledgment" than simply saying "No one is
available, call back later." or "Leave your name and number and I'll
have someone call you."

The fact that you chose not to leave a voicemail with the person(s)
that *you* asked for doesn't give you any right to be indignant.


If I wanted to have a conversation with a machine, I'd have a chat with my
refrigerator.


It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon
thousands of potential customers are lost to Coit (who shall remain
nameless).

Have you noticed how many people have not said a single thing about
the company, but have only talked about how poorly *you* handled the
situation?

I've always known I'm one in a million...


It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon thousands
of potential readers will ignore the furture posts of HeyBub (who
shan't remain nameless).


Yep. Could happen.


But you raise a good point. I wasn't cursing him for a math error, I
was dismayed that MY calculation of $90 was nowhere close to their
final offer of $200.

You were "dismayed" so you cursed out the guy and then got indignant
with the person who answered the phone? Did you ever ask for an
explanation of the estimate when the guy said $200.36? If you did, you
sure didn't mention that in your OP nor show any other numbers that
would support that value. What you posted appears to nothing more than
a math error.

I wasn't indignant to the 'phone person.

Sorry. He gave me an itemized list, reproduced below:
* Clean - $270.00
* Less 40% - -$108.00
* Tax - $13.36
* Service Charge - $25.00
* Total - $200.36
* Items cleaned at customer's risk - No Charge



I am not the sort of person who falls for the "Invisible Rust
Protection Coating" on a new car either.

How does that relate to this thread? Did the tech try to sell you
something extra - something that you never mentioned in your OP - that
caused the estimate to be higher? If so, how are we supposed to know
that?

I *DID* mention that he strongly suggested a ScotchGuard application. When I
demurred, he fell back to a "less expensive but equivalent" Brand X poltice.


Go re-read you OP and see how silly you sound.

Good idea. Standby...

Hmm. My evaluation shows my posts to be the exemplars of clear, cogent, and
convincing facts.

'Course I could be wrong...

On Jun 19, 6:55*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:

Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must
ALWAYS handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable
to even acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups
the righteous indignation level.

Huh?...right back at you. The only thing that you posted was that the
rep who answered the phone offered to put you through to the manager's
and a supervisor's voice mail. If what you said that you said is true,
i.e. that you politely asked to speak to whoever handles complaints,
the rep did the correct thing: (S)he told you that the person(s) were
not available and offered to put you through to their voicemail.

I admire your position. Mine is that a human being should record the
particulars at the first hint of trouble. Equivocating, putting me off, or
shrugging off the issue to someone that's not there is, again in my view,
unacceptable.


Yet further down in your response you state/admit that it wasn't her
fault...she was only doing her job.

You had every opportunity to leave your message with the powers that
be, yet instead you chose to get "indignant" and post your complaint
here.



Where's the lack of acknowledgment of the misunderstanding? If you've
left the rest of that conversation out of your post and you were
actually treated badly by the person you spoke to, then don't "Huh?"
me because there is no way any I or anyone else reading this thread
could have known that. For all we know, you spoke to a receptionist
who is not responsible for dealing with complaints but who *is*
responsible for getting you to the right person, which, according to
you, (s)he tried to do. (S)he in fact did acknowledge your situation
by trying to get you directly into the proper person's voice mail so
that you could explain the situation in your own words.

Agreed it wasn't her fault, and I was not unpleasant to her. She was only
doing what she was told. It's the bosses' fault for not having an acceptable
(to me) complaint procedure in place.


I wonder how many companies have someone sitting around waiting for
your call.



That's a lot better "acknowledgment" than simply saying "No one is
available, call back later." or "Leave your name and number and I'll
have someone call you."

The fact that you chose not to leave a voicemail with the person(s)
that *you* asked for doesn't give you any right to be indignant.

If I wanted to have a conversation with a machine, I'd have a chat with my
refrigerator.

Yet here you are having a conversation with a machine.


It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon
thousands of potential customers are lost to Coit (who shall remain
nameless).

Have you noticed how many people have not said a single thing about
the company, but have only talked about how poorly *you* handled the
situation?

I've always known I'm one in a million...



It may turn out, that because of this thread, thousands upon thousands
of potential readers will ignore the furture posts of HeyBub (who
shan't remain nameless).

Yep. Could happen.



But you raise a good point. I wasn't cursing him for a math error, I
was dismayed that MY calculation of $90 was nowhere close to their
final offer of $200.

You were "dismayed" so you cursed out the guy and then got indignant
with the person who answered the phone? Did you ever ask for an
explanation of the estimate when the guy said $200.36? If you did, you
sure didn't mention that in your OP nor show any other numbers that
would support that value. What you posted appears to nothing more than
a math error.

I wasn't indignant to the 'phone person.

You weren't indignant *with* the phone person.


Sorry. He gave me an itemized list, reproduced below:
* Clean - $270.00
* Less 40% - -$108.00
* Tax - $13.36
* Service Charge - $25.00
* Total - $200.36
* Items cleaned at customer's risk - No Charge


Do you see how much that information changes the entire conversation?
Your OP makes no sense without it, which is why you've received so
much flack.


I am not the sort of person who falls for the "Invisible Rust
Protection Coating" on a new car either.

How does that relate to this thread? Did the tech try to sell you
something extra - something that you never mentioned in your OP - that
caused the estimate to be higher? If so, how are we supposed to know
that?

I *DID* mention that he strongly suggested a ScotchGuard application. When I
demurred, he fell back to a "less expensive but equivalent" Brand X poltice.


Once again, go back an read your OP. No where did you mention anything
related to what made up the $200.36 estimate.


Go re-read you OP and see how silly you sound.

Good idea. Standby...

Hmm. My evaluation shows my posts to be the exemplars of clear, cogent, and
convincing facts.

'Course I could be wrong...

As far as what you claim is in your OP, you are.

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?


Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must ALWAYS
handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable to even
acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups the righteous
indignation level.

so your refusal to leave a message is somehow the manager and supervisors fault
for why they didn't handle the complaint expeditiously?

Malcom "Mal" Reynolds wrote:
In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again
tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?


Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must
ALWAYS handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable
to even acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups
the righteous indignation level.

so your refusal to leave a message is somehow the manager and
supervisors fault for why they didn't handle the complaint
expeditiously?

Of course. Do you have a differing take?

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

Malcom "Mal" Reynolds wrote:
In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again
tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?


Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must
ALWAYS handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable
to even acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups
the righteous indignation level.

so your refusal to leave a message is somehow the manager and
supervisors fault for why they didn't handle the complaint
expeditiously?

Of course. Do you have a differing take?

of course, since you didn't leave a message, they couldn't possibly call back to
compliment you on your math skills

On Jun 19, 3:55*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
Malcom "Mal" Reynolds wrote:
In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again
tomorrow."

Why? Because no one was sitting around waiting for you to blow in an
employee for a math error?

Huh? Business Administration 101 emphasizes that an enterprise must
ALWAYS handle complaints expeditiously. That the company was unable
to even acknowledge the misunderstanding (at a minimum) simple ups
the righteous indignation level.

so your refusal to leave a message is somehow the manager and
supervisors fault for why they didn't handle the complaint
expeditiously?

Of course. Do you have a differing take?

Yep. You wanted some action taken but refused to do your part to
initiate it. Did you expect a person unavailable at the time to
suddently _become_ miraculously there?

Harry K

On Jun 19, 8:52*am, "HeyBub" wrote:

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

Why not reply, "Your office quoted $75 each less 40% which comes to
$90" and let him work it out...?

All you've managed is to appear unreasonable, a customer nobody wants.
-----

- gpsman

gpsman wrote:
On Jun 19, 8:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

Why not reply, "Your office quoted $75 each less 40% which comes to
$90" and let him work it out...?

All you've managed is to appear unreasonable, a customer nobody wants.
-----

Nah. Another company was eager for my business.

On Jun 19, 5:52*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

What's your point? If you wanted to show just how big a jerk you can
be you succeeded.
Normal people would have shown him his error.

Harry K

On 6/19/2012 10:43 AM, Harry K wrote:
On Jun 19, 5:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

What's your point? If you wanted to show just how big a jerk you can
be you succeeded.
Normal people would have shown him his error.

Harry K

Well it is "heybub" who demonstrates the only reason he/she is here is
to screw with people for personal entertainment. Who knows if he/she
even called the cleaning company or if he/she even owns furniture. It
was just time for another ridiculous story from a bored housewife...

Harry K wrote:
On Jun 19, 5:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a
bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and
politely inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I
speak to whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

What's your point? If you wanted to show just how big a jerk you can
be you succeeded.
Normal people would have shown him his error.


He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was just the
messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for voluntarily affiliating
himself with someone named Satan.

On Jun 19, 3:25*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
Harry K wrote:
On Jun 19, 5:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a
bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and
politely inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I
speak to whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

What's your point? *If you wanted to show just how big a jerk you can
be you succeeded.
Normal people would have shown him his error.

He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was just the
messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for voluntarily affiliating
himself with someone named Satan.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

As I said before, go back and read your OP. How could anyone reading
what you wrote deduce that anyone lied to you?

You said the company said $75 for each love seat with a 40% discount.

Then you posted some numbers that don't equate to $200.36.

Then you said you cursed at the guy, escorted him out, called the
company and refused to leave a voicemail for the people you politely
asked for - the people responsible for customer complaints.

That's it...that's all you posted. Where's the lie? All I see - based
on what you posted - is a math error.

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:



He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was just the
messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for voluntarily affiliating
himself with someone named Satan.

Wrong. If he was just the messenger, he wouldn't have needed a calculator. The
error was in your refusal to call the office back and ask for an explanation.

Malcom "Mal" Reynolds wrote:
In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:



He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was
just the messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for
voluntarily affiliating himself with someone named Satan.

Wrong. If he was just the messenger, he wouldn't have needed a
calculator. The error was in your refusal to call the office back and
ask for an explanation.

I didn't need an explanation; the technician was quite clear.

Here's the confusion:

The initial "estimate" was: "The usual charge for cleaning a love seat is
$75. This month we have a special of 40% off."

What I HEARD translated as: The usual charge is $75, but with a 40%
discount, I'll pay only $45. What was MEANT was the usual charge is $130 BUT
with the 40% discount, I'll pay only $90 (each).

In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:

Malcom "Mal" Reynolds wrote:
In article ,
"HeyBub" wrote:



He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was
just the messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for
voluntarily affiliating himself with someone named Satan.

Wrong. If he was just the messenger, he wouldn't have needed a
calculator. The error was in your refusal to call the office back and
ask for an explanation.

I didn't need an explanation; the technician was quite clear.

Here's the confusion:

The initial "estimate" was: "The usual charge for cleaning a love seat is
$75. This month we have a special of 40% off."

What I HEARD translated as: The usual charge is $75, but with a 40%
discount, I'll pay only $45. What was MEANT was the usual charge is $130 BUT
with the 40% discount, I'll pay only $90 (each).

thank you for admitting you were wrong

On Jun 19, 12:25*pm, "HeyBub" wrote:
Harry K wrote:
On Jun 19, 5:52 am, "HeyBub" wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a
bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and
politely inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I
speak to whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training
session. I can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official
response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

What's your point? *If you wanted to show just how big a jerk you can
be you succeeded.
Normal people would have shown him his error.

He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was just the
messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for voluntarily affiliating
himself with someone named Satan.

So you get irate with a "just the messenger'? Wht did you think to
accomplish by that? You admit he was just following orders.

I repeat. You showed yourself to be a total jerk and all your
apologetics since hasn't changed it one iota.

Harry K

Harry K wrote:

He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was
just the messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for
voluntarily affiliating himself with someone named Satan.

So you get irate with a "just the messenger'? Wht did you think to
accomplish by that? You admit he was just following orders.

I repeat. You showed yourself to be a total jerk and all your
apologetics since hasn't changed it one iota.


FINALLY someone sees my goal!

I was more than a jerk; I tried to live up to my own standard of "The
Customer From Hell." (In this case "prospective" customer.)

HeyBub wrote:

He didn't MAKE an error. His office deliberately lied to me. He was
just the messenger - although he bears SOME culpability for
voluntarily affiliating himself with someone named Satan.

YOU: Uh, that's not what the office quoted me.

HIM: That's what the calculator says.

YOU: Should be $90...$75 per loveseat, two loveseats = $150 less $60 (40%) =
$90.

HIM: That's not what the calculator says.

YOU: Let me call the office.

YOU (to office): You quoted me $75 per room less 40%, right?.

OFFICE: Right

YOU: Well, I have two rooms so it should be $90 but the guy wants $200+.
Shall I put him on so you can explain it?

OFFICE: No need.

YOU: Say WHAT?

OFFICE: That phone quote was just to get our man in the door so we could
stick it too you.

YOU: Well, I'm not going to pay it!

OFFICE: Your choice, just live with your grungy furniture and tell our man
to come back. We love going through this BS and paying him for his
unproductive time.

YOU: I'm going to tell all my friends.

OFFICE: Thanks, be sure to tell them about the 40% off.



--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

HeyBub wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...


Hi,
You must have too much idle time to waste.
I don't want to deal with a guy(s) who needs calculator
to figure that out. That is elementary school algebra.
Don't even call it math.

I just went thru similar experience trying to find a reasonable
contractor to replace our aging furnace. I had two model choices
with result of manual J calculation I did.
4 guys in a row JUST gave me total cost+tax. 5th guy did his own
manual J which was very close to my calculation. Needs 100K BTU
96% AFUE furnace, 2 stage variable speed).
His quote had detailed itemized costs including tax. Surprisingly his
price was the lowest. He knows what he is talking about and doing.
No sales man no fancy office, but doing this for 35 years with good
references.(my BIL who is in commercial side of HVAC business confirmed
this independent guy's reputation. Once local tech college instructor)
Only thing I have to do to help him is setting up wireless 'stat
(I have two of them already, one as a back up 916MHz one and 433MHz
one)

On Jun 19, 11:27*am, Tony Hwang wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain nameless,
and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love seats.

"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40% discount,"
said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin, and
sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad sign).

Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

I cursed him like a red-headed step-child and escorted him from the
building.

FOLLOW UP---
I called the company, COIT, who shall still remain nameless, and politely
inquired:
"Good afternoon. I am a dissatisfied prospective customer. May I speak to
whomever handles complaints?"

"The manager and supervisor are out of the office for a training session. I
can transfer you to their voice mail," was the official response.

"Hmm. Now I have two complaints," said I. "I'll try again tomorrow."

Continuing...

Hi,
You must have too much idle time to waste.
I don't want to deal with a guy(s) who needs calculator
to figure that out. That is elementary school algebra.
Don't even call it math.

Really? Do you really fault a guy who cleans furniture for a living
for using a calculator to figure out a 40% discount on a $150 job?

Would you also expect him to figure the tax on the discounted amount
in his head? I've lived in places where the total sales tax might be
something like 8.25%. Sure, I'm not putting a man on Mars with these
calculations, but I wouldn't be embarrased to use a calculator to find
8.25% of $90.

HeyBub may have too much time on his hands, but you are way too harsh
on your contractors.



I just went thru similar experience trying to find a reasonable
contractor to replace our aging furnace. I had two model choices
with result of manual J calculation I did.
4 guys in a row JUST gave me total cost+tax. 5th guy did his own
manual J which was very close to my calculation. Needs 100K BTU
96% AFUE furnace, 2 stage variable speed).
His quote had detailed itemized costs including tax. Surprisingly his
price was the lowest. He knows what he is talking about and doing.
No sales man no fancy office, but doing this for 35 years with good
references.(my BIL who is in commercial side of HVAC business confirmed
this independent guy's reputation. Once local tech college instructor)
Only thing I have to do to help him is setting up wireless 'stat
(I have two of them already, one as a back up 916MHz one and 433MHz
one)-

Did he do the calculations in his head? Where's the line where it's OK
for your contractors to pull out a calculator?


Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

DerbyDad03 wrote:

Really? Do you really fault a guy who cleans furniture for a living
for using a calculator to figure out a 40% discount on a $150 job?

Would you also expect him to figure the tax on the discounted amount
in his head? I've lived in places where the total sales tax might be
something like 8.25%. Sure, I'm not putting a man on Mars with these
calculations, but I wouldn't be embarrased to use a calculator to find
8.25% of $90.

HeyBub may have too much time on his hands, but you are way too harsh
on your contractors.


Maybe. But I don't get screwed on contracted projects. Sorry about you.

Did he do the calculations in his head? Where's the line where it's OK
for your contractors to pull out a calculator?

For me, it is when they are shooting a price out there without a detailed
proposal. I'm good at math, but I do occasionally make mistakes. To me,
it's about the same as a guy pulling out a measuring tape instead of saying,
12 feet by 39 feet at $8.17 per square foot material, plus $3.50 per man
hour labor, plus taxes and permit fees, which comes to around
..................... un ......... uh ........... $8,000. Will that be cash
or check?

I see it as a sign of a professional, unless the job is very obvious, like
my welded gates. I could shoot a total price, no need of itemizing them.
Now, if that is plus a run of fence, I'd do a calculation, and either way,
it goes on paper as a written proposal, a necessity in the offer/acceptance
sequence of real contracting. Once they sign it, and pay the deposit, it is
a contract.

Steve

"Tony Hwang" wrote


I just went thru similar experience trying to find a reasonable
contractor to replace our aging furnace.

I am pretty good at math, always was. I can do a lot of things in my head.
I love messing with people who can't. Especially when I can spout out the
answer quickly, and a few minutes later, they get it on their calculator or
paper and pencil computations. Then they look at you like, "How did you do
that?"

Steve

On 2012-06-20, Steve B wrote:

I am pretty good at math, always was. I can do a lot of things in my head.
I love messing with people who can't.

Easy approach to doing percentages in yer head. Stuff like tips,
discounts, etc:

50% off is easy. Divide by two, or one half.

10% is easy. Divide by 10.

60% is merely one half plus one tenth, in this case, 75 + 15.

65% is halving the 10% and adding it to the pile.

18%? Divide by 10, halve the 10%, Halve the 5%, and add 'em all up.
That's only 17.5%, but close enough to 18% fer a tip.

Think in terms of cutting everything in half, then adding it back up.
Even a senile old geezer like myself still has enough brain cells left
to pull that trick off.

nb

--
vi --the heart of evil!
Support labeling GMOs
http://www.labelgmos.org/

On 21 Jun 2012 01:36:50 GMT, notbob wrote:

On 2012-06-20, Steve B wrote:

I am pretty good at math, always was. I can do a lot of things in my head.
I love messing with people who can't.

Easy approach to doing percentages in yer head. Stuff like tips,
discounts, etc:

50% off is easy. Divide by two, or one half.

10% is easy. Divide by 10.

Shift the decimal point.

60% is merely one half plus one tenth, in this case, 75 + 15.

65% is halving the 10% and adding it to the pile.

18%? Divide by 10, halve the 10%, Halve the 5%, and add 'em all up.
That's only 17.5%, but close enough to 18% fer a tip.

Think in terms of cutting everything in half, then adding it back up.
Even a senile old geezer like myself still has enough brain cells left
to pull that trick off.

nb

On 2012-06-21, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:

Shift the decimal point.

Which direction?

I know, I know, but wanted to keep it braindead simple. I think jes
about anyone can divide by 10.

I did two things that sharpened in-my-head math skills, despite my
taking algebra and trig all thru mid/hi school. I kept score at
bowling and learned to count change back to cash customers. Man,
those bowlers want their updated score before the pins even stop
falling.

nb



--
vi --the heart of evil!
Support labeling GMOs
http://www.labelgmos.org/

HeyBub wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.
"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his chin,
and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was a bad
sign).
Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer with those
numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 - (.40 x
$150).



--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

dadiOH wrote:

HeyBub wrote:
I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.
"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was
a bad sign).
Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer with
those numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 -
(.40 x $150).

Tax.

badgolferman wrote:
dadiOH wrote:


HeyBub wrote:

I called an upholstery cleaning company, Coit, who shall remain
nameless, and asked, roughly, what it might cost to clean two love
seats.
"Seventy-five dollars each, but this month we're having a 40%
discount," said the nice lady.

"Send 'em over," I replied.

Tech comes in the next day, looks at the furniture, strokes his
chin, and sits down with a calculator (I should have know that was
a bad sign).
Eventual estimate, after carrying the three, came out thusly:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer with
those numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 -
(.40 x $150).


Tax.

Your welcome.

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10e12 furlongs per fortnight.

[snip]


If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 - (.40 x
$150).


Which is the normal way of doing it (multiplication before addition). My
calculator knows that, and gets $90.

--

Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us

"I got enough guilt to start my own religion" [Tori Amos]

dadiOH wrote:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer with
those numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 -
(.40 x $150).

Sorry for the confusion. In most mathematical computations, multiplication
and division have a higher precedence than addition or subtraction. A
computer program, or a mathematician, would parse my statement as:

75 + 75 - 0.40 x 150
75 + 75 - 60
150 - 60
90

HeyBub wrote:
dadiOH wrote:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer with
those numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75 -
(.40 x $150).

Sorry for the confusion. In most mathematical computations,
multiplication and division have a higher precedence than addition or
subtraction. A computer program, or a mathematician, would parse my
statement as:
75 + 75 - 0.40 x 150
75 + 75 - 60
150 - 60
90

Yeah, I understand that. What I don't understand is your original one...
$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36
How does that wind up at $200.36 with or without tax?

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Maybe just ready for a change? Check it out...
http://www.floridaloghouse.net

dadiOH wrote:
HeyBub wrote:
dadiOH wrote:

$75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36

Would you or somebody please explain how you can get that answer
with those numbers?

If you do it the way you have it you get $22,440

If you do ($75 + $75) - (0.40 x $150) it works, ditto for $75 + $75
- (.40 x $150).

Sorry for the confusion. In most mathematical computations,
multiplication and division have a higher precedence than addition or
subtraction. A computer program, or a mathematician, would parse my
statement as:
75 + 75 - 0.40 x 150
75 + 75 - 60
150 - 60
90

Yeah, I understand that. What I don't understand is your original
one... $75 + $75 - 0.40 x ($150) = $200.36
How does that wind up at $200.36 with or without tax?

Ah, yes, I DID leave out some other stuff that influenced the total. I've
since corrected that omission but I apologize for the confusion.

"HeyBub" wrote

Ah, yes, I DID leave out some other stuff that influenced the total. I've
since corrected that omission but I apologize for the confusion.

The beatings will continue until the morale improves.

Steve