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November 27, 2007
Quality Customer Service - Its Alive and Well
I think that everybody has 100 stories about poor customer service;
- the cable guy who shows up at 2:00 pm after you waited for the patiently through their 8:00 am to 12:00 noon appointment window,
- the car repair shop that quotes you a price and when you pick up the car the bill is twice as much,
I could go on but I think everyone has been there.
Well I got an example of great customer service. Last week a cable on my garage door came off the pulley. My car was trapped in the garage. I called the company that installed door, but they told me that they probably could not make it out that day, they would try to make it, but if nobody showed up, I should call tomorrow and try again. I called up the Overhead Door Company of Knoxville and after they checked their schedule told me that they would have someone at my house within two hours.
The repairman arrived about an hour later. He put the cable back on the pulley, figured out that the reason that the cable came off the pulley was a misaligned door. He aligned the door, checked everything else and lubricated the tracks and wheels. He was at my house for almost an hour and a half. The total bill was $88.
I don't know how they can cover the servicers wages, pay for the truck, the office staff, advertising, tools, insurance and everything else for that charge.
I was amazed. Please comment with your best and worst customer service stories.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 6:00 PM | Comments (0)
November 19, 2007
Attic Radiant Barriers - Do they damage your roof?
One of my planned winter projects was to install a radiant barrier on my attic rafters. My home is only a year old and the energy bills have been fairly low, but I want to make the house as efficient as reasonably possible. The radiant barrier that I am considering for my house is an aluminum foil material that is stapled to the rafters in the attic.
How do they work
The sun heats up the roof, which in turn radiates heat into the attic. The barrier reflects the heat back towards the roof keeping the attic cooler. For more information on radiant barriers check out this Department of Energy fact sheet.
I told my builder my plan and he advised against it - in the summer the heat reflected by the barrier would 'bake' my roof shingles and reduce their life. The money that I would save on energy would be small in comparison to the cost of replacing my roof. I called two other builders that I know and got the same response.
I searched the net and found the Reflective Insulation Manufacturers Association (RIMA). On their site they have a technical bulletin (TB103) . The bulletin stated that installation of a radiant barrier will only increase the temperature of the shingles 2 to 5 degrees on a hot day. According to the RIMA this increase in shingle temperature will not shorten the life of the roof or void the manufacturers warranty.
Builders - do you install radiant barriers on your houses? Any premature roof replacements?
Home owners, please report the pro's and con's you have experienced.
Posted by Bob Gatton at 8:33 AM | Comments (18)
November 13, 2007
Basic Cell Phone or Smart Phone?
OK, my contract is up with my current carrier. My phone is two years old and the battery doesn't last nearly as long as it used to. Usually when my contract is up there is a new phone that I really want. This time around, nothing is really jumping out, at least to me, as a 'must have' new phone. The IPhone is very cool, but I am too cheap to spend $399, or more, on a cell phone.
Actually the real dilemma for me is whether to get a smart phone, or stick with a basic phone. I really like the idea of checking email, etc. anywhere. I already spend more than enough time in front of a computer screen. If I got a smart phone, I would probably spend even more time being 'connected'.
Blackberry, and other smart phone owners, have you become addicted to your phone? Any thoughts about going back to a more basic phone?
And what is your favorite phone feature - push to talk, camera, blue tooth, etc.? And what do you consider the most useless feature(s) on your phone?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 7:43 AM | Comments (13)
November 5, 2007
$98 HD DVD Player at WalMart
A few months ago I wrote a blog entry about high definition DVD players - HD and Blu Ray. At that time the street price for the least expensive HD DVD player was about $300 and the least expensive Blu Ray was about $500.
Last Friday, WalMart ran a one-day 'secret sale' of the Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD player for $98.87. When this player was introduced last year it had a Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $499! Toshiba has introduced a replacement - the A3, but a hundred bucks for a player that originally sold for $500 is a deal. And with the purchase of any Toshiba HD DVD player Toshiba has a mail in rebate for five free HD DVD movies . Not bad, when you consider that HD DVDs average over $20 per title.
This summer I purchased a Blu Ray player, mainly because Blockbuster only rents regular DVDs and Blu Ray DVDs, no HD DVDs. But this isn't like the old VHS vs Beta battle. At the peak of that format conflict most of the movies were available on both formats. This time around, there are some titles that are available in both High Definition DVD formats, but many of the studios have contracted to only produce discs for one of the HD formats. For example, if you want to watch Pirates of the Caribbean in HD, you need a Blu Ray player, for the Matrix movies in HD you need an HD DVD player.
OK, I bit the bullet and was at a local WalMart at 8 am last Friday, the official start for the sale. Ten minutes later I was leaving the store with my new player. And at 8:10 the stock was gone at that store. Not bad, there is always a risk of buying a 'door stop' when there are different competing formats, but for $100 I am not going to worry too much about it.
Did you buy, or try to buy this player from WalMart (or many other consumer electronics stores that matched WalMarts price)? If you didn't, and you own an HDTV and like movies, what is holding you back? A clear winner between Blu Ray and HD DVD? Or more movie titles? Or maybe a player like the two LG players or the soon to ship player from Samsung that plays both formats? If you are waiting for a dual format player, what is the price point, or feature(s) that would make you open your wallet?
Posted by Bob Gatton at 3:02 PM | Comments (16)
