When, oh when, will

business owners get the picture that the customer

deserves better treatment?

Last Monday, I noticed

that, as the water was being drained from the bathtub,

the toilet produced a bubbling, gurgling sound. Curious,

I flushed the toilet only to have it fill up and overflow

onto the bathroom carpet.

After uttering a phrase (I

think it was "Hallelujah..." or maybe not) I

located the plunger and began to madly work to free

whatever was blocking the flow of water to the septic

tank. And therein may lie the problem. After finding the

plunger exercise futile, I called a friend for advice and

discovered that my problem might be a toy tossed into the

toilet by a grandchild. Or, more seriously, since the

septic tank hadn't been pumped in nine years, I might

have a more expensive problem.

I searched the yellow pages

and found a nationally known brand-name company that

promised that service was available around the clock and

that appointments would be scheduled at my convenience.

I, being gullible, believed the advertising.

The pleasant lady on the

phone assured me that they could take care of my needs.

"The serviceman will be at your house between 11

a.m. and 1 p.m. tomorrow. He will call when he's on the

way." What about this 24 hours a day? Oh, well,

tomorrow would be fine. I rearranged my frightfully busy

schedule so that I would be able to stand toilet watch

during the two-hour period promised by the pleasant lady.

The two hours came and went

with nary a phone call. At 1:15 p.m. I called the

pleasant lady who informed me that the workmen were

running behind and that it would be another two hours

before they came to my house. This was becoming much less

convenient. Telling her I had to run a few errands, I

gave her my cell phone number in case the workmen called

when I was out of the house. By 3 p.m., I was back

standing toilet watch and still no one had called.

The afternoon dragged on as

I tried to concentrate on other things that needed

accomplishing. The matter was complicated by the fact

that I was expecting company at 6 p.m. and had another

appointment at 7:30 p.m. So, when no call had come by

4:30 p.m., I called again and talked to the pleasant lady

at the nationally known company that promised service

appointments scheduled at my convenience.

The phone was answered by

the same lady who pleasantly promised that the workman

would be at my house between 11 and 1 and then by 3,

although now it was past 3:30. She listened kindly to my

situation and promised that she would call the serviceman

and let me know when he was coming. She then put me on

hold. A moment later, she came back on the line and said,

"He's on the way to your house right now. He should

be there soon." I told her that I had plans for the

evening and she indicated that she understood and that he

was on the way.

At 4:30 p.m., no serviceman

was in sight. At 5:10 p.m. I called the pleasant lady yet

again. She said that she would page the serviceman and

call me right back. At somewhere close to 6 p.m., I

called the pleasant lady again. "The serviceman

isn't here yet," I complained, "and you didn't

call me back to tell me what I could expect." Now

she was slightly less pleasant.

"Sir, the serviceman

will be there in ten minutes and I did call you but the

phone was busy."

I just hate it when people

lie to me to cover their own... selves. "Uh, excuse

me, but I've not been on either phone and even if i was,

I have call waiting," I explained to the

now-less-than-pleasant lady. A brief period of silence

followed before she said testily, "I called you. The

phone was busy." Stopped up toilet or not, I then

determined that I had wasted enough time with this

nationally known company that promised continuous service

with appointments scheduled at my convenience.

"Cancel the

call," I said. "I've waited here all day, I

don't have all night."

Without a trace of

pleasantness in her voice, the lady simply said,

"Whatever."

No apology, no offer to

reschedule, no consideration of any kind. Thanks to a

wasted day and promises broken, this nationally known

company has forfeited my business forever.

I called another friend who

had similar problems a few weeks ago and he recommended a

locally-owned company. "They were easy to work with,

came when they said they would, and explained how we

could actually save some money," he said. "The

workman didn't even mind answering all my

questions."

So, back to the yellow

pages I went to find the number of the locally-owned

company, which was called Septic, Inc. The lady who

answered the phone immediately put me in contact with the

serviceman who would be dealing with my problem. I

explained my situation and asked him when he could come.

He said, "How about 9:30 tomorrow?"

I inquired, "Is that

9:30 a.m. or 9:30 p.m. and are you certain you mean

tomorrow?"

"Sir," he

replied, "if I tell you 9:30 a.m., I mean 9:30 a.m.

I'll be there when I say I will."

The next day at 8:50 a.m.,

a lady from Septic, Inc. called my house and said that a

truck was on the way and should be at my house in few

minutes. So, instead of wasting an entire day waiting for

a service man that never comes, I discovered that the man

on the phone the night before told the truth. In fact,

the serviceman would be just a little early, which was

fine by me!

I like business people who

tell the truth. I'm a loyal customer if people will only

do the work, charge a fair price, and keep their

promises. If a business will do that, I'll call again and

recommend them to others who have similar needs. If not,

I'll tell everybody I know about that, too.

You'd think that all

businesses would have learned that simple truth by now.

Satisfied customers produce return business and increased

revenues. Dissatisfied customers, enough of them anyway,

will only produce bankruptcy.

[David Epps

is rector at Christ the King Charismatic Episcopal Church

which meets at 10 a.m. each Sunday in the sanctuary at

Carmichael-Hemperley Funeral Home, Ga. Highway 74,

Peachtree City. He may be contacted online at [email protected] .]