Response from GULF COAST ELECTRIC
Our customers are top priority and we always try to provide service beyond their expectations. Unfortunately, sometimes we fail, we do make errors and mistakes but not very often. One of the things that separates a good company from a bad company and one of the things that separates good customer service from poor customer service is how the company handles complaints and problems. There are always two sides to every story, listed below are the facts concerning this customer. What the customer in this case fails to inform the reader is that he never did call our company, his wife called. Furthermore when she called she requested that electrical work be performed. The work she wanted done was for repairs to be made to damaged underground wiring to the pool. She did not request an estimate. Her call resulted in us generating a document called a Service Order Invoice. Had she requested an estimate and estimate request document would have been generated. This is important because estimates are free, Service Order Invoices result in billings. During the wife’s call we scheduled a Service Electrician to perform the electrical work the next day. Had she requested an estimate we would have scheduled one of our three estimators. The Service Electrician’s generate revenues for the company. The Estimators generate estimates. The next day before the Service Electrician went to the job site he called the customer as is customary to make sure that someone was home. This call was answered by the husband. It was during this call after the electrician was in scheduled route to the job site that the husband requested an estimate. The husband did not want the work completed if it was going to cost over a certain dollar amount. At this time the Service Order changed from a request for work to be preformed to an estimate. Our electicians do not give field estimates they produce billable hours, revenue for the comapy. Only our estimators give estimates. The electrician did not know what to do so he call the Service Manager and asked how to proceed. Since the electrician was already in route and scheduled the Service Manager informed him to proceed to the job site and complete a survey on what needed to be done and call him back so that he could price the job. The Service Electrician complied with his request and a price was called to the husband which was rejected. At the end of the day as is customary the Service Electrician turned in his paperwork which included the referred Service Order which had his time, labor documented on it. Unfortunately the Service Manager did not catch this and the Service Order got invoiced along with all of the other Service Orders for that days work. The Service Manager made an error, he was aware of the situation and unfortunately the Service Order slipped past him. We do not blame the customer at all for being upset, we would also be upset anybody would. The following is how we handled the problem which the customer fails to inform the reader. The husband called our office a few days later after he received the invoice in the mail to complain. The Service Manager who was most familiar with the job was not in and he was passed to the Vice President. The Vice President was only aware of the conversation that the electrician had with the husband. The Vice President was only aware of the original request for electrical work to be performed which caused the Service Order to be generated which was called in by the wife. The Vice President knew the husband had never called our office and he knew an estimate was not requested as he verified this with our call taker/Office Manager. Our call taker/Office Manager has been with our firm for over six years and she takes requests for work and estimates on a daily basis. She most definitely knows the difference between a request for work and a request for an estimate. Again the Vice President didn’t know that the husband had spoken to the Service Electrician and requested an estimate. Therefore the conversation between the Vice President and the husband was heated as the husband argued during the original call that he requested an estimate. Again please keep in mind that the husband never called our office, his wife called our office and she never requested an estimate she requested the electrical work be performed. It appeared to the Vice President that the husband was not speaking the truth. The next day I was made aware of the situation. In our company anytime we have any sort of customer complaint or controversy I am immediately made aware of it, it is company policy. It is my utmost desire to solve all problems and deal with all complaints to assure customer satisfaction no matter how large or small they are, I immediately called a meeting and put all parties involved together, the Service Manager, the Vice President, the call taker/Office Manager, the Service Electrician and myself. After just a brief discussion and review of the facts it was OBVIOUS we made an error. The Service Manager should have never allowed the Service Order to be billed. I in turn privately reprimanded the Service Manager, the Vice President immediately called the husband and apologized, his apology was accepted and I immediately drafted the husband an apology letter along with the copy of the voided invoice. In my letter I explained how and why the billing error happened. We most definitely made an Administrative error but once we realized it we made it right along with apologizing and voiding the invoice. We are a 31 year old company operating with the utmost morals and integrity, always have and always will. Jeff R. Linn, President