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Posted by tlhumm on September 11, 2006, 2:33 pm
What do you think about a contractor who refuses to give you references
until you sign the contract? I had the "Affordable Co." come out to
give me a bid on replacement windows, and while she talked for about a
half hour on how great they are, when asked if we could get some
referrals and go look at their work, she refused saying that it's
against their policy, and it's to protect their customers privacy, BUT
if we sign the contract and become one of the "Affordable Co" family,
they will provide us with referrals, we have 3 days to cancel. We said
no thank you.
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Posted by Edwin Pawlowski on September 11, 2006, 2:43 pm
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> BUT
> if we sign the contract and become one of the "Affordable Co" family,
> they will provide us with referrals, we have 3 days to cancel. We said
> no thank you.
You did good.
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Posted by empress2454 on September 11, 2006, 2:48 pm
exactly what you should have done.
Empress2454 #124457
The best Games
show/hide quoted text
tlhumm@hotmail.com wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> What do you think about a contractor who refuses to give you references
> until you sign the contract? I had the "Affordable Co." come out to
> give me a bid on replacement windows, and while she talked for about a
> half hour on how great they are, when asked if we could get some
> referrals and go look at their work, she refused saying that it's
> against their policy, and it's to protect their customers privacy, BUT
> if we sign the contract and become one of the "Affordable Co" family,
> they will provide us with referrals, we have 3 days to cancel. We said
> no thank you.
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Posted by Dan_Musicant on September 11, 2006, 4:04 pm
On 11 Sep 2006 11:33:24 -0700, tlhumm@hotmail.com wrote:
:What do you think about a contractor who refuses to give you references
:until you sign the contract? I had the "Affordable Co." come out to
:give me a bid on replacement windows, and while she talked for about a
:half hour on how great they are, when asked if we could get some
:referrals and go look at their work, she refused saying that it's
:against their policy, and it's to protect their customers privacy, BUT
:if we sign the contract and become one of the "Affordable Co" family,
:they will provide us with referrals, we have 3 days to cancel. We said
:no thank you.
I think you did the right thing. I know a woman who owns a window
replacement company, and I discussed the whole thing with references. I
told her that the company I was thinking of having do my roof wasn't
giving me adequate references. They only provided me with any after I
needled them a few times. The references they gave me weren't
particularly current, and the ones I checked out didn't have the same
kind of roof. Also, they wouldn't give me phone numbers, only addresses
and just a handful. So, they were next to useless.
My friend told me she didn't like to give references, herself, and I can
understand why. Customers generally probably don't want to be bothered
with inquiries from a previously used contractor's prospective
customers. However, it's considered essential for you, the shopping
customer, so you are right to insist on it. You could get severely
burned if you don't.
I went ahead and used that roofing contractor because my back was
against the wall last fall with rains bearing down on me and I think it
probably turned out OK. I had reasons to think they would, but I must
say I would not have used that company knowing what I do now. I had to
hound them for a month before they fixed all the bad work they did.
Fortunately, they hadn't yet gotten their money!
Dan
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Posted by kevin on September 12, 2006, 1:36 am
show/hide quoted text
> My friend told me she didn't like to give references, herself, and I can
> understand why. Customers generally probably don't want to be bothered
> with inquiries from a previously used contractor's prospective
> customers.
Oh nonsense... this is just laziness. Last contractor I hired (siding)
came right out and offered his list of references. He had a spreadsheet
with 100+ names, addresses, phone numbers, project descriptions, etc.
We got to see and talk with people who had nearly the exact siding we
wanted. When they finished the job (a good job too), they simply had a
little postcard with a "Yes/No -- it is okay for us to put your
information on our referral list" that we included with our last
payment. Sure, we liked the contractor, they did a great job, very
professional. Why wouldnt we be a referral for them?
-Kevin
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> if we sign the contract and become one of the "Affordable Co" family,
> they will provide us with referrals, we have 3 days to cancel. We said
> no thank you.