The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

Status
Not open for further replies.
TastyReuben said:
Good and irritated at the moment.

Monday, the backsplash was supposed to be installed, but they called and cancelled because they had some installers out sick.

"I'll look at what I have for crews in your area and call you back in a bit."

No call by today, and I had the blinds guys coming out to do the blinds (which are done), so as soon as they were done, I called the tile installers.

After about 20 minutes on hold, I got a guy who said, "Let me have the scheduler give you a call back, should be less than two hours."

After three hours, I called back and their voice prompts had changed to "leave a message" only, no option for hold, so I called Lowe's, where I'd ordered the instal through.

The woman at Lowe's put me on hold, then came back and said, "I'm on a live chat with the scheduler right now, they can do...May 14th."

I said that wasn't acceptable, as this was supposed to be done in March and was already bumped twice, so she said, "Ok, she says she can have a crew there next week, but she'll call you with the time and date, as soon as she can."

That was an hour ago. No call yet. I hate being a jerk, because it usually doesn't work out well for anybody, but I'm at the point of driving my couple of boxes of tile and grout back to Lowe's and dumping them on the tile manager's desk and getting my money back. The bad thing is, that puts me back in the queue wherever else I go and it would likely be after May anyway. 😡
Click to expand...

You don't have any independent handymen/contractors around you? Maybe I'm just lucky, since we have a lot of Mexican laborers here that do great work. You have to pay them cash, but they get paid when the job is done. The problem with going through Lowe's or Home Depot is that they already have your money before any work is done.

You need to find someone who gets paid when the work is done. They have an incentive to get it done ASAP.

I would go to Lowe's and have them refund you for the installation, but keep the tiles, and find an independent contractor, and make it clear they get paid AFTER the job is done.

CD
 
caseydog said:
I would go to Lowe's and have them refund you for the installation, but keep the tiles, and find an independent contractor, and make it clear they get paid AFTER the job is done.
Click to expand...
I'm trying to find someone right now. The way I'd normally do that is through a forum at the local newspaper's website, but it got too political and filled with death threats going every which way, so the paper shut it down a little while ago.

Other than that, all I'm coming up with are local flooring companies (two in town) and they don't do installs only.
 
She did call back, BTW, after I called Lowe's central installation number a second time and said she "should" be able to get me in next week and that she'd know for sure Friday, and I did tell her that if that can't happen, then I've got to bring this stuff back and look elsewhere, which I will do, because I'm nothing if not stubborn. :)

I intend to scoot into Lowe's tomorrow and talk to the local flooring manager as well, see if she can grease some things from her side.
 
TastyReuben said:
She did call back, BTW, after I called Lowe's central installation number a second time and said she "should" be able to get me in next week and that she'd know for sure Friday, and I did tell her that if that can't happen, then I've got to bring this stuff back and look elsewhere, which I will do, because I'm nothing if not stubborn. :)

I intend to scoot into Lowe's tomorrow and talk to the local flooring manager as well, see if she can grease some things from her side.
Click to expand...
Good approach:okay:

2 y ago my parents wanted a partial redo of their bathroom, replacing the old bathtub with a walk-in shower, so they could easily get in and out at their age. Some tiles had to be exchanged and something around the sink. As they are both deaf, I do all the communication, check on the craftsmen, arrange, coordinate with parents etc. I googled local adds for craftsmen, and after calling about 7-8 of them who refused to being either busy or absent (it was July, when a lot of vacations take place).

The ninth craftsman was fatal. He not only took an advance payment and money for the materials (neither my parents nor me have cars) and transport, but cracked everything open, started work, and then evaporated into thin air.

I called and texted multiple times, sometimes he would respond 4 h later, sometimes not at all, finally he said he had a funeral, and never came back. After day 3 I decided we need another craftsman. Of course he never gave the money back, we did have a handwritten contract, but it would be ridiculously expensive to get a lawyer and fight over the advance payment.

So this time I asked some neighbours for help, and a wonderful lady recommended workers who finished the job in two days, 2h each day. Charged considerably less and did all...
 
Timenspace said:
The ninth craftsman was fatal.
Click to expand...
It's been hit-or-miss with us and contractors, whether professionally-hired (like through Lowe's or Home Depot) or more along the lines of independent handyman types.

We had a leaking sliding glass door replaced (and the leak fixed) and that was a nightmare. Same company also replaced all our windows in the house (previous house) and did a fabulous job.

I just had my blinds installed today, also through Lowe's, and that went fine. Called ahead, got here when they said they would, zip-zip-zip installed the blinds, cleaned up and out the door, no muss or fuss.

It's just a crapshoot what you get.
 
Here in Portugal, any kind of construction work is simply a disaster. It's guaranteed to take a lot longer and cost more than expected. Construction workers are often late and/or don't show up at all. That's just how that business rolls around here. And you usually have to pay a part of the bill upfront otherwise they don't even start the work. It's really bad and it is what it is.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
This looks so ridiculously cool. There is going to be a Van Gogh exhibit in Detroit this summer, but it won't be just paintings hanging on the walls. Instead, the paintings will be the walls....and the floors. In the image below, the shadows are people, so you get an idea of the scale. Note the projection on the floor, too.

Home Page - Beyond Van Gogh Detroit

View attachment 60757
Click to expand...
We have just had that same thing here, my wife's arty, I'm not, she went with friends and included a meal as a catch up. I didn't know he never sold a thing, only got popular after his death. My wife bought some copies that I have to frame after door painting is done,lol.
She loved it.

Russ
 
caseydog said:
You don't have any independent handymen/contractors around you? Maybe I'm just lucky, since we have a lot of Mexican laborers here that do great work. You have to pay them cash, but they get paid when the job is done. The problem with going through Lowe's or Home Depot is that they already have your money before any work is done.

You need to find someone who gets paid when the work is done. They have an incentive to get it done ASAP.

I would go to Lowe's and have them refund you for the installation, but keep the tiles, and find an independent contractor, and make it clear they get paid AFTER the job is done.

CD
Click to expand...

Totally agree, I'm called mr cash among friends I deal with, cash for carpet, painters, sparky and builder. I believe I get a far better deal for cash. Those subbys I have known for up to 20 years.
Like the painter that painted upstairs, we agreed a price and time frame, I gave him 1k to start with, for paint etc.
Everyone's happy.

Russ
 
So, the weather is beautiful here today, so I decided to cook outside on the grill. I was wearing flip-flops, and a F#$%@&* wasp stung me on the foot. :mad:

This time of year, the wasps can be rather aggressive. I can't think of any other reason for one to sting me -- especially on the foot.

Oh yes, the wasp is now very dead. :okay:

CD
 
LissaC said:
And you usually have to pay a part of the bill upfront otherwise they don't even start the work. It's really bad and it is what it is.
Click to expand...
Right! Sounds familiar to me! There are some good ones here, one just has to find them. But it always involves stress.
I have always wondered how the craftsmen manage to survive with such service.
My conclusion, there is possibly a shortage...don't know.
There is an informal Viber app group of Moms from my neighbourhood that I am in, who all share contacts for good craftsmen, that is awesome. They share other stuff too, like where to buy stuff, or update on regulations...very cool group.
 
caseydog said:
This time of year, the wasps can be rather aggressive. I
Click to expand...
How terrible,so sorry. You must have felt irritated. Is there a wasp nest nearby? Are wasps territorial?

Long time ago there was a wasp nest at the garden house my parents had out of town. My Dad had to torch them out, literally with flame...destroy the nest. It would have been a painful mess had he not.
 
I thought that the weather here was a bit nasty and then we watched Bayern Munich playing Paris St Germain on telly last night. It was like trying to watch a football match that was being played inside a snow-shaker.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom