Electrical Connection Summer 2016

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10 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON SUMME R 20 1 6
EDITORIAL
Paul Skelton
SENDING TRADIES
TO THE SHOWERS
A bout 18 months ago, I noticed a
crack in the base of my shower.
It turns out the builder had
installed a very cheap plastic base instead
of the preferred fibreglass options. Then,
instead of properly fixing the base to the
floor, they had used patches of cement as
if it was Blu-tac.
The whole thing was executed poorly,
but I digress.
This story isn’t about ragging on
builders; rather, it’s about ragging on
the incredible lack of customer service I
experienced at the hands of the tradie I
hired to fix my shower base.
You see, upon noticing the crack, I did
what most people would do – I ignored it
for a good couple of weeks and then found
a local shower repair ‘expert’ to come and
remedy the issue.
He seemed to know what he was talking
about, and his price seemed fair, so I
employed him to replace the base and then
we could both go on our merry ways.
Looking back, the first sign of a potential
problem should have come when he
struggled to reinstall the shower screen.
(Pulling it down? No problem. Putting it
back up? Oh...)
It was when I heard him using a hammer
on a glass screen that I intervened and
very quickly figured out the (very simple)
slotting mechanism.
Yes, that was weird but the new base
was now in place, the tiles had been
refitted and re-grouted and the screen
was now back in place. Great!
About a month ago was the first time
I noticed the water damage starting to
appear next to the new base. Further,
mould had started to appear so I got back
in touch with the ‘expert’ and asked him to
come and have a look.
The scheduled appointment time came
and went... no tradie. After that, he only
conversed with me via text.
“Send me a picture,” he said.
I did.
“There’s too much mould. Spray Exit
Mould on it and send me another picture,”
he said.
I did.
“I can’t tell from these images... and
there’s no mould,” he said.
And that, my friends, is the last I heard.
It’s experiences like this that make
customers wary of tradies. What’s to say
that you will do the job properly? Will you
answer service calls?
Will a bitter journo ever write about his
experience with you to 30,000 of your
peers? I hope not.
We work in a ‘faith-based’ industry so
perhaps we all need to ask ourselves:
> Am I doing enough to ensure my
customers believe in me and my
company?
> Will the service I offer encourage my
customers to recommend me to their
friends and family?
> Do I deliver on everything I say I will do?
If you can answer ‘yes’ to all of these
questions then you truly are a credit to
your profession and your industry.
Perhaps the only question that is more
important than those I have listed above is
this: Does anybody know a good plumber?
Until next time,
MANAGINGDIRECTOR
Jeff Patchell
GENERALMANAGER
Jeremy Sweet
EDITOR
Paul Skelton
03 9542 9016
EDITOR –
ACROSS THE TRADES
Jacob Harris
STAFFWRITERS
Jacob Harris, Joe Young
GRAPHICDESIGNER
Elizabeta Todorova
ADVERTISINGTRAFFICMANAGER
Gail Dwyer
CONTRIBUTORS
Phil Kreveld, Simon Hackett,
Gary Busbride, Brian Seymour,
Wes McKnight, David Herres,
Cecelia Haddad, George Georgevits
ADVERTISING 1800063371
Angelo Sticca
0451 374 317
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ISSN 1839-2288
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