What about BAD SERVICE

In the last few days a group of my quilty friends have been discussing bad service and what to do about it.

In this instance, one of our group, took her very favourite and often used sewing machine into the shop where she bought it originally to have its annual check-up and cleaning. This shop has been in this town and quite well known for many many years. It is a family business, now taken over by the second generation. One son, runs the retail, the other takes care of the repair.

Well, after 5 weeks and two phone calls, our quilty friend happened to mention it when we got together - she said she had called and that the technician had told her, there were only two machines ahead of hers that he had to do and he would call when hers was ready. The problem was, that he had said the exact thing to her two weeks before! When she mentioned this, we all agreed that was pretty bad service and wondered what could possibly be the problem as the machine was not waiting for parts or any specialized work.

So, after much discussion, we urged our friend to go to this local shop and get her machine and take it to the next town, about 30 kilometers away to a different shop that many of our quilty aquaintenances have and continue to use.

Now, our quilty friend, finally dropped a deep dark secret that shocked us all. When she enquired about her machine, two weeks previous, one of the things that the technician said to her was -- "If you pay and extra $20, I can have the machine ready for you tomorrow morning" --- I tell you, we were shocked. I was amazed and blurted out that I thought it was extrortion!
Would any reputable business, add a charge for good service? Is this what you could even consider a reputable business?

Our quilty friend has now gone to this shop and picked up her sewing machine, which has not been touched since she took it there. The clerk enquired of her, why and said it would only be a short time now. I think, I hope, politely, our quilty friend just said that she was unable to wait an unspecified amount of time and was taking her business dollars to a shop and a technician who actually worked.

We heard the next day, that our friend was happily sewing at home with her cleaned and tuned machine, which she had taken to the shop further away, and had picked it up again the very same afternoon!

Now, I bought my sewing machine at the same shop here in town , but because of word of mouth have not taken it back to them for any service. I did go into the shop recently to buy a bobbin case -- but now, I think, even to purchase some of those sewing extras that this local shop carries -- I will avoid them simply because of that suggestion of an extra charge for better service.

I am so outraged by that concept. It is not a new thing of course. Money Talks! Except in this case, I really wonder how much it actually means to the technician if he gets and extra $20 every couple of months just cause he does a machine overnight? Really, unless you were desperate, $20 every 6 to 8 weeks would not make a big difference in your life -- and I think but of course don't know, how often he does this thing, but it cannot be often if one machine takes more than 6 weeks if you do not pay him that bit extra? Or are there that many ladies who will pay that extra $20 to jump the line so to speak? Which would you do? Would you consent to pay more for the same work, if you could have it done sooner? Or would you be outraged that they dare to ask for that BRIBE?

I know, that I shall not be going to that particular shop again -- even driving a few extra kilometers is easier on my mind than to feel that I am a "mark" for the local store to get an easy buck off of...