sharke
I'm going through this kind of thing right now with the landlord's plumber who's supposed to be coming over to replace a valve on the heating pipe. I've been making arrangements to come home every afternoon at 1:30pm to let him in. Twice he just hasn't shown at all - no phone call, no nothing. I'll get a text four hours later saying "sorry, was dealing with a housing inspector on a code violation, can we do tomorrow"? On the third day, he shows up an hour and a half late. I tell him sorry, I have to go back out to work now. And the guy flips out on me! "Listen buddy you want me to do this work or not? I come all this way..."
 

I've also got this going on just now.  When the hot water goes on via the timer all the rads come on too and turn the place into a sauna after half an hour.  It just means I've got to turn the water on manually half an hour when I need a bath or do the dishes and remember to turn it off again after.
 
I'm used to my landlord's plumber by now though, I left a message on his 'phone and I'm anticipating some time in mid-june the work will be done.  I don't even bother chasing him up anymore as all I'll get is broken promises, excuses and no-shows, but I might give him a reminder if it's not done in a couple of months...lol.
 
I think the trouble is when contractors do maintenence work for Landords the little fix jobs like mine stay at the bottom of the pile while he has bigger fish to fry.  It's when he goes quiet he'll start looking for the little jobs to do to make ends meet.  If it's in the middle of winter though, and the heating breaks down I'll make his life miserable hasslle him into submission, guilt trip him or use any manner of means and he'll normally turn up within 48 hours.
 

Jonbouy

sharke
I'm going through this kind of thing right now with the landlord's plumber who's supposed to be coming over to replace a valve on the heating pipe. I've been making arrangements to come home every afternoon at 1:30pm to let him in. Twice he just hasn't shown at all - no phone call, no nothing. I'll get a text four hours later saying "sorry, was dealing with a housing inspector on a code violation, can we do tomorrow"? On the third day, he shows up an hour and a half late. I tell him sorry, I have to go back out to work now. And the guy flips out on me! "Listen buddy you want me to do this work or not? I come all this way..."
 

I've also got this going on just now.  When the hot water goes on via the timer all the rads come on too and turn the place into a sauna after half an hour.  It just means I've got to turn the water on manually half an hour when I need a bath or do the dishes and remember to turn it off again after.
 
I'm used to my landlord's plumber by now though, I left a message on his 'phone and I'm anticipating some time in mid-june the work will be done.  I don't even bother chasing him up anymore as all I'll get is broken promises, excuses and no-shows, but I might give him a reminder if it's not done in a couple of months...lol.
 
I think the trouble is when contractors do maintenence work for Landords the little fix jobs like mine stay at the bottom of the pile while he has bigger fish to fry.  It's when he goes quiet he'll start looking for the little jobs to do to make ends meet.  If it's in the middle of winter though, and the heating breaks down I'll make his life miserable hasslle him into submission, guilt trip him or use any manner of means and he'll normally turn up within 48 hours.
 

Try a rent strike. It doesn't always get their arses into gear, but who knows it just might. 

Rain
Well, this morning I resorted to calling Eduardo, the last of the guys who had been recommended to me. I'd kept him as a last option because w/ my own strange accent, I'm not comfortable speaking on the phone w/ someone who's got an even more pronounced accent. E-mails and texting are always preferable, but this gentlemen didn't offer those options.
 
Parenthesis - Am I the only one who thinks that when we traded our good old landlines and regular phones for wireless and cellular phones, we definitely lost quite a bit in the process? In terms of audio quality and intelligibility, that wonderful technology is nowhere near the standards of 30 years ago as I seem to remember them. Now imagine what it is when this French-Canadian and Pedro try to understand each other on their cell phones... That's twice as much language barrier to begin with and cell phones only seems to multiply the guess work... 
 
At any rate, I was a bit worried - and to a certain extent, rightfully so because, honestly, I barely could understand his greeting message, though I thought I guessed the word "landscaping" at one point.
 
 
Anyway, I left my name, number and said he'd been referred by a friend and that we were interested in his services. 
 
But I was apparently worrying for no reason because Eduardo did not call back. :/

This bothers me, when people have work dangled right in front of their face and they still can't be bothered. I had  a dog trainer working for me a few years ago - I think she charged about $120/hr or something like that. It's pretty lucrative stuff. Then she branched out on her own and I said fine, I'll refer clients who need training to you. So every time we get a new client and they ask us if we do training, I refer them to this trainer with a hearty recommendation. On numerous occasions I've asked the client if they ever called her, and they said "oh we called and left a message and she never called back, so whatever..."
 
In each case, we're talking at least $600 of work (that was her minimum package). I mean for crying out loud, even if you're backed up or you don't have time to take it on, at least call back and tell the person. It's just good will. I get job requests by email that I can't cover all the time, and it's the work of less than a minute to send a little note back saying sorry, we can't help you right now (with a couple of alternative recommendations). Good will like this goes a long way and people you've shown common courtesy to will speak well of you to other potential customers, and might very well turn into customers themselves one day. 

I stopped by this thread to make a reply, but nobody was home so I left...

 
Perhaps you missed your floor ..... Just sayin?

I was there, but I was waiting for the water to heat up. I have my alarm set for "Spring-ish."
 
Just wait by the door. Someone will open it eventually.

Guitarhacker
It seems to me, that an individual who takes a chance to start a business, and who ..
 
1. does competent work
2. charges a reasonable fee for that work
3. shows up on the date and at the time agreed upon (within 10 minutes or so)
4. calls the customer to say they're running late BEFORE the scheduled time of meeting
 
will have a thriving business in no time at all.  Customers appreciate that and since many people in business fail one or more of the 4 things listed..... when they find a business who do all 4 things, they will tell friends and neighbors and hire you again.
 

 
This makes perfect sense to me. Do people who can't be bothered with these basic courtesies already have all the work they can handle?

Jonbouy

sharke
I'm going through this kind of thing right now with the landlord's plumber who's supposed to be coming over to replace a valve on the heating pipe. I've been making arrangements to come home every afternoon at 1:30pm to let him in. Twice he just hasn't shown at all - no phone call, no nothing. I'll get a text four hours later saying "sorry, was dealing with a housing inspector on a code violation, can we do tomorrow"? On the third day, he shows up an hour and a half late. I tell him sorry, I have to go back out to work now. And the guy flips out on me! "Listen buddy you want me to do this work or not? I come all this way..."
 

I've also got this going on just now.  When the hot water goes on via the timer all the rads come on too and turn the place into a sauna after half an hour.  It just means I've got to turn the water on manually half an hour when I need a bath or do the dishes and remember to turn it off again after.
 
I'm used to my landlord's plumber by now though, I left a message on his 'phone and I'm anticipating some time in mid-june the work will be done.  I don't even bother chasing him up anymore as all I'll get is broken promises, excuses and no-shows, but I might give him a reminder if it's not done in a couple of months...lol.
 
I think the trouble is when contractors do maintenence work for Landords the little fix jobs like mine stay at the bottom of the pile while he has bigger fish to fry.  It's when he goes quiet he'll start looking for the little jobs to do to make ends meet.  If it's in the middle of winter though, and the heating breaks down I'll make his life miserable hasslle him into submission, guilt trip him or use any manner of means and he'll normally turn up within 48 hours.
 

Sounds like the motorised diverter valve is stuck - sometimes a little tap with a hammer on the casing will sort it out. If it's not fixed in reasonable time, tell the landlord you'll get the job done yourself and deduct the cost from your rent. Either way, it will get done quicker.

So Sunday my wife subscribed to Angie's List - which is a site where people actually have to pay a subscription fee to participate, hence, the reviews are more likely to be worth taking into account.
 
She found a few potential landscapers, I picked one and wrote him an e-mail. Monday at 8:45 am, I had their reply in my inbox, clear and to the point. After 2 or 3 e-mails, we had an appointment set for this morning between 8:30 and 9:30. 
 
At 8:45,  the door rang and we met our new landscaper. The man gave us the impression of a retired military officer. He was conscientious, precise, and absolutely professional, gave us all the information, asked questions, provided us w/ a clear estimate.
 
And the good part is - he's not anymore expensive than Pedro and we don't have to track him down for weeks every time we need him - we'll receive an e-mail a few days before they show up, 4 times a years or so.
 
Took a while for use to realize that everything had been taken care of, w/ no delay and nobody calling in sick and postponing over and over...
 
 
 

Rain
The man gave us the impression of a retired military officer.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Older people are far more likely to take customer service seriously and show up on time etc. The younger they are, the more likely they are to feel that appointment times are just rough ballpark suggestions.