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I wasn't sure the best way to phrase this, but what I am talking about is a situation like I encountered today in my big city suburb as it would translate to small town living.
I now live in a metro area with a population of about three million people, and we are retiring next year to a rural county with only 30,000 people. (!) So, today, in my suburb, I had arranged for a local company to come and trim our trees, a $1,300 job. I had booked them weeks ago and had a follow-up e-mail saying that they would be here between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Well, at 10:00, they were not here so I called the company to make sure they would still be here, and I was told, "Well, they had one small job first, but they should be there any minute." Well, here it is 10:30, and they are still not here, and I could have done a lot of other things in the two-and-a-half hours I have spent waiting for them. So, although this is NOT a tragedy (of course), I am perturbed and will not be using that company again, and I might leave them a less-than-glowing review, and that would be that. There are probably at least a hundred companies that do tree-trimming in our area.
But now I am wondering if that were to happen in our new small town/rural location where there might be only three local companies that would do that service, and I had an unsatisfactory experience similar to the above, would I either be "stuck" with them or else risk facing some unpleasantness in the community if I did not use that company again? (Of course, this would not just apply to tree-trimming, but it could apply to well or septic servicing, for example.)
So, in short, I am asking what the "rules" are about such things in small communities.
Thanks in advance!
Last edited by katharsis; 09-18-2019 at 11:16 AM..
I wasn't sure the best way to phrase this, but what I am talking about is a situation like I encountered today in my big city suburb as it would translate to small town living.
I now live in a metro area with a population of about three million people, and we are retiring next year to a county with only 30,000 people. (!) So, today, in my suburb, I had arranged for a local company to come and trim our trees, a $1,300 job. I had booked them weeks ago and had a follow-up e-mail saying that they would be here between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Well, at 10:00, they were not here so I called the company to make sure they would still be here, and I was told, "Well, they had one small job first, but they should be there any minute." Well, here it is 10:30, and they are still not here, and I could have done a lot of other things in the two-and-a-half hours I have spent waiting for them. So, although this is NOT a tragedy by any means, I am perturbed and will not be using that company again, and I might leave them a less-than-glowing review, and that would be that. There are probably at least a hundred companies that do tree-trimming in our area.
But now I am wondering if that were to happen in our new small town/rural location where there might be only three local companies that would do that service, and I had an unsatisfactory similar to the above, would I either be "stuck" with them or else risk facing some unpleasantness in the community if I did not use that company again? (Of course, this would not just apply to tree-trimming, but it could apply to well or septic servicing, for example.)
So, in short, I am asking what the "rules" are about such things in small communities.
Thanks in advance!
Most of the time in small towns and rural areas, if a contractor or service provider is unreliable or unscrupulous, they usually don't last too long as there's a limited pool of potential customers, and news of a poor service experience gets around pretty quick.
Unless you're over a hundred miles to the next possible provider of a service, word of mouth and reputation keep most pretty honest if they want to stay in business.
I agree with MTSilvertip.
There are not rules but a reputation precedes you, as they say. For both providers and clients.
I will say its is quite common at least in my rural area for companies to not show up on time or for days. That is one thing that drove my nephew crazy when he moved here from the city. Lots of things might take priority over your trees or septic or whatever. Like church, cows getting out, hay cutting, sick horse, football, fishing...........
My general practice is to look on line at multiple places and see if they have consistently good reviews. I only look at smaller, local businesses that have a long history in the community. So far I’ve been very pleased with all who have come out to work for us.
I agree with MTSilvertip.
There are not rules but a reputation precedes you, as they say. For both providers and clients.
I will say its is quite common at least in my rural area for companies to not show up on time or for days. That is one thing that drove my nephew crazy when he moved here from the city. Lots of things might take priority over your trees or septic or whatever. Like church, cows getting out, hay cutting, sick horse, football, fishing...........
Agreed. If you go small town in the south (and maybe other areas?) you'll need to keep telling yourself patience is a virtue because if something more important comes up you may find your job put on the back burner for a bit. OTOH if YOU become the 'something more important' because of some sort of emergency then you get pushed to the front of the line and others will have to wait for your job to be finished. It cuts both ways.
But now I am wondering if that were to happen in our new small town/rural location where there might be only three local companies that would do that service, and I had an unsatisfactory experience similar to the above, would I either be "stuck" with them or else risk facing some unpleasantness in the community if I did not use that company again? (Of course, this would not just apply to tree-trimming, but it could apply to well or septic servicing, for example.)
So, in short, I am asking what the "rules" are about such things in small communities.
Thanks in advance!
If you belong to an online community group of some kind, like Facebook, people do ask for recommendations and reviews of local businesses. That way you can get personal reviews of people experienced with the companies you're looking at. If you don't like a particular company you've done business with, the community would likely appreciate your review of the company as well. I can't imagine any real unpleasantness in the community if you gave a bad review. As a matter of fact, the community is usually happy to complain about bad companies....this is based on my own town, which has been known to happily run several companies out of business by giving them bad reviews/recommendations on Facebook.
If there are only three businesses of the kind you're looking for, yes, you're stuck with one of them.
If you belong to an online community group of some kind, like Facebook, people do ask for recommendations and reviews of local businesses. That way you can get personal reviews of people experienced with the companies you're looking at. If you don't like a particular company you've done business with, the community would likely appreciate your review of the company as well. I can't imagine any real unpleasantness in the community if you gave a bad review. As a matter of fact, the community is usually happy to complain about bad companies....this is based on my own town, which has been known to happily run several companies out of business by giving them bad reviews/recommendations on Facebook.
If there are only three businesses of the kind you're looking for, yes, you're stuck with one of them.
Sorry, this was my fault for not being more clear, but what I meant is would I be stuck with using the same company or could I try one of the other two (assuming there are three who do that service) without any negative ramifications?
Thanks for your reply -- and I also thank the rest of you for all the other replies I have received on this thread, too!
Lol, you think you'll have 3 choices? Well, I guess in a small city (30k pop is still a city), you might have 3 choices... that's also big enough there'll be no "negative ramifications" unless you manage to be so over-the-top rude/insulting that people start talking about it.
Lol, you think you'll have 3 choices? Well, I guess in a small city (30k pop is still a city), you might have 3 choices... that's also big enough there'll be no "negative ramifications" unless you manage to be so over-the-top rude/insulting that people start talking about it.
Thanks, but 30,000 is for the entire county! The largest city in the county has 10,000 people, so it will be quite a change! (But, FYI, because it is so rural, some businesses who specialize in rural issues, such as well and septic, do have at least some competition. In fact, I just now Googled "tree service in ___ County" and there are SIX companies who do tree trimming that are actually located in the county, and they all have 4.8 to 5.0 stars (out of a possible five), so I don't think that we will need to worry about finding someone to trim our trees!
And, no, neither of us are rude -- and, in fact, we are such softies and pushovers, that there is a tendency for people to take advantage of us!
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