ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade Business Related Discussion about those maintenance gigs

Glad it worked for you , service magic was a bust for me . 4 jobs amonth , 5 electricians trying for them

Sparky , any details ?
where to sign up ?

do they have a set price ?

Life Alert Emergency Response System
TAMPA, FL
1-800-294-4553



yeah they do CDS, based on whatever the prevelant service call rate in the area might be. They will also try and send you out of your 'service area' , but will negotiate the set fee if they can't get anyone else closer

~S~

Reporting back on the FM deal here.

These people are a hard dollar.

Everything they do is elevated to crisis management, and then they hide behind the anonymity of e-mails and faxing orders with little to zero human intervention

All their crisis's are 'not to exceed' $500, and if it does , they go into meltdown mode

EVERYONE hates these people, i show up and introduce myself as being from FM , and managers spit on the ground before they can even say hello

I've noted that some of their clients are getting trades from 2 states away, even though they are lousey with said trades right next door!

speaks volumes im(not so humble this a.m.)o....

They like to move the goal posts too, first a job is 'critical' i.e.- do what it takes, after it's billed out it gets downgraded to 'general maintenance' , forgetting all about the crisis=$$$ sunday night deal.

Or they'll insist you didn't get whatever piece of paperwork 2 months ago after being confronted on an invoice

So i've been playin' their own game against them....

Went to one of their calls the other day, parking lot lights out. Found out from the manager that it's been that way for 4 months

4 months!

they call every other day asking for an eta, at first i said they needed to pay up on the 70+day old invoices out there.

Now i just say it's raining, or the parts on the truck

effectively placing the job in limbo

they violate the first rule of biz

don't want quick & pay slow

so if you've read my rant thus far, tread carefully if considering a stint with these people folks

~S~

Almost out of the maintenance gigs .
The last one we have been using (American Project Repair ) is getting as bad as the rest .
We have 5 late invoices , including one to replace fixtures , it was a quote that was agreed upon before we started . How can you justify being late to pay a quoted job ?

They only pay after they get paid , they say they have 45 days after the invoice is approved . Who knows what approved means ? Also the 45 days is an estimate . It seems to me that they can string you along until the invoice is too old for a civil suit .

I never liked the idea of a maintenance co , I only took them because business was so bad .
I guess I am done with them now . It has been my experience that when you begin to complain about payments , the companies stop using you .

just got off the phone to one of their 'make peace with the wee folk' reps explaining why thier gig is predetory

now they're sending out some sort of vendor relations specialist to deal with me

guess i'm just not falling in line with the corporate gestalt as well as i should

i told them if this was thier idea of sensitivey training , they'd best charge up the taser....

~S~

I want to thank those who have posted here with real world, specific replies. The ad copy is wonderfully full of meaningless generalities - some actual DATA makes all the difference!

We used Service Magic a year ago or so. It did not work for us.

update>

i had to send FM to collections , for a job i did in March 2010

of course, i gave them every opportunity to forgo this, as most headhunters take 40-50%

and they gave me nothing but bullsh*t

now there's a 'specialist' assigned to that particular invoice, and doing her best to move the goal posts on the deal again at that

this specalist has no less than 3 contact numbers in her e-mail

i've tried to call her a number of times, no soap, guess it's all going to be a one way relationship no matter what

so here's some from the field, real world news Reno

would you sign on with them after reading this thread?

if you your doubts, then this thread is somewhat useful to those blue brothers out there looking for an honest day's work

and hey, that's what this place is all about, right?
~S~

Thanks for the first-hand feedback!

Not that I doubt a mans' motives .... but you can learn a lot reading 'junk' novels. Let me explain ...

In 1989, he published "Journey," a novel based upon the adventures of some of those who answered the Great Alaskan Gold Rush. One telling part of the tale were the various guidebooks, outfitters, and well-meaning folks who - and Michener documented these folks for real - who gave the travelers some very, very bad advice - largely because NONE of them had ever been anywhere near Alaska, nor had they travelled the route thay advised.

Now, that novel hit home with me ... for no other reason than that I had just finished a 'journey' of my own, one that 'everyone' knows so much that 'just isn't so.' I have since found that to be a common part of so much advice that is given, in so many discussions. Sure, I'm an expert on pesticides - because I played one in a TV show!

Now, anyone can have a bad day ... but a pattern begins to suggest that the problems do not lay with the complainers.