I had a repeat client call the other day. He owns several rental properties. We had surveyed the 3 properties he is reviewing back in the 80's or 90's. We completed a development across the street in the 00's and a septic next door a few years ago. As I was looking, I recalled preparing a plan for an engineer on the 3rd parcel a couple of years ago for a deal that fell through.
He said that he had reviewed this project with that engineer a week ago. The engineer told him that he is too busy and that we have all the information in CAD, so it should be easy.
I gave him some rough numbers to prepare a base and some concepts - nothing outrageous, about 0.2% of the assessed values of the property. He was shocked at the fee since we had it in the computer already... I am not as witty as some. I did not claim that he should give me an office because he has it built and paid for already.
As for your concerned citizen, I believe the best approach is the liability route. Your reissuance of an old survey extends your liability. If they want the survey and will sign a waiver stating that they will not use the survey in a way that will cause you to have any liability (ie, seek a permit), then they can have it.
tfdoubleyou, post: 447617, member: 12051 wrote: Obviously you shouldn't post the recorded call, but you also shouldn't have used the woman's name, and perhaps shouldn't have brought this matter up at all as it seems your only purpose was to let us all have a laugh at someone who for all evidence appears reasonable, if somewhat uninformed.
I have no doubt 99.9% of the time your office is perfectly professional and pleasant to deal with. What I am arguing is that in this once-in-a-30-year time, something went seriously wrong on that phone call, and instead of identifying the problem, you seem to be reveling and disregarding how your office seriously upset and 'set right' some woman who's only crime was mild ignorance.
I would say she is just angry that she didn't get her way and get a freebie. Another person who thinks they can bully their way to getting what they want. I would say no matter what was said on the phone to her, anything short of "yes you can have the original survey for free" would have resulted in a negative review.
I agree with others that you should not communicate with her in anyway.
There are internet sites, that are built by very intelligent people. They unserstand Google, and other search engines.
They can permanently smear you. Ripoffreport.com comes to mind.
Their sites are rigged to come up 1st on searches. The only way to get rid of a bad internet review, is:
Pay ransom money to the site, with negative review, or something called "bury it".
Bury it, means you get all your friends to write positive reviews, onto this, and similar sites, until you bury the negative review, under an 100 positive ones.
I'm guessing yelp, is similar to ripoffreport.
Anyway, internet reviews can be very misleading.
N
Yes, internet reviews are often misleading and less than helpful. On the other hand, other internet reviews can be helpful.
A few weeks ago, I was experiencing some issues with a window a/c. I went online and found a local electrician who had good reviews. The way the reviews were written, they seemed truthful, so I called. Wound up very pleased with his immediate answering of the phone (at 7 am or so no less!). He came when he said he would and checked out my problem for a very reasonable price.
Along the same lines for me is buying things online. I basically shy away from buying anything on eBay. The items I want to buy are not often not described very well and there are no product reviews there. I'm sure the main reasons many items have such poor descriptions are at least two fold: one, the seller knows little, if anything about the product they are selling, and can't be bothered to do any research. Two, too many people take pictures with and post ads with their cell phones. That simply is not conducive to writing a complete description.
On Amazon, I have often found good answers and info about products in a well written review. Not "it was good", "it works" type garbage, but a thought out review stating the good and the not so good. And sometimes including info that the manufacturer does not put in their description.
Tommy Young, post: 447602, member: 703 wrote: Apparently incivility comes from having to talk through your nose.
This made my day. 🙂
I have no opinion on this matter, nor do I have any advice or insight to offer. I just felt like posting something before I open up a dwg and get to work this morning. Carry on.
This discussion brings me grief. Why are we celebrating the obvious great disappointment of a seemingly reasonable woman, whose, for all evidence presented, only crime was a bit of ignorance? She has been forever tainted on our profession, she will associate that encounter with all Land Surveyors and avoid future contact with any of us. Even if in the future she requires our service, she will be an apprehensive, unwilling and therefore challenging client.
Given how she describes her encounter in the review, I do not believe for a second that a respectful and reasonable explanation of the facts, along with a set of options for getting what she needed (a fence permit). A 10 minute call, a happy member of the public, and perhaps even a contract to come out to verify and re-certify a 3 year old plat. Maybe she was rude on the phone, I don't know, but I do know that she got off the phone feeling as though she had been talked down too and insulted. And what do we do? Post it here (under the guise of 'a lesson in due diligence'), then stand around and say 'Christ, look at that idiot!'.
Can we just for assume for a second that maybe she wasn't an 'a-hole' and ask, how could a situation like this be avoided in the future? How do we raise awareness of the value of our product?
Peter Lothian - MA ME, post: 447689, member: 4512 wrote: I have no opinion on this matter, nor do I have any advice or insight to offer. I just felt like posting something before I open up a dwg and get to work this morning. Carry on.
On another message board I follow, one thread has 67,000 posts, the next most popular is approximate 7% of that total.
The tread title: Absolutely Useless Facts About Yourself, No One Cares About
tfdoubleyou, post: 447690, member: 12051 wrote: seemingly reasonable woman
You don't know the facts of how this woman spoke to our staff after we denied her request for a free copy of "her" survey nor will I post them. Your posted assumptions, although interesting, are pure conjecture on this issue. 🙂
Plumb Bill, post: 447688, member: 226 wrote: This made my day. 🙂
tfdoubleyou, post: 447690, member: 12051 wrote: This discussion brings me grief. Why are we celebrating the obvious great disappointment of a seemingly reasonable woman, whose, for all evidence presented, only crime was a bit of ignorance? She has been forever tainted on our profession, she will associate that encounter with all Land Surveyors and avoid future contact with any of us. Even if in the future she requires our service, she will be an apprehensive, unwilling and therefore challenging client.
Given how she describes her encounter in the review, I do not believe for a second that a respectful and reasonable explanation of the facts, along with a set of options for getting what she needed (a fence permit). A 10 minute call, a happy member of the public, and perhaps even a contract to come out to verify and re-certify a 3 year old plat. Maybe she was rude on the phone, I don't know, but I do know that she got off the phone feeling as though she had been talked down too and insulted. And what do we do? Post it here (under the guise of 'a lesson in due diligence'), then stand around and say 'Christ, look at that idiot!'.
Can we just for assume for a second that maybe she wasn't an 'a-hole' and ask, how could a situation like this be avoided in the future? How do we raise awareness of the value of our product?
The plat is 7 years old, not three.
There are not enough hours in the day, nor enough of me, to educate everyone. Based on the OP, I don't see anything wrong with the way the situation was handled.
FL/GA PLS., post: 447553, member: 379 wrote: I received this recently:
1 review ( 1 STAR)
a month ago-What Ms. Collins said....
"We bought our house back in 2013 (only one previous owner) and this company did the original property survey, which was provided to us by the seller. Fast forward about a year and we wanted to complete the fence installation around our yard, which required a property survey for the county permit. The copy of the survey provided to us by the seller was incomplete - the entire back property line was cut off. Now, this was certainly the fault of our title company, however, when trying to resolve the issue, it was suggested I contact the original surveyor. Upon doing so, I was treated with such disdain and disrespect that I was prompted to write this review. Their representative was condescending, extremely rude, and obviously lacks any semblance of customer service skills. They refused to provide us with a copy of the survey to the property, since we aren't the original owners. This may be normal practice, but it was the manner in which it was explained to us that was so outrageous. The disgusting attitude of the woman we dealt with is what made our experience with this company so negative. She even offered me a "mini education" in how the surveying industry works, which was that a new property survey should have been done before purchasing the house, regardless of the fact it had been done just 3 years prior. Why would that be necessary you ask? So they can make more money. Our title company dropped the ball in confirming the paperwork provided at closing was complete and accurate, but I would never recommend doing business with this company if you want to be treated like a human being. Take your business elsewhere - there are many other survey companies that are more reasonably priced and will treat you like a valued customer. Do NOT use these people unless you want to be treated like a moron."
My response...
Dear Ms.Collins,
You said, "They refused to provide us with a copy of the survey to the property, since we aren't the original owners. This may be normal practice"
My reply: Yes it is.You also said, "Upon doing so, I was treated with such disdain and disrespect that I was prompted to write this review."
My reply: After reviewing the recorded conversation between you and our office, you were the person rude and offensive not us. When purchasing real estate due diligence is an important part of the transaction.Thank you for the comment. Feel free to contact me at the office.
Your thoughts?
Last year I had to fire two guys after having spoken with them three times and having given them written warnings. One of them owed the company over $800 for an outstanding loan. When pay day came around the one who owed the $800 came looking for his pay check that consisted of one days work. He obviously didn't get the check and his debt was forgiven but within an hour of being told this he posted to yelp about how dishonest a company we are, liars and thieves, out to rip everybody off. I found it quite humorous.
tfdoubleyou, post: 447690, member: 12051 wrote: This discussion brings me grief. Why are we celebrating the obvious great disappointment of a seemingly reasonable woman, whose, for all evidence presented, only crime was a bit of ignorance? She has been forever tainted on our profession, she will associate that encounter with all Land Surveyors and avoid future contact with any of us. Even if in the future she requires our service, she will be an apprehensive, unwilling and therefore challenging client.
Given how she describes her encounter in the review, I do not believe for a second that a respectful and reasonable explanation of the facts, along with a set of options for getting what she needed (a fence permit). A 10 minute call, a happy member of the public, and perhaps even a contract to come out to verify and re-certify a 3 year old plat. Maybe she was rude on the phone, I don't know, but I do know that she got off the phone feeling as though she had been talked down too and insulted. And what do we do? Post it here (under the guise of 'a lesson in due diligence'), then stand around and say 'Christ, look at that idiot!'.
Can we just for assume for a second that maybe she wasn't an 'a-hole' and ask, how could a situation like this be avoided in the future? How do we raise awareness of the value of our product?
You seem to be pretty dang judgmental and presumptive from my perspective.
Tom Adams, post: 447731, member: 7285 wrote: You seem to be pretty dang judgmental and presumptive from my perspective.
A personal attack, neither constructive nor substantive to the honest discussion I'm trying to foster. If you disagree with me, fine. if you believe I'm a 'judgmental and presumptive' twit, fine. I ask that you add something to this discussion that argues WHY, as I have attempted to explain why I disagree with the original post.
As recent events have proven, if we can't have a useful discussion, even when we come down and vastly different sides of an issue, what's the point? Is this place really intended to serve as echo chamber to our own egos and bravado?
[USER=1]@Wendell[/USER]
Would you please delete this thread. It's getting to be a digital space hog Thank you in advance. 🙂
tfdoubleyou, post: 447732, member: 12051 wrote: Is this place really intended to serve as echo chamber to our own egos and bravado?
Yes El Guapo, if I wanted the truth I'd ask my wife... 🙂
FL/GA PLS., post: 447734, member: 379 wrote: [USER=1]@Wendell[/USER]
Would you please delete this thread. It's getting to be a digital space hog Thank you in advance. 🙂
Is it possible to lock your own thread? Just curious.
