Two different companies, but it has really made me think about how hard it is to find good service.

First the Landscaper: I spoke with them about some work to be done and asked them to come out for a quote using their web form. They call me that day and we schedule an appointment. Day of the appointment, I get a text that they are running a little late and will be there in about 45 minutes. 45 minutes turns into an hour and a half so I contact them to see what's going on. They don;t know what's going on, the guy should be there. At the two and a half hour mark they text me and say that the truck broke down and the driver had no cell phone service so couldn't call in. They won;t be able to make it today. Annoying, but okay, schedule for 9 AM the next day. I have a conference call at 10 AM that I need to dial into, and I make this clear. 9 AM turns into 9:30 and finally at 9:45 I tell them not to bother, I am done with them.

Mortgage Refi: Get some quotes online and make contact. Ask a few questions about the process and get some estimates. Ask about rate lock, etc and told that takes place after completing the application and running credit. So we spend an hour or so filling out the application and give consent to running credit. Get a message that it is received and they will reach out to us if they need anything. The broker and our contact are copied. This was last Friday. I was busy this week and figured they were busy too, but decided to check on it today. The girl says that she tried to contact us for consent to run credit (never did, by phone or e-mail). Apparently the rate wasn't locked and rates have gone up. Bottom line, I can get the same rate, but it is going to cost several thousand more out of pocket.

This is utterly ridiculous that these professional services are so poor at the simplest things like keeping appointments and communicating without lying.

The ultimate insult is the customer having to hunt people down to get the job done!

Once someone gives me their word, I’m still old school enough to realize all I have is my word and I’d best keep it.

It’s getting worse, not better. Called the local critter control for a pest problem. Used the same company in the past with good results. Was told I’d get a callback from “J.L.”, the manager. After several days of no response, I said the h### with them and implemented a temporary fix. Guess who I won’t be calling for a permanent solution when the weather warms up!

Definitely agree it’s getting worse and freakin sick of the covid excuse.

Service really has been inconsistent for me this last year, too. Had an awful experience last year with a small startup. Later in the year, though, I had some top of the line pros come and put a window in. They did it in the time frame they said they would. Looks good. I got what I paid for in both cases, I guess, at least as far as professionalism.

The window people gave me hope. I hope you can find someone to trust and be happy with.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
Apparently the rate wasn't locked and rates have gone up. Bottom line, I can get the same rate, but it is going to cost several thousand more out of pocket.

This is utterly ridiculous that these professional services are so poor at the simplest things like keeping appointments and communicating without lying.

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
Apparently the rate wasn't locked and rates have gone up. Bottom line, I can get the same rate, but it is going to cost several thousand more out of pocket.

This is utterly ridiculous that these professional services are so poor at the simplest things like keeping appointments and communicating without lying.

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

The interest rates in the market went up, as I mentioned. They can give me the same rate, but now I would have to pay points and lose a lender credit. Or just pay the higher interest rate. You always have the option to buy down the rate, which we do not want to do. We are going to hold off for now and hope they go down a bit, but in the meantime I am still staying on their case for the missed opportunity.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
Apparently the rate wasn't locked and rates have gone up. Bottom line, I can get the same rate, but it is going to cost several thousand more out of pocket.

This is utterly ridiculous that these professional services are so poor at the simplest things like keeping appointments and communicating without lying.

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

The interest rates in the market went up, as I mentioned. They can give me the same rate, but now I would have to pay points and lose a lender credit. Or just pay the higher interest rate. You always have the option to buy down the rate, which we do not want to do. We are going to hold off for now and hope they go down a bit, but in the meantime I am still staying on their case for the missed opportunity.

My wife is Mortgage Processor. This is a big mistake on their part, and if happened to me, I would be writing a letter of complaint to the reginal management.
Re-fi's in general are considered non-priority (you may get your closing date bumped due to workflow of new sales), but not reaching out to lock the rate is just unacceptable.
At a minimum, if you choose to stay with the same lender, I would request a different loan officer. No way should that LO get the commission after dropping the ball like that!

15 minutes early is on time and 10 minutes early is late.

I ran my business that way until the day I retired and I expect nothing less from people I hire.

The truck broke down is one of the biggest excuses no matter what the nature of the business. They really need to be more creative. This excuse is so old it's growing hairs

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:
Apparently the rate wasn't locked and rates have gone up. Bottom line, I can get the same rate, but it is going to cost several thousand more out of pocket.

This is utterly ridiculous that these professional services are so poor at the simplest things like keeping appointments and communicating without lying.

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

The interest rates in the market went up, as I mentioned. They can give me the same rate, but now I would have to pay points and lose a lender credit. Or just pay the higher interest rate. You always have the option to buy down the rate, which we do not want to do. We are going to hold off for now and hope they go down a bit, but in the meantime I am still staying on their case for the missed opportunity.

Last summer, I was shopping refis and Loan Depot was consistently rated the best or 2nd best. Their rate tied with other companies so I went with them and had a nice experience. Very responsive, and they have a good process to keep things moving.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:
The truck broke down is one of the biggest excuses no matter what the nature of the business. They really need to be more creative. This excuse is so old it's growing hairs

Yeah, but now with cell phones, they have to add "in an area with no service". I do not live in a rural area at all. Such BS.

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

The interest rates in the market went up, as I mentioned. They can give me the same rate, but now I would have to pay points and lose a lender credit. Or just pay the higher interest rate. You always have the option to buy down the rate, which we do not want to do. We are going to hold off for now and hope they go down a bit, but in the meantime I am still staying on their case for the missed opportunity.

Paying points mean you're really not getting the stated interest rate. It's a common pitfall that most borrowers fall for. People actually end up paying a higher interest rate by paying points to lower their interest rate. I can do the math to compare but I've always insisted on quoting me the interest rate with zero points.

Here's what I mean: I can quote you $100,000 at 10% for a term of one year. You say you want a lower interest rate. I say pay me five points and I can lower the rate to 5%.

The effect is I loan you $100,000 and you give me $5,000 for a net effect of $95,000. But you're on the hook for $100,000 at 5%. At the end of the year, you give me a total of $105,000 and I've only given you $95,000. That's a 10.5% effective rate. And that's the big number in boxes at you will see at the top of the loan documents you sign.

I contacted a landscaper early last spring to come to my home to give me an estimate on completely redoing around my house and installing a paver block walkway, including removing old concrete walkway.

After a couple of delayed visits, he finally came, did a sketch , said he would get back with me with a quote. Had to call him twice, to jog his memory. That was summer and early fall.

To date, he has not called me. The work was not a small job, but would have meant a good job for him.

But he normally does high end jobs, eg. Million dollar lake homes, maybe he figured my shack was below his station.

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

quote:

Originally posted by RobC2:

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:

If it's going to cost several thousand more out of pocket to get the same interest rate then you are NOT getting the same interest rate. Dump them like you did the landscaper and find another one.

The interest rates in the market went up, as I mentioned. They can give me the same rate, but now I would have to pay points and lose a lender credit. Or just pay the higher interest rate. You always have the option to buy down the rate, which we do not want to do. We are going to hold off for now and hope they go down a bit, but in the meantime I am still staying on their case for the missed opportunity.

Paying points mean you're really not getting the stated interest rate. It's a common pitfall that most borrowers fall for. People actually end up paying a higher interest rate by paying points to lower their interest rate. I can do the math to compare but I've always insisted on quoting me the interest rate with zero points.

Here's what I mean: I can quote you $100,000 at 10% for a term of one year. You say you want a lower interest rate. I say pay me five points and I can lower the rate to 5%.

The effect is I loan you $100,000 and you give me $5,000 for a net effect of $95,000. But you're on the hook for $100,000 at 5%. At the end of the year, you give me a total of $105,000 and I've only given you $95,000. That's a 10.5% effective rate. And that's the big number in boxes at you will see at the top of the loan documents you sign.

I understand mortgages and points. The rate is higher because they didn't lock and rates in general went up. They now want me to pay points to get the rate to the same place and I am not going to.

ETA: I understand now how this can seem like a scam to get me to pay more, but look at mortgage rates. I don’t have a chart handy but the jumped from around the all time low on Friday when we submitted the application to the highest levels in two months this week. The issue is market rates and them not locking.

I have noticed that as a certain sector gets into high demand some of the business start having bad service as they are busy enough without trying hard.
As soon as the down turn comes, they are the first to go out of business.

You know it's bad when you now assume that customer service will suck.

I use the Mint service to keep tabs on spending and other finance. I was having a technical issue and contacted them through the chat bot. In less than a minute, I'm on with a fellow who not only was fluent in English, but he prompted diagnosed the issue.

In less than five minutes the issue was resolved. I was almost shocked how well it went. Which goes to show how low my expectations for customer service are now.

quote:

Originally posted by SR025:
... freakin sick of the covid excuse.

Amen. It seems like every company out there has pounced on covid as the universal excuse for justifying lousy service.

quote:

Here's what I mean: I can quote you $100,000 at 10% for a term of one year. You say you want a lower interest rate. I say pay me five points and I can lower the rate to 5%.

This is not correct. Each point you purchase lowers your APR by 0.25% over the life of the loan.

Spot on with the Covid excuses. Banks, contractors, restaurants, etc. Oddly enough - the only sector that seems to have upped their Customer Service game are Car Dealerships.