REPLY TO KEVIN S
I HAVE BROKEN DOWN THIS REVIEW AND REPLIED TO EACH PART INDIVIDUALLY (my part is bold)
I have also included screen shots of all emails, and text messages
"Second edit: a month or so has passed and I noticed that the drywall around the mount was cracking."
- Drywall doesn't just start "cracking", "a month or so" later! Besides that, I didn't mount the tv to the drywall, I mounted it to a metal stud using two zip togglers that support nearly a thousand pounds EACH!!!! There is NO WAY that his tv was ever in any danger of falling.....PERIOD!!!!! Also, I hung my 200 pound body weight from the mount (as I always do), and it didn't even budge!
"I took it down."
- Notice he's not complaining about it falling off the wall.......He had to "take it down"!
"EDITED REVIEW -- to incorporate response from Business Owner"
- EDITED RESPONSE -- to incorporate latest edited review from customer.
"Billy was about 2 hours late, but he did let me know ahead of time that he was delayed."
- I never give an exact time of arrival, I always give a range of time. Either way, he didn't seem like it was a very strict schedule demand.
"I understand."
- Then why did he even bring it up?
"From the very get go he was in a huge hurry to get it done."
- I was NOT in a "hurry"! This guy does NOT get to decide if I was in a "hurry" or not, and/or for what reason.
"I understand that a business like this functions only because he is able to do so many installs per day, which requires some speed."
- This is an erroneous understanding of my business. I could do one job per week, and my business would still "function", and it wouldn't require any "speed" at all. Either way, what does this have to do with his review of my work?
"However, I personally would be more comfortable paying more money for a bit more attention to detail and at least the appearance of taking your time."
- But he complained about the $15 mount assembly fee and the $5 credit card fee, even after I already waved both of those fees. Also, if his idea of an "appearance of taking your time", wasn't so strict, then it would have appeared that I WAS taking my time (It DID "appear" that way to me. And I should know, because I AM me!)
"I had concerns going in to this install because I asked him to install a fully articulating mount (swings out about 25" from the wall) into my condo unit interior wall with 5/8" drywall and metal studs."
- I had NO concerns going in to this install, because I have done this exact setup literally hundreds of times......That's why people hire me! And since I told him it wasn't the right mount for the job (as you will see in our text messages), and I told him it was going to work it's way loose, and he still chose to move forward.......Then, when EXACTLY what I told him was going to happen, actually happened, he decides to complain about it and post a negative review of my work which will never go away. This is truly discouraging!
..........Actually, I take that back. I'm glad this happened because it will show potential future customers the length to which I am prepared to go to ensure their satisfaction.
"Billy quickly dismissed my concerns about doing this kind of mount into metal studs and stated that I probably wouldn't even have the mount extended most of the time anyways."
- This guy apparently wanted me to feel the same anxiety that he was feeling regarding this job. Sorry, I have NO "concerns" about this job at all. I'm not going to be paranoid, just because he's paranoid, even if that's what he expects from me. Also, what he's saying I said, is not even close to being accurate!
"Simply put, I'm worried about the integrity of the mount."
- He's worried about the "integrity" of his own equipment, he has concerns going into the install, he's uncomfortable with how things appear to him.......Starting to notice a pattern, and i'm not even half way through.
"His rush to finish the job also led to the bolts not being fully tightened."
- He was standing over me telling me that each bolt wasn't tight as I was putting them in. I'm not sure what his idea of "fully tightened" is, it doesn't take an impact wrench to get the job done......but that's what I used.
"I removed the TV and the swing arm and tightened the bolts hoping that would fix it."
- Why would it need to be "fixed", it wasn't broken, it just worked it's way loose, which is exactly what I told him would happen due to the fact that he was using the wrong mount for this application.....and I told him that to begin with, as you will see in our text message exchange.
" The mount pulled away from the wall somewhat over the first few days."
- I think he deluded himself into believing something was wrong, and he sat there messing with it constantly until he was able to work it loose, which then confirmed his delusion and instigated this coping mechanism.
"A month or so later the drywall was cracked and it scared me to the point where I took it down."
- And now he's "scared", why am I not surprised? He just said, "a month or so later.....the drywall WAS cracked", this makes such little sense to me, in so many different ways, that I can't even begin to address it.
"In my original review I stated, "He also got fingerprints all over my new 4KTV.""
- He actually says that I got fingerprints "ALL OVER" his new tv.......Just wait and see what else he says about this.....
"Billy seemed to take extreme offense to this."
- This is his personal opinion. Either way, I tend to get offended when someone accuses me of something that isn't true......Which is what he will actually be admitting to soon.
"This may seem like a frivolous complaint to some, but if you're going to call yourself "Professional TV Mounting" then you should be a bit more careful."
- In order to mount a tv, I have to touch it. And like every other slimy meat robot on this earth, I can't NOT leave fingerprints on things that I touch. Notice that he acknowledges the "frivolous" nature of this complaint, yet he makes it anyway.
"To be fair, they weren't "all over" the TV, but his hands were greasy from the various installs he had performed that day and it took a good ten minutes to wipe off those prints."
- And now the truth comes out! Why did he say they were "ALL OVER" his tv? He insinuates that he wants "to be fair", but does he want "to be honest"......He suggests that my hands were "greasy from the various installs he had performed that day", but there is nothing about mounting tv's, in any way, that would cause my hands to become "greasy". He has effectively deluded himself into thinking that my hands were "greasy", and is pretending to have intimate knowledge as to WHY they were supposedly "greasy"......none of which is actually correct.......
"Overall, Billy came out the day he said he would, charged a price near what was quoted , and installed my TV on the wall."
- So what is this guy writing this complaint for? He hired me to mount his TV, and I did that. I don't see what the problem is.
"However, I have had to take it down and now have to completely redo the work."
- He did not HAVE to take it down......He convinced himself that it was going to fail, so he supposedly took it down. Honestly, at this point i'm not sure what I actually believe about his story. He tends to exaggerate and embellish things, as we have already seen.
"With regard to the price being near what was quoted to me, Billy commented that he waived his $15 mount assembly fee, but that wasn't mentioned in the email from his assistant."
- My assistant doesn't know which mounts need to be assembled. Either way, I waived that fee then, and I no longer charge that fee now. What is he complaining about.
"My email made it clear that I wanted him to assemble the mount."
- I have included our entire email exchange, where you will see that this claim he is making is not true.
"Billy also stated that the charge for using Square ($5) is mentioned on his site."
- And it was......
"I just went to his site and couldn't find it on the homepage or the price list page (using ctrl+F and searching for "square," "card," and "fee")."
- It was in the fine print of the "prices" section......It's not there now because I have since eliminated that fee altogether.
"I understand Square takes their cut, but give me notice up front."
- So you need up front notice about $5?
" The only reference I could find on his site is a note that says "We also use SQUARE!!!!""
- My site is always under construction...........
"I am forced to rate this one star."
- And i'm "forced" to tell you that you suck!
"Billy's response seems a bit extreme and in conflict with his statement that he can handle criticism."
- I can handle honest valid criticism......What he's doing is exaggerating, nitpicking, and flat out lying. How should I respond to that?
"The bullet points:"
- This is ridiculous! He's using bullet points now, but NONE of this came up while I was there. He paid me, included a $10 tip, had a smile on his face, and shook my hand as I walked out the door.
"Said he'd be out between 5 and 7pm; texted me at 7pm stating that he was running late; finally showed up at approximately 9pm"
- That's because I worked my ass off all day long.....Like I do almost every day because more people are trying to hire me than I could ever possibly work for.
"the work felt rushed -- again, I know he says he's done this thousands of times, but it *felt* rushed to me -- the vesa mount wasn't tightened before he attempted to lift it up and put it on the mount, I had to force him to slow down and look at the instruction booklet for the mount, and his general work ethic was that of a person in a hurry.
- This is absolutely asinine!!!! This guy thinks he is able to "force" me to do something? That is hilarious! Also, this guy's "electronics" were not that "expensive", or impressive at all... I work on FAR more expensive things than what this guy had...
When you've just spent some money on some new and expensive electronics the last thing you want is to have someone rush through an install"
- When you handle the expensive things that people own on a daily basis, you learn how to do it properly......and there is NOBODY better than me!!!
"the quoted price in the email (where I informed his assistant of the type of mount I had, the details of my wall, and my concerns about mounting it securely) wasn't what he charged at the end of the install, and the fee for square was not mentioned up front"
- cheapest price in town, plus all fees waived... still not satisfied... why am I not surprised?
"the mount was not secure. The drywall was beginning to crack.I have taken it down"
- He's delusional.......It was mounted to a metal stud. In order for the drywall to "begin to crack", the whole stud has to move. The only way that's possible is if the construction of the wall is flawed, or if he's literally bouncing on the end of the arm like an amusement park ride.
"In a nutshell, you get what you pay for."
- And he bitched and complained about every penny, and then gave me a $10 tip.
"There is a reason he charges less than the competition. Caveat emptor."
- This guy actually thinks that I have "competition".........I might have competitors, but they are NO competition!!!!
"Lastly, I think his response is quite telling."
- I think this guy's review is quite telling.
"He says both that it's all fine and was installed perfectly and that I chose an inappropriate mount for my install."
- That is all true. He chose the wrong mount, I still installed it perfectly, and it was fine. It may need to be tightened occasionally depending on how it is used. I told him this, and he appeared to understand it, and have the ability to deal with it.
"In my emails with him, I told him exactly what mount I had and that my interior wall had metal studs."
- I never saw his emails, my assistant did. She relayed the information to me until he had my phone number, and from that point we texted each other.
"The first I hear from him that it's not appropriate is in his edited response to my review."
- I told him all of this before I started doing any work. I told him that it was going to work it's way loose, but it would never fall, and that's exactly what happened.....Am I psychic? Nope, i've just done this thousands of times.
"If you value your electronics, avoid Billy and his shoddy work!"
- Yeah, that's why i've been in business since 2009, and I have thousands of satisfied customers.
"Ugh, final edit: yes I refused to accept a refund."
- EXACTLY!!!!! Well actually, he didn't really "refuse" it, he just begged me not to refund the charge back to his card. There's not much he could do about it, but unfortunately by that time it was too late. When I contacted square they said it was "no longer eligible" to get it back.....That is the ONLY reason why he didn't get a full refund!
"Even though the work was shoddy and I eventually had to take it down and do it all over again, I believe that I should pay him for his time."
- He was so unsatisfied with my work that he gave me a 1 star review, yet he believed he should pay me for my time, including a $10 tip......?
"That's why I refused a refund."
- It wasn't even up to him! A few days had passed before he posted his complaint. As soon as I saw it I tried to refund his money, but Square said that it was no longer eligible for refund. If it would have been possible for me to give him his money back, then I would have done it whether he wanted me to or not. I told him I was going to return his funds and he DID beg me not to.......But he didn't "refuse" anything!
"In my text refusing the refund I did mention that I had given it three stars."
- Then why does it show 1 star?
"I have since changed the rating to reflect the quality of the work over a longer period of time."
- That's NOT why he dropped the rating......He did it because I challenged his review on a public forum, and called him out about his blatant lies.
"My reason for refusing a refund still stands."
- Like I said......It wasn't even up to him. Square prevented me from sending it back to him, end of story!
"I'm not sure what else is going on in Billy's most updated response."
- Yes he does!
"No, I haven't "admitted to using the wrong mount.""
- Yes he did, and you will see proof of this in our text messages
I'm still using it today, I just had someone competent install it."
- Maybe if he moved to a place with wooden framework. I will simply dismiss the insult he just threw at me suggesting that i'm incompetent......If he wants to reduce himself to that level, it just shows how civilized he is when it comes to interacting with people. Also, the fact that he's "still using it today", does NOT prove whether or not he admitted to me that it was the wrong mount for the job, especially when I have absolute, unmistakeable, undeniable proof that he did exactly that.
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HERE ARE ALL OF OUR EMAILS (I have concealed private information ONLY)
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HERE ARE ALL OF OUR TEXT MESSAGES FROM MY CELL PHONE
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"LIKE YOU SAID this mount is just really not built for a metal stud install".......His words!
This confirms that I actually told him it was the wrong mount.
It confirms that I was right, and that he agrees that I was right (even though he denied having done that)......case closed!
He's so worried about it that he's going to "redo it next month"...? (When i'm "worried" about something, I take care of it immediately, but that's just me I guess.)
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I recently tried to resolve this matter on Yelp, and this is how it went......
Three years later and he STILL has this kind of attitude about it.....which tells me that he is just THAT kind of person.
I hope to avoid them, but every once in a while you come across people like this. What sucks is the fact that you don't know until it's too late. They are your best friend at first, but as soon as you get involved with them their true nature comes out. This account is a perfect example of how a situation like that goes down from beginning to end.
Anyone who tells you that they have done 4600+ jobs, and every single one of them went perfectly, is lying to you. I will admit that I have made mistakes in the past.....Never anything serious, like dropping a tv or something like that, but simple mistakes that have left the customer unsatisfied. In those few cases, there was almost always a way for me to resolve the issue and regain the customer's approval. It is only in very rare cases like this where the customer is so incredibly unreasonable and angry, even years later, that it turns out this way. It's a bummer, but i've done my best and there isn't anything further that I can do to make it better........Moving on!