No Initiative

Sometimes I really don't understand people. I leave 2 messages in the span of 1 week for my contractor, who never called me back. I call him again today, only to find that "at the subscriber's request, this phone is no longer accepting calls". Not accepting my calls, or any calls? I had to wonder. Now I'm feeling like a stalker. So I call him at his alternative number, which he promptly picks up, and tells me that his phone fell in the water and is not working. Ok, so were you perhaps checking your messages from another phone during that time? Because I called you TWICE with no response from you. "Oh, you called me?" he asked, so surprised.

To give some back story, he is supposed to be working on two different projects in my apartment, and I had been calling him to set up a start date for these projects. For weeks now he has known that we wanted to start the projects, but I have to call him to get the ball rolling?? Do you not want my business? Are you soooo busy (in this terrible economy) that you can't take 5 minutes to call me and set up a time to start working...so you can get paid???

After that conversation, I tried to get some work done. I am the client of a company that doesn't seem to think that returning calls is important. Again a situation where if they would just follow up and show some initiative, they can take my money, and we can all move on with our lives. But for some reason they seem to think that not responding to me for 3 weeks is an acceptable business practice. Really?? I know that I have a small business, and my money probably means nothing to them, but the longer I wait for them, the more money my business is losing, and the longer I am spending money to send my child to daycare with NO return on that investment. Awesome.

I have always been a sales person, and follow up is the backbone of success for anyone in sales. No follow-up here. Apparently the customer is the one who needs to follow up - because I'm in such a hurry to hand my money over to these people. Unbelievable.