""%$#@ OREGON, LET THE MONEY AND JOBS GO TO THE PHILIPPINES!"" - verbatim quote from Joe of Super Handyman.
We decided to call Super Handyman (though they've never actually identified the business by name in any ad, so we had to hunt them down by searching the Oregon Contractor's Board database, just to find out what they call the company!) because of their ads in the classifieds of seemingly every newspaper in Oregon. It says: ""WE SHOW UP!!"" ""SAME DAY SERVICE!"" ""HONEST AND FRIENDLY!"" ""OWNER ON JOBS!"" etc. (though again, they never list the name of the company.)
We're installing a solar electric system on our house. The deadline for state and federal rebate programs is in four days. Our house must pass EWEB's (Eugene Water & Electric Board) ""shade survey"" with a score of 85 or better to qualify. We just had it done yesterday, and we got a score of 84. So we're looking for someone to cut a few branches to nudge it over that 1%.
In effect, we're willing to pay someone a couple of hundred bucks to whack off a branch or two. That's what I would have said to Joe, if I'd had the chance. We want to keep the money and jobs in Oregon, but if we can't get someone to trim a few branches, we'll have to go with a German company that markets solar panels made in the Phillipines, instead of an Oregon-made system installed by Oregon contractors.
I tried repeatedly to explain this situation to Joe, but every time I got a few words out he cut me off, so of course communication was completely shot, right off the bat. I wound up blurting; ""look, we're trying to keep the money and jobs in Oregon if at all poss..."" and again, that's when he yelled the remark at the beginning of this review into the phone. Frankly, I suggested he perform an act that isn't even in the ""Kama Sutra,"" and hung up.
Look, I'm just a regular guy. I can't say whether he was just having a bad day or whether their work is up to snuff, because I never even got a chance to describe what we needed done. (In fact, by now YOU know far more about it than they did!)
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