GO PLOW YOURSELF

Oh was I not in a good mood when I saw this last night.  The short of the long is that I received an email at 11pm that was written at 9:19pm, less than 2 hours before the largest storm Connecticut has seen in years.  My plow service  informed me that as of that day they would be increasing my rate by 50% for the rest of the winter because they have more clients now and new equipment.  Not only that, but they now would not promise to be at my house in time to plow the drive before work.  I was livid, what a dick this guy was.

I do not mind paying more for a storm like this because it requires far more work, but you don't tell someone two hours before, the day of, and give them an ultimatum.  I was then informed that because my check for the last storm did not come in until the 8th (the storm was like 2 days prior to that) that that is why I wasn't informed earlier.  (Uhm...that gave you 3 days asshole).  In addition to this I was sent an email less than a month ago that specifically stated. "Dear Angelina, last year you used our snow plowing services for $30 each snow storm, would you like to continue this through the 2011 winter", to which i responded hell yes.  Uhm that was 2 snowstorms ago.

Please read below to see our email correspondences:  (FYI - nothing is worse than not only pissing off a woman and trying to make her look bad, but the fact that she has to do hours of manual labor because of it shortly then after, well...I will make sure every website you are on has a bad review)

From: Plowing Services [mailto:snowplowing.ct@gmail.com]
Sent: Tue 1/11/2011 9:19 PM
To: Bartolucci, Angelina
Subject: Pricing / Policy Change

Hello Angelina-

We have recently had some policy changes with our organization which will affect our service to you as of January 11, 2011 on. We've taken on many more routine accounts which have required significantly more man power, this along with the difficult economy have caused these changes.

Your quote of:
$30 per service
Will be replaced with:
$45 per service

Secondly, some changes are taking place below:
In the past certain individuals agreed to time restraints to have our service done by. This will be void as it is making it near impossible to achieve (especially with a large storm like this past week). (NOTE, WE DO OUR VERY BEST TO GET YOU OUT AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE AS WE KNOW EVERYONE HAS AN AGENDA). We always do our best to move quickly and arrive as early as possible. No longer will be able to offer a discount for going out twice within a short period (rather, we'll have our trucks wait a bit longer to keep us from going out twice and you getting charged twice). Lastly, we want to remind everyone of the overage charge. Any snow storm that accumulates over 8 inches will be an additional charge of $10 for that storm. In some areas (this past storm) we saw just this and many were not charged accordingly, this new policy will be effective immediately from this point forward.

Of course the same quality service we have provided for our customers will continue. We will be careful and courteous, assist in walkways, sidewalks and sand/salt as many others do not. However, minimums must be instilled in order for our operation to profit as needed and we apologize for this.

If you accept the new service changes please confirm this via email so we can continue your service for the new year.

Again, we are very sorry for the inconvenience. Thank You,
--

Management
Plowing Services
860-578-4592


My Response:
So you can't make it on time and you're upping my rate by not only $5, $10, but 50% of what it currently is?

As I recall you asked me less than a month ago if I still wanted your plow services for $30. Now upping it $5, maybe $8 I can see, but $15? I am in sales and if i were to tell my customers that because I have other customers that spend more money then them, and are therefore more important so they will have to pay more to be worth my while, well...I wouldn't be a very good sales person would I?


How did you expect me to respond to this email? It sounds to me like your giving me no option but to either get mad and therefore you don't have to plow my crappy $30 driveway, or to just shut up and pay the $45.

THEN TO NOT BORE YOU:

His return response was some bullshit about new equipment and then always doing quality work. 1) The only reason I use your services is because your cheap, you took out a large chunk of my lawn last year and you don't even salt and dirt every time.  You don't do the full driveway and you're never on time anyways. 2) You just don't do that to people 2 hours before a storm.


I explained to him that I understand they work hard so I have no problem with paying addition money for a larger storm, but the whole increase every storm i would have to think about and his response was something of a child's like, "Don't tell me about working hard".  


I was going to do one of two things, have him plow, then only send him a check for my original quote or once they plowed, send him an email that says, my policy has changed as of 1/12/2011 and I will no longer be needing your services.


Anyways...I'm beyond pissed, thank god I have amazing neighbors who helped me out, now I have to make the decision to buy a snowblower, or find a new plow guy. Back to shoveling!