The Economy and the Service Industry

[rob62521]

This week we've had a couple things happen and I think it's because of the economy. Every summer I try to schedule certain things since I'm off from school. On Monday I called the heating/ac and asked to schedule our yearly check of the air conditioner. Normally I have to wait a few days since it is not an emergency. She said, "Can we come today at 3?" The same day I called to have our carpets cleaned. Because of my allergies, we have to have a certain company do it because they do not get the carpets very wet, and it usually means scheduling a week in advance. They were out two days later and gave us a 10% good customer discount off the price! Yesterday I called the car dealership to schedule an oil change, tire rotation, and a recall check and I figured with these items, it would be next week -- they scheduled us for the same day. I think people are not calling to have stuff done and the service industry is really hurting. Is it that way around you?

[rob62521]

I have to agree -- they forget and service takes a back seat.

[maat55]

This week we've had a couple things happen and I think it's because of the economy. Every summer I try to schedule certain things since I'm off from school. On Monday I called the heating/ac and asked to schedule our yearly check of the air conditioner. Normally I have to wait a few days since it is not an emergency. She said, "Can we come today at 3?" The same day I called to have our carpets cleaned. Because of my allergies, we have to have a certain company do it because they do not get the carpets very wet, and it usually means scheduling a week in advance. They were out two days later and gave us a 10% good customer discount off the price! Yesterday I called the car dealership to schedule an oil change, tire rotation, and a recall check and I figured with these items, it would be next week -- they scheduled us for the same day. I think people are not calling to have stuff done and the service industry is really hurting. Is it that way around you?

As a small service business owner I can say that my clients are getting much faster service. We had a reduction in sales of about 10% last year, this year in noticably worse.

Getting out of debt, lowering my expenses and building my EF has paid off.

[Peterz]

agree with you, time is harder now than before.