Can you hear me now?
I had a home under contract last month and ran into a rather frustrating experience with a plumber. I pride myself on providing clear instructions because I know what happens with bad communication.
The home inspector said the cold water handle for the bathtub faucet was stuck and they were unable to turn on the cold water. I drove to the home and verified the problem.
I called a plumber right away. There were two bathrooms in the home, one with a shower and one with a bathtub, so I provided fool-proof instructions:
"I need a faucet handle replaced. It is the cold water handle in the bathtub, located in the bathroom on the east end of the home. It is stuck in the closed position and will not turn. The hot water side works but the cold water side does not."
The plumber then spoke with me face-to-face and I repeated the instructions. He came back and said it was an easy fix using a used handle set he had in his truck. Nice!
Why isn't it working?
The next day, the Buyer's Agent calls and tells me the cold water in the bathtub still doesn't work. I call the plumber and he tells me he left the water off in case we had a hard freeze. I told him it had to be on so the Buyer could verify it had been fixed. He called later that day to say he had turned the water back on and both the hot and cold were working.
Why is it still not working?
The Buyer's Agent calls me again to report the cold water isn't working. I'm at my wit's end so I drive over to the home and test it myself. Sure enough, the handle is still stuck. In fact, it still has the same handles even thought the plumber told me he swapped them out.
Did the plumber go to the wrong house? What is going on?!?
I called the plumber while still at the house. It takes several minutes to figure out that he had swapped handles on the shower on the west end of the home, not the bathtub on the east end of the home.
ME: "I specifically told you that the handle was stuck and would not turn. Was the handle in the shower stuck and unable to turn?"
PLUMBER: "No, it turned. I just assumed someone had broken it loose. Water was leaking from the handle so I went ahead and swapped it out for you."
ME: "UGH!!!"
The plumber returned and fixed the correct handle so that it passed inspection. He only charged me for the first trip, which was the right thing to do.
What's the problem?
It's important to speak clearly, but that's only half the battle. I can speak clearly but the other party isn't listening properly. Or maybe we speak two different languages.
My solution is to put everything in writing. I normally provide written work orders for all our vendors so there is no misunderstanding. If they forget what they are supposed to do, they can refer back to the work order. If they don't understand what I've written, they can call for clarification. And if a mistake is made, we can typically tell if it was my fault or theirs by referring to the paperwork.
I hope this example can help others avoid the same mistake.
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