What is Customer Service About?

I am in the middle of a bathroom remodeling project and it is not going as expected. The contractor has not been supervising the project efficiently and he was not always been available to guide me and answer my questions. I thought I picked the right one but I apparently I haven't. Since I am not always home to supervise the work either -and oh let's not forget the language barrier at times- the shower tiling pattern all went wrong after 2 days of hard labor...and, why? Because of the bad customer service! The contractor told me he assumed I knew what I was doing since I am a Realtor! Unfortunately, he has not counseled me in the right direction BEFORE we started tiling when I needed his expertise most. Had I been told that that the pattern I wanted, the tiles I chose and the shape of the shower were not a good match, I would have probably listened to the expert! I hired them for this reason after all. And if I chose not to listen, then they would have had the right to tell me "we told you so!" He told me this fact after the job was finished with unwanted results and a few of my tear drops. Now they are trying to fix it but we lost some precious time and it costs more money to re-do the work.

All this experience made me think of the great responsibility we, as Realtors, have towards our clients who put their trust in our hands when buying or selling a home. We are the experts and it is our duty to let them know what will work and what will not under certain circumstances. We need to guide them and warn them when necessary. We cannot assume things. We need to talk to them, ask questions and make sure that they understand. If they choose to go with their choice then it will be up to them. But there's nothing worse than hearing from a client "where were you when I needed your guidance?" It is harder to fix something after it went wrong and you might have hurt the most valuable thing between you and the client: the trust!