Chimney Sweep - Crossing The Line

Wow - I am completely shocked how businesses in today's "quick to the web world" can still cross the line. Don't they understand that everyone they do work for has the power to say the good, the bad and the ugly. This is what I would consider an ugly situation.

The other night I went to a friend's house and there was a chimney sweep that had just pulled off. My friend is selling her house so the inspection showed that she needed a little work done on her chimney. The Real Estate Agent Recommended A Chimney Sweep in Baltimore.

First off my friend was having a personal conversation regarding a family matter and the Chimney guy - said that he could give her relationship advice if she needed it (as if he were a friend). Then he proceeded to tell her his perception of her based on the clothes she had in her closet which he had previously relayed this information back to the Real Estate Agent on a prior occassion. Come on...can't you just do your job and wear an MP3 player and not get wrapped up in a customer's personal life.

The kicker was, after the services were performed the Chimney guy states, "I told your real estate agent that I would do this for you for free." My friend was curious - how can I get this for free? The Chimney Guy says "If you go out on a date with me."

I was blown away by this, but I imagine it happens. I'm sure it happens a lot less than it used to because now people speak out, and it's not the "Pass It On" game any more. Years ago you would call a friend and tell her/him the story and they told ten people and by the end of the story the chimney guy was doing more than the chimney. Viral marketing/reputation - was really exaggeration management.

Nowadays you can still have one bad seed exaggerating, let's say a direct competitor. In all fairness the web has become a pretty reliable source of information as long as reviewers police themselves. Reviews that direct competitors post are sometimes obvious, especially when those competitors will industry terms that a normal reviewer may not.

So back to the Chimney Guy, he is listed in most of the engines and directories including Angie's list and his reputation is now tarnished. The culprit was the owner of the company so in this case it wasn't a misdirected employee.

Mary Poppins would not have approved of this Chimney Guy's behavior.