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Jonathan Sweet - Remodeling Notes


Jay Sweet
As senior editor of Professional Remodeler, a lot of information crosses my desk. This blog will be a chance to share some of that with you, with an immediacy not possible with a monthly magazine. It's also your chance to tell me what you think about what I have to say. Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you won't be shy.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Beware the pissed off customer

Nov 9 2007 7:36AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (4) |
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... or former employees, I should add to that.

Check out the reaction to this blog post from July. I've gotten 14 comments (and counting) from past clients and employees and defenders (maybe his current employer?) of Jose Luna, former owner of Cherokee Windows. Clearly, there's two sides to every story, so I'm not trying to pass judgement on which one of these groups is "right." 

But it brings up an interesting point about what can happen online; something about which every remodeler should be thinking. Even if your company does not have major problems with clients like Cherokee or former remodeling giant Pacesetter (check out this site from past clients), one disgruntled client or former employee can cause issues. Whether true or not, you can be undermined by what people write online about your firm. Postings on places like Angie's List or a thousand other forums can negatively effect what people think of your firm.

It can be as simple as "Googling" yourself and your company to see what's out there. Your clients are going to do it. 

You can't control what people say. (Although if it's untrue and you can prove it you might be able to get comments removed.) The more important thing is to be ready to respond to it, either online if that's appropriate or in person if a potential client asks you about it. 

You can always take pre-emptive action, too. Know who owns the Web address, pultesucks.com? That'd be Pulte Homes. A few bucks a year makes them feel a lot better, apparently.

Reader Comments


at 11/25/2007 8:06:33 PM, True BUT.... said:
I think the venom for this man stems more from personal experiences with him than just bad business. He has a very questionable past even before his business trouble, and it does seem that the cycle is repeating. Only, the people in his future won’t know of his background. And, may not have the choice to make a good decision on doing business with him or not. While for good business owners the internet may be a double edge sword. For consumers, it’s often the only resource they have on choosing someone to do work with. For an unsavvy entrepreneur, it may be their only resource as well before someone sells them a franchise or rips them off on an investment. If you are a good talker, halfway good looking, and a narcissist (which I do believe Jose is) you can rise to the top fast with no worries about what laws you are breaking. When one of this caliber falls, they lie to themselves, others, and blames everyone else. Then, they start over. They leave town, they start doing business with people who don’t know them, they set it all up in such a fashion that the NEXT time…. THEY are not the ones holding the bag. It’s all the innocent people who thought they could make money from someone offering them ‘know how’, ‘experience’, and a ‘small fee plus interest in the business’. Just keep ’his’ name off the books. It’s a ‘win win’. Only, in the end the big loser is the poor individual who listened to what Jose had to say and believed him with all their hearts that he had the ‘golden ticket’. The only ticket he’s offering is the one he’ll be taking out of someone else’s pocket. Believe me, he won’t be hurting in the future for money or business. He’ll just be hurting others. For him, the internet is not a double edge sword. It’s justice.

at 11/27/2007 3:33:20 AM, Gerald said:
In response to the above post by "True BUT" .... BINGO!!! and I mean it; you hit the nail on the head in more ways then one.

at 1/15/2008 4:45:24 AM, Gerald said:
TrueBUT... can you email me please? geraldc476@yahoo.com

at 7/2/2008 9:15:30 PM, get a life said:
geraldc476 is that all you know how to say???

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