Milestone Electric

Our house sits on a hill and is the highest one on the block.  Because of this, it serves as the neighborhood lightening rod during storms. Last year when the hail storms rolled through Irving, our house was struck by a bolt and it blew out some fuses and all of our phone jacks except the internet one.  So we didn't fix them because we still had internet and the only people who called our house line were creditors looking for Carmen Perez or Alejandra Sanchez. 

Now that we have babysitters occasionally come to watch Alex, it dawned on me that we should have a working home line in case they need to call 911 or something and don't want to use their minutes.

Being a "stay at home mom" now (I hate that term so much, but I hate homemaker even more), I see a lot of commercials in between day time television.  When V asked if I knew of an electric company, the Milestone Electric commercial came to mind.  It's the only other commercial I can sing besides "call 267-8433 because the next best thing to new, is Dalworth clean!"

So we called Milestone and an overly friendly appointment booker got me all set up.  So friendly, that he was doing what I do when I'm overly excited about something while on the phone with someone and literally cut me off with energetic exclamations, like "Okay!", "Great!", "Of Course!".  It was a taste of my own medicine and it was painful.  Sorry if I've ever done that to you.  At least it was never over having your phone jacks fixed.

The electrician left a comment/feedback card and asked me to please send it back in hopes that he might get a raise;)  He came out on 2/28/13 and I just found the packet of stuff he left today in one of my many piles.

I felt bad for not sending in the card (I mean it was filled out and stamped...how lazy am I?!), so I decided to send it back today with a letter:

Dear Gus and Mark,

First of all, I would like to apologize for the delay in feedback from my repair visit.

I would have just sent in the card for Rodney because he was great, but when I looked at the glossy folder all of the paper work was in, I noticed how the inside covers were plastered with letters of gratitude and thought, "I can do better than those."

So here goes...

It was a Thursday morning because that is the day my son's speech therapist comes to the house to work with him.  Rodney called to say he was on the way and it was right at the beginning of the time frame I was given...score!

When I opened the door, I was very suddenly aware of how terribly frumpy I looked—dressed in workout clothes and hair thrown up in a pony tail, but still wild.  Luckily, I had brushed my teeth.

Do all of your electricians look like Rodney?!  If so, you should really  think about re-making the commercial or shoot a Milestone Electric calendar for extra cash.  He's a housewife's dream; he's tall, obviously strong from working out or lifting AC units, and overall, very clean-looking.  He wears your uniform (and probably any uniform) very well.

I showed him where the phone jacks were and he inspected the perimeter or whatever you guys do and then came back in and asked to sit at my kitchen table.  I said, "sure?"  He informed me that he was going to write down three options with price quotes of what he could do that day.  Ten minutes later, he handed me the paper.   He was not kidding.  He literally wrote down the options with price in perfect penmanship.  How many elderly/foreign people complained that you guys charged more than what you quoted before you started making your electricians write that much? 

I was impressed.

After I picked my option (and it should be noted that he didn't try and sell a bunch of stuff that we didn't need!), he went to work.  He was wearing his protective shoe coverings the whole time which I see now is question #5 on your feedback card.  At one point, I ran upstairs to grab laundry and he had moved our bed and night stands over to get access to the phone jack.  This goes back to my "obviously strong" point above and I was impressed he was able to move it alone, because it took two guys to arrange it the first time.

He was a good sport about keeping his tools outside because as soon as he tried to put them down on the floor by the front door, my two-year-old son took that as an invitation to play with real power tools. 

He did his job quickly and completely.  He showed me all the work he did, and tested the now working phones out. He put everything back where it went, and nothing was a mess.  He took me into the garage to show me the whole house surge protector he installed and how it works.  I tried to listen, but was painfully aware of how he must have seen the four corners of my car scratched up with paint from hitting the garage backing out or pulling in.  I wanted to explain to him that I'm really not a bad driver, but that I've never seen the hood of my car while driving and sometimes forget it's there.  I sensed no judgment though, and for that, I am appreciative. 

He sat down to write some more and then was on his way.  (Seriously, all the writing...)

About a week later, I received a personally written thank you note from Rodney (which I know is required) thanking me for allowing Milestone to take care of my electrical needs.  I was able to picture him writing the note and it made me smile at how annoyed he must have been to have to write more..."I'm an electrician for crying out loud!"  It also made me feel super guilty about not sending in the comment card  because it's the only thing he asked me to do and I feel like I failed him.

Thank you for employing competent, attractive people, like Rodney.  You guys make them write so much, and his handwriting is so nice.  And Rodney, Thanks for making an otherwise mundane Thursday morning a little more aesthetically pleasing (and for giving us working phones).

Sincerely,

I hope my letter makes the lounge bulletin board!

Rodney's legible handwriting.