Wow.
I've been away tooooooooo long. This was an interesting thread. Time for a coffee break so I can add my own .02 cents worth.
Richard, it's good reading you again. Sorry to hear about the harrasing calls. First, the Kevin dude may not be a Kevin at all, but could be a George, or a Curly, Larry or Moe for that matter. In other words, if he wasn't giving any info out, then the little you did get, to me is probably inacurate. Sounds like he is someone who would rather not be up front. They may not even be online.
I think there are folks like that all over the United States, and we all deal with them. We get calls like that too, and when we refuse to give out a phone quote the get hot under the collar, and won't give any info.
I had fun with one the other day as a matter of fact. The guy called in and asked questions about 20 minutes after I got off the phone with a homeowner, and he asked about the same low end consumer based product the homeowner asked about that we steered her away from. Then he asked about a product he couldn't remember the name of, that "you add the color to" which was a product we bid on at the clients request. He gave teh same square footage, was in a rush, and "doing the deck" himself. He slipped a couple times and said he had been doing this for "years" ummm er.... "I mean MY deck" and it just went on like that. He wanted chemical names, etc.
Well, after I got off the phone I took the number (return call service is great) and called him back from the fax line. He was out in the field and it was his cell phone.
Anyway, we all feel it and get calls from these guys who if they were straight up would get alot further.
That california company? We bought the suits too. And they call and call and if Rod doesn't pick up the phone they hang up on you before you can get in a word to take a message. We will NEVER do business with them again.
Beth