Hearthlist Digest #542 - Friday, December 1, 2000 Ah... There's nothing quite like the Christmas spirit. by "Roger Sanders" <[email protected]> Change out by "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Dimplex in Home Depot by "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> New Employee at HPA intro by "Allison Haber" <[email protected]>
(back) Subject: Ah... There's nothing quite like the Christmas spirit. From: "Roger Sanders" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 21:30:34 -0500 =93Get out here in the next half hour and fix this stove you sold us! It won't stay lit.=94 were the first sweet words we heard from this customer whose world had apparently come to an end. So we dropped everything that we had scheduled and rushed out. It was a full hour's drive to the house and our service person got there as quickly as possible. This was our first service call on this stove. As our service person stepped into the home, a young woman said =93Where have you been, you're 30 minutes late and if you don't fix this stove immediately, my mother=92s attorney will deal with you.=94 Turns out that the customer had previously run their propane tank dry and had removed the stove=92s glass front for whatever reason, and then they did not properly reinstalled it so it leaked air and would go out. Our service person found the problem and fixed it in a couple of minutes. You gotta wonder sometimes, particularly during the Christmas season, what goes through some customers brains when they treat service personnel so abusively. Don=92t people know how easy is is to get a lot more (and sometimes free) service work from a service person by using a couple of kind words and some cookies? I know that in our business, we=92re at least a hundred times better than we were a decade ago in handling service issues effectively, but it seems that there are rapidly growing numbers of inconsiderate and abusive customers. Does it seem to you that there are a lot more abusive customers now than there were a decade or two ago? Do they learn this abusiveness from the Jerry Springer show? Does it come from school? Does it relate to our society=92s dramatic loss of manners and ethics? I know that Craig will blame in all on the excesses that come from wicked and evil capitalism. Maybe there=92s some truth there. 60 years ago, people had much less in material things and they certainly were much more civil to each other. Roger Sanders Fireside Spa & Patio Bachelor Spa & Stove Bend, OR
(back) Subject: Change out From: "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 23:16:54 -0500 Karen Duke of The Victorian Fireplace Shop forwarded this. It might be of some interest to list members. National Chimney Sweep Guild Discussion List - http://www.ncsg.org If anyone out there sell stoves, fireplace inserts or gas logs, then you need to know about an important hearth industry promotion that could be available to you for the winter/spring of 2001...this is a promotion where you can earn free publicity and take advantage of untapped sales opportunities. THE GREAT WOOD STOVE AND FIREPLACE CHANGEOUT - February 1 through April 30, 2001. - Open to all specialty hearth retailers and sweeps who sell hearth products, chimney liners and other hearth related products -- in 12 U.S. states and a portion of one Canadian Province. - Areas involved include: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Western New York, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin or the Georgian Bay area of Ontario. - Implemented by the Hearth Products Association, local regional HPA affiliates in conjunction with the Region 5 office of the U.S. EPA and Environment Canada. - Focuses on the changeout of old wood stoves and fireplace inserts for = new cleaner burning products, as well as the update of open hearth fireplaces with gas logs and fireplace inserts. TO RECEIVE A FREE INFORMATIONAL PACKET, PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL OR CALL TO = THE APPROPRIATE REGIONAL CONTACT BELOW. REGISTRATION BEGINS DECEMBER 1, 2000: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan (not including the Upper Peninsula), Ohio - Ricky Dungey or Erica Della Croce, Midwest and Middle States Hearth Products Associations - [email protected] or (314) 576-7989 Iowa, Michigan (Upper Peninsula) Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin - Karen Teske Osborne, North Central Hearth Products Association - [email protected] or (608)829-2580 Western New York - Diane Birnstihl, Northeast Hearth Products Association - [email protected] or (603) 483-2087 Georgian Bay area of Ontario - Laura Litchfield, Hearth Products Association or Canada - [email protected] or (705) 789-2308 Manufacturers interested in this program can contact John Crouch of the Hearth Products Association at (916) 536-2390 or [email protected] Thanks! Erika Schmidt The Frause Group 3131 Elliott Avenue, Suite 280 Seattle, WA 98121 (206) 352-6402 (2060 284-9409 fax [email protected] 1-888-731-5379 pager www.frause.com
(back) Subject: Dimplex in Home Depot From: "Craig Issod" <[email protected]> Date: Thu, 30 Nov 2000 23:20:48 -0500 Walked in one of the many local Home Depots here in SJ today and saw the Electric Stove by Dimplex staring right at me. It sells for $399. with built-in electric heater. When I first saw the Dimplex Fireplaces at an HPA show I was impressed. They told me that they'd sell for about 500 bucks, and I thought that was a great price. When they finally hit the market, they were talking $1000 - $1500 for most of the setups. Now it's at HD for $399. - If they would have done their homework in the first place, they probably would have sold scads of them though fireplace retailers. Are they available to the trade for prices like this, or is this an HD = special? ------------------------------------------------------ Craig Issod HearthNet at http://www.hearth.com [email protected] Everything your Hearth Desires ------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------
(back) Subject: New Employee at HPA intro From: "Allison Haber" <[email protected]> Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2000 11:42:48 -0500 Hello, My name is Allison Haber. I am the new Manager of Sales & Marketing for the HEARTH Education Foundation. You can reach me at 703-524-8030 or by email, [email protected]. Thanks, Allison Haber :)