Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/12/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  They sent someone out who said they could fix our scale. The guy came out, watched ******* videos for the 30 minutes he was there. He fixed nothing. We were sent a bill for $323.50 which for a 29 mile, 30 minute drive-a trip charge for a more reasonable amount would have been expected. **** admitted that they did not tell us of such a price when **************** spoke with him about repairing the scale.

  Business Response

  Date: 06/13/2023

  We are a 78 year old family owned, fourth generation small business that prides ourselves on providing courteous and reliable repair and calibration services on industrial and laboratory scales and balances. We were recently contacted by the ************************** about two veterinary scales that were not working properly. I should first mention that the complainant in this case is not the same person that initially contacted us to request service (who is hereafter referred to as the customer). The customer and I spoke about the type of *********************** that she had and the nature of the problems. I mentioned to the customer that we do not sell those brands of equipment and are not familiar with her scales. She understood and further mentioned that she had been unable to find anyone locally that could help her and requested that I send a technician out to try. I agreed and sent a technician to her place of business.The conversation was amicable and we did not discuss any costs at that time.

  Upon arrival, our technician found one scale that had missing and broken parts that we were unable to source. The second scale had calibration errors. As the scale was not a brand that we regularly service, we attempted to locate a service manual while onsite by every means possible in a genuine effort to resolve the customers problem. This included visiting the scale manufacturers website and a general internet search, but very little information was available. The search yielded a ******* video and was the only information that could be found regarding her scale. The limited information contained in the video was not sufficient to be of any assistance in correcting the problems with the scale and our attempts to calibrate the scale were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, we were unable to repair either scale for this customer, regardless of our efforts to do so.

  The customer was billed our minimum service fee for an onsite visit as is common for a service based business. This minimum cost is billed, regardless of outcome, to cover labor, insurance, fuel and other associated costs incurred when providing onsite services. Several days later,we received a call from the customer stating that she did not agree with the amount that she was billed, but was going to pay the invoice. Later that same day, we received a separate call from the complainant stating that she did not feel that they should pay any portion of the invoice as we were unable to repair the scales. That phone conversation lasted approximately two minutes and ended when the complainant elected to abruptly hang up. It is very disappointing that we were unable to continue our conversation and attempt to work towards a solution that was agreeable to both parties.

  I understand that it is sometimes difficult to separate emotions from sound business decisions and interactions. I would have liked to have had the opportunity to continue our phone conversation and further explain our minimum service charge and the reasons for it with the complainant. I am proud of our company and the relationships that we have with our customers,many of which span more than 50 years. It is our desire to provide quality service and timely support for every customer. I am sorry that we were unable to resolve the scale problems for this customer.  I have elected to void the customers invoice entirely and will not require or accept any payment for our services or our costs incurred. I am always available to discuss any customer concerns and hope that this customer finds this resolution to be fair and acceptable.