I'm having a wood floor put down, and got three quotes. Empire, a local guy, and National Floors Direct. The first appointment with NFD (National Floors Direct), they called and said they wouldn't make it till the end of their two-hour window - 8:00 PM, but based on the guys location when he called, it was much more likely that he wouldn't arrive till 8:30 or 9. So I cancelled. He called the next day and said he'd be there at 6, so I left work early to be there. He didn't show up, but he called and said he'd gotten his days mixed up and wasn't scheduled to be there. So I called and scheduled again, during the day, and my wife handled it (the girl that booked this appointment was way fucking bitchy). The guy that showed up was a thug, brought his wife, and appeared to be casing the place, but left us with a very good verbal quote. That was a few weeks ago. Now I'm ready to pull the trigger.
NFD sends some other guy (Vinny got himself fired). This prick calls 45 minutes before his two-hour window starts, and says he's in the next town, and can he come early. I tell him - no way, Jose - sorry - I'm at the office 45 minutes away. I'll be there at 5. He starts talking like he's gonna split if I'm not there right at 5. So, I had already planned on leaving the office at 4:30, I end up leaving at 4:20. Not a big deal, but if I thought I was going to leave at 4:20, I'd have told my boss 4:20, you know what I mean? Moving on... I get there at 5:15 (traffic). Let him in. He does his thing. The quote is TWICE AS MUCH as Vinny quoted me! I tell the guy he's not even in the ballpark, and start collecting his shit like I'm gonna give him the bums rush. He ran me a bunch of bullshit, and called his manager, and ended up dropping the price by about a third (to a price competitive with the other quotes I'd gotten). Still almost $500 more than they'd originally quoted me, though.
I'm definitely not doing business with these sleazebags. Beware!