Anne Ream and Philip Weiser7242 Bryan St. Philadelphia Pa, 19119215-621-7811
Mid-Atlantic Waterproofing1 Chelsea Parkway, Suite 107Boothwyn, PA 19061
12/21/08
To Whom It May Concern,
Out of respect for the process that the Better Business Bureau recommends I am writing to you first to complain about the aggressive marketing techniques your employees have used which wasted our time and had a profoundly negative effect on us. I would never recommend your company to anybody because of these aggressive marketing techniques.
Over the past year we got a small loan in order to make some home improvements. We did this because I became unemployed (I have been on unemployment since March) and decided that it was time for me to try to earn an income by opening a small private practice in my home. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor. Throughout my career in the public mental health system, struggling to help the disenfranchised, the most I have ever earned is $20 an hour. I believe most people will recognize that isn't much. We have done a lot on our house and have gained experience with contractors. Three months ago, our neighbor had her basement done and it cost her $3000. So we decided to put aside that much to have our basement done. At this point in time, all we have left of our small loan is $3000. I am being honest and upfront and any person who is also honest can recognize that.
When I did a web search concerning work on basements, your site came up and I called you as well as five other contractors. Three of the other contractors I called told me they did not do the type of work I was looking for and that was the end of that. The woman who answered my call at Midatlantic told me "we don't seal basements, we don't recommend that" and immediately began to take down the information she needed in order to send someone to our house. She did not ask me any more questions in order to ascertain whether or not we were appropriate customers for Midatlantic. I certainly did not know enough to tell her about our financial situation.
I was able to do that when the first inspector, Steven Bitanga, came to the house on 12/18/08. He worked very hard, drawing diagrams and explaining basement conditions to us. He was here for least 45 minutes doing this. About halfway into his educational sales pitch I began to realize that what he was talking about would probably cost much more than we have to spend. So I told him, upfront and honestly, that all we have to spend is $3000. I noticed the expression on his face fall and at that moment I realized that we did not have the kind of money your organization is looking for. I asked Steven to give us a rough estimate and he told us (upfront and honestly) that it would be about $9,000. He quickly went on to explain why it would cost that much. I am 63 and my husband is older. We have a lot of life experience and previous home ownership's. Both of us understood why your process would be so expensive. What your company failed to understand and respect is that we honestly do not have the money for that. Steven then went on to show us the payment plans that you have for those of us who don't have the money right now. 8% is just beyond us, we don't have that either, and I said so upfront and honestly. That should have been the end of it…we could not afford your services, The End!
Unfortunately it was not the end and this is where my complaint begins. Another woman from your organization called me on Friday, December 19 and asked why we did not sign an estimate. She informed me that it was unlike your organization and that usually the inspector will get a signed estimate. I informed her it was because we couldn't afford your services. She asked me a few more questions so I informed her that all we have is $3000 for the work and Steven had given us a guesstimate that it would be about $9000. This woman told me she would like to send Steven’s supervisor over to talk with us. I said, at least two more times, that all we have is $3000 for the work. She gave me the impression that Steven’s supervisor needed to talk to us. I really could not understand why but my thinking optimistically jumped to, "Oh, maybe they can work with us somehow". So I agreed to allow his supervisor to come to the house on 12/20/08.
Chuck, Steve's supervisor, showed up on time. From the start I informed Chuck that all we have is $3000. He proceeded to try to do more educational sales work. Again, my husband and I have owned homes before and we are both intelligent and highly educated… we did not need more educational sales work. Having two different men show up to give us an “education” about the structure of basements felt a bit insulting. We may be old but we are not stupid, yet. Throughout the whole process we understood why you are charging so much and we tried to get across to your representatives that we do not have that kind of money. We worked hard to make that clear. We simply cannot afford to go into any more debt. I don't know why it was so hard for the people in your organization to understand we don't have the kind of money that you want.
When it comes to having work done that we don't have a serious education about, like auto mechanic work, dental work or basement work, trust is the most important element for salespeople to build in their relationship with a prospective client. Negative, aggressive sales techniques destroy any possibility of building trust, and that is what Chuck ended up doing.
Apparently, Chuck finally began to lose his patience (maybe he didn't believe that all we have is $3000, maybe his projection was that we were lying, which says something about him and Midatlantic) and told us "Midatlantic won't drive a truck off of its lot for $3000!" That is a brag. That was rude, nasty, negative, aggressive salesmanship. That is the reason why we happily have accepted the bid of an independent contractor who was willing to work with us and who approached us with respect for our financial condition. Big businesses like Midatlantic need to realize that changes are happening. The kind of behavior Chuck used, the rude, negative, aggressive salesmanship is the behavior of greedy, perhaps scared people. I would never recommend your organization to anybody and if I don't receive an apology from you, preferably from Chuck and the woman who took my information and insisted that he come over, I will certainly forward this letter to the Better Business Bureau. I do not care if you are members of the Better Business Bureau, things can change quickly. Your organization can get a negative reputation like the reputation that Wal-Mart and Nike have, very quickly. If you are members of the Better Business Bureau you should know better than to use rude, nasty, negative aggressive sales techniques. Bragging about the wealth of an organization is not good business, especially in today's economy with the information that most consumers now have about big business organizations like yours. “Big” does not equate with better or with ethical. The information that we are all receiving today is quite the opposite, “big” organizations are being associated with unethical business and Chuck's statement is a great example of that.By the time Chuck said that I believe he finally was recognizing that we really do not have the kind of money your organization wants.
Our experience with your company felt highly abusive. I don't understand an organization that feels that they can verbally bully people into spending more money than they actually have. I have no complaints about Steven. He did his best and the whole incident should have stopped there. The woman (I didn't write her name down, I had no reason to suspect that she might be part of an aggressive sales technique) who called after Stevens visit, and Chuck, as well as who ever masterminded (are you so rich you can afford to pay people to do that?) the whole incident, need to have some serious education concerning how to treat individuals, with a lower income, with respect and when to let that sale go.
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