Referrals Work ...Beware

Dear friends I have experienced the power of referrals twice in the last couple of weeks. Both highlighting the negative impact of a bad referral. Here's the skinny on both:

Referral 1: one of our beloved sitters referred us to her roofer. He was terrific, as was his crew. Until.... he agreed to do other work for us and then stopped mid-work. He failed to return three phone calls by myself and my husband. I began to think he had suffered an unspeakable tragedy. He didn't. He just became overwhelmed and developed some poor habits as a result. To get him back I had to (1) notify our sitter of his disappearance she in turn (2) notified the person who referred him to her, who just so happened to be his top client, a real estate professional. The RE pro attempted to call him and then alerted others to his poor performance of late. Suddenly he called me. Hmmmmm. Sad that you have to effect some one's bottom dollar before they pay attention to their second-tier clients!

Referral 2: we used the mortgage company that our realtor recommended. Bad move. The service was poor from the start. When you deal with a large amount of money, your personal data and are moving states you should expect a higher caliber of service. We didn't get that. We got dozens of excuses, blame, and mistakes in our paperwork. Our closing was delayed and thus delayed two other related closings. We soon learned that our realtor shares an office with the mortgage contact.... Be careful who you accept referrals from. Ask what their relationship is and get another bid/quote anyhow.

It's been hell of a couple weeks. I'll be glad when the transition is all over. But at the very least it has reinforced my strong belief in being careful about those you refer and be ready to support your referral as best you can (as our sitter did- who is still stellar in our eyes).