I recently purchased a house. During the inspection, some plumbing issues were noted that were to be repaired prior to the sale. This company was used to make those repairs. After moving in, I noticed we were still having issues and I called my realtor to find out who had made the repairs and contacted the company. After calling several times, and being unable to get the elderly gentleman to understand what I was saying, I went down to the location to talk to him. When I explained who I was, he expressed surprise because he said over the phone I "sounded like one of them Indians or Mexicans." (For the record I am Caucasian.)
Despite the racism, the rest of the conversation went relatively smoothly and he said he'd send someone over that evening. He did, a plumber named Tim who seemed very nice and personable. He tried to fix the issue but was unable to (he didn't have the tools he needed) and said he would be back the next morning sometime after 10am. I gave him my number and expected to see him the next day. That's when it all fell apart.
No one showed up. I wasted an entire day, waiting for him. I called on Monday and spoke to John, who said he'd have Tim call me. We had the same conversation several times that week, until I was finally told Tim was "on vacation" and wouldn't be back intil the following week.
Which leads me to today. I called Mr Gross once again and he became quite hostile on the phone and hung up one me. So I went down to his office to try and speak to him, as he appears to have difficulty hearing well over the phone. He was once again very rude, told me I was stupid for not understanding how HE had spent money and that he refused to have anyone complete the task. Even though John and Tim both initially said that the work would be done without charge, I told Mr Gross I would be willing to pay to have the work redone since it was more complicated than originally anticipated (a few hundred dollars). He flat out refused, told me to sue him, and kicked me out of his office.
Mr Gross appears to have a loyal customer base, and I have no doubt that his reputation was deserved. But at this point, it appears he is now too old to be in charge of his business. He can barely hear, he doesn't know how to operate his phone, he's forgetful (he told me something completely different today about the work he allegedly did than when I spoke to him in July), he's rude, and his ethnic comments were totally inappropriate.