My Blog

The ONE thing you should NEVER tell a handyman (or anyone else for that matter).

Lawrence Land: Posted on Saturday, February 23, 2013 5:25 AM

We have done an immeasurable amount of work in New York City over the past 10 years, & the #1 thing we hear from customers is "It's easy". The second thing we hear is "It's simple". We really shouldn't have to explain how irresponsible both of these previous statements are.

One: You're not the person doing the work.

Two: If someone came into your office from another division, or another company, or even off the street, & has NEVER worked in your department, doing the work that you've been doing for 10 years, & proceeded to tell you, "your job is easy", to justify NOT paying you what you know you're worth, or lowering the salary you've earned through experience, you MIGHT feel a little "upset".

Well, not to put it too mildly, your blood might boil.

So, now that you have on our loafers, please, step forward & continue to explain to us just how easy our work is.

We've worked as 9-5er's in the corporate setting before. Lawrence at Georgeson Shareholders on Wall street & Kenny at BMW. We know what it's like in that environment. Does anyone have any idea what it's like in ours? We chose this particular career without complaint, but to believe that the career is easy, without hands on experience, does not show any respect.

Being fair & balanced is not something that is inherent. That only comes from experience.

Trackback Link

A rather unsual Handyman Request - Home Theater Installation

Lawrence Land: Posted on Saturday, December 01, 2012 8:55 PM

This recent Yahoo story inspired me to make this posting

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/krispy-kreme-donut-order-rejection-video-153858341.html

We could have turned our clients away when we've gotten unusual requests. When presented with a challenge, a hit or miss mentality doesn't cut it when you're a service professional. New York City apartments, (unbeknownst to these inanimate objects) are going up against Native New Yorkers, who've seen just about every a prewar building could throw at them, including completed jobs like the one below:

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

Television installation Manhattan Bowery -Lower East Side

Nolita Bowery Lower East Side New YorkTelevision installationhttp://www.nyctvmountingikea.comhttp://www.choicegreen.orghttp://www.kudzu.com/m/Choice-Green-TV-Installs-Much-More!-30133346...

Trackback Link

The C in CB2 stands for Cupid

Lawrence Land: Posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2012 2:36 PM

Ikea and the hopeless romantic

Have you ever fallen in love with a setup that you've seen at Ikea, only to have what comes in the box, not meet your expectations when you get home?

We've gone with customers on field trips to Ikea and have gotten schooled in the art of deception. It would be wrong to refer to it as false advertising, but you would be mistaken to believe that what you see is what you get. One particular piece we observed, had 2-3 times the amount of nails in the back you would normally be provided with.

Even a few of their setups are professionally altered to entice you to purchase them. Even BestBuy, Sears, and P.C. Richards engage in the practice. How so? Most televisions come from overseas. Most of them have the same inner workings, regardless of the brand. What you see in most stores is a representation of what can happen when the picture, color, and sound of one "less expensive" brand, without the prestige of having a heralded label like Samsung or Sony. The settings are sometimes altered, so a Dynex or White Westinghouse, don't look as attractive as their more expensive brothers and sisters.

Do the more expensive brands deserve the reverence they get? In the case of West Elm vs. Ikea, yes. The verdict concerning Fujitsu vs. Magnavox, it's a toss up. Our point is, don't give your heart away, even when you wear it on your sleeve. Talk to someone who's had a long "relationship" with the item you desire. Happy early valentine's day.

Written by Lawrence "The Lothario" Land.

Trackback Link

We simply must refuse.

Lawrence L: Posted on Monday, October 15, 2012 10:11 AM

Something we refuse to do.

Paying for the sins and inadequacies of other handymen.

Something we refuse to do.

Negotiate our prices based on what another handyman charges. E&E. Expenses & Experience. This website isn't free. We offer 10% off for liking our Facebook page, or 15% off for leaving us a blog comment/suggestion.

Something we refuse to do.

Give our clients less than everything, so they have to call us back, or something even worse. They have to call another handyman, because the job we did was not completed correctly the first time.

We won't lie to you about what we're capable of doing, just to get the job.

Something we refuse to do.

Vote for any one on American Idol after they dismissed Daughtry.

We here at Choice Green have been doing a lot more with ourselves these days. The above are things that we don't do.

We also don't do windows of time. We don't fudge facts for our personal gain. We don't allow another handyman's prices, work ethic, laziness, or lack of realism, or previous customers issues (being realistic we don't please everyone with the questions we ask regarding the work, or our explanations of why some projects cost more than others), dictate to us how we treat each and every individual.

Since you're now familiar with what we don't do, here for your viewing pleasure, are a few of the things we will always agree to.

We will call you if we are behind schedule due to traffic, or another customer (It happens and it is realistic. We keep our schedule based on these 2 criterion. Doesn't always help us if the previous customer isn't concerned with your time, an elected official is in town, or the new IPhone is upon us).

We video catalog all of our work and have all details of the job e-mailed or text to us for our records.

We do ask questions regarding the work before we get there.

We do not do "Simple Task". We don't perform arduous work. We simply do what it is that we are compensated for. Nothing more. Nothing less. No labels on how easy or difficult anything is.

We only purchase supply materials for work over $100.00 if called for, outside of the anchors and tools we bring with us on all of our jobs. We bring out our own anchors and tools, paid for out of our own pocket. We have extensive knowledge concerning the areas of television & home theater installation.

We hope that you can appreciate our transparency and honesty. We interact with each of our customers personally. People don't give us video testimonials because they "feel" like they're getting personalized service. It's because they truthfully are. Each time. Every time. Best Buy & PC Richards can't deliver that. Other handymen wish they could. 7 years of service to New York City. The same phone number for 5 years. Yes. We are who we say we are.

Lawrence Land. Owner, Operator, Blogger, Handyman.

Trackback Link

Can someone Yelp! me please????!!!!

Lawrence Land: Posted on Thursday, October 11, 2012 10:39 AM

Hi!,

My name is Lawrence Land, Owner & Operator of Choice Green. Whenever someone calls me or my company they reach me. Not an operator, not an administrator. Me. They mention me by name or they ask, "Is this Choice Green", and I reply yes it is.

No impersonal or intangible 3rd Party. I come to you today as someone who has been seriously wronged by a slanderous keyboard stroke. The worst part of it all, it's a qwerty fairytale. Stay tuned in for the whole ride.

I promise it will be worth it. If you're really good and stay for the ending, you'll get awarded with some very special bonus video's, straight from the good people on YouTube. (YouTube, where everyone is a star. Except for Rebeca Black).

We currently have one negative review on our Yelp! profile stating that we threatened our customer in Long Island City, "Neil M.", and we destroyed their property, over charged them for materials, and sent a fire breathing dragon to give them a french kiss.

Okay, that last part was made up. But so is the entire testimonial. We never worked for a Neil M in Long Island City in the last year, or in the last 6 months. As a matter of fact we haven't done work in Long Island City in over 2 years. We don't advertise there. While we do get calls from other areas, even as far as California and Florida, we don't advertise anywhere else in the New York City area except Manhattan N.Y., and a few select areas of Brooklyn.

Example (Copy and pasted from my currently live Yelp! profile):

Meet the Manager:

Lawrence L.

We service many areas: These are the areas we service the most. - visit our website for more details

Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY,

Midtown East, New York, NY,

Midtown, New York, NY,

Hell's Kitchen, New York, NY,

Lower East Side, New York, NY,

Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, NY,

TriBeCa, New York, NY,

Battery Park City, New York, NY,

Greenwich Village, New York, NY,

East Village, New York, NY,

Upper West Side, New York, NY,

Union Square Park, New York, NY,

Chinatown, New York, NY,

Chelsea, New York, NY,

Little Italy, New York, NY,

SoHo, New York, NY,

NoLita, New York, NY,

NoHo, New York, NY,

Union Square, New York, NY,

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY,

Financial District, New York, NY,

Central Park, New York, NY,

Bowery, New York, NY,

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, NY,

Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, NY,

Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY,

Fort Greene, Brooklyn, NY,

Stuyvesant Town, New York, NY,

Murray Hill, New York, NY,

Upper East Side, New York, NY,

West Village, New York, NY,

Roosevelt Island, New York, NY,

That's where the highest concentration of calls comes from.

And now my rebuttal of the "Neil M." review as it is currently posted on Yelp!:

The above testimonial is a false review. Please deal with it accordingly. It's posted by "someone" who has been on Yelp! less than 7 days.

It's unfortunate that if this person really wanted to warn you about just how very bad we are, they could've posted a rebuttal after the 3rd or 4th time I amended my initial comments 2 days ago... This is now October 10th 2012 and the time is 11:12 E.S.T

It's also highly & extremely unfortunately for the customers who use Yelp! correctly, that the above review is not factual. The review above is a complete work of fiction. I'm adamant about it because it took 7 years to build my reputation, and it's being tainted by events that never took place. From now on I will take a video catalog of ALL of my projects from start to finish, not just the select projects available for review along with video testimonials currently on my website. Customers will provide explicit details of what they would like done to the letter and all cost will be accounted for. All aspects of all jobs will be documented, by way of video.

I cannot sit idly by and allow this, and if you built a business with a reputation like mine, you may just understand why I'm upset.

Common sense means that the person addresses me by my name, or my company directly. Over 95% of the reviews on my Yelp profile address me by name, or mention the name of my company, even the filtered reviews. As a matter of fact, most reviews posted on this site mention someone specific person or company by name, along with details of the work, and what pleased them (or displeased them), regarding their experience with the service they've been provided. So why is this review left to stand out when it gives absolutely no specifics whatsoever, regarding the nature of the work, who I am, or what company they're addressing?

I am a staunch advocate for freedom of speech, when people aren't lying. But this "person" has a written response. So do I. I have video testimonials on my website with a record of doing what's right. This review is an outright lie and I hope that you treat it as such. 7 years of going far above and beyond, back when I was installing television for $50.00, just trying to prove myself to my customers. I knew then I had licensed and insured caliber work to give my clients because of my licensed and insured experience. I've gone with customers to stores to pick up items. I've researched for them. I've purchased materials that were not even part of the job to make my clients lives easier. This allegation is not just false, it's malicious intent, and makes a mockery of everything I do as a service provider to make peoples lives easier. I wouldn't have people willing to allow me to put them on camera regarding the services I provide if any of the above is true.

We haven't worked for this person, and looking back at the negative reviews posted by other customers regarding other services provided on Yelp!, including but not limited to our competition, there were specific reasons why people were displeased with the service. Example: "Hi Yelp! community. My name is Thomas Anderson. ABC movers ruined our antique coffee tale. They scratched the glass, and loosened one of the legs. They didn't return our phone calls, and now their website is no longer online. They are closed and we haven't been able to find anyone who can fix this for us. Watch out for people like this and make sure you check references."

That's a "real" review, negative or positive. What we have here is a person who has not said specifically that what we did for them. What is is we ruined. Didn't say what we did or didn't do to assist them. No details of the work in question. No time period.

We also have a blog entitled work in progress, where you can see the projects that we have handled for our numerous customers, new and old. As long as we've operated as handymen, this is the first I'm hearing of someone who is disgruntled with our level of professionalism. We keep records of the projects we've done, so we can be even more effective regarding the personal touch each and every one of our customer has come to expect from us, and at no time in the last 2 years have we been to Long Island City. If this was the person we did work for over 2 years ago, how is it they remembered no specifics, but they were able to track down our Yelp! profile? We only advertise in very select areas of Brooklyn, and Manhattan. If this particular review is not removed soon we will no longer be participating in the Yelp! community.

After I arrived home this evening, after making some adjustments to a customers stereo system I installed months ago (who left a review that has since been filtered), I know who I am. I didn't charge them a dime. I was there to help and assist.

Take care and enjoy your day. Thanks for taking the time out to read this and we look forward to serving you.

This concludes my rebuttal of their "honest" feedback.

Now I know I promised all the boys and girls out there something special if you stayed with me to the end. Well you've earned your reward.

Here it is:

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
Yelp is ruining my business - Removing positive feedback from my customers.
Yelp is removing positive feedback from companies pages, unless you pay them hundreds of dollars a month, in which all of these "filtered" reviews become magically unfiltered, and negative reviews are...

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
ABC News Coverage of Yelp Lawsuit
ABC News Coverage of Yelp Lawsuit

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
Yelp's Class Action Lawsuit
Popular review site Yelp was hit with a class action lawsuit today for unfair business practices in an alleged extortion scheme. Kevin Pereira talks to Greg Weston, founder of the Weston Firm suing Ye...

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
I Love Yelp
watch yelp make the girls cry

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
Yelp Reviews
Online review service filtering positive rankings and reviews, owner of Vancouver electrolysis chain alleges.

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
What's Really Up with Yelp
The average small business owner says: "Not made a profit" then how can you go public if you don't' make money and what's up with all those "sales calls" followed by a sudden "down grade" of my busine...

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
Dear Yelp
Yelp removed all my restaurant review links to my videos. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO THIS CHANNEL

One of the main reasons why I have video testimonials all over my website. Real people telling you the truth.

You need Flash Player in order to view this.
More Funny Yelp.com Business owners
Yelp.com Business owners on CBS news tell the horror story of being blackmailed by the yelp sales team.

SINCE YOU'VE BEEN EXTRA NICE (I'm typing/yelling to the people in the back), AN ADDITIONAL BONUS. IT'S YELP'S FILTER EXPLAINED BY YELP! THEMSELVES. WHAT'S INTERESTING ABOUT THIS VIDEO, IS THAT YELP! HAS DISABLED THE COMMENTS AND RATING'S ON THEIR OWN YOUTUBE VIDEO. THINK ABOUT THAT. A REVIEW WEBSITE THAT WON'T ALLOW YOU TO REVIEW THEM. AS BUGS BUNNY WOULD SAY, "INTERESTING, AIN'T IT?". You'll see what we mean when you actually view the video on YouTube. In the video it seems as if the guy is talking too fast. Well, draw your own conclusion.

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

The Review Filter

One of the most common questions we receive from the business community has to do with our review filter. This video examines the history and purpose of the filter.

Here are some more lies from a Yelp! representative:

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

What to do about a bad review on Yelp

http://www.savorthesuccess.com . http://www.youtube.com/savorthesuccess , http://www.omaroma.com . Hi, I'm Angela Jia Kim from SavorTheSuccess.com. I have an unpleasant story to share with you. Earlie...

They say here, that if the person who left the review is trusted in the above filter, the system will get them off of your page. Why is it this "Neil M." who is bad mouthing my business, has no friends, and no other reviews? He's been a member for 7 days, yet their "filter", puts other people who left straight forward and honest reviews, that were detailed, with more than one year within the Yelp! community, are buried? Lies. Atop more lies. Now I know why Google backed off in their attempt to purchase Yelp!. Read the article here. I know that the article doesn't give a definitive answer on who walked away, what does my track record, vs. Yelp! Lawsuits say to you?

You need Flash Player in order to view this.

R.I.P. Yelp!?! Google Acquires Ratings Site Zagat.com

Google may be trying to undercut Yelp with its acquisition of the review site Zagat which pays users to review businesses, unlike Yelp, which depends on unpaid user-generated content.Google acquir...

Trackback Link

Older

The ONE thing you should NEVER tell a handyman (or anyone else for that matter).

A rather unsual Handyman Request - Home Theater Installation

The C in CB2 stands for Cupid

We simply must refuse.

Can someone Yelp! me please????!!!!

Recent Posts

Categories

Archives