advertising cliches

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Ed Carr

Senior Member
Location
way upstate NY
Was looking in the local free trader and ran across an add from an area EC.Nothing really special then I noticed the phrase "Lowest Prices Guaranteed" and thought to myself what the hell? What's the guarantee, if Joe Blow is cheaper will this guy do it for free? Anyway what are your pet peeves in adds like this.
 
Whatever it takes to make the phone ring. I know for a fact that there's a certain amount of people who will think you're cheap just because you tell them that you are (even if you aren't). I looked at a storage barn yesterday evening to be rewired. As some people do, the owner asked me if I could give him a ballpark right there when I was looking at it. My response was, "It shouldn't be too much. Right around $20,000". I knew it would be much less than 20K, but this was to gauge his response. I had prefaced my highball guess with "it shouldn't be too much", so I suspect that's part of why his reaction was, "That doesn't sound too bad". The real price came up to about 12K, so this should be an almost guaranteed sale.
 
I think its fun to look through the local papers and look for electricians,home theater companies, etc. who dont list a license # in their ads-and then report them to the state. I love making calls to the local inspector when I see another electrical company on a job with one older guy and (4) 19 year olds-or illegal immigrants pulling wire. Thats how people guarantee the lowest prices-By not following the rules. We should all do our part to stop this practice.
 
while this isn't related i guess, it made me think of a conversation i had a few weeks ago with a carpenter friend i hadn't seen in a year or so.

friend - "hey buddy, i heard you started your own business?"

me - "more like started my own job, but its all the same."

friend - "oh yeh? well i was thinking about starting an electrical company too. i'm gonna call it 'hot sh*t electric'".

now if i wasn't an electrician myself and saw an ad with that name, i would definitely give that guy a call. :D
 
YES! Hot Sh*t Electric
Fully Completely Insured
NO JOB TOO BIG
no job too small(get it)
100 years experience
certified/liscenced
We Won't Be Going Down The Toilet!
 
frogneck77 said:
I think its fun to look through the local papers and look for electricians,home theater companies, etc. who dont list a license # in their ads-and then report them to the state. I love making calls to the local inspector when I see another electrical company on a job with one older guy and (4) 19 year olds-or illegal immigrants pulling wire. Thats how people guarantee the lowest prices-By not following the rules. We should all do our part to stop this practice.
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i was routinely getting my throat cut on jobs by an EC who is also the instructor at the local tech school for the electrical program. he was bringing, and leaving, students to do the work. on two houses that we both bid on, I got called to do service at both houses after they were finished. both conversations went like this; "help! sparks are coming out of a couple of outlets and i've got lights that won't work. i've tried calling the electrician that wired the place but he won't answer the phone." -- me>> "sorry, i can't help you" - both calls, which were about a week apart, came to me around 9PM. of course i could've made the 80 mile roundtrip and charged them out the wazoo, but i would've rather let them sit in the dark to be honest. it was pretty gutsy though to call me, considering both these houses were built and occupied by my OWN FAMILY. i guess 'cheap' runs in the family. :D
 
mdshunk said:
I saw a guy's van pic posed on the net a few years ago (maybe here?), and the name of the company was "The Wire Nuts". :D
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My friends would die laughing if I named my company that.

Haha.
 
My favorite tag line for an EC is (company name is Howe Electric) : "Don't ask who, ask Howe".

My favorite all-time tag line is for a geothermal heating/cooling outfit: "All our friends heat with dirt".
 
Rewire said:
I like those that put 20 years expierence for 5 guys each with 4 years
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Even when the owner has 20 years of experience it doesn't mean anything. Every add I see has 20 years of experience listed. You would think that when someone 24 years old shows up to do the work that the homeowner could figure out that he doesn't have 20 years experiene.

20 years ago when most companies advertised experience it was listed as number of years in business. Many of the newer service type companies couldn't state that they had 20 years of business experience, not even the larger companies so they started to use the more ambiguous term "experience" whick can mean, whatever.

It is my opinion that after 10 years or so in business you should list your time as a business because the 20 years of experience has lost all meaning.
 
How about:

"No job too small!"

I mean seriously...if they show up and it turns out to be a blown light bulb, are they gonna charge $1 for the light bulb (25 cents at 3 to 1 markup) plus $20-30 bucks to cover gas and the five minutes they spent on the job?

The job wasn't too small and neither will be the price.
 
frogneck77 said:
I think its fun to look through the local papers and look for electricians,home theater companies, etc. who dont list a license # in their ads-and then report them to the state. I love making calls to the local inspector when I see another electrical company on a job with one older guy and (4) 19 year olds-or illegal immigrants pulling wire. Thats how people guarantee the lowest prices-By not following the rules. We should all do our part to stop this practice.
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Frogneck,

Are you alluding to the illegals working? Or is everyone on the job required to be licensed? Just curious...

c2500
 
i seen a plumbing company with a white truck and the name of the company was "THE PLUMBER" in big bold letters on the side. he had a phone number right under it. i laughed pretty hard at that
 
An area electrical inspec co goes by the name of "The Inspector"-I've had people tell me he has stopped at in progress jobs and told whoever I'm The Inspector as if there was no one else-clever ;)
 
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