I use FreshBooks for all my invoicing.  And I LOVE it.

Why?  Because it makes it so easy for my clients to pay.  I just (10 minutes ago) sent out all my running Invoices for Jan (Invoices for misc services rendered throughout the month).  And within 5 minutes I received a total of $710 from two clients.  Both via PayPal at no cost to me!!  I love it.

I also get all my 1099 contractors to setup a free freshbooks account and invoice me through it.  It makes it painless to enter their invoices as expenses.

Question:  If someone showed up at your door, representing an organization with a name like “Arizona Environmental Progress”,  the person is an older man, with a clipboard, a pen, and a very official looking badge hanging off his clipboard where it is highly visible, and said “We come by about once a year and get a sample of tap water to test.  Can you fill this up for me?”  And hands you a little bottle, what would you do?  What would you think they’re motives are?  What type of an organization do you think Arizona Environmental Progress is?

Probably some company that is working to improve the environment.  And hey, who doesn’t want to help with that?  So, you run off, fill up the bottle with water from the tap, come back out, and they ask you some basic questions about your water.  Interestingly, these questions are not really what you would expect from an official or scientist about your water, rather they are exactly the kind of questions you would expect from a salesman…

Then, you see him wrap the survey around the bottle you filled, and hands you a green flyer, advertising their water filtration systems…  Argh…  You’ve been had.  You just provided this man with the perfect lead…  Now the salesman knows if your water is hard or soft, if it smells funny, how you think it tastes, etc…  A few days later you get a call with your “test results”, and get a sales pitch.

Arizona Environmental Progress Inc does just that.  Their door to door sample collectors project an image that is completely false.  Posing as representatives whose primary focus is making the environment better, rather than lead and information reapers.

They are the perfect example of committing fraud without words.

So, next question is, what can I / You do about it?

File a complaint with the BBB!

Just go here: https://www.bbb.org/file-a-complaint/

As you can see here: http://www.bbb.org/phoenix/Business-Reviews/water-filtration-and-purification-equipment/arizona-environmental-progress-inc-in-phoenix-az-1000014142/customer-reviews/

I am not the only person that doesn’t think what they do is right.  Honestly, I’d be surprised if they did any real in-depth analysis of my water.  Probably just enough to say “It’s hard, and full of bad things.”

My Dad and I were talking last night, and he was excited to relate a customer service experience he had with GPI (Great Plains International) last week. GPI manufactures and sells fuel pumps and meters. Mostly industrial / farm use. My Dad has one of their hand operated fuel pumps on a diesel fuel tank he keeps around for his little Kubota tractor (It’s named yoda). The pump stopped working a few days ago, it’s not unusual, diesel fuel is dirty, and the tank was a few years old, and out in the sun, rarely used, etc… etc… All the factors that contribute to premature failure of mechanical things, no big deal.

He (my Dad) went to their website to purchase a rebuild kit for the hand pump on the tank for yoda. He says he spent 30 minutes. He had the part number for the pump, he knew exactly what he wanted, but their site had absolutely nothing of use to him. The site looked nice, it had lots of information about their pumps, and had ways to request more information, but it didn’t have anyway to buy anything, or any information about how to buy anything other than a “request more info” link.

So my Dad sent them an email. He said, (paraphrased) “Your site stinks. I was looking for a rebuild kit for one of your pumps (model 456xyp) and I couldn’t find anything on your website, or anywhere else on the internet for that matter. …”, and left the matter at that.

A few days later he received an unexpected phone call from a GTI rep. They said “Mr. Novak, I’m sorry you had a problem with our site, you’re right, it stinks. We’re working on it. Unfortunatly, we don’t have a rebuild kit for your pump, but we do have all the parts to fix it available separately. We’re going to send you all the parts complementary.”

Can you say “WOW!”? That, is customer service. My Dad’s not a big buyer. The hand pump on his tractor is probably the only thing he owns that is made by them. But people talk, and anytime this event can be fit into a conversation about something related, you can bet He’ll mention it, and in the matter of Fuel Pumps, he will probably never even consider anything but a gti product.