Bookkeeping, Controller and CFO Services | The Quantify Group

Integrity and Broken Heaters

The last week and a half has been crazy for me. My heater broke so I have been running two space heaters around the clock to stay warm. When I bought my house about a year and a half ago, I took out a home warranty. I had a few older appliances and systems in the house that I knew wouldn’t last too much longer.

In this process, I have dealt with 3 different contractors and talked to over 30 different people from the home warranty company (no exaggeration). I was reassured all along the way that my heater and the labor would be 100% covered. I finally got a reasonable quote from a local HVAC contractor and submitted it to the warranty company to get approved. In the 11th hour, they made me aware that only $1,500 of the nearly $5,000 bill would be covered.

Talk about the very definition of deceitful and dishonest!

As a company, 1 of our 3 core values is, doing what is right all the time. Not some of the time. Not when it is to our advantage. Not when we feel like it. ALL the time. And I am proud to say, to the best of my knowledge, that we have done that since day one. Every single week we have a partner meeting and go over our core values. This is integral to who we are individually and it is integral to who we are as a company.

It is sad that I can even assert this statement, but this is the kind of world we live in: people will lie, cheat and steal for personal gain. Don’t get me wrong; I was extremely upset about the final result of the heater situation. But it makes me want to do what is right that much more. Having the feeling of being lied to and scammed just plain hurts and I wish that on no one. But instead of putting my tail between my legs, I have decided to focus even more on doing what is right.

I hope you get a sense of how important this is to me, not because of my heater situation, but because I want to do right in a world where integrity is so rare. I challenge you today to stand behind whatever you do, 100%. If you screw up, stand behind that too. We all make mistakes and that is okay. But it takes a big person, especially in today’s world, to admit they were wrong and do what is right.

If you felt someone or some company has wronged you recently, I encourage you to harness that energy and work it further into your personal mission statement. There is no time to complain, especially about things you can’t control. But we can grow, and we should.

If you have some experience with what I am saying, a comment below would mean a lot to me. This issue has been absorbing my life recently and your reactions/responses keep me going. Even if you disagree with me, I would welcome that feedback as well.

Bless you guys.

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