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Nice Businesses to Deal With *
Every once in a while, we have a really nice shopping or service experience. In today's world of mass marketing and a focus on maximum profit at the expense of customer service, I really appreciate it when we find that special place or event. In my opinion, these businesses have earned our repeat business and a big "THANK YOU" for being what they are. This page is devoted to those businesses that I have dealt with that earn that recognition. If you need to shop for "stuff" or service, please consider them. I'll be adding more businesses as I find them.
Carpenter's Auto Repair: S. Chesapeake City on 213,
south of the bridge. 410-885-2260
We have dealt with Carpenters for auto service for many years. They have always
been responsive, reasonable and consistently met our expectations for for
repairs. Roy and Sue are great people as well.
Brantwood Liquor's & Flag Shop: 1076 Augustine
Herman Hwy. 410-392-4295 Website
I think everyone is familiar with this "one stop shop" for
groceries and liquor products. Before I got to know Harvey an some of the other
staff on a first name basis, I was working clearing trees on our property in
preparation for building our house. It was summer and I would stop in to get
something to eat on an almost daily basis. Without water or other means to
clean up, I would stop in "as is" from working on the lot. I was
always greeted and treated properly in spite of my appearance (and smell). I
can't say the same for some other local stores so I really appreciated the
"Brantwood" welcome. http://www.brantwoodliquors.com
Dragonfly Gift Shop: 19 Bohemia Ave, S. Chesapeake City.
410-885-9470 Website
A really nice gift shop specializing in stained glass, pottery and other fine
gifts. George, and daughter Jennifer, operate this shop and do custom glass
work in addition to their store inventory. I had a really "strange"
request in that I needed some small pieces of glass cut to be used as part of a
smoke generator for my train platform volcano. (Is that strange or what?) It
was no sweat for them to do and they were really nice to work with.
National Bank of Rising Sun: Branch located at Rte 213
and Whitehall Road in Elkton. www.nbrs.com
We switched to NBRS over a year ago after many frustrations with PNC Bank and
found them friendly, responsive and a pleasure to deal with. In our opinion,
their online banking system is excellent for account information and bill
paying. There are no ATM charges and they even pay interest on your checking
account so if you are sick of dealing with the mega-bank, give them a
try.
Patterson's Tree Service: Elkton, MD Phone: 410-392-5350. These folks removed some trees that were downed near here in a recent nor'easter. One was on a building and several others were leaning over a second building. Removal required a coordinated effort of raising the downed trees with a crane while the tree service made strategic cuts to free them. All the trees were removed without any additional damage being caused. These folks really knew what they were doing!
Steve's (Kivlin) Professional Painting NOT:
We responded to a flyer left in our mailbox to have some
inside and outside painting done. He responded quickly and said all the right
things, gave us a quote that seemed a bit high but we try to support local businesses
so we agreed. He asked for 1/3 down which I reluctantly gave him. Since then he
hasn't responded to phone messages with one exception when he came for about an
hour to power wash a cedar deck on the back of our house. In the process he
made such a mess of it (and the back of the house) that I had to sand parts of
the wood where he raised the grain and then refinish the entire deck. He has
yet to do any of the additional work promised so he won't be getting any
additional work from us!
Update - 8/16/08: After 4 months and a threat to take him to court to
recover my deposit, Steve finally did enough work to cover the amount of the
deposit we gave him ($500). The quality of the work was good but he won't be
doing the balance of the work we had initially agreed to.
My take on the whole situation is that he is struggling to get his business
started, has poor customer communication skills, has a wife and 3 kids to
support and is stretched way too thin from a business perspective. I don't know
that you would have a problem similar to ours when working with Steve as he
seemed like an "OK" guy when he was here. I would however insist on a
written description of the work to be done and a time line with a penalty
clause if it isn't completed on time.
Dave Lynch - Painter: A local realtor told us about Dave Lynch and we had him do some painting in our house. He' did a great job and at a reasonable cost. He lives in Chesapeake City so if you need some painting done and want to keep your business local, give him a call. 410-885-3384.
* Unfortunately, in our "I'll sue you if I don't like what you say" world, I need to add this disclaimer. The comments on this page reflect my own experience and opinions about the businesses mentioned. You may have different experiences than what I have had and I can not be held responsible for your experience in dealing with any of the businesses mentioned. If a business is not mentioned in this list, it does not imply in any way that they do not serve their customers in a satisfactory way.