The Honda Service Story - and how it compares to floor duty

I was about to get on the highway a few days ago for one of a billion trips back and forth to my alma mater. I had stopped for gas and ended up at a full service station (who knew they still existed in PA?) where someone else had put my gas cap back on. Just imagine my frustration when the "replace gas cap" light started flashing in my car. So I pulled over, checked the gas cap (which was just fine) and started back on my way. Light still flashing. Not wanting to get stranded on the interstate, I call my dealership and ask for the service area. After waiting a few minutes on hold I get the service receptionist who tells me the technician can't take my call. Fair enough, right? After all they are dealing with cars who actually scheduled appointments. She then asks me what the problem with my car is - and I tell her about the flashing light and my impending 125 mile trip. Confidently she tells me - "oh, sometimes that takes a few days to go away...don't worry about it". So I kept driving (and the light kept flashing). Let me tell you it was rather annoying.

About 20 minutes later I decided I was going to push the button next to the flashing light, just to see what would happen. Imagine that....light went out. What about the "takes a few days answer?" apparently it was just a polite guess from someone stuck on the phone who needed to take the next call.

Does this sound like your last floor shift? Did you get a sign call from someone who wanted to know something about a property you hadn't seen on caravan? Worse yet, had that impatient caller chimed in just as you had picked up the phone to call another client or the co-op you needed to reach to put a different deal together?

The point of this story is that we often guess at real estate questions when we don't know the answer. Don't. I would have been far happier if hte woman would have just told me she didn't know (or needed time to find out) and called me with the answer. I would have even been OK if she had told me she had put me back on hold, managed the other call, and then come back to my request. In today's real estate market, customers believe they have the right to get all the data nowadays - they don't mind being told you don't know the answer and will wait for a call back (or better yet, an email) with the answer.