Alpine Landscape

After using them for a year for snow removal and hiring them for a second season, I was dropped without warning in ~ mid-​December. Just a side note, it’s snowing as I type this and I’m wondering two things:
1. If I can get someone at this point in the season or if I’m just SOL and will be shoveling for the rest of this year.
2. If my wife has secret affinity for shoveling snow. I will have to ask her about that.
Anyhow, back to Alpine. I got this e-​mail from them:
«We wanted to take the time to email you to thank you for letting our company service your snow removal needs. Due to the addition of Marianos Fresh Market as a snow removal client, we can no longer service your property efficiently and effectively. We apologize for any inconvenience this might have caused you. We will not charge you for the services we have provided you this season. I am also including the numbers of 2 of our local collegues who will be more than willing to help you out with snow removal.»
Well good for them on that pickup of Mariano’s Market, but I can’t say I think it’s good business practice to treat customers this way.
So, if you want to hire someone that might show up and then again might just decide they’ve got better things to do, go ahead and hire them, but make sure that snow blower is tuned up and you’ve got a shovel handy.
Edit: I’ve reconsidered my initial 1 Star, seeing as they at least threw me a bone and didn’t charge me for a couple of plow jobs, but it would’ve been 1 and a half if there had been an option for that, as I have been unable to find a replacement at this point in the season. People I’ve contacted are already booked up, which is why nobody in their right mind waits until Mid-​December to try to find a snow removal service if they actually need one.
At this point it seems that I’m basically SOL. I’m still sooooo happy for them on their pickup of Mariano’s, though. At least in an ‘I hope a shopping cart gets stuck under one of your trucks and tears out everything from the radiator to the catalytic converter’, sort of way.
re-​edit. 1−6−14− Well Chicago has had a ton of snow dumped on it and is experiencing some nasty low temperatures, (it’s –12 F for a projected high today). I’m going back to 1 star. I’d go negative if I could, just to stay in step with the thermometer.
I sent an initial e-​mail for this season on October 29. They didn’t respond to that, so I sent another towards the end of November. They responded with a quote, which I accepted, on ¹¹⁄₂₉. I was dropped mid December and at this point have not been able to find a replacement.
I spent a good part of this past weekend shoveling after it dumped snow pretty much continuously around New Year’s. Coupled with frigid temps not seen in the area in 20 years, the Governor made a disaster declaration and activated the National Guard. In the middle of all of that mess, I was shoveling my driveway so I could get to work.
They agreed to do the work and then simply dropped me, apparently because they picked up business elsewhere and I am apparently SOL for the season as a result. If that doesn’t deserve the raspberry, I don’t know what does…
5−8−14− Adam, from Alpine, commented the following:
«I’m glad you were able to snow shovel your own driveway this year like most hard working Americans despite the cold temperatures & the time you spent complaining about it. Grow up Mike!
Sincerely, Adam Hansberger»
Well Adam, I’m glad that you seemingly think it’s a good idea for hard-​working Americans to shovel their own driveways. After this experience I think that’s a great idea too, although I don’t run a snow removal company.
Your implication seems to be that anyone that hires Alpine is apparently not a hard-​working American.
It is a bit of a mystery where this group of people that are apparently not hard-​working Americans, a.k.a. your customers, get the extra cash to pay you.
Obviously, IMO, this review was warranted. People that count on Alpine should know that maybe they shouldn’t. For some people this could cause serious problems over the course of a very severe winter, such as the one we just had, which was one of the worst on record.
My wife spent many hours with a shovel in her hand as a result of this, as did I. My lazy self was paying you in large part so she didn’t have to bust her a$$ in the freezing cold, as I know that she will not let me do the job alone or, worse, have her end up doing it alone because I was out of town or otherwise unavailable.
Are you saying that women and/​or your other customers should just be out there shoveling away in subzero temps because you’ve decided their business wasn’t valuable enough so you simply blew them off; and/​or customers’ problems/​reasons for hiring you are actually irrelevant to you?
We sure seem to be learning a lot about how you apparently view your customers, Adam. Not that I’m surprised at all.