I've been around here for a couple of minutes now and was discussing this topic with my wife just the other day. Over the years I've met a lot of people from this forum through a variety of avenues. I can say with certainty that I never once walked away from meeting a member here and was anything but happy to have met them. It's comforting to know there are good people out there once you get outside of your own friend/family group. We can get a feeling for who someone is on here but nothing beats eye contact, a handshake and in person conversation to solidify those beliefs.
Another layer of that is in taking advantage of the services the members offer. I went through an ordeal with my mother a few months back where a major plumbing/HVAC company was trying to swindle my elderly widowed mother out of $10,000. I met several good, honest and hard working plumbers during that process but it's difficult to trust someone you don't know. When that someone is a member here and values their reputation it makes spending big money a lot easier on the mind. I don't think it's that being able to post something negative about a member on here keeps our members honest, I think it's that the people attracted to INGO and who stick around long enough to build a reputation are the kind of people who don't have to worry about their reputation because they're good men/women.
I wanted to post a public thank you to DocIndy whom I met in person today for the first time. He volunteered to travel over an hour from home to install a mini split for us. We'd received one quote from another company and they wanted to charge more than double for what would likely have been an inferior system. He could have simply stopped at offering his educated advice due to the distance but he went way out of his way to help us, on a Saturday, in the rain, an hour from home, for a very, very reasonable fee.
It's difficult to meet good people these days, at least for me. I've met some truly great people through this place and just wanted to say thanks publicly not only to DocIndy but to everyone else who has helped me out over the years. Hopefully my presence here has offered some small repayment to hold us over until I can repay the kindness I've been shown.
Another layer of that is in taking advantage of the services the members offer. I went through an ordeal with my mother a few months back where a major plumbing/HVAC company was trying to swindle my elderly widowed mother out of $10,000. I met several good, honest and hard working plumbers during that process but it's difficult to trust someone you don't know. When that someone is a member here and values their reputation it makes spending big money a lot easier on the mind. I don't think it's that being able to post something negative about a member on here keeps our members honest, I think it's that the people attracted to INGO and who stick around long enough to build a reputation are the kind of people who don't have to worry about their reputation because they're good men/women.
I wanted to post a public thank you to DocIndy whom I met in person today for the first time. He volunteered to travel over an hour from home to install a mini split for us. We'd received one quote from another company and they wanted to charge more than double for what would likely have been an inferior system. He could have simply stopped at offering his educated advice due to the distance but he went way out of his way to help us, on a Saturday, in the rain, an hour from home, for a very, very reasonable fee.
It's difficult to meet good people these days, at least for me. I've met some truly great people through this place and just wanted to say thanks publicly not only to DocIndy but to everyone else who has helped me out over the years. Hopefully my presence here has offered some small repayment to hold us over until I can repay the kindness I've been shown.
