November 30, 2005
Bathfitter, Bath Fitter, Bath Inc. Saga Continues
"The BBB has determined that the company has addressed all disputed issues and exhibits a good faith effort to resolve the complaint; however, the customer remains dissatisfied despite the company's best efforts to satisfy the customer."
In case anyone was interested in the resolution of my Bath Fitter fiasco, I thought today would be good cause for an update. The Better Business Bureau sent me notice of the pending closure of this case last night, and along with this notice, I was given the first opportunity to read Bath Fitter's formal response to my complaint. I have included here, my full rebuttal to Bath Fitter's answer to my complaint should anyone be interested. Suffice to say, if you are not so inclined, I am not satisfied with the Better Business Bureau's acceptance of the company's inconsistent reply, and this is not the end of the matter.
To whom this may concern,
In regards to your closure of case# 117***:
To be perfectly honest, I am floored by Bath Fitter's response to this claim, and I am very suspicious of the BBB's inability to see the inconsistencies in their version of this problem. I think it best to respond to each of Bath Fitter's claims in their response individually, as it is ripe with falsehoods.
Bath Fitter stated:
“Jessica had a bathroom shower in her basement that we (Bathfitter)covered with our acrylic wall and floor system. Jessica called the office the following day and stated that her shower was not the same quality workmanship as the one we previously did on her second floor, and that there was stains on the new carpet she just had installed.”
The contracts were in my name as well as my fiance's, although she paid the initial deposit with her check. All communications since the initial meeting to sign the contracts were with me, Andrew Bryden, and my name is signed on the contracts. I called the same day the work was performed to complain about the damage and the poor workmanship. When I did not receive a promised call back the next morning, I called again several times the next day before actually getting to talk to anyone. Jesseca never called.
“I told Jessica that I would like to come out and look at the installation and her rug issues and set up a convienent time with her. After inspection of the shower unit I did agree with her that the workmanship was not up to our standards and offered to have the installer come back and tear everything back out again, and have the installer that installed her other bathroom come back and install this shower as well, and she agreed.”
Again, all communications were with me, not with my fiance, Jesseca, as the company is reporting here. I arranged for Bath Fitter to come and meet with Jesseca, as she had time off from school to meet with them at my house. All subsequent communications, including those regarding the previous installer coming to do the redo of the job were with me as well.
“I then looked at the rug issues and saw 3 spots of silicone the size of pencil erasers and admitted our installer did do these. The other spots near the door of the bathroom were discoloration spots and I explained to Jessica that nothing we use in the installation process would discolor her rug like that, but we were going to have the whole landing professionally cleaned to try and get the silicone out.”
Bath Fitter took pictures of the carpet immediately afterward. I would suggest you ask them for copies of these pictures, as they know very well the silicone spots were several long streaks, half the size of entire pencils, not “the size of pencil erasers” as they state in their response. The spots nearer the bathroom door (which are closer to the size of pencil erasers) were not there prior to their visit, so I am not sure what they are implying by saying there is nothing in their installation process that would discolor the rug like that.
“I contacted a cleaning company in her area,gave Jessica contact info to them so they could schedule with her a convienant time to come out and clean her carpet.The carpet company called me 3 weeks later stating that they have left 6 messages with Mrs. X to schedule the cleaning of her rug, but have still not received a return phone call from her. They asked me if I had another number and after pulling up her contract, found no other. I in turn left a message for Jessica to please call the carpet cleaning place as well, so they could set up an appointment.”
These are outright lies. There were repeated calls by myself to Bath Fitter for weeks trying to get the Carpet Cleaning appointment made. It was not until I called Steve (at Bath Fitter) and gave him the number for a local company here in Falmouth that we received a call from a different cleaning company the next day. We are talking about a month of repeated attempts to get this moving. To suggest we were dragging our feet about getting our carpet fixed is ridiculous. If you can not see that, then the Better Business Bureau is not about consumer protection, it is about protecting its members.
“Another week insued, and I recieved a call from an Drew Brydon who was calling on behalf of Jessica to find out what was going on with her carpet. Mr Brydon was yelling at me saying we weren't doing our job, it has been over a month and nothings been done. I then explained to Mr. Brydon about the repeated attempts to contact Jessica from the carpet company as well as myself.”
Again, blatant lies. All contacts were with me, not with Jesseca. There was yet to be any raised voices at this point, and I never yelled. The majority of my calls were made from work, and yelling would not be possible there (even if I were so inclined). There was never any suggestion of repeated attempts to contact us, as we were waiting anxiously to get the answer we already knew about the carpet: that it was damaged beyond cleaning.
“Another 2 weeks went by and the carpet company called me to say the job was completed and the silicone marks did not come out. I then called The Carpet Barn to speak to Jessica's salesman on the carpet and explained what had happened, and the salesman asked me why Jessica didn't call the store, because they would have sent a factory rep out to clean the carpet and if the stain didn't come out they would have replaced it for free because she paid extra for the warrenty with it.”
“Another 2 weeks went by,” is an obvious attempt to cover the fact that Bath Fitter had been dragging their feet on this for weeks. I suggest you contact the cleaning company that performed the cleaning and find out how long it was between the time Bath Fitter contacted them, and the time of our appointment. It was a matter of days. As for Carpet Barn, the damage to the carpet was not a warranty issue, and Carpet Barn explained that to us. This ignores the fact that the carpet was not cleanable. It also ignores the fact that Carpet Barn (our salesperson, Mark) made it clear from Bath Fitter's first call to them (months later), that they could not replace just the landing at the bottom of the stairs as Bath Fitter originally called and asked them to do.
“I explained to the salesman that it was our fault and we were ultimately responsible for the silicone on the rug, but no, she never mentioned that.he salesman stated that the dye lots may have changed since then and that it may be an issue, and we might have to replace all of the carpet for $2400.00 and I should let him know because there was a price increase right around the corner on that particular rug, and we should order the whole thing right away. I thought that to be strange, so we elected to have our insurance company handle it from there.”
I have had numerous contacts with Carpet Barn (Mark) since this incident, the first of which was questioning the warranty regarding proper cleaning methods. I was concerned that the cleaning company might void our warranty on the carpet. Subsequently, Carpet Barn remained in constant contact with us and with Bath Fitter trying to get the issue resolved before the dye lots changed. By the time Bath Fitter finally called Carpet Barn to request the job, they made it clear to them (Bath Fitter, Steve) that the landing by itself could no longer be replaced, as it abuts another room and the dye lots had changed.
“Mr Brydon called me and stated he filed a claim to the BBB, and put a story about our company all over the internet on a well known blog down on Cape Cod, so everyone would know how our company really was.”
I have made no contact with Bath Fitter since filing the claim with the BBB, nor have they contacted me. My final conversation with Steve was at the beginning of November. At that time, I finally lost my cool and heatedly asked him how he would feel if something he had purchased was ruined like this. I then threatened to file a complaint with the BBB and post my story on a popular blog here on Cape Cod. Miraculously, we got our first phone call from an insurance company the next day. A week later, I had still not been contacted for an appointment. I then filed my claim with the better business bureau and posted a story detailing the terrible customer service I was the victim of on my web log.
“The insurance adjuster called me to find out the details of the claim and then told me he would contact Jessica and take it from there. He also told me that they were only liable to replace the landing area that was damaged at the time of the install, and not the adjacent stairs or adjacent room. I then got a fax from the BBB which I am responding to now. Our company does have a contract with Jessica X, and would be willing to try and resolve the remaining issue of the rug with her, but we have no contract and no connection with Drew Brydon, and because of this, are only willing to settle this with Jessica whom we have the contract with.”
I have the contracts in my possession. They have my name and signature on them. I am also the owner of the property in question. I was finally contacted by the insurance adjuster yesterday, 29 November , 2005. When the insurance company called and spoke with Jesseca, she provided them with contact information and good times to call us. Despite this, two weeks ago we received a message on our answering machine from the insurance adjuster (at a time of day when we had specifically stated we could not be contacted in person). The very next day, we received a letter making it appear as though they had been attempting to contact us without success. We received one phone call, and our replies to the number provided and to the number on our caller ID went to two different answering machines (one the adjusters home, and the one on the letter head to the adjuster's business number). The messages we left at these went unanswered until yesterday.
I would strongly suggest you reconsider the status of this company as members of the BBB in good standing. Either that, or the superiors at Bath Fitter are totally unaware of their subordinates' actions or lack of action on this matter.
I am far from satisfied with this result, and I question the BBB's purpose if you are unable to recognize the time line of this situation and the blatant lies being told by this company's representative. Were my car's paint gouged by a dealership or garage when it was in for service, I would expect it to be resolved in a prompt and courteous manner. The destruction of our carpet was comparable, and the customer service since has been anything but. My story of this incident was basic and did not go into great detail about the number of unreturned phone calls and the extended waits for contact from this company. I did not feel these critical to the relating of the story. However, this story is not simply about a damaged carpet that nearly five months later has yet to be repaired. This is about horrible customer service and a blatant disregard for the customer by this company. If the BBB is not responsible for addressing this, then what is its purpose?
Sincerely,
Drew Bryden
Jesseca X
Additional rebuttal emailed to the BBB on 30 November, 2005:
To whom this may concern;
In addition to our previous rebuttal, I think it important to question why we were repeatedly told after the carpet was finally cleaned on 23 August 2005 that this was out of Bath Fitter's hands and now in the hands of their insurance company. The insurance company never contacted us, or attempted to contact us, until the day after I threatened a complaint to the BBB in the first week of November. We were repeatedly told any number of excuses: "It is out of our hands, our hands are tied." "I'll get on them about it tomorrow." "The claim was given to an adjuster who was on vacation," etc. etc. These excuses went on for three months before any contact from an insurance company. Is it Bath Fitter's contention that the customer service issue is the insurance company's? Or, were we being lied to, and strung along, until I was forced to make threats of complaint and publication of these abuses?
We would appreciate these questions be included in our rebuttal.
Sincerely,
Drew Bryden
Jesseca X
Later, I decided to forward my own pictures of the damage, to show that Bath Fitter was clearly lying and attempting to minimize the actual damage to the Better Business Bureau. I sent another email this afternoon:
To whom this may concern;
This is just to give evidence of the lies told by Bath Fitter when they claim they found "3 spots of silicone the size of pencil erasers." These marks were permanent. The third photo, although not as clear, shows the orange, bleached out discoloration closer to the abutting bathroom door. The carpet was two weeks old at the time these pictures were taken. You tell me who is telling the truth in this matter:
Like us, you are probably wondering how the bleached out chemical stains got on the carpet if there is nothing that Bathfitter uses in the installation process that could have caused this. It is my assumption that the original Bath Fitter installer attempted to clean additional silicone stains off of the carpet with the nearest cleaner at hand, which was a bottle of tub and tile cleaner we had in the bathroom. It contained bleach.
The saga continues...
To read my original post regarding this mess, please click here.
Posted by capecodcyclist at 03:46 PM | Comments (2)
November 12, 2005
Is Governor Romney's Insurance Reform Plan "Bad" for Massachusetts?
If nothing else, the scare tactics of the Massachusetts Coalition for Affordable Auto Insurance have given some of us a wake up call this week.
In between Don's rantings on WXTK during the commute to work on Wednesday, I heard an advertisement explaining that Governor Romney's auto insurance reform plan is “bad.” This coalition of auto insurance companies and agents “home grown in Massachusetts” (sounds like they are aligning themselves with cranberry growers) is actively attacking the Governor's plan, even insinuating that the plan would somehow be helping to pay Romney's way to a higher office in Washington. The advertisement claims, among other things, that Romney's plan would raise rates for:
* Families with teen-aged drivers
* Young drivers starting out on their own
* Renters
* Those carrying a balance on their credit card
* Blue collar workers
* Drivers in all of Massachusetts' cities
by over $5,000 in many cases...
If Romney's plan would cause these increases, I would like to see or read some facts telling me how this would result. Evidence supporting these claims is mysteriously absent from all of this group's propaganda. Families with teenage drivers and young drivers starting out on their own already pay far higher premiums than the rest of us- I don't see any change there. I can only assume they are making the rest of these claims based on questions asked of drivers in other states when purchasing insurance. The $5,000 claim must be based on someone having the worst driving record- the people that should be paying out the nose. In unregulated states, there are typically many more questions asked of potential customers that can range from what you do for work to whether or not you graduated from college. Perhaps prejudicial questions such as these should be banned here, but keeping companies that ask them elsewhere out of our state is not the solution. In other states they are entitled to factor in whatever they deem necessary into figuring your risk and rates. However, if their rates are not competitive, you are free to take your business elsewhere.
The current system does not allow us the same advantages offered our fellow citizens in other states. By discouraging national companies from doing business here we are prevented these options. The opponents of this bill argue that addressing issues of high accident rates and poor roadways will help lower premiums while preserving our current system. They also claim that the current system benefits us, the consumers. “If it ain't broke, don't fix it,” they say. Excessively high accident rates, poor roadways, and lack of public transportation obviously need to be addressed in many areas. However, we are still left with one important question. If the current system is working and set up to protect consumers, how do we explain annual premiums that are fourth-highest in the nation?
What confuses me most about the Mass. Coalition's campaign against free market insurance is that MASSPIRG, our state's most prominent public interest advocacy organization, has thrown their support behind this group. I am having a hard time understanding how consumer advocates who previously chastised a similar insurance group for statements they made in their advertisements is now supporting a group making blatant political remarks and false, unsupported claims in theirs. I am certainly no expert on insurance, but in examining the evidence I have found, I can not see how Romney's plan would hurt us as consumers. As a matter of fact, although the evidence is not overwhelming, it seems the Governor's plan would benefit the majority of good drivers, bring us a broader selection of insurance products and potentially bring fair, affordable insurance companies back to Massachusetts.
There is obviously more than one side to this debate. In supporting the Governor's plan, we may simply be choosing between the lesser of two evils. However, our power to choose as consumers would be given back to us. That local insurance companies prefer the status quo should not be the determining factor. It is obvious why local insurance companies would be against this plan- more work dealing with more companies for private agencies and less of a monopoly for local companies. I am disappointed that MASSPIRG would allow themselves to be sucked into their selfish endeavors. Massachusetts based Commerce Insurance Company, the 27th largest writer of personal automobile insurance in the United States is the driving force behind the campaign against Romney's plan. The Code of Ethics on Commerce Insurance Company's web site states that:
In accordance with law, the Companies shall not directly or indirectly give, pay, expend or contribute, or promise to give, pay, expend or contribute, any money or other valuable thing for the purpose of aiding, promoting or preventing the nomination or election of any person to public office, or aiding or promoting or antagonizing the interest of any political party.
Apparently this code of ethics does not apply to their fierce opposition to Governor Romney or this plan.
It is obvious that the current system is in need of reform. We deserve more options, and attracting national companies back to Massachusetts may be the best solution. We have gone from fifty-three companies offering auto insurance here in 1990, to nineteen today. Here on Cape Cod, we may also have additional incentive to support the Governor's measure. Many insurance industry officials suggest that the Governor's plan would attract insurance carriers back to the state who would also offer homeowner’s policies at more reasonable rates. The Governor's plan may prove to have additional benefits for us, with our current homeowner's insurance crisis. For Massachusetts' drivers and coastal community homeowners, anything would be an improvement.
Suggested reading:
* Massachusetts Coalition for Affordable Insurance for All a coalition of auto insurance companies and agents “home grown in Massachusetts.”Originally posted 15 October 2005, Cape Cod Today* MASSPIRG: auto insurance reform
Posted by capecodcyclist at 08:56 PM | Comments (1)
November 10, 2005
Does Customer Service Matter Anymore?
The Next Available Customer Service Representative Will Be Horrible With You
What has happened to the importance customer service once had to businesses? People skills and customer relations don't seem to matter any more. I know it isn't just me, so lose the “Drew's whining again” bit. Type “What,” “Happened,” “Customer” and “Service” into Google and what do you get? Close to 16 million results, and a good portion of those are about dreadful customer service; that should tell us something. Consumers have it bad these days, and it seems to be getting worse. Every situation we enter into as customers seems to be suffering from the same dysfunction. From professional offices and the local bank, to home improvement contractors and tree removal companies, to Best Buy and the neighborhood restaurant, no business appears to be immune. After spending the last six months clawing my way through renovating a house here on the Cape, I keep telling myself it can't get much worse.
When we think of the Better Business Bureau, we often think of consumer complaints. However, did you know the BBB also reports on thousands of companies with unblemished, positive records? Believe it or not, there are still businesses out there that care about customer satisfaction and ethics. The Better Business Bureaus are dedicated to just what their name implies: good business practices. Despite their push for good business, our local bureau (serving eastern Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont) has received more than 5,800 complaints regarding poor customer service at local companies in the past 36 months. Previously, I had only used their services once, to check the record of a window and siding company before hiring them. Unfortunately, the results from that check did not warn me of the bait and switch practices I experienced with the windows, but that is a story for another day. Yesterday, I had to make my first-ever direct contact with the BBB, to make an unrelated complaint of my own.
My Personal Customer Service Hell: The Unfit Bath Fitter
My complaint was about a bath fitting company that, although they may be able to fit a bathroom on a good day, is clearly unfit for customer relations on any day. Back in March, the local Bath Fitter franchise, Bath Inc. was an exhibitor at a Hyannis home show. Afterward, a relative invited them to her home for a quote on renovating her outdated tub and shower. She ordered one of their bathtub and shower liners, and the final result was fantastic. So, when my dream of purchasing a fixer-upper on Cape Cod finally came true several months later, it was with this amazing transformation in mind that I called the same company to give me quotes on renovating both the tired old bathtub and the shower stall in my fifties vintage ranch. A month after signing the contracts, the word “rush” having been written into the margins, and having long ago paid substantial deposits, I called to find out why we had not heard anything about scheduling the jobs. This should have been our first sign. The course of events from here were akin to the ups and downs of the New England weather, only the downs seemed far more plentiful (and memorable) than the ups.
The first phone call brought lots of fumbling and rustling of papers. It was clear that it took some digging to find our contracts. The word “rush” seems to do that to contracts in the modern business world, they just gravitate to the bottom of the pile. After finding the contracts, the customer service person finally replied.
CSR: “Oh... well, the shower base is on backorder from Canada, and will not be in for another week or more.”
Me: “We have two contracts with you for separate bathrooms. Couldn't we do the other one while we are waiting? We would rather they not both be out of service at the same time anyway.”
CSR: “Sure, we could do the other one next week.”
Well, that was easy enough. I just wish I had called earlier instead of waiting a month. The following week, my upstairs tub was refitted and all went without a hitch. I could not be happier with the results. This company is capable of excellent work. You will not find me saying otherwise here. Just don't forget. We had two contracts.
Eventually, the shower base came in and we schedule the appointment for the downstairs shower. I should preface this story by saying this bathroom is not substantial. It is more like a powder room; the term closet might even be more fitting. Is the word “fitter” or “fitting” being used too often here? How about “bath”? Anyway, back to the story. The bath is tiny, and Bath Fitter sends a guy who should be a professional linebacker to install a shower in the smallest bathroom on Cape Cod. Needless to say, the final results showed his discomfort. These people seem genuinely cautious, and lay tarps down over their path to and from their work area. The professional football player-turned bath fitter played by the same rules, only when he got to the carpeted landing at the entrance to our bath-closet, the sheer horror of the small hole he was anticipating working in for the next several hours must have caused him to forget the next play. He left the brand new, wall to wall carpeting uncovered at the entrance to his work area, and proceeded to lay all the tools of his trade all over the carpet. If you have ever had carpet or a rug that was worth taking your shoes off to protect, you may already see where the next part of this story is going.
When he was done, he warned my fiance to wait a while before vacuuming the dirt and debris that remained all over the carpet as he had left it. The dust kicked up by the vacuum could get into the silicone used on the newly installed shower covering. So, it was not until vacuuming up the debris later, shortly after I returned home, that we discovered streaks of silicone and bleach like stains all over our brand new carpet. On inspecting the shower itself, I easily noticed that the work looked horrible. I immediately got on the phone and called Bath Inc. (doing business as a franchise of Bath Fitter). I informed them of the terrible job that had been done in the shower and reported the visible damage to the carpet. I took note of the name of the woman I spoke with and was told to expect a call back first thing in the morning.
Customer Service 101: When you promise a customer a call back (especially an unhappy customer), CALL THEM BACK! This was the beginning of the tooth pulling with these people. I never, from this point forward, received one returned or unsolicited phone call without making multiple calls myself. Actually, looking back on this, my phone records at home, from work and my cell phone show my having called them close to fifteen times in the past four months, but their having never called me (not once) without multiple requests on my part. It is not as though I was impatient about waiting for call backs either. One or more days waiting for a promised, “he'll call you right back” is not impatient, it is being a doormat. Upon calling, after stating my name and asking for “Steve,” the customer service person would nicely say, “sure, can you hold for just a minute?” But eventually they would return to glumly explain that Steve was “in a meeting” or “out in the field.” Consumer Tactics 101: Ask for the supervisor, that always gets you somewhere... at least to someone else's voice mail. Asking for a supervisor may not get you another human being to speak with, but your unreturned phone calls to his or her subordinates suddenly get responses. Funny how that works.
Three phone calls later, when I finally got to speak with “Steve,” (late in the afternoon of the day after the shower desecration & carpet destruction), I told him very plainly: “Look, I hired you people because I didn't want this to come out looking like I did it. I considered doing this myself, but I didn't want this to come out looking amateur. That is exactly how it looks. My brand new carpet is ruined, and the shower looks horrible.” Steve seemed genuinely apologetic (although not enough so to return my calls) and offered to send someone out the next day. TWO DAYS later, a field supervisor came out, checked the poor workmanship in the shower, and took pictures of the carpet. He agreed that the shower looked horrible, and recommended that they would get somebody to try and professionally clean the carpet. We knew that the carpet was damaged beyond repair. It was obvious just looking at it. We were willing to let them satisfy their hope that they could salvage the carpet. We just wanted everything fixed. After several more phone calls it was agreed that the person who had installed our upstairs bath, would be sent back to do the reinstall of our shower. The reinstallation did not go as smoothly or as quickly as either of the previous two installations. The installer who came back to redo the shower was at our house until 1 a.m. (yes, that is in the morning) on a week day, if that tells you anything about how the job went. The manager in his infinite wisdom (he was “new”) had made the original installer (football linebacker) come and tear out his previous work. The damage caused to the underlying shower stall by this demolition was such, that the second installer had three times the work that he should have had. This became yet another traumatic home improvement nightmare, and a long night with very little sleep. The shower came out fantastic, but the carpet remained unchanged. The waiting and phone game began.
More than a month later, after numerous unreturned phone calls, I called Steve yet again, and gave him the phone number of a carpet cleaning company located in Falmouth. Miraculously, we received a call from a different carpet cleaning company the next day. The carpet cleaners came, did their job, and told us exactly what we already knew. The carpet is not cleanable. It needs to be replaced. This brings us to today, more than four months later. I call at least one day every couple of weeks, and every time I get the same response (normally after several unreturned phone calls). “The insurance company is slow.” “It is out of our hands.” “Our hands are tied.” “The insurance company handed this to an adjuster who was on vacation.” “I am going to call and get on them tomorrow.” The list of excuses has been endless for months. I asked him if he had ever made a large purchase of something new, and how he would feel if someone came along and ruined it. How would you feel if the car dealership put a large gouge in the paint of your new car? Would you expect them to fix it?
Our carpet was brand new when their installer ruined it. They have made little or no effort without threats to expedite its being repaired. I have never received a phone call asking how the third installation went (or the first or second for that matter). There have been no follow up to my phone calls. There have been no apologies. The customer service has been virtually non-existent since the day they cashed my checks. To make a long story endless, it is now four months later and there has been little or no progress. That is, until last Wednesday, when I called and mentioned my plans to call the Better Business Bureau and explained that I often post my thoughts to a popular web site on Cape Cod. We received our first phone call from an insurance company the next day. The gentleman (and I use that term loosely) rudely grilled my fiance about the carpet and why it must all be replaced. Had Bath Fitter taken care of this four months ago, just the carpet at the bottom of the stairs could probably have been replaced. However, now the dye lots have changed. Now, the entire family room, stairway and landing must be torn out and replaced to match the color. This was certainly not our intention, and something we clearly tried to avoid. Do they think I am happy that I will have to empty my bookcases, disconnect all of my computer equipment, and remove all of the furniture from our family room in order to install the new carpet? The insurance company finally gave us a claim number and said they would contact a local adjuster who would be in touch before Friday of last week. That was last week... still no adjuster.
This litigious society has often offended me, but I am now well aware of why so much of this has come to be. Too many people are not willing to take pride in their work or responsibility for their actions any more, and consumers are not left with much choice. This seems to be the only language some of these people understand. Now, four months, and many broken promises later, the rules have changed. The next available customer will not be right with you Bath Inc. (local Bath Fitter franchise). They will know better.
Posted by capecodcyclist at 07:38 PM | Comments (2)