A window in our house is broken.

Not the kind of broken that risks attracting unwanted intruders - animals or otherwise - but the kind of irritating broken that has enabled us to shove the problem down the to do list all summer until winter suddenly arrived.

But more annoying than the moss now moving in with us, is the number of companies to have ghosted every inquiry I’ve made.

Has it really become this difficult to speak to a tradesperson or get one to just call back?

Out of the six or seven firms or individuals tried so far - only one seems even remotely interested in having more details.

Another was at least honest enough to say the job isn’t one he wants but as for the other four or five? I can only assume it’s either not the job for them either, or their books are full for the foreseeable, but a reply either way would be helpful.

In a cost of living crisis and amid gloomy economic predictions it is of course reassuring to think companies have a healthy supply of work.

But has that come at the cost of good customer service?

Or is it the case these days that unless someone wants the job you should accept you won’t hear back at all?

Having regaled my frustration among some friends, I’m definitely not alone in trying to find reliable tradespeople or at least ones who return a call.

One in the midst of a big renovation said they’d had more than one firm decline to visit this summer to quote for a job unless her husband was home on the basis she might want to discuss any decision with him and they wouldn’t get a yes/no on the spot.

Time is of course money, and I can appreciate no one likes a wasted hour or two, but really?

In 2024 the lure of many thousands of pounds worth of possible work isn’t enough to justify a visit unless the man of the house is home?

Yet to find a firm keen to fix or sell us a new window, and not really sure as to why, I did what most of us do these days and asked the internet - which suggested a shortage of skilled workers and a boom in house repairs since Covid were part of the problem.

Of course the world wide web also threw up a number of ‘do it yourself’ double glazing videos, which may have to be my next step if the phone doesn’t ring soon.