I haven’t made any attempts to disguise the fact that we do some outsourcing at WamBam Fence. For those of you who live and work in North America, you might derive some satisfaction from the fact that it’s not always smooth sailing.

Take, for instance, my instructions to a web developer in India for the following part of the site:

Basic Instructions to this Page

1. Change Title font (The WamBam Journal) to “Gloucester MT Extra  Condensed”. It should say “The WamBam Journal” at the top and the bottom.
2. In the new page as per our discussion, the copy should read (I typed out the whole paragraph for him).

The end result when I went to the site the next morning? (Yes, the changes were live.)

Maybe I Need to Give Clearer Instructions?

Let’s just say that after several incidents, we’ve mostly reverted back to North America for outsourcing.

Here at WamBam Fence, we provide digless vinyl fence that’s easy to install because it’s designed for the do-it-yourself market.

But sometimes it’s just inevitable. We try to minimize hold times as much as possible at WamBam Fence, but sometimes if someone has a question that needs a bit of looking up or consultation with a coworker, we have to put a customer on hold.

We elected to do away with annoying “on hold” music and instead got Clever Joe and Frank Wambamalino to engage in a bit of dialog about how annoying it is to be put on hold. This way, when a customer is put on hold, hopefully we can at least make them smile a bit.

Here it is.
WamBam On Hold Message

It’s WamBam, digless vinyl fence that’s easy to install.

The WamBam Sandbox

Steve doesn't know he's about to encounter a bit of a snag...

First samples have arrived from China, horray!

We take our new treasures to the WamBam sandbox, which is actually just a piece of land down the street that we have rented from John, an 80 year-old businessman. We haggled with John to let us use a sliver of his land for grass roots quality control.

We show up to work in grubs, load up the pickup truck, and start WamBaming pipes into the ground. I want to try out the product myself, and despite my disciplined gym routine, it’s clear I need to pump more iron if I want to drive the anchors into the ground as quickly as Steve. It must be painful for him to watch because after a while, he says, “Give me that thing” as he starts WamBaming the anchors into the ground– quite effortlessly, I might add.

After one particularly successful blow, he remarks, “That’s easier. I must have just gotten past a rock.”

And within seconds we’re standing in a rapidly growing puddle. And it’s only getting bigger.

We’re really hoping that he hit an oil well, Beverly Hillbillies style. Visions of instant retirement with a lifetime of luxury without all the hard work of an endeavor like WamBam start flashing through my head. But then we realize with dismay that it’s water.

Yup, Steve broke a water line. (For the record, he did call the locates prior to driving the anchors and was given the clear.)

Water is gushing everywhere and we have to find John to confess our misdeeds. Things need to happen to rectify the situation: Turn off the water to the property. Dig up the ground to get to the pipe. Call a plumber. Write him a check.

A couple hours later, it’s all fixed.

I will say that I am impressed with our fence system. Sure, the anchors require some muscle to go into the ground. But it was pretty cool to see in practice, and the posts looked as even and white as a used car salesman’s smile. Yup, maybe I’m biased, but our digless vinyl fence system is pretty cool, innovative, and fun to install. Just as long as the water lines are kept intact.

We got a new sign today out front of our little business park. It’s exciting to get a real sign; it somehow brings legitimacy to our little start up here.

Unfortunately the landlords/sign people didn’t quite get it right: (If you can’t see it, it’s the middle column under “H”)

Maybe we need some animals in the office.

Maybe it would work if our target market was ranchers and farmers. But it’s not.

At least it’s good for a laugh.

What are we doing here at WamBarn Fence? We’re changing the world of do-it-yourself fence. Our fence is easy and fun to install.