ETHICS? WHERE?

Here's a riddle for the new year. How many electricians does it take to screw in a light bulb?
NONE.
They won't come to your house to screw in a light bulb, or to install a light fixture, or to fix faulty wiring. They won't come unless your entire house needs to be rewired and they can see a thousand dollar tab in the making.
In September of 2010, we contacted a local electrical company to help with some problems in our rental house. I'm not using their name, but it was LOCAL. To their credit, they made an appearance and did a bit of work (basically a honey-do.) They said it would be a little bit before they could get back.
I understood. I'm no more important that the clients who called before me. THAT WAS SEPTEMBER.

In October, I called them and was told they would get to us as soon as they could.
In November I called them and --guess what? They were just about to call me ( or so they said.) They would be there VERY SOON. Probably that week.
In early December, a friend of ours whose cousin works for another electrical contractor said to call his company. I did, and explained our problem. They said no one should be treated like that, and they would put us on their schedule and someone would call us. Guess what?
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BUSINESS ETHICS?
I understand that the priority is bucks. That's hard to swallow, especially in a small town where we supposedly care for one another, but....
The thing is, why lie? If you don't intend to come, why not say so?
I have no idea how good the companies in question are. All I know about them is that they are LIARS.
So here's the plan. We get together and bring in a homeless electrician's family from Denver. We give him free rent for 6 months and get the city and gas company to do the same. And we scare up some jobs for him until he gets on his ( or her) feet.
We welcome him into the community with open arms and let him do all those jobs the other guys are putting on hold for the day when they have nothing else to do. And pretty soon, maybe "nothing else" will be ALL the other guys have to do.