Bad Customer Experiences

grusel

I'm posting this one to see how many of us come across this problem. The dreaded bad customer experience

Here's mine... and I'm glad to say that it's the first one in two years.

I (the fool) make a verbal arrangement with a guy. The job is to install 300 sq.ft. of pre-finished ash done up to look like a dark red mahogany. for $900.00 (This is in Canadian Dollars BTW) or $3.00 a square foot. He bought it from Home Depot. When I get there and am ready to install... (Did I mention that this was an install only and that the customer is responsible for all materials) I find that the customer has not ordered any threshold equalizers. One to 8mm Laminate, 4 to carpet and 2 to 10mm Ceramic. All totaling 25 lin. ft. He didn't even bother to take up the carpet as agreed previously. Then he said 2 things that bothered me. "Do you have to take off the baseboards?" and "You can start today and we can just get the equalizers later right?"

I explained everything and said I would do my best to get the equalizers from Home Depot and install them the next day but that they would likely be $130.00. The customer did not believe me at this point stating that the Ash only cost them $3.29 a square foot. I went to home depot and the ash equalizers were order only. 7-10 days. $285.00!

At this point I received a call from his wife asking if I could meet her back near the job site... (oh did I mention the job site was 33 miles away from home depot?) so we could just purchase the raw stock and I could mill the dimensions required to make the appropriate profile height. Then color match a stain to the factory dark red mahogany color, apply 5 coats of lacquer (sanding between coats) and she asked "You can still start tomorrow, right?"

Needless to say.. the husband called at 10:30 pm that night (while I was staining the 4 th coat) furious that the threshold pieces would not be ready by the morning... and cancelled the contract! (Lesson here... get it in writing!!!) and has since decided not to pay me for my time, materials etc. But

That's why pencils have erasers and contractors have small claims court.

Chris Johnson

Did your red warning light not go off sooner?

__________________
Chris

AbeBarker

Sorry Guy,,

Our perfect world can't even be made into a perfect movie.

ChrWright

In writing is the only way to go, and the more specific the better.

I find the more difficult people I work for, the longer my contracts become and the more detailed my scopes of work---telling them what they get, and sometimes equally important, what they DON'T get.

Sorry you took one on the chops... Unreasonable/difficult clients can make you second guess yourself--your prices, your ability, everything.

ModernStyle

i stained a bunch of wood for a guy once that he was going to do the ceiling in his lake cottage with. I had it all stained and sealed and was getting ready to sand it and put a coat of laquer in it when he called and said he wanted his wood back because he had found someone cheaper. I told him that he had to pay me for what I had done already and he said no he wasnt going to pay me because i had tried to over charge him and rip him off. I then asked him if he had any serial numbers on his wood, because the wood I had was mine. He got real mad then and said he would bring a few friends over and they would get his wood one way or the other. I told him no problem, could they stop and get some beer on the way I always like beer at bond fires.
I held that wood hostage for about 2 months but eventually he paid up, good thing too, I was about to build me a club house with it.

__________________
http://InDemandPainting.com http://www.SupermanOfPainting.com http://www.AplusPaintingServices.com

slickshift

A good lesson for any and everyone
Thanks for posting it

Lesson #2 from this:

Don't let the Homeowner Purchase Materials

They have know idea what to get, how much things cost, how important some things are...and sundries, they just have no clue
I know it's easier to just have the materials be there
And the customer thinks they are saving money by buying materials so it makes them happy
...and sometimes (or for a while) it can even work out OK

But eventually, it will bite you in the butt

If I have a customer that insists on buying materials, the price stays the same
I know I'll have work delays and store runs, and there will be little or no sundries

__________________
Signature Quote

Quote:

Originally Posted by ModernStyle I have never used this crap before and I pray to the paint gods that I never have to use it again, I would rather use Behr

kevjob

people!

__________________
Kevin
Basement Finishing Highlands Ranch Colorado
Littleton Colorado, Basement Remodeling
Kitchen Remodeling Denver

C.C.R.

I had a customer who wanted to buy his own material about 2 years ago. I made a material list for him and he was simply supposed to pick it up. About 2 weeks whent by and he called me. He had been going to the "Evil Empire" (AKA Home Depot) this whole time. He was pi$$ed.
'They talk to me like I'm an infant. And then I go to another HD and they tell me the complete opposite. I simply told him,"I can make all the headaches go away." So I took on my usual role, charged my usual markup. And when the job was done, he insisted I take my family up to his cabin on the lake. (Biggest Tiger Muskie you've ever seen. . Moral of the story?: let them try it on their own. Chances are they'll comming crawling back begging you to save them from "those horrible people".

__________________
Complete Custom Remodeling
"When Quality is Top Priority"
www.completecustomremodeling.com

AtlanticWBConst

Good Story

__________________
- Build Well -

AtlanticWBConst

Rant:

They don't realize that we get big discounts on materials and that a large part of the costs are for labor, not the material.
(Examples: Basic plumbing, Drywall, painting, etc...)

Ridiculous mentality. We should charge customers extra if they provide their own materials...

__________________
- Build Well -

KillerToiletSpider

We do, jobs where the GC or the homeowner is supplying the material go from 1900.00 per fixture to 2100.00, and we bill out an extra for every single extra trip made to the job for mistakes on fixtures, with a four hour minimum.

__________________
A flush is better than a full house.

Chris Johnson

I like it, profit is not a dirty word

__________________
Chris