Is It Bad To Cuss Out A Customer?

SeanATL

Has anyone every done that? I pretty much just did.

I've got a old man who is trying to basically steal from me.

We painted his exterior. Same color, easy job, didn't even need to be painted.

Used Duration paint because he insisted. Repaired 3 peices of sofit and one piece of fascia. He already had sofit board from where Certa Pro was on site to do the work and he ran them off.

$3,200 for the job.

Friday, Saturday, Sunday job for 3-4 men.

Friday went fine. Saturday the crew isn't there until 10am (tells my crew about Godd--- time you got here, a fooking phone call would have been nice). I don't disagree with him there, but I may have said it differently.

He calls saturday afternoon and dog cusses me on the phone telling me if this job isn't done by sunday we're going to have real problems...and this was "bull****". Ok, I apologize for them being late.

The crew works late saturday night and finishes the job (customer tells my crew not to kill themselves and if they had to come back monday, that wasn't a problem, so now he's changed his mind)....ready to come back sunday for punch out.

Job no good by Sunday's end (according to the customer). Have to come back Tuesday. Calls monday says we can't come back tuesday, come back wednesday (wasted a day of schedule time). Crew works all day wednesday AND thursday doing various things included replacing fascia that didn't even need to be replace. I'm just trying to make him happy so we can get paid. I check everything out and it looks above and beyond the call of duty to me. We did a $6k job, at least.

So he calls me tonight and says he doesn't want that crew on his God----- property again and for me to send out a different crew this weekend.

At this point, I will not be cussed at like this any longer. Anyone else speaking to me like this would have had their ass whipped a long time ago.

I kindly tell this guy to go fck himself (not literally, but in so many words, including cuss words). I inform him he will never be happy with our work and we will not be doing another damn thing. I will be coming tomorrow to pick up our check. He said he'll give me a check (funny how he backs down when I let him know he's not going to call me a cuss me daily), but it won't be for the full price.

It ought to be interesting when I show up tomorrow. I'm the nicest guy in the world up to some point. I'm pissed now. I have before pictures I already took. I'm taking my camera for some after pictures.

Once I get the check, I'll inform him he'll be getting a lein put on his house for the difference.

dougchips

It sounds like he was the GC?

__________________
To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

Richard

I tend to not get customers like that, but you never know. I probably would have done the same thing without using any profanity (just because I feel like someone can always throw that back at you). I bet you back in the days when the 'ol timers were young, that guy would be beaten and bloodied.

How old was this guy, and what's the deal with the certa pro thing?

__________________
Rich

Teetorbilt

'Cuss out' is bad, juvinile and shows loss of control. Negotiation/explanation is the way that a businessman would approach the problem.

One of the first rules of business, whoever speaks/spazzes out first loses.

__________________
You can't solve you're problems with the same level of thinking that created the problems.

Albert Einstein

ProWallGuy

How did:

Friday, Saturday, Sunday job for 3-4 men.

turn into a Fri, Sat, Sun, Wed, & Thurs, and this weekend?

Did the scope of work dictate that you perform all the tasks you did? If so, you underestimated your labor time. If not, you just did a ton of 5hit for free, and let the guy run you. This job went south the minute your boys were late, and never came back. Lesson learned, eh? Stick to the scope of work, do a professional and timely job, and these problems won't occur.

__________________
Wallpaper Hanger St. Louis
Digital Murals Installation

SeanATL

He's probably 60, and I don't know the entire thing with Certa Pro, but I contacted them and a guy replied by email saying, "yeah, I know all about Larry, please call me to discuss". I haven't spoken to the certa pro guy, but I'm curious what he has to say.

I agree "cussing out" is not the right thing to do. I used language maybe I shouldn't have, but I've been cussed at for 3 days straight....at some point I'm standing up to this guy.

daArch

I've never had a situation like this, so I can't really advise.

BUT I was wondering from those who have :

Would it be a "wise" thing to say in the middle of the first cussing out, "Excuse me sir, I am a professional and nobody will use that language with me. I am coming right over now to pick up my equipment with an invoice for work already completed"

In this instance, it sounds like you lost more time than you would have with that approach.

It sounds like this may be one of those situations from which you bail at the first sign of trouble.

?????

__________________
Wallcovering Installations by Bill Archibald|paperhanger|Eastern Mass|Greater Boston Area|Dover|Wellesley|Franklin|Sharon|MA

Jethroe

I have ran into every kind of a$$ H*** in this trade over the years and the best thing for them is to threaten first.. tell them thay don't scare you and if they want to play hard ball you can that's what courts are for... ( and that you will roll up your stuff tomorrow first thing and be off of the property in no time)
Hey man!! Im not going to die over It and even if I lose a client it never would have been a referral anyways.( and I tell them that too!)

I had a good friend (best friend) who was painter commited suicide a few years ago because things weren't goin right in his painting business. I never have looked at life the same since.

It's never too late and please don't let them get you down.

__________________
"Well I Tell Them There's No Problems Only Solutions".

Mike Finley

Customers like that are like spoiled little children testing their parents. Like spoiled little brats, at the first sign they need a time out and a correction of that type of behavior, if not you see what happens, they just keep getting worse and worse and worse and pretty soon you're like one of those frazzled soccer moms.

At the first sign of him cussing you for being late, I can see taking that if you're at fault (I don't know what type of arrangements you make) but that should have put everything back to normal, the first sign of him continuing his routine after that was time to shut him down.

JamesNLA

Not related to painting but I had an old man client a year or so ago.....
I replaced his water heater - recirc pump - tune up. Replaced a bunch of valve stems and supply lines. Anyway, this guy LOVED to call me a week or so later and tell me something I did wasn't working correctly, and that I needed to come out and fix it. Go out, give a stem a 1/16th of a turn, and I leave. Month or 2 later, guy calls me to whine about something else. That was in the morning, and I really didn't want this guy on my mind all day, so I decided to call him after work. About 5 hours after he called me initially, he left me another message telling me that I was not a professional and that on my judgment day, the wrath of the "good lord" was going to strike down on me. No Sh*t these were his words. I about pissed myself laughing on this one. I called him back and very unpolitley educated him on how absurd and beyond insane he is. I also told him it would now cost 200 bucks to show up, and 200 per hour after that. Two days came and went and he called me to come out. I just couldn't do it. I'm no thief and just told him to call someone else, I was too busy. While I agree that cursing at a client is not a wise thing to do, I have gotten heated...i mean really pissed at 1 or 2 customers in the past. I used words that made cursing look like a disney show. However I was the idiot for getting that mad....espically about some morons house. There are more important things in life than other peoples issues.

__________________
"....And then we all switch places when I ring the bell"
-Adrock

Chris G

That is very true.

And btw, 10:00 am on a SATURDAY is considered late? WTF is this world coming to? Live to work live to work!!! Yayyyyyyy!!!

dougchips

I can't understand why the arrival time for an exterior job is important. So long as the guys are not on a ladder a 6 am looking in the windows who really cares if the job starts at 8am or noon?

__________________
To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

concretemasonry

SeanATL -

It never does any good to cuss out a customer. It makes you feel good and makes the situation worse, especially when you are expecting money from him.

You probably do not have a signed contract, so it is between the two of you. If someone else dropped the job, that should tell you something!

Put on your thick skin and expect the worst next time you talk to him. Keep your cool, so you can keep ahead of him.

If you want to shoot off, do it after you have a check and can wash your hands of the whole fiasco.

__________________
Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

Chris G

And to add to the above.

Don't cuss out a customer. Get through this one with your cool intact, and you will be stronger for it, and you'll be able to handle it easier in the future. Blow up at him, and you'll carry a bad aura around with you in future meetings with every client.

Then again, it's Friday now, so you may have chopped him up into little pieces and ground him into hamburger patties - a smart way to destroy evidence by the way. If that's the case, you can individually wrap his sorry ass into 1 pound boxes and distribute him to all your pet owning clients as gifts.

ModernStyle

I worked a job once where the homeowner cussed me daily, the first time it really pissed me off because I hadn't done anything to deserve it. His deck spindles came pre-primed and had mud under the primer so he wanted me to sand them, no problem I was on T&M so I didnt mind. So I get the saw horses out and begin to sand them down witth a palm sander. Five minutes into doing it, the guy comes over and says " If you dont want to do it then you can f*@king leave and I will get someone else in here to do it". This really pisses me off because I didnt say a word about doing them and got right to work doing what he wanted. So he leaves after his fit, and I keep working, but am very pissed. A few hours go by and he stops back at the house and gives me $20 and says sorry about the fit and he is buying lunch. A few days later same thing happens, he jumps down my throat for nothing, then comes back and hands me a 20 and says sorry. After about the 10th time of this I no longer got pissed at all and looked forward to being able to spring for a decent lunch instead of McDonalds or Taco Bell.
His wife once stopped at the job site and told us she was getting ready to leave him because of the way he was doing the house, it was new construction. I subbed the Exterior and basement from another painter, so I was not there for the whole job, but was told his total bill for the paint job was $60,000. That might not be a huge amount in some parts of the country but in the small Ohio town this was located in it was more then the average cost of a home.
But I think if a HO wants to cuss me and is willing to pay me for it I will let them have at it, just leave out my wife and kids and fire away.

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

mdshunk

I occasionally get a customer like that. I think I have an advantage, in that I have an uncle that is that exact same way. I just learned a long time ago that he's like that, and that's just part of his nature, and it's nothing personal. The best way to deal with this type is to say "no" a lot, and to not back down. In reality, I find most of these "cusser-out-ers" to be big babies who are mostly bark and very little bite. You have to wrestle with them a little, but in the end you prevail.

PS... if this guy is very aged, don't rule out the possibility that he may not be in his right mind anymore. In this case, I find it effective to let the wife (if any) know my concerns and ask her for her help. This works also.

motivationman75

Building rustic looking Log Cabins out of green logs, lumber and timbers can be done. But you need to know how to do it. You also need to know what to put on it.

480 sq'. Log Cabin being built in the middle of no where. Walls are up roof is framed and sheeted. After the 4 days of straight rain the sun and heat exploded.
Were putting on the metal edging and getting ready to start the metal roof when the customer (painting engineer) shows up to check in before he leaves for a 2 week work related trip. He's also gonna be expected to make a payment before he leaves, framing was finished so payment was due by my contract standards of times of payments to be met.

He noticed a small spot of mold on the interior surface of one of the logs. He said, "I want you to stop building right now and get this taken care of ". With rain in the forcast I explained to him that getting the Metal roof completed ASAP was what needed to happen. Theres a product that goes on the interior and exterior of the cabin to fight the mold and we need to get the roof on first. Once the roof was on we would be power washing and lightly bleaching the logs letting that dry then applying Season-Rite. The mold spot would be gone and the logs protected from any further risk of a fungus.

This ****ing moron threw a fit yelling and at one point got in my face freaking out. He said he was not gonna be making the scheduled payment of $10,000.00.

I called my lawyer and asked for his input. He stated," your client has breached the contract and your no longer expected to work on that project". You will not be responsable for anything further according to the contract. He then started to go after this client to get the $10,000 payment.

6 miles down the road was my next job. My crew packed up the trailer and we left that job. 2 weeks later Moron is back from his trip. Comes out to my next jobsite wanting to talk about how to fix the mold outbreak in this cabin (shell only...not even a roof for 2 weeks of rain and heat in june)

I go to look at this mold he was talking about and it's like a big ****ing Chia Pet on the inside of the cabin shell. He went to freek out mode again but this time I fired back.:censore d:

With rain in the forcast I explained to him that getting the Metal roof completed ASAP was what needed to happen. Theres a product that goes on the interior and exterior of the cabin to fight the mold and we need to get the roof on first. Once the roof was on we would be power washing and lightly bleaching the logs letting that dry then applying Season-Rite. The mold spot would be gone and the logs protected from any further risk of a fungus........Explaing this again poking his chest and yelling at him right in his face. I even threatened to kick his ass if he came to one of my jobsites again.

I got my $10,000.00 payment from him 2 months later, right before the civil courts were to hear our case.


My point.


Do good work, charge good money and you'll always be in the right.


Jeremiah

Sorry for all the typo's I'm a better Carpenter then a writer.

Da Vinci

You lose your cool- you lose. Always be professional. Fire the client if need be, but don't go off on a tirade- shows lack of professionalism no matter how crazy they may be...

Bob
elshaddaipainting.com