Classic

Changes from don't quote! to puleez quote in less than 24 hours!? I'm thinking he doesn't have a single contractor roght now

 

Why is that I see a Saturday Night Live skit in here somewhere?

How boring would life be without people like this guy?

I hope the Mason's wife pulls through without much more trouble.:thumbsup:

 

I had him pegged from the get go. Takes one dickhead (me) to see another one (your customer).:thumbsup:

Is he short by any chance? The shorter the person, usually the worse attitude.:whistling

 

Some times when you are in the middle of something you can't see it as clearly as someone who isn't involved in it.

It seems like both the contractor and the customer don't see each others point of view.

The contractor seems to believe that the only question here is whether he is responsible for the masons behaviour or not. He keeps saying over and over and over that he is not. The potential customer doesn't think you are responsible, that is why he isn't hearing your protests.

The potential customer viewed you as a trusted advisor. What he is angry about is that he is suffering the consequences of following your advice and you don't care.He seems outraged that you can't see that. It's human nature not to trust people that don't care about you. You also gave him what appears to be bad advice(I know, I know, through no fault of your own) by recommending the mason.

This may be hard to hear, but you went from being a "trusted advisor" to "contractor that doesn't get it".

I hope somebody finds this helpful and appreciates the scorn and ridicule I'm exposing myself to. :laughing::laughing:

 

Some times when you are in the middle of something you can't see it as clearly as someone who isn't involved in it.

It seems like both the contractor and the customer don't see each others point of view.

The contractor seems to believe that the only question here is whether he is responsible for the masons behaviour or not. He keeps saying over and over and over that he is not. The potential customer doesn't think you are responsible, that is why he isn't hearing your protests.

The potential customer viewed you as a trusted advisor. What he is angry about is that he is suffering the consequences of following your advice and you don't care.He seems outraged that you can't see that. It's human nature not to trust people that don't care about you. You also gave him what appears to be bad advice(I know, I know, through no fault of your own) by recommending the mason.

This may be hard to hear, but you went from being a "trusted advisor" to "contractor that doesn't get it".

I hope somebody finds this helpful and appreciates the scorn and ridicule I'm exposing myself to. :laughing::laughing:

I won't scorn or ridicule you, but I think you need to clean the rose colored glasses you are seeing through.

 

Vinny,

While you may be right that neither side can see the view point of the other, the OP is doing the right thing by bailing on this potential client. Furthermore, the client suffered no damages, and had other masons bid it for him. The OP called the mason, and the mason did not return calls.

No good deed goes unpunished

 

Gotta love forums...

opinions & buttholes!!!!!:thumbup:

 

Any Comments?

I do believe atlantic included this in his first post. It didn't say anything about having to agree with him 100%. :whistling

 

I do believe atlantic included this in his first post. It didn't say anything about having to agree with him 100%. :whistling

It was in the fine print.:thumbsup:

 

Man I see it from all angles.. tough situation for sure.. sucks that you couldn't take yourself out of the situation or there is no separation between you and the other guy in the H/O'ers mind. From now on no referrals? I don't know man. Tough call.

 

just imagine if the customer never asked for a referral and you ended up doing the job.... Chances are you would of taken the job and you would of done a great job since youre reputation precedes itself....

so instead of this thread you would of started one about a great homeowner that has referred you dozens of times now....

but instead it is the potential customer's fault and youre lucky cause it would of went downhill the day you started it. correct?

 

Your name says it all. :thumbsup:

 

I always miss that shiite :wallbash:

 

I don't like this H O.
I imagine him looking something like this, with less hair:

 

I guess he thought you would be begging for his work. Glad you were able to turn him down. Hope other home owners read this and get a clue!

 

HE'S MISSED THE LAST SEVERAL APPOINTMENTS = TO REVIEW THE VERY SAME AREAS.

How many trips did the ho expect the mason to make do you think? Sounds very hectic.

 

which mason?

 

O p stated the mason had met with the ho a couple of times. I guess I assumed he was referring the mason he had recommended. If so, I was wondering why so many trips were necessary.

 

Atlantic...I like how you gave the guys the proverbial 'stiff finger' with such grace. Even though you told him to stick it up his a$$, he still doesn't get it!

Arrogant Aholes never look in the mirror!

I wish you would send one last e-mail and tell the guys what a d!ck he really is!

 

Thanks, but, I have a confession to make regarding that.

My wife spent 15 years as a AAA branch manager. She had lots, and lots of sales, human resource, and other training & experience in dealing with disgruntled Clients, Customers, and A-holes.

I run things by her, and have her regularly review correspondences, to put a professional touch to them. She's sharp as a tack.

Always "try" to keep things professional (your words), and allow the A-holes, to make themselves look like = what they really are.

 

Unless I read it wrong, atlantic's mason never made it ... but I've been wrong before.:whistling

 

Unless I read it wrong, atlantic's mason never made it ... but I've been wrong before.:whistling

Same here, more times than I like to admit. It is a little comfusing as it was going along like he never made any appointment then it was stated he 'the mason' made a couple of the appointments. I may have misunderstood.

 

now ya got my head hurtin' :blink: :laughing:

 

Let me clarify: The Mason made, and kept two previous appointments, to look at the badly built steps (front and rear entry). This occured after my initial meeting, and my passing the Mason's Number to him.

While I was there, at a later time, the HO had another Mason looking at the steps too. And, I know that he's had other Masons do the same, and submit estimates.

This whole BS episode arose from the Mason not keeping a third, and subsequent appointments. To evidently look at the same areas again, with the HO using another Mason's lower bid, to talk him down. (I could be wrong about the actual motivation, as I am making an assumption).


Additonally: I know that I am not the only Contractor who looked at, and quoted on his roof. I also know that, because of the large materials price-break I had (from my supplier, until 9/30), my price was the most competative.
And I "believe" that we probably had the best presentation: I submited a Proposal Package: The Detailed proposal. Detailed Manufacturer Material information. 10 Year No-Leak Workmanship Warranty, A CD of with pictures of our Roofing Work (befores and afters - it costs pennies to make a CD).... He asked for references, I gave him 15 pages of them. Proof of Insurance, etc, etc, etc...

I know that he wanted my company to do the work. I feel that - once he realized that wasn't going to happen (after my email confirmed it), he decided to try to, at least, get a written quote from me, to attempt to talk down the next "preferred" Contractor, on his list.

All of this has been going on since August.

IMHO -This definitely seems to be the Modus Operandi, of this particular HO. He's a manipulator, and a user.

 

Can't please all the people all the time, but ...

While we all know you can't please all the people all the time, as much as we would like to, we all run into the 'unbalanced' individual eventually, it's inevitable since we are in a business that deals with the general public.

Kudo's to thoses who can size these situations up and bow out gracefully before they get involved. Unfortunately most of us find out after we are into it. That's where a well written contract becomes important.

How you handle Psychotic people is critical to your business as they can easily turn the situation against you and into a nightmare because that's what gives these type of people their 'jollies'. I've been there, won't go into detail here, too lengthy.

First, I'd call up your mason and find out what's going on. Maybe he's got a justifiable reason. In my book, a phone call is madatory if you're running late or just can't make it to an appointment. If you recommend someone, you open yourself up to these kind of situations, as you now know. Out of respect to you, he should have shown up, period. Not doing so made you look bad. Above all - he owes you an apology, IF he's a true professional.

I'd call him & explain to him that it made you look bad professionally and you're really dissapointed, that as much as you'd like to give out his name, not keeping apppointments is hurting your business and it just can't happen. Find out why it happened and why he forgot how to use the phone (assuming he didn't call), then decide if you & he can fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.

DAMAGE CONTROL:notworthy
I would apologize to the people you recommeded him to, explaining that he was having some personal difficulties that you were unaware of when you recommended him to them and that you are sorry for any inconvience it may have caused but that your intention was to try and help them with their situation.

Again, not that what happened is your fault, but from my experience in these type of situations, sometimes you just gotta swallow your pride for the minute and do some ass kissing to prevent the situation from getting worse. It's not a guarantee, but in most cases the sooner you get these people calmed down, the quicker the issue dissapears.

In my case, luckily it ( sycho customer) happened only twice in 27 years, my contract saved me both times.:clap:

As for referring other trades, if I get a complaint I address it right away. If the trades person drops the ball by not showing up for an apointment and neglects to call, no more reco's and I call them to let them know why and I call the client and apologize as well. In those instances, I still retained the client as a customer and it's only happened 3 or 4 times.

What I do now is call my sub FIRST before I give his name out to anyone, to find out how busy he is, is it ok to give out his name and then I tell him who I am giving it to. I also follow up with a call to the sub after a few days to see how he made out. This has solved almost all the past issues of no show's, no calls. and missed appointments.

Good luck,
Rich

 

While we all know you can't please all the people all the time, as much as we would like to, we all run into the 'unbalanced' individual eventually, it's inevitable since we are in a business that deals with the general public.

Kudo's to thoses who can size these situations up and bow out gracefully before they get involved. Unfortunately most of us find out after we are into it. That's where a well written contract becomes important.

How you handle Psychotic people is critical to your business as they can easily turn the situation against you and into a nightmare because that's what gives these type of people their 'jollies'. I've been there, won't go into detail here, too lengthy.

First, I'd call up your mason and find out what's going on. Maybe he's got a justifiable reason. In my book, a phone call is madatory if you're running late or just can't make it to an appointment. If you recommend someone, you open yourself up to these kind of situations, as you now know. Out of respect to you, he should have shown up, period. Not doing so made you look bad. Above all - he owes you an apology, IF he's a true professional.

I'd call him & explain to him that it made you look bad professionally and you're really dissapointed, that as much as you'd like to give out his name, not keeping apppointments is hurting your business and it just can't happen. Find out why it happened and why he forgot how to use the phone (assuming he didn't call), then decide if you & he can fix the problem so it doesn't happen again.

DAMAGE CONTROL:notworthy
I would apologize to the people you recommeded him to, explaining that he was having some personal difficulties that you were unaware of when you recommended him to them and that you are sorry for any inconvience it may have caused but that your intention was to try and help them with their situation.

Again, not that what happened is your fault, but from my experience in these type of situations, sometimes you just gotta swallow your pride for the minute and do some ass kissing to prevent the situation from getting worse. It's not a guarantee, but in most cases the sooner you get these people calmed down, the quicker the issue dissapears.

In my case, luckily it ( sycho customer) happened only twice in 27 years, my contract saved me both times.:clap:

As for referring other trades, if I get a complaint I address it right away. If the trades person drops the ball by not showing up for an apointment and neglects to call, no more reco's and I call them to let them know why and I call the client and apologize as well. In those instances, I still retained the client as a customer and it's only happened 3 or 4 times.

What I do now is call my sub FIRST before I give his name out to anyone, to find out how busy he is, is it ok to give out his name and then I tell him who I am giving it to. I also follow up with a call to the sub after a few days to see how he made out. This has solved almost all the past issues of no show's, no calls. and missed appointments.

Good luck,
Rich

Rich,

You should read the thread again, you are evidently missing a lot, including, the fact, that I mentioned that I called the Mason, and talked to him, and found out what was going on in his life.

Also: I don't apologize for things that I am not responsible for, especially when it appears the HO, is the one that may have burnt his bridges with the Mason (NOT ME). The only damage that has occured, is what the HO has created, and most of it was in his own "head" and "world". Not mine.

Lastly: I Have no obligation, or concern, to make any kind of ammends (or expend any more additional valuable time and energies) with difficult, and parasitic HO's.
I am extremely busy. I have actual signed contracts, agreements, and additional proposals to do for Clients and HO's that treat me and my workers with respect, appreciation, and a much higher level of professionalism. Yes, I expect HO's to be professional, just as they expect me to be.
Again, I had no contract, no agreements, and no benefits from this situation. There were no commitments on the horizon. With an individual like that: That is a plus. It allows me to do what any experienced contractor should do, in such a situation: I prefer to make a professional exit, and quiet separation from them.

Maybe you like working and associating with them = not me. I guess you'll be the type of contractor that will fall into a little spider-web (like that) that they try and weave. Let the torturing begin, my sadistic friend....

Then you can feel free to suffer the experience of working for such an individual....

Feel free to post the horrible experience on this site.

In 27 Years, it appears that you have not learned as much as you think you have = about people.

 

Gotchya...and yeah, after hearing it all...he IS a tool.

 

You should go ahead and send an estimate for about 4 times your normal pricing...or an email link to cl :laughing:

 

HO is never going to find someone that lives up to his (HO) expectations. HO needs to call Rotorooter to come and pull the stick out of his butt!!

 

And replace it with Atlantics foot! :furious:

Come on man, how many visits do you need to make to look at a couple sets of stairs? Sounds like miscommunication with an overbearing HO and a family emergency with the mason......

 

I don't remember if the mason's emergency has been communicated to the homeowner, and if so, what the dillweed's response was...

 

Dear Mr. Homeowner,

As of this morning, Atlantic is no longer servicing roofing in your area. I apologize for the inconvenience and hope you find a suitable contractor that is willing to work in your neighborhood.

The reason for this is that your neighbor recommended you as a potential client, and I have come to the conclusion that if this is the way your friend thinks I run my business, then he must think I'm a Fortune 500 company.

Our cliche consultants have informed us that 'birds of a feather flock together", therefore, we'll not be doing any more business with you, or your neighbor's flock.

Thanks and have a great day,

Me

 

Atlantic,

never saw the thread or I never would have bothered to leave my obviously irrelevant post -i was typing my post as you placed yours, you apparently didn't bother to look at the posting times and make the correlation or you just felt like unloading your nail gun at me. Pretty obvious by the content of my post that I missed yours (by 2 mins). The 'type A' reply seemed a bit over the top, neolitic said all that need to be said about it.

Either way I apologize, after reading the complete thread that i missed as I was posting mine, i obviously struck a raw nerve by the post I left, my post was way off base. Sorry dude, didn't mean to offend you. We're all here for the same reason, to learn??

I'm heading back over to the sidelines to remove nails and pick the shoe laces from my workboots from between my teeth.

R