Kinda long rant to follow:
Had my first run in with couple I bid residing their garage and re-roofing house and garage last fall. These folks would literally call me 2-3 times a day with nothing to say. One day me, my wife and buddies were down at the Hot Rod power tour stop for the day and they called to tell me that they were heading to the bank in a little while. They called later to tell me they had just gotten back from the bank and everything looked good. 2 hrs after that they called to say bank wanted them to come back down to finalize everything. And later yet called to tell me everything was done and money would be depositied into their account the following monday. This went on throughout the job, you know the type, they watch over everything you do, then at the end of the day start asking questions about this that or the next thing about why we did certain aspects the way we did them. No problems getting paid, so aside from gently telling them multiple times they need not call unless something major comes up, it went pretty smoothly.
The other day a guy called, first thing out of his mouth, "you just sold a garage, told myself the first person to answer the phone in person would get my money" 1 hour later after gathering initial info he would not shut up no matter what I tried, finally did the "my wife has been beeping in so i better take the call" Later that afternoon I met with him to go over the details so I could nail down the estimate, 1.5hrs later he's still talking about this that and the next thiing and literally had to turn my back, jump in the truck and leave. While out for dinner that night with wife/daughter/and my mother I brain farted the number on caller id and guess who, this time he's telling me how he's depressed becasue the bank said his home is not worth what he thought it was so he had to put up three of his antique cars to secure the loan, anyways 30minutes later darn near hung up on him, but got him to say good bye.
Everyday since last monday he calls 3-4 times, NEVER during business hours, always starts at 7:30 or so and last night he called at 10pm, 10:30, 11pm and 11:30 and he FINALLY left a message on the 11:30pm call that the estimate looked good and when would I like to meet with him again to go over contract. I made sure to put payments I get all money for complete garage material up front before it's ordered/deliverd, all the money up front before any flat work is done, and 1/2 labor up front before I drive one nail, then next 1/4 payment after structure is erected and final payment after sign off on permit.
Had my sister in law run back ground check on him, everything came back good. Child support upto date, no tickets/misdemeanors or felonies, etc...I refuse to answer his calls after 6pm, trying to teach him the business hr respect rule and have asked if he needs to contact me do so between 7am and 6pm, but he does not get it!!
So, we've all had the penny pinching homies that think we're screwing them and WE are able to laugh when usually less than a year later they have all kinds of trouble in one way shape or form with the low baller-bottom feeder they decided would be the best to do the work on THEIR HOME!! But how many of you have had physco clients that will not stop calling?? I hate to be real rude since I'm making some good money and will just "grin and bear it", but jeez what a pita!!