Just walked out on a job

[JoyDivision]

It was to setup a wireless network (already bought by the customer). I said it would cost £25 on the phone (I later realised this wasn't enough). When I got there she said how long it will it take, i replied 40 minutes. She said £25 is too much for that and she will give me £15.

I just laughed and said I am not touching it for anything less than £25, she said she would have to get somebody else. I just said well nobody will touich it for less than £25 and walked out .

One thing I am learning is you need to be very firm with customers like this, the general public need to learn they cannot haggle for such petty amounts.

 

[10Yetis]

Must be the day for it!

I had a very similar discussion today with a client based in the midlands about some work they need doing... comes a point where you just have to smile, nod and leave them to it.

Lets form a club.

 

[fastfences]

I'll join the club. I, too, am guarded against people who think we're making massive profits out of every minute we work. In most cases we are far worse off than 'average Joe' who gets his 4 or 5 weeks paid holidays, 10 Bank holidays, good pension fund and more often than not, a stressless 8 hour day.

Good on you JD, we deserve to convey our pride to the price predators and let them know that we are not bought for peanuts or there to be treated like a vendor at a boot sale.

Next topic: People who think they have a right to pay after 2 weeks or when THEY feel like it!!

Cheers, Nigel

 

[JoyDivision]

I said that to my customer, if I was working 9-5 at £20 an hour I would be rich but 70% of the time you are doing work for no income, warranty work, marketing, accounts etc.

On the plus side most people are more than willing to pay what I charge

 

[dataferret]

Well done - I for one am proud of you. The big problem is someone will do it for £15 because they need the money. This is what galls me. If you walk out on a job or stick firm to your price, someone will always undercut you.

I used to give in when faced with problems like this but then I found myself working for free (a lot) and people abused my good nature. So I stopped doing it free, charged more for my time and lost a lot of clients. It has been a painful process, but eventually people have got the message. My clients respect me more and those who do not tend not to last very long on my lists as clients.

I just wish everyone worked on this basis, then maybe people would stop trying to haggle the price down all the time.

 

[JoyDivision]

I just quickly came to the conclusion that none of my competitors are Polish (there has been a lot of Polish workers in my area since WW2 and in the past year a major inlux of them under cutting other traders since the EU thing).

I know of two major competitors and they both pretty mich charge what I do.

They might find a student willing to it for £15 but they will get no support. Thats the main reason I didn't do it because I would have lost money on it (due to support costs) and they tried to knock me down last time I did a job for them.

I have estalibished a great relationship with many of my clients and thats what I have to focus on and not get down when you get the few problem customers.

 

[estwig]

Good for you mate, tell em what the crack is, if they want it done for peanuts.


Let em pay for a monkey to do it!!!!!!!!!!!

As dataferret has said stick to your guns and the decent customers will respect you for it.

 

[Matt1959]

I too love this sort of customer. I always quote a price and I never haggle. A service is not like a product and it shows a lack of respect by trying to knock somone down when they have set the price to their own criteria. I always remember back to when I started in business when I was skint and had little work it was so difficult to portray an image of someone other than being desperate for work!

btw you don't let the customer know you travel by bus do you

 

[cjd]

You should send her a call out fee - you agreed a price on the phone, that's a contract.

Don't expect to get paid tho'

There's no point worrying about customers like that, you don't want them anyway - they're just trouble.

I was just looking at one of our customers' emails - he wants a free 'trial' account of our PBX before he takes it. It costs a massive 99 pence (inc VAT) - no-one would want to fork out that sort of money on the off chance that it will work would they?

Customers, can't live with 'em...................)

 

[apydevelopments]

Same with me, I charge for profit and atendance when the customer decides to bring in there own tradesmen or brother in law wants to fit the bathroom. They don't realise the amount of time we spend on the phone, they use are scafold and toilets and hold things generally up. Can never win!

 

[dataferret]

I was just looking at one of our customers' emails - he wants a free 'trial' account of our PBX before he takes it. It costs a massive 99 pence (inc VAT) - no-one would want to fork out that sort of money on the off chance that it will work would they?

This made me laugh. It reminded me of one of my former clients who haggled with one of my preferred hosting partners (I send them clients and they get cheaper hosting and better service - works for everyone). The host phoned me to tell me he had not renewed a domain name because the client was being unreasonable and refusing to pay "cost" price. Anyway, a few weeks later the domain name went offline - and it took 48 hours to get sorted. The client complained because they lost almost £5000.

When I investigated further they deserved everything that had happenned. The entire argument with the host had been over a price increase of £0.03p which was not even their fault.

Some people are never satisfied and the bigger the client the worse they can be. I kid you not

 

[multilingual]

Joy,

How are you?

This reminds me of the old story of the guy with a drill (I am sure many will know it); the basic gist is that a bargain basement odd-job man calls at a house to hang a picture and drills into water pipes, gas pipes, electric cables, etc, causes untold damage and mayhem then leaves with the picture still not hung.

The owner then gets in a qualified tradesman on a £50 call out charge. This guy drills one hole, hangs the picture and within five minutes is finished and waiting for his cash.

'why should I pay you £50, you were only here 5 minutes and you only drilled one hole?!!"

To which the tradesman replies "You don't pay me for the amount of holes I drill, you pay me because I know where to drill the hole"

Old story, but still relevant.

JB

 

[CG Effect]

I got a project brief emailed to me this week for six illustrations of a product. They want a quote sending pluss two of the six jobs complete by Friday and if they like the work done and the price they will pay me for the other four. Do they think they own me or something?

 

[She Says]

*Hand Up for the club!*
Good on you for sticking to your guns.
We have had similar experiences this week.
Someone emailed asking for a quote for around 20 t-shirts. We sent the quote with an email offering to send a sample t-shirt so they can see and feel the quality etc for themselves. They emailed back saying 'I can get it cheaper somewhere else but I think their quality is going to be poor. Could you match their price because I really want yours'
Now I know you can get t-shirts cheaper than ours but I can bet they won't last as long, fit and wash as well, and feel as good as ours, and like most things in life you get what you pay for. But to ask us to match the price of an inferior product...that is just too cheeky!!

I think people are going by the saying 'you don't know unless you ask' but where is a sense of dignity and fairness?

Sharon

 

[JoyDivision]

I will confess here that I once haggeled over the price of Coca-Cola, I went to this dingy back street newsagents to buy 500ml (expecting to be around 85p-90p) but he said 99p, I politely told him that was too much and walked out. I went next door and it was 79p. The difference here was there was no difference in quality of location. If I was in central London I would happily pay £1.20 for a bottle of coke, in backstreet newsagents no, not when the going price is 80p.

The difference in this clients case was they will not get a better deal for £25.

She knew it would cost £25 but she thought once I was there it would be easier to knock me down, she almost looked shocked as I left

My dads had similar experience where customers have tried to knock him down, he walked out having none of it and they customer is panacing realising they were stuck.

There is a saying if you are at the cheap end of the market you get the cheap customers and thats the fatal trapo I have fallen into.

 

[Cornish Steve]

Ever the contrarian, I am not joining the club. Despite how awkward some customers can be, I'm not going to walk out and leave them in a bind. You open yourself up to bad-mouthing by someone who feels let down. Also, I try never to burn bridges; you just never know who may show up again in the future.

There are other ways to handle a situation like this:

1) Ensure the customer understands your call-out fee (as mentioned by CJD). Even if you perform no work, you can charge your fee. You should make this clear during your initial conversation.

2) Rather than give the customer the price break she requested, give her a discount on your next visit (e.g., such as waiving the call-out fee).

3) In my opinion, you should never laugh at a customer, no matter what the situation. Customers should be made to feel special - even difficult customers - and not demeaned.

 

[theMBA]

Pricing is about supply and demand, but it's also a signal from the supplier to the customer. Droping the price low, and agreeing to haggle it even lower, can be a signal to a customer that you're desperate or that you're prepared to take risks with service quality. Stick to your guns, on the other hand, and you send a signal that you believe in the quality that you deliver, that it's worth it, and that you can walk away if you want to. Most 'quality' customers will respect that stance (and, indeed, will look for it in a supplier they want to develop a longer-term relationship with).

 

[creospace]

Lets hope she never calls a plumber out, with their call out charges the bill is over £100 before they step over the threashold

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

3) In my opinion, you should never laugh at a customer, no matter what the situation. Customers should be made to feel special - even difficult customers - and not demeaned.

Agreed.

This has happened to me a couple of time in the past, and I tell the client that I am just an employee of the company and therefore cannot offer such great discounts, else the boss (my wife) would think I was taking cash for work so as not to pay taxes.

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

This reminds me of the days when I used to repair washing machines. Some jobs might only take 5 mins. because you'd seen exactly the same fault 1000 times before and knew exactly what to go for. The next job might take an hour or more, but you would get the same fixed charge fee. As has been mentioned before, it is important to explain this clearly to the customer when they book the initial call. What they are paying for is your experience, expertise and back-up service. The next time they may be the ones where you have to spend much longer or even go back there.
Barrie

 

[creospace]

Ha,

Rhyl - the good old days for when i started my working life at hotpoint, the punters thought it was the end of the world when the machine ground to a halt and we waltzed in and changed a pair of motor brushes which probably cost less than a quid and had to charge the mimimum charge for 5 miutes work.

Gary

 

[telemax]

Hi

I used to be in the same business 10 years ago. This is a true classic. I sold a computer to a customer (back in the days before broadband), for the purpose of them getting internet connected.

They were freaking out at me on the phone a couple of days later, saying how they couldn't get on the internet, so I went over replaced the modem, still didn't work, replaced the computer, after 3 trips they were threatening me with violence saying I'd sold them a dud computer.

Turned out they had connected the modem to the phone socket but had no landline, How stupid was that?

Of course not a word of apology, but I never heard from them again and I seriously had to fight the urge to throw the computer out of their window!!

 

[Cornish Steve]

Sounds like the person who thought the opened CD-ROM drive was a convenient cup holder.

 

[angels960]

I have to comment!

Last week I got an email from someone asking if they could 'borrow' some shoes they had a job interview and said that if they got the job they could pay for them but if they didnt....

Its hilarious...

 

[Write My Site]

I think most of us have experienced unreasonable prospective clients who want work at a rate that would not be profitable for us. My most recent experience was a couple of months ago when I quoted £625 for a pair of sizeable websites and received the response that the amount was "almost a month's wages for a few days work".

Even if I only charged the minimum wage that would still be £795 a month!

 

[Rhyl Lightworks]

Ha,

Rhyl - the good old days for when i started my working life at hotpoint, the punters thought it was the end of the world when the machine ground to a halt and we waltzed in and changed a pair of motor brushes which probably cost less than a quid and had to charge the mimimum charge for 5 miutes work.

Gary

Those were the days!

 

[Raph]

Of course not a word of apology, but I never heard from them again and I seriously had to fight the urge to throw the computer out of their window!!

I suppose that's the main problem with customers like that - you will get bad feedback anyway, sometimes it doesn't really matter how good you, your products or services are.

I'm not going to walk out and leave them in a bind. You open yourself up to bad-mouthing by someone who feels let down.

I agree to a certain point - that's after all that makes the difference between a "professional" (no matter in what industry) and an amateur. But as said above, there're certain times when I rather say no than doing work neither the customer nor I am happy with in the end.
By making a statement, e.g. by not going down to an unrealistic price or turnaround time (like the design example mentioned earlier in the thread) it surely sends a signal of professionalism to the "potential" client. And luckily from my experience this is exactly what wins most clients over - as professionalism and experience are the things they usually a) don't have themselves, and b) won't be able to get for a fiver from anybody else

Raph

 

[SillyJokes]

I really wish people wouldn't ask for discounts on tiny orders or ask to borrow goods. I just feel embarrassed on their behalf and I hate having to say no but I have learned to do so.

Joy Division is on a steep learning curve and I agree with Gold Steve in that you can't afford to make any customer feel bad - they will tell far too many others.

Basically each time this happens you need to learn ways to avoid doing it again. If a lesson costs you, you learn it better.

I had a good experience with a company I complained to this week. I found webs in my Dorset cereal and their professional response and astonishing £25 cheque more than makes up for the surprise. Now I have told all you lot about how good they were instead of telling you their muesli is invested with bugs.

 

[multilingual]

I had a good experience with a company I complained to this week. I found webs in my Dorset cereal and their professional response and astonishing £25 cheque more than makes up for the surprise. Now I have told all you lot about how good they were instead of telling you their muesli is invested with bugs.

Good point, but that is where a company is clearly at fault and is doing the right thing to sort it out. If you had demanded £25 just because the muesli didn't taste nice then they might not be quite as helpful.

I think that many consumers are completely unaware of what services cost in the real world. We hardly ever deal with translations for the general public because as soon as we give a price they shout 'daylight robbery'.

Business clients who deal with companies like ours on a regular basis understand what is involved and know what the price should be.

Small private clients want the earth for a fiver.

JB

 

[JoyDivision]

Most people understand though, I very very rarely get comsumers telling me I am too expensive, I've had a few comments on the phone but if its too expensive for them I am sure the local Polish students can do it cheaper but I the level of customer service will not be as good.

I've had no time to do any marketing the last few weeks because I have been so busy sorting out problems, the phone is still ringing and its all from recomendations and repeats I need to make sure I continue offering such good level of service.

Bad consumers seem to have a local reputation for being fuss pots so people don't always take notice of them when they bad mouth. However bad mouthing is always a risk .

I agree that I need to be more professional about things though, its been a hard learning curve but then business is never easy, I knew that from the start.

 

[Cornish Steve]

That's exactly right. Problems are usually learning experiences in disguise.

 

[cjd]

That's exactly right. Problems are usually learning experiences in disguise.

If you said that to me when I had problem, I'd probably have to kill you