Potential problem customer

[JoyDivision]

I don't want to go into any details here but basicaly this customer is accusing me of loosing some of his emails during a format (they were all backup). The problem is due to my stupidity I have nothing in writing to say what should have been backup up nor does my customer so its just my word against his.

The customer is lawyer and it wasn't until after I formated it he started stressing how important the data was, before that he made out the data was only causual but he would like it backup up. If I had known how criticial it was I would have made him sign lots of paper work.

To cut a long story short what is the most he could do? I backed up very email on there so as far as I am concerned these lost emails are nothign to with me. He had no backups at all of these emails and he was using a clapped out 4 year old laptop.

I've also had lots of other minor problems with this customer.

I just have a feeling I am not going to be able to wash my hands of this customer and I have already lost a fortune over it.

This is the first time anything like this has happened but it means I have now to change the way I operate to ensure it won't happen again

 

[fastfences]

Well, seems like there's no Joy in this! Woops, sorry.

I reckon he's just after a freebie. We could go into areas of using all care and diligence within your work, but in the end it's your word against his.

You can only hope that Jonathan or Antonia will respond to your post and offer an opinion.
Cheers, Nigel

 

[JoyDivision]

Thats what my mates think, at the end of the day he was not backing up his work, we led me to believe he was a private consumer (I charge a lot more for businesses due to higher risks) and it was only when there was no going back I found out he was running a business from his clapped out laptop.

I would love to give him is money back if it means an end to it. In hinsight I also knew of a lot of early warning signs which meant I should not have taken the job on.

Two things have come out of the last month:-
1) Don't build PCs - its not worth the hassle
2) Always get the client to do backups or charge a fortune for this service backup with lots of paper work.

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

Poor You. Its a pain when client behave badly. Sorry to rub salt in but your terms and conditions should cover this and cover it well. I would be happy to lend a hand. Email me the terms and conditions and some more details and I will see what we can do to help. Fortunately we also have a very techie IT lawyer with us and he can advise if needed too.

What I need is a time line of events ie

20 1 2006 client X approached me by phone and asked for quote

23 1 2006 sent out quote via email and client responded same day with this email agreeing to price.

24 1 2006 client on phone asking the following questions

That sort of thing to bring me up to date on the chain of events. I need to know what exactly you quoted to do, what you were told by the client and when you found out the work was not for him personally but his business. I also need a lot more detail on what was discussed in terms of importance of the data and the discussions and any emails on the issue of back ups.

I have a couple of free advices in the queue currently but if this is sent to me at [email protected] tomorrow should get to respond by Tuesday PM.

 

[JoyDivision]

Sadly I have little evidence as most communication was done via telephone, quite often a mobile.

I am pretty sure if it came to court it would just be my word against his, I can tell give the judge all the technicaly overbearing info they want but my client cannot proove I lost their emails.

I really just want to wash my hands of it. The only thing I have signed is what I did, backed up all work and emails as requested which my client apcepted although there is no signature on it.

I will send you a log of exactly what happened though. Thanks so much for this.

 

[bwglaw]

Your worse customer is a lawyer! Unfortunately, it will all depend on your terms and conditions, what was agreed, if nothing then there lies the problem.

One would have to also look at what would be expected in return for your fee. Many IT consultants advise the client to back-up their own files before any intervention. The lawyer should also know better to back-up his work.

Likewise, if you would like advice I will need sight of everything, if anything. It would also help to have a written account of events, what was agreed verbally etc

If you email the above to me I can provide advice tomorrow, or over the weekend.

Jonathan

 

[mtw]

Hi JoyDivision,

Sounds like a real nightmare. Don't worry about the fact that it's your word against his right now. Antonia is offering a huge favour here. If your client is trying to squeeze you and playing the lawyer card, a properly phrased rebuttal from experts on your side might just send him packing.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've sat in enough courtrooms as a reporter to know that we laymen (and women!) shouldn't try to second guess how a judge would see things. Leave that to the legal eagles. I very much doubt this incident would ever see a court room, but Antonia's generous offer should get you some peace of mind.

Best of luck,
Mark

 

[Antonia @limeone.com]

I would not like to judge all lawyers by this one's treatment of you Our IT suppliers have worked with us since 2002 and are both a great sort of referrals and good pals with all of here. It's mutually beneficial as we recommend them whenever we can too.

It's really tough when a client plays up like this and behaves unfairly/unreasonably.

 

[Cornish Steve]

To cut a long story short what is the most he could do? I backed up very email on there so as far as I am concerned these lost emails are nothign to with me.

I'm confused. If you backed everything up, how come these emails are missing?

He had no backups at all of these emails and he was using a clapped out 4 year old laptop... I've also had lots of other minor problems with this customer.

These things are irrelevant and you mustn't let them cloud your opinion of the matter.

I just have a feeling I am not going to be able to wash my hands of this customer and I have already lost a fortune over it.

This is business. Some things need our attention, even though they may not be things we enjoy doing. You can't bury your head in the sand. You must be methodical and persistent, doing everything necessary until the problems are resolved. You have the opportuntiy to earn a good reputation for dealing with problems; the alternative is to see your reputation go down the toilet.

Incidentally, I was once in a meeting with senior executives from one of the largest telephone companies in the world. In walked the #2 guy in the company. He had just one message: "Every vendor screws up occasionally; I understand that. What matters to me is how you respond in those situations. That sorts out the good companies from the bad."

I'm not saying you screwed up. What I am saying is that it's at times like these that reputations are earned and lost.

 

[easyasit]

This is the issue with hardware and builds. So much can go wrong, and it takes so much time. A main reason for why i avoided this this business.

I had a similar job myself a while ago, in fact i posted a thread on here about it.
simply i would advise any customer of the risks with perfoming this work.
And even if the drive is virus ridden, try and image it. This way if the customer refuses to pay or moans about something not backed up it is all there.
They may restore the missing files true. Reinfect it at their own risk. More money for you lol
Not only this but as in my unfortunate case, if someone refuses to pay, you simply drop the old image back onto their system, give it back as it was!
Al

 

[bwglaw]

Assuming you have Professional Indemnity Insurance, what does the Policy say as to what you can or cannot perform? I always advise clients to have a good set of terms and conditions drafted around their business and any insurance in place.

 

[JoyDivision]

I only have public liability insurance at this stage as I was told thats all I would need for now.

Everything was backed up and I really don't understand how these emails were missing, it was only a casual comment and I have been paid (although rather late) for now. However I know this is not going to go away.

In future I am not going to do any more PC builds and I am going to get people to sign for backups.

Edit with regard to missing emails everything on his outlook express was backup, its a simple process and its impossible for anything to go missing. There were three missing emails due to hardware errors [long story] but I have these backup up and I printed these out for my client.

 

[bwglaw]

I think you do need Professional Indemnity, or whatever cover to protect you when you are fixing other computers in the event that you are found to be negligent as an IT engineer. Public liability only covers you when you or a client is injured whilst at work.

The client needs to be more specific to what went missing and when. It could simply be some other technical hitch before you came on board.

Has the client actually threatened to take it further as you state that it was just a 'casual comment'? Why do you think it is not going to go away, just because the client is a lawyer?, or for some other reason? Has the client put a complaint in writing to you?

Jonathan

 

[SillyJokes]

Your worse customer is a lawyer!

This is so true.

I once had a lawyer complain that there were only 98 balloons in her bag of 100. I got the wrong end of the stick and thought she needed exactly 100 balloons for her effect and advised her to buy another bag as a few are bound to pop before she achieved 100.

This sent her off on one as what she really wanted was the 100 balloons she had bought and paid for and this is understandable I suppose.

I just wonder on whose time this lawyer sat there counting out balloons.

I refunded her for the two missing balloons. If she had not 'gone legal on my ass' I would have sent her another pack for free.

Incidentally she bought the cheap ones, not the good quality ones.

 

[DuaneJackson]

Did you reliase that "lawyer" is actually an anagram of "anal cheapskate" ? Well, nearly anyway. : )

I've only had one experience of a lawyer as a client, and he was a star. He wasn't happy with our T&Cs (Which were very badly written at the time). So he sat down with me and re-wrote them from scratch for me to use with future clients.

 

[JoyDivision]

At least 3 other customers have been laywers, one tried it on a bit but I polietely told her it wasn't my fault if she didn't know how to use a customer (in a nice way), she is still a regular customer of mine.

With regard to this one its the weekend now so I will see what happens on Monday.

Antonia I will send you a log early next week, there is no rush at the moment.

 

[apydevelopments]

Hi,

Have you tried recovering the files. When you format your hard drive you dont actually delete the files you basicly tell the hard drive that any new files can be written over the old ones. Try runtime.org they offer data recovery software, if that doesn't work and you really want to put the situation to bed this same site will do it for you if you send them the hard drive. Well worth a try if its getting to you that bad!