Customers

[98rammer]

man, a lot people judge a book by its cover. i love customers who are completely condescending and who try to nickel and dime you to death like you're only worth making minimum wage. #@$%!



And- "Give and inch and they'll take a mile". That's so true with some customers... . and then there are others who are the most wonderful people and will go out of their way to make your job easier





sure, everyone wants something for nothing, but i do believe in paying someone enough so they can make a decent living.



I will not be taken advantage of- and I will not work for nothing, but man it's hard to let go of the attitudes that some people have.





Just Venting. :-{}

Tom

 

[Holysmokes]

Amen Brother!

 

[KBennett]

I try to give good customer service to all of my customers but some of them think they are special. My favorites are the ones that beat you up on price and then request UPS Red shipping because they need it NOW!

 

[TORQUE THIS]

It really sucks dosen't it Tom...



The ones that really **** me off are the people who have the money, they want everything and then some for nothing.



The people who are not will give anything and everything to get the job done, and on top of it give a pretty nice tip!

 

[ARedetzke]

I have always been a subscriber to the "You Get What You Pay For" Theory. You can either pay now, or pay later. Customer service goes a long way in my book. When I buy a truck, trailer, or van for my company I always ask the salesman one time "is this your best price", and I take what they give me, after researching and making sure that they're making they're money, and I'm not getting getting screwed. My view is that if you get them too low on the purchase price, they're not going to be near as friendly when it comes time to deal with a warranty issue, or they'll take it out of your *** the next time you buy something from them. Which with most people may be a really long time, but when you're dealing with them once a year, or more, they're going to remember you, and they'll get their money in the long run. They're in business to make money, just like I am, and they'll make it one way or another. On major purchases, customer service is what brings me back, not a low ball price.

AJ

 

[TPCDrafting]

I know what you go through as well Tom. I've got basically one other in this town doing the same thing I do. Only he does it part time, hand drafts and is WAYYY cheaper than me. The problem is many of the contractors like using him because he is so cheap, but they have to wait 6-8 weeks for a set of house plans where I have them done typically in less than a week. Some lawyer guy called me up a few weeks back and had been waiting for 12 weeks for drawings and once he got them, he poured the foundation 8 feet wider than the drawings shown. He wanted me to redraw the plans correctly and do it NOW for $500. I told him I'd do it at a deal for $5000. He decided to wait another XX weeks for hand drafter guy to redraw them. He kept harping at me about wanting to get it done right and soon so he could be in by Thanksgiving (7000 sq ft. custom out in the middle of nowhere, yep they take a while). I thought whatever dude, thanks for wasting 1/2 my day.

Keep your chin up Tom, you'll get plenty of these types of people, it's part of being in business for yourself. You know what you are worth, stick to your guns!

 

[98rammer]

yeah, thanks (big part of why i'm a tdr member). i called the lady back up of whom i gave a quote to yesterday and told her i wasn't interested. she tried to get me to lower my price, said some things that were extremely condescending, and obviously didn't trust me the first second she saw me. obviously being younger, most people are a bit wide-eyed when they first see me, but things usually change after we get talking.



"You Get What You Pay For"

yup, now i'm going to pay TorqueThis good money to pay his employees, himself, insurance, and all the other expenses to get the job done right. i'm going to pay TPC good money to get quality prints in a reasonable time. if not, chances are i wont get quality.



now what would you say if i only wanted to pay you $10/hr or whatever? some people don't realize that most of us spend time on the weekends or weeknights getting supplies, have vehicle insurance, maintainence, fuel at ~$2. 30 per gallon, business insurance, business supplies, 15% self-employment tax, workers comp maybe, and any other expenses that tend to add up real quick.



next week i have a job that an older lady is going out of her way to move all the furniture out of the way, to get the contract signed and mailed, etc. I wish everyone were like her.



i shouldn't stereotype too much, but there's a lot of people with the biggest houses they can barely afford who are cheap because: they don't have any money left over, or would rather hold on to their money and not give you any (though they have plenty of it).



Tom

 

[TORQUE THIS]

Tom, I don't know how much you "spell out" for customers...



Lets say that a job during the day will cost them $1000. 00. At night it will cost you $1200. 00. On a weekend it will cost you $1200. 00 during the day but at night it will cost you $1400. 00. Of course moving furniture and what ever else you charge extra for...



I find the more details you give about your price, the more they understand, plus I think it makes you look more professional, and more of a caring "people person", then some cut-throat contractor...



"Don't forget about the (FUEL SURCHARGE)" :-laf

 

[nickleinonen]

yep, customers are sometimes a royal PITA... but then you get some sales persons that are not much better, going both ways... you get the ones that will not budge on the price and will try to tack on extra charges so they can make more money, then there are the ones who so badly want to be liked that they sell so low, they undercut everyone else to the point that the company really doesn't make any money... at my other job [a small electronics store - i am delievery man ] my boss' wife does sales too, and she will sell a tv for 400-500 less than the other sales people... i know what our cost on the tv's are and on some of them we make like $50...

she sold one like that to someone that lives way out in the sticks, so into the cubevan it went [junk 351 gasser ford] and we drive 1. 5 hours out there, drop it off, move another tv to their basement cause the boss's wife said we would [and i never found out about that until i was there] did that, they were too cheap to tip us, and we drive back to the store with the tv's box [some big screen ±60" size]... now, 3 hours driving and another ±20min there, that's more gas and wage pay than what we made on the tv, plus we have to pay to go to the dump with the box [although we go with a big load 1-2 times a month]



when i haggle prices, it's usually, gimme the best price you can, i look at it, if i like the price i get it, if not, well, i usually end up getting it anyways. . i might get it cheaper somewhere else, but then i need to put time in looking, and fuel for driving...



i've seen people drive 8 hours across the border to get something for $100cdn cheaper after the exchange rate [a set of b&w home theater speakers]... did they gain anything? they spend 8 hours driving south, then another 8 coming north. . they just used what they saved in fuel doing so, and wasted an entire day or 2 in the process... we had it in stock, would have been delievered and setup on the same day, but they wanted to "save" the money [and i probably would have thrown in 14g speaker wire to hook everything up while i was setting it up but now they had to provide their own wires]



and the best part, they called us to "help" them hook it together... i got that call, and i wouldn't even speak to them until i got a CC number from them so i could charge the time, they didn't like that and hung up...

 

[R-N-R]

I hate the customers that think you are sitting there waiting for them to call. On the other side of the coin, I expect a fair price for a quality service.

 

[daveshoe]

There's a [former] friend of mine who worked for AC DElco as an engineer. We had worked on many projects in the past and traded around help sometimes. When it came time to retire and build a new house,he hired an Amish crew from out of state. They hired a driver to bring them in a van to ohio. No way could I work for what they charged. My insurance alone eats more than that. They do not pay workers comp,lisbility insurance,Social security, road taxes,Licences ,or not much else for that matter. Some of them drive tractors to work that never plow a field,but they all use red Diesel.

Once you give them your money,it never leaves the community as they hire or trade work with each other.

You guessed it--I still have to hear this guy complain about outsourcing autoworker's jobs! I even offered to help my ''friend" move in his new house,but I guess he felt so sheepish that he never took me up on it.