Yeah, but you don't drop a tree across the dudes driveway and take off...
What's the worst you've done to an idiot customer?
- Thread starter Chucksta
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afflatusfarm
New Member
Sounds like you nailed it. I’m not an arborist but I have hired many, and was pleased with all. This guy is proud of his behavior? What a piece of work.
I'm not a paid arborist but having been in retail for 30 years I can understand where he was at in that situation. A good story and let it go. No harm no foul right?
Closest I've come; a few GTFOOMStore scenarios.
After long time I got to recognize the warning signs and developed techniques to "move along" customers that would never be happy, a general PITA and lose me money.
Closest I've come; a few GTFOOMStore scenarios.
After long time I got to recognize the warning signs and developed techniques to "move along" customers that would never be happy, a general PITA and lose me money.
@Chucksta
My advice to you now would be to go back to that mans home, apologize for what you did, and ASK him if there's anything you can do to make up for it.
That one blunder could have cost you a lot of other jobs down the road - he might have a door cam, told his friends, family, and neighbors how you treated him.
My advice to you now would be to go back to that mans home, apologize for what you did, and ASK him if there's anything you can do to make up for it.
That one blunder could have cost you a lot of other jobs down the road - he might have a door cam, told his friends, family, and neighbors how you treated him.
I've got y'all beat as far as dealing with pissy retail customers - I was a USPS retail clerk for ten years.
And in a job like that, you can't pick and choose your customers, you just have to stand there and take it.
Thankfully, 99% of my customers were a pleasure to take care of.
But, that 1%....
I understand the frustration of what you are talking about when I compare it to calls I get to make a quote on building renovations and additions. Often, I found that people didn't want to pay for my work, they wanted to pick my brain as to how to go about it, where I'll get my materials, who I will have sub-contracting etc.. I got out of the business for 20 years because the bigger I got as a contractor, the more I ended up making good bids for free or arguing over after-bid changes that the owner wanted me to make. And, yes, I have always listed up front a 200% cost coverage for any material or labor-causing changes to the agreed upon contract.
The above being true, I have never walked down a street knocking on doors offering quotes to people who looked like they needed a renovation.
Further to my above, I have dismantled parts of the building frame after a customer refused to pay for an inspected completion of that stage. I have also removed appliances and popped interior doors off their hinges and hauled them off the site. I have never left a customer unhappy with my work at the completion of a project. If anyone was unhappy it was me for giving away too much.
WI_Hedgehog
You bought a WHAT???!!
Sometimes people have earned a particular outcome; unfortunately not everyone is a good person and life balances out for them a little. Maybe this was one of those instances and @Chucksta was part of a bigger picture... if you've heard people ask why life is so unfair, perhaps this is one type of incident that quietly provides balance and @Chucksta just happened to bring it to light.
The reason I say this is there are a bunch of harsh posts saying he should be more understanding and not so harsh, which I find ironic...we could be a bit more kind and helpful when disagreeing, especially if suggesting someone else should be more kind and helpful.
The reason I say this is there are a bunch of harsh posts saying he should be more understanding and not so harsh, which I find ironic...we could be a bit more kind and helpful when disagreeing, especially if suggesting someone else should be more kind and helpful.
The old guy probably loves telling anyone who will listen how he got an arborist to work for free.
PS it was his wife's Mercedes, LOL
PS it was his wife's Mercedes, LOL
Okay, but what is your reaction to the OP?
You can negotiate one time to a small degree and not come off desperate. But when you keep pushing and won't leave, that reeks of desperation.Oh, and one more thing... I found it never pays to negotiate.
You know what the job is worth and you know what to charge.
The longer you haggle, the less confident you appear, and the less likely it is you'll get the job
As you clearly demonstrated.
WI_Hedgehog
You bought a WHAT???!!
I've run into a few people in life that take advantage of others any way possible, no matter how little the benefit to them and how negative the impact on the other person, either because they can or because they derrive pleasure from screwing over others...maybe the homeowner was that type of person--I wasn't there and can't make the call, but the possibility seems probable given what @Chucksta said about his attitude so I'm not going to pile-on. It happened, so it's water under the bridge, and a bunch of useful things to keep in mind came from the discussion.
To answer your question directly, I find the conversation and helpful insight benificial, hopefully I can use it to improve my interactions with others.
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
We didn't negotiate the price of the job, per se... We quoted his changing choices. / options.. For example.. Drop all trees, not damage his lawn, remove stumps, cut, split wood and pile it. That was, obviously more, way more than he wanted to spend. That was followed by ( from him), drop them on the lawn, remove brush leave the rounds.. or split the rounds, and leave them for him to stack at his leisure. Etc., etc... , as he chased his cost lower and lower. I, personally, had no problem with that. If he wanted to spend the Summer with his corded electric dealing with it.. Fine!Oh, and one more thing... I found it never pays to negotiate.
You know what the job is worth and you know what to charge.
The longer you haggle, the less confident you appear, and the less likely it is you'll get the job
As you clearly demonstrated.
We never haggled with him over the price for each iteration of the quote. We were already pretty skinny on the quote, as .. well.. It sucks when a beetle kills 20 plus trees on your property.
It was the " Why don't you take down a tree for me, so I can see how long it takes", that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Haggle? Worst I've ever seen of that was a quote we did for a guy who had a tree that straddled his, and his neighbour's property line.. Watching the two of them thrash it out over what they wanted done.. who was paying for it, and what percentage of the tree was on whos property was priceless.
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
You got the gist of it except for him ASKING me to drop a tree for free, so he could see what it took to get one down..
Technically the OP was just doing exactly what the customer wanted him to do. Customer asked him to do something, and OP obliged.
Chucksta
What could possibly go wrong??
Yup.. He went down the rabbit hole of pounding us for about a dozen (firm) quotes (options), for his situation. We left, and he had a business card. For all I know, he was happy that he got the tree dropped for free, by being so sharp with those no brain labourers..
Like I said, if he'd have called, we'd have had that tree dealt with in a couple of hours.. Just for T&M.. The rest of it would have been on his plate, for the literally dozen quoted prices that we gave him as options.. No blood... no foul.. No worries..
I don't know where his head was at, about wanting to pay by the hour to just drop the trees, so that he could "do the rest himself".. Sure, I can drop a tree in a couple of minutes.. but that's not what your paying me for.. You're paying me to drop it where it needs to go. At that point, you're paying me for my experience, equipment, etc.
As a mechanic I couldn't agree more. Just because I can do something faster then the next guy, doesn't mean I'm charging less. I have spent years perfecting my craft, constantly learning, and investing thousands of dollars in tools that allow me to do my job more efficiently. I know what I'm worth, and I refuse to take anything less.
So when you get a frustrating customer do you put sugar in their gas tank?
Absolutely not. I just turn them away and move on. It's not worth my time. Theres plenty of money out there to be made.
All I'm saying is, that I understand the Op's frustration. That's all. I'm in absolutely no way condoning sabotaging someone else's stuff. That's just wrong. Karma has a tendency to bite you in the ass when you're not looking, and least prepared.
