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How far do you let a customer push you before you rant?
Hi all.
In the last month, we have had 3 customers for we’re/are from hell.The first kept changing his mind, wanting a quick turn around, the the following day he’s changed his mind…. We fell out with him when he ordered 5000 leaflets on a fast track. We ordered, then the following day came in and asked for a change…
The second, we gave a price for sign and windows. Sign artwork was agreed, windows was awaiting approval, when the pulled the window job and then dropped in that the sign needed to be fitted in 2 days… We said that because the job is 15 miles away, and we were originally fitting the sign and window on the same visit, we asked for £30 extra to cover expensives for going twice. The job was worth £350. They moaned and shouted down the phone. At this point we were worried about getting the remainder as they were quite rude calling us robbers, we pulled the plug and said no thanks, try somewhere
The third is still on going, it’s started as a simple relettering of his old sign, he then brings in old used diabond, for us to use instead, but there’s not enough, so we have now got to use 2 types of shite and make a good sign out of it…..
Are we mugs or do other folk get these customers. I am not rasist, but they are all foreign. I feel like jacking it all in.
Am I the only one?
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8 Replies
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There was a time when I used to assume that everyone was as sane and reasonable as I was.. 😕
However, I have now concluded that the world is also full of idiots and nutters with a grossly inflated sense of their own worth.
I deal with the sane ones in a reasonable and dignified manner. 😀
But I try to retain my own sanity by making the nutters go away by quoting them silly prices.
So no..It’s not just you :lol1:
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Denise we all get them. Three in a single month is on the high side though!
Funny thing, I find when a new customer comes in moaning about the terrible service he has been getting from my competition, he usually turns out to be completely unreasonable, difficult to deal with, makes unreasonable requests, or simply doesnt pay the bill.So be careful of those ones especially.
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I totally agree with you Simon, there is usually a reason why somebody moves from a competitor, it’s usually because it is the client who is unreasonable or they owe money and the competitor has refused to do wok for them until they pay up.
I have sign company nearby who’s work is good and I often have punters comming in complaining about their quality or service, it does’nt take long to realise that the above reasons are why they are knocking on my door.
Peter -
Ive felt like this all day Denise…ive posted on it too….
no you are not alone…
Tea and Cake were suggested as fixers along with ‘feet up’ and ‘day off’
we will soon forget all the messers
stick em in a field and blow em all up. -
well last week, the third person who brought in old diabond for us to use, then calling in to say can he add window tinting as that was another service he was doing…. so we had text under the name… tyres new and part worn, servicing, exhausts, batteries, window tinting. after asking me to add this other text, he then said can we find ictures for all those things and replace the text with the pictures/photos. Can we also add a photo of a car, any car doesn`t matter, but must look good…. The suggested size of the car was 1m square… I mentioned that the cost would go up and he was alittle rude to me, suggesting that I consult with my husband first!
My husband wasn`t in when this happened, when he returned, he and the young lad, loaded up the van with all his crap and dropped them off saying he couldn`t work for him, gave him his depostit back and left him standing there looking all confussed…..
we have now talked about what kind of customer we want, and sworn to send all the sh1tty customers down the road to £50 a van, have as many fonts as you like with as many colours as you like man! (:)
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You need to learn one simple word.
NO
If the job or customer doesn’t fit your business, your work flow, your time frame its a big NO.
You need to create win win situations. A win for yourself which is usually a profit and a win for the customer a good outcome that meet their needs.
Your situations sound like loose loose situations right from the beginning.
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quote Jason Xuereb:You need to learn one simple word.
NO
If the job or customer doesn’t fit your business, your work flow, your time frame its a big NO.
You need to create win win situations. A win for yourself which is usually a profit and a win for the customer a good outcome that meet their needs.
Your situations sound like loose loose situations right from the beginning.
Totally agree with you Jason, we are changing lots of things so its us thats in front from the start.
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I’m so glad that the people who have been around for years are feeling this way cause having just started out in the game I seem to have already picked up the cheapskates.
Got an e-mail while I was out asking for a quote to do a Transit type van, pdf attached with the design on but nothing saying the make, model, year of van (picture looks like renault traffic but could be Vauxhall) so went to reply and ask for details when I found they sent it to 12 other companies.
I know its dog eat dog out there and people will always shop around but don’t you find it really knocks back your motivation to quote for work thats been sent out like that. If customers cant even be bothered to send separate e-mails to each supplier quoting you just know that no matter what price you put or which material you plan on using the customer is just going to come back and say "xxx can do it for this price, you will have to beat it if you want the work’ Makes you feel like saving yourself some time and not bother quoting in the first place.
I don’t blame you at all Denise, I think you saved yourself one hell of a headache by returning the deposit and cancelling, maybe if more people did that there would be less people trying to get you to work for nothing.
Roll on the weekend lol
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