was this the right thing to do?

[Paul Goodwin]

I’d say yes Peter.

He sounds like he was taking the P**S

[Lee Harris]

Peter, I agree with Mort. Yes, you did the right thing…

Regards
Lee

[Dave Ward]

YES definitly you did the right thing..I hate customers wasting your time like that, you told him a ball park figure of £80 over the phone he then had the opportunity to say its too pricey for him then, It makes my blood boil 👿

Dave

[Jill Marie Welsh]

Peter,
Customers like this are awful.
I will no longer do so much as turn on my computer without a deposit.
That way you know they are serious and not just window-shopping.
Can you go to a restaurant, barge into the kitchen,
and have the chef whip up three entrees
to your exact specifications, then go to McDonald’s instead?
Not hardly.
Love….Jill

[Rodney Gold]

I think it was NOT the right thing to do , the customer took the trouble to come in and spend his time too , he did discuss the colours and work thru the design, both of these show that he was obviously dealing in good faith.He did also ask for a reduced price , and that is his priviledge and right and what ANY good businessman will do (maximise profit , minimise expenses).
You didnt have to give him the discount and by your own admission there was no written quote , you estimated 80 quid which in my eyes is not at all a binding figure. You also indicate in your post that you did the design without the backup of written confirmation of the quote and you also intimate in the quote that he only ASKED that you be kinder with the pricing and never seemed to blackmail you or hold you to ransom over it.
Your response was to boot him out. Im afraid I think that that is very poor business practice.
Im sorry Im being blunt here , but if one of my staff had treated one of my customers like that , they would be hauled over the coals and If I had been treated like that without fair warning , I would be livid.
Now you have a disgruntled customer who will undoubtedly spread the bad word and you have gained absolutely nothing. Just explaining about your time etc , even if he had NOT actually bought from you would have been far better , you would have appeared the gentleman and not burnt bridges as well as not having effectively paid for your own poor PR.
Not every customer knows your procedures and what you input into the job , you can’t expect them to , sometimes it needs to be detailed.

[Brian Little]

yep Peter …you did the right thing i get this thing happening far to often

Regards Brian (hot)

[Roy Roberts]

😉 😉 I would have done the same as you peter. 😉 😉

Roy.

[Phill Fenton]

I think you did the right thing. These people rely on the fact you have already invested a certain amount of time in them so the assumption is made that any price is better than no sale.

I would have done as you did “Politely show him the door”. This does not need to be offensive to the customer as he already knows he was trying it on.

I agree with Rodney about not wishing to alienate your customer so when you decline someones haggling like this out you need to do it in a smooth way without humiliating them but nevertheless leaves them in no doubt they are being “kicked out”. The beauty of running your own business is you do not have to put up with this sort of nonsense. If you are an employee of a company you cannot do this.

[Nigel Fraser]

You lot obviously have the courage of your convictions much more than I would ! I would have told the guy that he already knew the rough price and since I’d already done the design come to a compromise at say £70 or so (no doubt he would have had to pay postage on the ones from the mag on top) . I have to say I agree in part with Rodneys comments about bad feeling/customer relations and it personally goes against the grain a lot for me. I’ve only ever fallen out badly with 3 customers in the 13years I’ve been in business and really believe that compromise and explanation is the best way forward when ever possible.
I know as well as the rest of you how p1ssed you feel when you’ve done design work and then the customer does the dirty on you like this, but surely it’s worth trying to salvage what you can from the deal ?

Nigel

[Jayne Marsh]

Ive had customers like this, but I would simply say to them that I couldnt lower my price and that’s the best I could do and apologise and suggest that they buy the cheaper one that they have already seen. Most of the time they are only trying to get a bargain out of you. How many times have you all asked your suppliers for a price on material, been told a price and then asked if they could do it cheaper, saying that you could get it from so and so at a cheaper price, sometimes they bite sometimes they dont, but it doesnt stop you trying! 😀
In the end its up to you wether you want the job or not.

[Cheryl Tissington]

Hi Peter,

I really wouldn’t worry about it. The only mag panels he could get for £45 would include Business name, Tele number and regulation sized L-Plate.

He certainly wouldn’t get lots of colours and something designed to his spec !

To give you an idea of what driving schools require, for future reference, check out :
http://www.d-ss.co.uk & http://www.rcmmarketing.co.uk

You may or may not know, but my other business is that I own a large driving school franchise in the midlands. I’ve been a qualified instructor for 23yrs. I come across people like this all the time. They’re little one man bands who do a few lessons in the family car and want a big image but won’t pay for it.

They’re usually the same people who tell you how they’ve never needed to advertise, but secretly have no work !

Right then…… I’ve had a moan about other driving instructors…….I’d better go and shake my lot up now ! 👿

Love from Cheryl 😀

[Bill Dewison]

On the one hand I can see its a situation that’d make my blood boil, but on the other its a sale and its reputation. I agree with Rodney, he was asking for a discount and considering the design was done, it could have been turned around much as Nigel suggested with a compromise.

Humble opinion, but the last minute haggler brigade are a breed of their own. They don’t always see the logic that they’ve agreed to the price all the way up until the last minute, and often hope that you’ll lower the price to get the sale. You don’t necessarily have to lower the price, and in this case you can’t be pressured into making the VAT disappear, but a quick explanation to your working practises and the fact that the guy obviously wanted your product Peter, I would’ve struck a deal.

Maybe not what you want, but driving instructers natter to each other all the time at test centres. Again, only a humble opinion, but you could’ve lost 10 times the business this guy was offering because you didn’t want to strike a deal. I wasn’t stood there and I suspect it may have been the chap’s banter that made you react like you did, but its still monies that would have put to better use in your pocket than his. 😕

Cheers, Dewi

[Simon Clayton]

100% right good on ya.. the customer came in to the shop yes, but it was to take the piss by asking for money off…

He wouldn’t allow us to book a driving lesson, spend an hour with him and for us to say “i wanted to use you because your so good, but can you knock money off coz cheap drive up the road do it for £6.00 an hour rather than your £12”

Good job, it a shame more sign-makers don’t have the same outlook, that way the prices for our trade would be keep sensible..

Simon

[Cheryl Tissington]

There are lots of ways of looking at this

Yes we need the work….but in working hours, and not at 5pm on a Saturday night at a customers convenience !

Spending time contemplating the design options that peter had done and then insulting him by asking for a reduced price and further insulting him by knocking the vat off takes the biscuit.

I agree with dewi, that driving instructors talk to one another, but I can assure you that they have more to worry about than discussing the merits of trying unsuccessfully to wangle a custom designed set of mags from a sign maker for next to nothing.

I would also add, that possibly one of the reasons he wanted to call at 5pm on a Saturday night (at his convenience) was because he’d probably just done a days teaching. On average, qualifed instructors earn £1000 – £1500 per week !

You made the right decision Peter, we could ague the merits of looking after customers til the cows come home…….in this case, I believe you assessed the situation and called it correctly.

All the best,

Cheryl

[Martin Pearson]

Not trying to sit on the fence here but no matter what is said by others here the only person that knows if you did the right thing Peter is you.

I can see it from both sides, and personally like Nigel I would probably have offered the guy a bit of a discount rather than spend time on design etc for nothing. Having said that the guy may still come back to you if you weren’t rude, I’ve had this happen to me in the past when I wasn’t prepared to drop a price. As for the vat, I wouldn’t knock off the vat for anyone, I’m to scared of getting caught out so just won’t do anything like that.

You haven’t said what the guy was expecting to spend, just that he was prepared to pay more than the £45 for the mail order magnetics. I think he could have been a bit more honest with you up front, when you gave him a ballpark figure of £80 maybe he should have mentioned he could get them for £45 then.

[Vince Francis]

I can see both arguements, and also agree with both. I wont sit too far on the fence 🙄 but why devalue what you see as a fair price for the job?

If you gave a ball park figure, he may have thought in the first place it was a fair price, or he would not have come back to you?

Only my opinion

Vince

(hot)

[Tim Painter]

Phone him about driving lessons.
Go out for 45 mins of the booked Hr then say you have decided you got on better with the other instructor……lol

[Dave Bruce]

As has been said already, only you can decide if it was the right decision or not, we weren’t there and didn’t hear what or the way things were said.

I never ever give a ball park figure, I always work it out properly, if the customer can’t wait for the correct price then he/she is just shopping around to make a quick decision on who to go to.

From what you have said Peter I think I would have explained why the price was £85, smiled and I am sure the sale would have been yours.

It seems to be a thing of today that you always ask for discount when buying things, something that is alien to my folks for example. They think it is the height of rudeness and out of order to do so, but go in to a builders merchant and they have different prices for different people. I think there is a comment on the board somewhere by Rob (apologies if it wasn’t you)to quote slightly more (to the guy in the shop) so if he asks for discount you can give it and still end up with what you want from the job.

Phew, that’s enough, back to work.

Cheers
Dave

PS I would just forget about it after today. 🙂

[Peter Normington]

Thanks all for your views and comments.
At first I thought that I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did, and perhaps I should have done a bit more to secure the sale.
But after dwelling on it for a couple of days, I think I did the right thing.
My reasons are –
I had already given an idea of the price and the chap should have indicated then that it was out of his range, or at least asked if I would negotiate then. I will, and do ask my suppliers for the best price they can give. I do this before entering into any deal, I don’t wait until the goods arrive at the door, then ask for a better price.
I wasn’t rude at any time and I kept my cool even though he went back to my first design.
As far as reputation goe’s I don’t want one that says I can be knocked down on the price.
My conscience is clear
Peter

[curt]

You did good.

The day i Live in fear of a customer or what he might tell others is the day I will close my friggin doors. I hear some say to be nice to the customer because he may talk bad. So WHat!. He will talk bad anyway especially if there is no respect.
He was rude. Period. He was shown the door for his lack of respect. If he goes on to backstab then most ppl will know he is lame. Thus no influence.

let them eat cake..

[Graeme Speirs]

in a similar boat myself, just produced 5 x small internal banners for a nightclub (I know alarm bells should be ringing when you deal with these shady business’s) the banners are all stitched and the client complained because the letterring goes onto/through the stitching, tells me he doesnt want them. the guy spells trouble and was trying to bully me into fitting htem for him also (for no charge) its the first trouble customer Ive had so Im happy to walk away and put it down to experience. Does make you very angry tho when you have spent time designing and producing, delivering the products. To reproduce them I would not be making any profit, also I can tell long term there will be very little business from him anyway, I just cant be assed with the hassle.

cheers
graeme

[Lee Harris]

Hi

Did you get him to sign a written quotation with the design on or not. We always try and explain that some of the design may go over the stitching but should not effect the design at all. Once pointed out, our customers are happy with it. Are the banners printed or vinyl. If vinyl, remove and keep banners for stock or for charities etc.

I’d walk away from it.

Regards

[Graeme Speirs]

cheers lee, banners are vinyl so can be removed but typical are an obscure size and have eyelets in unusual locations (this is what he wanted) yip im glad to walk away from it. im still learning so am putting the time spent on making these down as an afternoons practice, fortunately this has not been a costly lesson so I suppose Im lucky

cheers
😀

[Steven Griffiths]

I think you did the right thing. He didnt take away a copy of the design did he? Some customers are buggers for that.

[Paul Cox]

With you too Pete.

I had a similar one yesterday over a poxy little sign not even worth switching the machine on. Told him there was a minimum charge(politely), etc. You shoud have heard the guy, had quotes like:

‘a bit dear aint you’

‘cant you do it for a tenner’

and listen to this one ‘i brought loads of custom to you, told all my friends and they have all been to you, so now i am going to tell them all to go somewhere else’

Bearing in mind that i had never seen the guy before in my life, i just sat back and thought to myself, was i just speaking to a seven year old?

I felt like saying to him, do General Building Work do you? How much for a wall outside my unit? £1000…..can’t you do it for £500!

I bet all i would have got was ‘on ya bike’.

Worst thing is, if i’d had said £2 mate, he would have said how about a pound? Or if i’d said freebie, it would have been can you do my whole van aswell???????????

Or how about walking into tesco and saying to the manager, i like that tv, it says £300, can you do it for £50. Just as he stops laughing, i could say all my family comes here, i told them too so where’s my discount???

Sorry for going off on one slightly, from time to time it just gets to you doesnt it and at least its nice to here i am not on my own.

😕

[Andrew Boyle]

Peter,

you did what you did at the time…..so what the hell 😀

Andrew