Correct me if I’m wrong but I think it was Franklin W. Woolworth who said “The customer is always right.”
Unfortunately, in my humble opinion, this simple catchphrase has been used to terrorize underpaid retail store clerks ever since.
We’ve all had -ahem- ‘interesting’ customer experiences, I’m sure. For instance, I never should have accepted money from my next door neighbour for thawing out her pipes. I should have just done the neighbourly thing and gotten right the hell out of there. Period.
Live and learn. Now, because she lives next to Mr. Fix It, the list of piddly little -ahem again- ‘neurotic’ needs never ends. I live in fear of her cheery little ‘Hidey-Ho!’s”
What about you? Good, bad, ugly. Who do you like to work for and who do you don’t? And why?
Furthermore, how do you rate yourself as a customer? After all -we’re all customers at some point, aren’t we? Do we give as good as we get? Or can we be a little neurotic too when the line-ups grow?
Replies
There it is again??????? So much of it is what you consider the meaning of IS
Just funning
Most of the customers I've had over the years have been great and I never had a problem with them being right....largely because they never tried to impose their will on me about methods; my role has been to try to provide them with what they want...fulfill their vision, if you will.
But last year I had the most horrible experience imaginable with a customer who was the most demanding, whining, shrill, self-important a-hole I have ever met in my life.
He was quite charming and reasonable until the contract was signed....the day construction began, I knew I was in trouble.....the story is too long and painful to go into (and he'd probably sue me if he got wind of my diatribe)....but I will say, I stuck it out, finished his flippin' house, and moved on to normalcy.
My only regret is that I did not, early in the project, shoot him dead.
The HO's of the house we're building now gave my crew and I generous holiday gifts along with appreciative words for our work and jobsite management., which greatly over-shadowed the Hell of last year! (The messages in the cards were the greatest of the gifts!).
So, for me, most of the time, the customer is right, but in this business, unlike a variety store, we owe it to ourselves to vet our customers, no matter how hungry we are. (If all HO's were like the one I had last year, I'd prefer to live in a blackberry patch under a blue tarp!).
My philosophy is that the customer is always right, ex-customers can be wrong. That said, I have been lucky with my customers except the jerk who picks my brain and then does it himself. Next call is going to cost him cash up front.:>
I got a call two years ago in the spring to go see about building a deck. After 15 min or so of chat I got the feeling he was kicking tires. I cut it a bit short and mailed off a ballpark type proposal with some pricing for upgrades. Never heard back.
Last spring I get a similar call. Driving to the property I remember the guy. I play it cool and let him know that of course I remember him. He basically tells me that they couldn't afford it last year but think they are ready this year. No sweat. We rough out a design at his kitchen table.... I offer some suggestions regarding railing styles and materials. We agree on a design and specs. I give him an accurate estimate. Within a week he had a contract in hand, was supposed to sign it and send in the deposit. Price was within $300 or so of the ballpark I gave him the previous spring. Never heard a thing. My calls weren't returned.
Later in the summer I did an addition in the same neighborhood one street over. Did a drive by and saw a half built deck and could hear saws running the following Saturday. Dude was building it himself. Looked pretty much like the deck we "built" at his kitchen table. I hope it falls down.
Diesel,
Ever consider doing the midnight crowbar trick and show up at midnight and tear it down under cover of darkness, maybe pull out a few nails to make it fall down?
Notch....you said yours was a "he?" Darn, was thinking your nightmarish client was the one I have now, but that's a "she." Maybe yours and mine outta marry. Can two PITAs cancel each other out and make a terrific person instead?
I waws taught:
"The customer isn't always right, but they're always the customer"
She said . . .Turn sideways and look in the mirror!
A lesson learned by hard experience building custom equipment for a wide range of customers: your first job on any project is to separate customer wants from customer needs. Customers want lots of stuff, often mutually contradictory things, but they NEED certain things. Figure out what the needs are, price them in and make sure they're never forgotten or misplaced, and the wants can be negotiated versus their cost in schedule and budget. And note that beyond the basics (i.e. the thing you're building for them has to "work", meet the codes and standards and pass inspections, and be safe), not all customers needs are the same.
Any customer who can't, with coaching, establish the difference between what they want and what they fundamentally need, you should run away from as fast as you can- even if they don't (right now!) seem to care how much it costs.
Try to give a demanding customer everything they want uncritically and you'll very likely end up broke, or worse still- one of their wants will compromise one of their fundamental needs and you'll REALLY end up screwed. Get out quick, before you have a nervous breakdown, a big hole in your bank account AND a dissatisfied customer to boot!
And another hard lesson: find out who the real customer is and talk directly to THEM. As much as possible, avoid dealing with third-party intermediaries who can misinterpret the ultimate customers' needs and wants. Guaranteed, when that happens and the customer wants to throw sh*t at someone, the intermediary will duck and you'll get it full in the face.
meet the codes and standards and pass inspections, and be safe), not all customers needs are the same
Then there's the occassional one who "wants" to not meet code, or pay for permits and inspections, and "needs" to call you a crook for wanting to do a legal job.
Make a person go gray, some will . . .
Try it from the archy side for a while--the customer wants 5000sf of glossy-magazine ritz; to fit in the printed-on-newsprint 2500sf planbbook page floorplan; for a 1250sf (or 1955 calendar year) budget. Seperating out the wants from the needs there is the difference between paying bills or not--no pressure there.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Looked at a severely damaged house from flooding earlier this fall. He wanted me to give him a full blown restoration proposal, then said he would trim it as the work was being done, so while the insurance company would fork over the full amount, I would be receiving less for less work done. I thanked him for the offer, but had decided insurance fraud wasn't for me. (Have to admit, I didn't use those exact words...)
Some potential clients you get a feeling about right from the get-go. Looked at the disarray of a 'handicapped' couple's house. The wife was technically wheel-chair bound (collecting some sort of state-aid.) The husband took me out on the deck to show me things they wanted done. I turned toward the house in time to see the lady standing on her feet kicking the family dog. I left them with their state supplied electric lifts and never went back.
I never met a tool I didn't like!
left them with their state supplied electric lifts and never went back
Man, I wouldn't know whether to be crying sad, or hopping mad seeing something like that.
Maybe it's a learned thing, that "gut feeling" some folks give. Like learning not get burned on the stove (or at least not in the same place twice <g>).Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
for every psycho home owner, there is a drunk crook for a contractor, trust me I know them....ALL.
there is a drunk crook for a contractor
LoL!
As long as it's not a drunk, and a crooked, contractor, per . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I had an extensive career in sales and sales training and quite like this book. Go the site and it will make perfect sense to you - "the buyer seller dance!"
http://www.imakenews.com/techyvent/e_article000284644.cfm
Who do you like to work for and who do you don't? And why?
People who pay promptly; and those that don't try to second guess my margins for whatever reason.
Welcome to BT. I'll do the "rez" bit, and remind you that you can click on a person's name (up there in blue) to see their Profile information. You'll see usefull stuff like when did they join, and how many posts have they made. If you click on your own, you can fill potentiallu useful stuff like your location, what you do--that sort of thing (unless you are either rez or Jeff).
There's good customers and bad ones--that's part of life. Relatives, generally, never consider themselves as 'customers.' This can be bad. Neighbors can also not think that they are customers, too--this is good thing to set them right on, and quickly. I taught my schoolteacher neighbor that it's not kindergarten with my tools. There's some she can borrow, but most of them require rental. And just like renting a crane, you get the operator, too (riggers are extra).
Me? I'm a great customer ....
I usually know what needs to be done ... with that in mind ... I call a professional ...
99.99% of the time ... what ever they say goes ..
then ... I sit down and shut up ... out of eye site and hearing distance ...
I offer the plumber old towels to lay on ....
I offer the electrician another flashlight ....
I offer everyone and their help something cold or hot to drink ...
and I pay in full the minute they're done.
that payment is usually preceeded by ... U sure that's enough?
As the tradesman in question is usually one of my subs that's cutting me a break on the price ...
And .... unless I know for sure they don't drink ... I offer a coupla cold beers for the ride home or later ...
one thing I don't offer is lunch ... because I know I usually like to get away from the job site for a little while to unwind ... and I've been pressured into staying in and eating a meal that'd be way down on my list of choices ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
Elsewhere in a thread of mine that began back in September of this year I have been relating teh story of a woman that has become the Witch from Hell that even Hell tossed out. I'll refer you to that thread if you want some very interesting reading about how generosity can be rudely abused and taken advantage of. Others have read my story with this PITA customer and have given valuable advice.
But I"ll add an addendum to the ongoing saga of my story here since you're looking for stories.
Yesterday I had a tile sub lay a tile floor for her. She shortchanged my tile guy 32 tiles. Whereas I thought she gave measurements to the store for doing a special order she took it upon herself to estimate how many tiles she needs. She was wrong. We had to hot shot a special order overnight because my tile sub said he wasnt' coming back the next day if it's not there and it'd be weeks before I get on his sched again.
The HO was demanding that he push back his other client obligations to take care of her in case the SO didn't come in on time. He gave us til noon today for the SO to come in, and it was in on time so the job was completed today. But this was a case where the HO was demanding MY sub what to do and I was pissed at that.
Finally to this addendum, my tile sub "botched" up a visible corner where he was laying a tile border using an elegant sheet tile product which the HO wanted as a border tile. She called me to complain about this 5 hrs after he left yesterday. Too late to fix it then. Told her I'll look at it first thing AM to see what the prob is. When I looked at the floor I saw a beautifully laid floor less the missing pieces she shorted him. My eye was not drawn to the "botched" corner. As i looked at this corner I had to think about what was wrong with it, that's how discreet the "error" was. When I asked him about it he said it came out that way due to the dimensions of the room and the need to cut to fit the dimension. Made sense to me. HO didn't care, DEMANDED it be fixed. I repeatedly explained you can't fix it, you have to give and take some given room dimensions and that she wanted a special border. I told the HO I didn't even notice the problem until I stared at it to figure out the error she's talking about. She proceed to insult me and tell me she's sorry that I'm not artisticaly talented to see it. I apologized for being an average Joe guy and said most people are average and wouldn't see the problem she does. Seh says all her family is artisticaly astute and THEY'd see it. She demanded it be fixed. Needless to say, it's nNOT fixed and it WON"T be fixed and she can sue my arse if she feels the need to.
Seh says all her family is artisticaly astute and THEY'd see it. She demanded it be fixed.
Ah, another spot where documentation is (probably) needed. Probably wouldn't help that much, either. It's just harder to write a specification that includes "workmanlike manner" and "to client's aesthetic satisfaction" <g> . . .
Worked for cheaper than cheap bozo last year; his wife was no better--worse in some ways. Dude had built his dream casa the year before. Didn't bother to pay for any sort of mechanical design--so there's 5 (five) separate hvac units as there's no other way to run the ductwork in the 4000 sf structure. There's two different service drops, too, for similar reasons. The poor electrical contractor roughed in the electrical four times (fourth time was after the rock went up--w/o an inspection).
I'm so glad I was not "on" that one . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I believe the phrase is "The customer is KING", at least that is the way I was taught it in retail.