Dealing with the public.
 

We had a guy call about a month ago about having something powder coated, after he described it to me the best he could I told him it would be $250 to sandblast and coat it. After i gave him the price he then tells me he has two of them and I said if we did both at the same time I could do it for $200 each, he was happy with the price and said he'd be in touch, about 10 minutes later he calls back to verify the price I had just given. Two weeks later he dropped off the items and I had to order in the powder since I didn't have enough of the color he wanted, not a big deal because he wasn't in a big hurry. Last Wednesday the powder arrived so Thursday I blasted and coated both pieces. Today he came to pick them up and wrote out the check for $250 and as soon as I saw it I knew I was in for an argument. I told him the price was $400 which set him off and we went back and forth for a few minutes but he ultimately paid the $400 and left but I doubt we'll be seeing him again. The same thing happens to people who come for rust repair on their car, if we tell them $800-$1000 all they heard was $800 and when the final bill is $900 or $950 it turns into a big argument, I swear everybody that comes here has selective hearing. I'm about tired of dealing with the public and all the B.S that goes with it.

I hear Ya. I love retirement. My days of dealing with customers, Government and employees are done. :beerchug:

I hate dealing with people, especially those types of people... :beerchug:

We had another customer that had his tractor hauled in because the bendix fell off the starter and was laying in the bell housing, this happened while the tractor was running so it damaged some teeth on the flywheel. The shop rate is $65 an hour plus parts and by the time we were done he had about $500 in it, he got all pissed because he thought the bill should have only been $100 and didn't want to pay for the flywheel gear because he didn't think a few missing teeth was a big deal, he also wasn't happy that we put a new bendix on, he thought we should have just reused the old one that fell off. After that he ran around town saying he owned stock in our business because he spent so much money here and some other B.S. A couple months later he needed his tractor worked on again but we told we weren't interested.

Yay Capitalism... :biggrin2:

My ex and I had a small tractor dealership back in the 90s. We got so sick of customers, employees and like Sam Mac said the govt that we sold it. Never regretted selling it! People would buy cheap chit from the box stores and wanted service yesterday. Someone spends $5000 on a garden tractor from my shop and it needs servicing...guess what they come before mr cheapazz. I hear ya Tim!

I remember when I worked for the Deere dealership... farmers would spend $25000 on service and repair for their self propelled forage harvester...no problem. However, if a customer had to spend $300-$400 on their 455 garden tractor you would think we asked them for their first born. Complain and whine but they paid the bill and came back next season.

I thought this was that...

Attachment 93226

People will never change. :Choke: Computers suck too. :BangPC:

Tim, would a company policy of written estimates signed by both parties be useful? Maybe that would help the people that only hear what they want to hear. :Unknown:

I don’t deal with the general public. Most of what I make is for conveyors or packaging systems. Most of the time they just need it and don’t care what it costs. Getting big companies to pay their bills is a sore subject for me. They think I’m a bank evidently.

I hear ya Tim and whole heartedly agree. I simply laugh at those business owners who subscribe to the myth, "that the customer is always right". Bullsh*t....95% of the time those customers are wrong. It just happened to me 4 hrs ago. I won....LOL.

One of the merits to being older and with a little "life experiences", I ain't afraid to speak my mind anymore. I don't care for the opinion on the other end either. Life is getting too short to pussyfoot around these morons.

:ThumbsUp:

I'm not even sure that would help. When we do rust repair there is no warranty and says so right on their receipt but that doesn't stop people from coming back a year later expecting us to fix it again for free.

If they're not complaining about the cost, you're not charging enough. Only terms I offer are NET DUE. :beerchug:

I spent 18 years in retail auto parts. I definitely dont miss dealing with public. They come in and alot of times dont even know all thier vehicle info, ask my advice, then label me an idiot because I cant diagnose the problem by the desrciption they give me. One time a guy laid a melted black puddle of plastic in front of me and said he needed a new one. It was unidentifiable. Then he tries to file a complaint on me saying I wouldnt get his part :bash2:

There’s no way in heck I could have a job where I had to deal with the public. I’ve come to the conclusion half of society is totally clueless and the other half are a-holes.

Tim,

I experience the same thing on a daily basis.. It has gotten waay worse in the last 10 years.. I'ts just not fun anymore.. I really think the world is going crazy!:bash2::bash2: Everybody is in it for themselves these days.. and you are correct.. they only hear what they want to!:bash2::bash2:

Occasionally I have to deal with an engineer that drew something that is missing important details. 95% of them are decent to deal with. 4% are just a major PITA and the last 1% you want to rescind their lease on oxygen consumption. :BB&YS:

So far pretty much everyone I've made parts for here and been great. A few minor issues ( some were there's and a couple were mine :blush: ) but overall it's gone quite well.

I had one part time job dealing with the general public. I helped out my friend Roger in his gun store. I always had my 1911-A1 in .45 ACP in a cross draw holster plus the full backing of the BATF and the owner to throw anyone out of the store I wanted to.

I deal with engineers missing major parts of the design of machinery. I recently built a machine that ran parts through a demagnetizer and then the part was picked up with, of all things....a magnet. I threw up a red flag from the beginning and questioned how in the world the engineer thought that was gonna work. Well, it worked exactly like I knew it would. The part had more magnetism coming out of the machine than it had going in. It makes about as much sense as drying your clothes with a garden hose.

" I had one part time job dealing with the general public. I helped out my friend Roger in his gun store. I always had my 1911-A1 in .45 ACP in a cross draw holster plus the full backing of the BATF and the owner to throw anyone out of the store I wanted to."

Note to self...Don't make Jeff angry!:biggrin2:

Before I started dealing with airlines I owned a few "mom and pops" auto garages.. then I owned a franchise Meineke shop. One thing I learned from owning the Meineke. Write an estimate and get it signed every time! I have had people try to take me to court for no other reason than that they say they were told a different price than what we quoted when the came to pick up their car..this also is good for consumers to get a copy of an estimate before any work gets done. Protects both parties. I know in some business you can't always get it signed but even if its emailed to them they can't say they didn't know the price..

When dad was still working for an IH dealer it was amazing how many people came in needing tractor or Cadet parts and had no idea what they owned. They kept a small cabinet on the end of the parts counter that would have the customers name and a list of all their equipment on a note card--this was pre computer era.

Nothing like a guy coming in needing a belt for his lawnmower. Well what model is it they would ask. Don't know for sure, think its early 70's. No the number on the side of the hood. It has one? Is their someone at home you can call to go look? Lets just say folks really bought in to the idea of the store having a record of all their equipment. Folks like that were also a reason the owner would not sell EVERYTHING--he chose models that were common so they would stand a chance of having the parts you needed in stock.

After 30* years in medicine. We now own and operate a hardware store and locksmith Co. Our commercial accounts are great. Residential are a completely different story.*The best is when we drop everything on a job to go and unlock a car or house that some one is locked out of. Sometimes it takes us less than 30 secs to get in and when we tell them it cost $60-$80 they go ballistic. They don't take into consideration that I had to pull a tech from another job and the whole ordeal takes an hour with drive time. Now I tell every one up front the cost. It is hilarious about 30% of the time they bitch about the price and say no. Only to call back in ten minutes after they call around and see we are about the most reasonable or that they can't get open themselves. The other one we get is people buying tools ect.. using them and then returning them you can always tell.**

I love the tool bit LOL! Buy use return... funny. I would keep the ones that seem to be getting "rented out for free" and actually start renting them out. At least you get something from it then. Or What I see a lot of places do. Charge a 20% restocking fee. Ah.. ya gotta just love people LOL

Without a copy of a signed off estimate, they will just claim they never received email.

They can say that... In NY state courts recognize even on ok to start work over the phone. So if the customer leaves and you call them with estimate and they say ok. You have to write on the estimate customer gave verbal ok over phone. With the new POS "Point of sale" systems it records everytime you look at, add to or edit an estimate or invoice and if the customers email is in system it sends the updated estimate. When I use quick books and send and estimate or invoice by email through it, it even shows me what time the person viewed it. Some new tech is good in some ways after all! lol