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View Full Version : why are customers so F*%#ked up!



oldphart
07-21-2003, 05:53 PM
Now heres the contractors side. The call says the lady wants a driveway, so ya make an appointment, meet her and ask what she wants. Well she waves a picture from house beautiful for the entrance to a 20 million dollar mansion. You explain that that is a stamped, colored, seeded, stained and sealed process and her driveway will cost $11,000.00. She shits and tells you her brother in law got someone to do the EXACT same thing for $1200.00. After writing the estimate, surveying to make sure it drains and explaning the permit process you leave knowing that though she just blew 3 hrs of your time youll never hear from her again. You get a call from a customer asking where you are. You get on the radio ask the crew why they havent gotten to the next job and they tell you that the 4 hour job you sent them on has "while your here'd" into a 3 day job. Anybody that thinks a contractor is screwed up is welcome to ride with me for a day.

jlnorthrup122
07-21-2003, 06:11 PM
I just love those WEEEEELLLLL IIIIIII DUUUUUNNNNOOOOO for sure what do you think, okay letme getmy sisters husbands brothers unkles opinion on this he does this for a living! WELL THEN WHY THE **** ISN'T HE DOING IT FOR YOU AND GIVING YOU A BREAK ON COST because no one can stad you!

Mandelon
07-21-2003, 06:11 PM
Ya got that one right.
"My buddy can do it for a lot less....." Sure he can. :rolleyes: But we'll charge even more to come and fix it after he's done....
Make the appointment, go to the house...30 minutes each way....no one home......
:mad:

Kilrtoy
07-21-2003, 06:21 PM
Wow this is a spin off of my thread. I didnt make the rules, the contractors did. He said 1 day and this is the price, after he surveyed the job. I agreed, paid and expected him to do what he said he could. They are f#@*D up. Plain and simple.
Now if I said a 11,000 driveway, that my babies momma's uncle next store neighbor auntie sister inlaw brother could do for 1,200. That would be different.

oldphart
07-21-2003, 06:35 PM
nother good one " contractor X said he could do it for half yer price. well why didnt you get him to do It? well he's to busy. Hell lady if I was too busy I'd do it for 1/4.

oldphart
07-21-2003, 06:37 PM
The welfare dept said I had to get 3 written bids before they'd give me the money. Yeah I'll hold my breath till I hear from you

oldphart
07-21-2003, 06:41 PM
I don't have any plans but I can draw what I want here in the dust with a stick! Ive been a general Engineering Contractor with Concrete, Asphalt, Underground, Demolition and Dirt moving crews for 35 years so I guess I just got jaded. The best thing the contractors board did for us was when they made it mandatory to have a special license to work for home owners. now we just tell em sorry we don't have a home improvement endorsement

jlnorthrup122
07-21-2003, 06:43 PM
Wow this is a spin off of my thread. I didnt make the rules, the contractors did. He said 1 day and this is the price, after he surveyed the job. I agreed, paid and expected him to do what he said he could. They are f#@*D up. Plain and simple.
Now if I said a 11,000 driveway, that my babies momma's uncle next store neighbor auntie sister inlaw brother could do for 1,200. That would be different. I ain't doggin yah man your alrite bro. I have had some ****ed up customer expeiriences in my day and to tell you the truth the main reason I am not self employed anymore is that my old partner ****ed us out of 2 huge jobs these jobs were the biggest in the last 2 years. So don't think that I am implicating you in this Your cool man I would be a little upset to in your shoes! :cool:

MagicMtnDan
07-21-2003, 06:45 PM
My Dad has a custom furniture business and he deals with all kinds of f'd up customers. They'd pick their own laminate colors from chips, they'd sign the order, his shop would make the furniture and weeks later deliver it and the customer would say, "that's not the color I picked (or that's not the way I expected it to look)." There's no pleasing many people and they think that when they're spending money it means they get to abuse you as well as have unrealistic expectations.
The trick to maintaining your sanity is getting as much as possible in writing - get the customer to sign off on everything. It's not a guarantee but it will help you from killing them or yourself.
[ July 21, 2003, 07:45 PM: Message edited by: MagicMtnDan ]

mike37
07-21-2003, 06:46 PM
I just want the wall moved over a little $2000 thatÂ’s too much
My brother said you could just knock it out and move it in an hour
Well lady that wall holds up your roof and if you just knock it out it will fall down

jlnorthrup122
07-21-2003, 06:48 PM
Well well my brother said its non :D load bearing!!

mike37
07-21-2003, 06:53 PM
Well then I gess your brother can do it for you

oldphart
07-21-2003, 06:56 PM
you know all this venting is theraputic, Hell I may be able to face tomorrow!
Lets see its 107 degrees, got 31 jobs going that are ALL behind schedule, and my job description is adult Daycare. now I'm bummed again

jlnorthrup122
07-21-2003, 06:57 PM
yeah I would'nt want a roof coming down on my head either! :D :D

rrrr
07-21-2003, 07:28 PM
My company builds telecom facilities and data centers.
One of my customers is the NYSE traded conglomerate that owns Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, A&W, Long John Silvers, and KFC. Their worldwide, OMG, can't have any problems, must stay online at all costs forever and ever data center is here in Dallas.
These fockers waste more of my time with babysitting, BS, time consuming, don't ever happen exercises than any of my other customers.
I can't tell them to jump off, they might actually do something someday. We did about a $1M refit to the facility in '99, and their lease is up next year. It could be worth $6M plus if they build a new facility, so I have to keep changing diapers for the immediate future.
But it sure is a pain in the ass. :mad:

Kilrtoy
07-21-2003, 07:32 PM
RRR,
Thats called customer service,
are you getting paid or doing all this shit for free.....

rrrr
07-21-2003, 07:43 PM
I charge them occasionally, but truthfully I give 'em freebies most of the time. My guy complains about budget cuts and so forth so I just get out my fork and knife.
We ate a $6,000 charge last year in one deal cause they didn't have it in their budget, he's gonna make it up to me.... :rolleyes:
You never know so it just has to be that way.
[ July 21, 2003, 08:44 PM: Message edited by: rrrr ]

TroubIeOnWater
07-21-2003, 08:43 PM
Telecomm is tough. Especially if the company that you are dealing with is regualted. I work for a regulated telecom company and well... thing's are not good.
The problem today is the people will sacrifice service over price. Why buy from you when company X will do the for less? So what if the service sucks it's still less expensive. Problem is that these comapnies are doing things so cheap noone is making any money YOU the customer and YOU the same person that hols stock is causing YOU to lose money.
I work for one of the worlds largest telecom companies and right now, the competition is killing us. To prevent us form being a monopoly we have to lease line access to competitors and as a result we actually lose money on those lines we are leasing. It's costing the competitor less to lease those lines then it is costing us to maintain them and as a result YOU the customer will suffer just as much as we will. At the current rate my comapny will be out of business in 5 years and have 0 customers because everyone is with the competitor. Well guess what??????? The competitor will be out of business to because we wont have the cash to pay for the lines that the competitor is using. Meaning you wont ahve a phone in your home or business.
I blame part of this on my company. I blame a LOT of this on the people. People dont realize that what saves them $5 today will cost them a LOT more tomorrow. You get what you pay for an nothing comes without a price. I just hope that when 14 states in this country have no phone service to operate their business's they wont blame it on my company. Crappy part is that regualtion prohibits em form telling my customers this. worse part is that my company isnt doing a whole lot to change it. Biggest thing a telecom comapny can do right now is offer D-Lec broadband service my comapny has the cpability to do it and refuses to do so. They are killing themselves as a result.

TroubIeOnWater
07-21-2003, 08:50 PM
Oh yeah. If MCI calls u and offers u the MCI neighborhood BS saying they will save you money hang up on them. they charge you everything your regualr phone comapny charges plus they have all their surcharges that they get away with because they are not regulated. You're $50 home phone or $80 business phone will end u being about 30-50 a month more then what you were quited.
Now you guys got me on a vent fest. WTF????????

rrrr
07-21-2003, 09:13 PM
The telecom industry has imploded. We went from doin $50M a year to less than $10M from 2000 to present.
I ain't bitching, it's just the way things are. We are branching out to other fields and trying to keep key people. I still am much better off than a lot of folks so I just keep on working and polish that good ol' positive attitude....

HOSS
07-22-2003, 05:48 AM
Use to own a landscaping company. Customers do suck. The only way to please them is to do it for free, pay them, get them some cold cokes, then talk to them for about a day and a half.

sorry dog
07-22-2003, 07:26 AM
Co I work for mainly does municipal work so less customer probs but then you gotta deal with asshole engineers (or worse Auburn graduates).
But we also do driveways on side, but usually go through a remodeler guy we're friends with. That way we know what kind of customer it is beforehand.