Author Topic: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?  (Read 23779 times)

Offline rcpainter

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Re: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?
« Reply #15 on: May 30, 2007, 12:23:46 AM »
This was not a customer and I was not involved, but I never forgot this story once told to me by one of the culprits-turned victim.

Although I would NEVER condone this on my job, I have a slightly demented friend who was once more than happy to leave a steaming pile of his own making :P on anyone's doorstep (or worse) that displeased him. :o He was also quite proficient with egg-throwing and was always willing to demonstrate his "talent" on the next "volunteer" (i.e.jacka** homeowner).  ;D

On one occasion one of my coworkers (at the time nine or ten years ago) made him pay in multiples for his "gifts". ;D

It started like this:
"P" and "K" were one crew working relatively close to the afforementioned fiend and his "partner in crime", we'll call them "B" and "C".
B&C paid P&K a visit around lunch to "borrow a caulk gun" and knowing that K in particular was a Fartaphobic and extremely theatrical in his subsequent reactions; decided to leave P&K a couple of "presents" in two seperate one gallon containers left in their van for them to discover as soon as they fully ripened in the sun. :P
When P&K found their new air fresheners they decided enough was enough and hauled butt back to the shop where they put each "package" inside its rightfull owners vehicle to bake in the sun for the rest of the day. ;D :P
Disgusting but effective; there were no more "presents" found while I was with that company. :-\
I left that company 7 years ago

Although I wasn't particularly saddened to hear about some jerky ex-customers getting the B&C treatment, I was happy to see it come full circle. 
Royal Crest Painting is a fully licensed and insured painting contractor in the state of Florida. With ten years experience, we offer many solutions ranging from drywall finishes and texture, to custom homes, to commercial roof coatings.
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Offline movado

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Re: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?
« Reply #16 on: March 14, 2008, 11:08:46 AM »
I had a customer who insisted I use a cheaper paint after we signed the contract with price and price for material. She added more work onto the job and I gave her the price. She came back with, what if we just use a cheaper paint ( I won't name) and I told her I would not work with that paint. She got loud and said I will work with whatever she tells me I will work with since she's paying for it. I explained why I would not work with this paint and she just continued her rant. As she was mumbleing away I started to pack my stuff back up in the truck ( I had just gotten to the jobsite and unloaded in the garage) Once I had gotten everything in she suddenly realized what I was doing. She was so irate she did not realize I was packing to leave until the last couple of things went into my truck. She then says where am I going and I kindly told her that the job was finished for me. She began to buckle at this point and say look if I really must I could use the paint and I said to her that it was too late at this point I had packed up already and I just got in my truck and left.

Offline Rick Anderson

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Re: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?
« Reply #17 on: March 14, 2008, 01:18:52 PM »
Share your stories with your fellow tradesmen.

Six years back I did some business with a customer who had a disposition and deportment that caused most to take justifiable umbrage with him.  When I realized that he was about to cheat me out of two grand I did the thing that felt the most natural in the context of that environment;  I pepper sprayed him point blank in the face...right there in his store.  He ran outside and staggered no more than twenty feet away to the Policing Station (miniature Police Station) directly next door.

I calmly told the officers that "the suspect has been neutralized"

In case the police are reading this thread I would also reiterate what I said to the four constables that arrived: 

"he made a move toward me and it appeared that harmful and unwanted contact towards my person was imminent"

 :o

Regards
Rick


Offline SixInARow

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Re: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?
« Reply #18 on: March 23, 2008, 09:25:35 PM »
I don't think I have ever deliberately done anything to get back at a customer that I had zero enthusiasm to work for, and I have had at least two or three.  One of my very firsts was one of them.  Man I hated that guy and wanted to bulldoze his crappy little house.  He ticked me off when he gave me the paint color and told me that I could get it any ace store, and that's what I did.  I ran about a gallon short because he used some of what I got to touch up a room he had previously painted.  I went to an ace store that was local, as the one I had gotten the first mix from was in my town nearly an hour away.  Well, the gallon I got there was just barely, barely lighter....one of those things that only you could find because you know it's there, 99.99% of the rest of the world would never see it.  Somehow he did and he got upset and gave me crap about not getting it at the same store.  I pointed out he told me from the get go where all the aces were and that if I ran short I could get it any of those stores.  Maybe I should have just driven to the original store I got the first mix, but I needed it halfway through the day and it would have taken me 2.5 hours to round trip whereas it took me about a half hour at the local store.  BTW his name was Rick, and with great enthusiasm I called him Rick the #*&$.

Offline Georgie Wood

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Re: Admit it! or What Have You Done with Bad Customers?
« Reply #19 on: October 08, 2008, 08:12:23 AM »
I got a call from a neighbor of a previous customer. I could tell right away she was a cold b!tch. The conversation was mostly one way with me doing the most of the talking and alot of awkward silences. She had zero cordiality skills and mostly responded with "hm" and "okay". I think she was waiting for a sales pitch. Anyway, I went and looked at the exterior(unlike what I had been told, nobody was home), and wrote up the estimate. I later delivered the estimate and met her for the first time. I swear she looked like that witch you see in the old Hansel and Gretle stories. I was thinking, I should have charged more, because she is going to be difficult to deal with. She calls and starts backing off things...such as the shutters, and of course wants me to lower the price accordingly. I give her a new price. Although I had already told her I use top of the line products, she then asks me, "Um, well, if I am willing to pay more for materials is there a better paint that can be used...like Sears Weatherbeater(I think that was the name)" She continues, "I mean, if you were going to paint your house, what paint would you use?" Just for fun I felt like telling her, "Well I sure as hell wouldn't use that %#^& i'm gonna use on your house". But as I said, she was a cold %#&^# and didn't think she would appreciate the humor. So, she calls and accepts my estimate. I give her a start date for pressure washing and tell her she will have to be there to sign the contract and provide the down-pay check. I go to the job and start unloading. I see her at the door, so I get the contract and go to the door. She looks at the contract and says that the price seems more than we had agreed. I told her that I did not have the original estimate with me, was sure that was the price we agreed upon, and that the price on the contract was what it would cost to do the job. She says, "Well that's just not good business. You can't go back on the agreed upon price".  We go round and round for a few and I finally just walk away and start loading stuff back into my van. She sees what I am doing and comes running out of the house with the original estimate. I was on the phone with my wife who had just called and my wife was imploring me to walk, "She is trouble". I was trying to get a foothold in the neighborhood so I really wanted to do the job. So the lady says that the contract looks okay and had already signed. Soooo, I signed the contract and got to work. Although the house was about 10 years overdue for paint, with lots of peeling, it was beautiful when I was done. She was especially pleased that I had sanded/primed/painted her meter bax and disconnect next to her hot tub.  Since I have done about 10 jobs in the same neighborhood....and hopefully more to come.

Maybe this story...well...boring? But, I guess I showed her!  ;)

The only odd thing that happened on the job.....I told her my schedule would not allow time for me to replace some rotted wood, so she was free to get her "handy man" to do the work. This guy shows up and is some kind of Nazi or something...talking all kinds of sh!t about Jews and Blacks(N******). He did poor work and wanted to(and did) caulk his own work(caulking raw wood  ::) ). I'm sure we've all seen it...piss poor work and then trying to compensate with caulk. I had a spray can of stain killer I was using to spot prime a few areas laying in the yard. So he throws his pry-bar off the roof and it punctures the spray can, spraying white primer all across her sidewalk and driveway. I informed her who was responsible but knew that the casual on-looker would think I had done it. But I wasn't going to touch it. And didn't.

 

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