# Customer does not respect my time



## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

Tinstaafl said:


> Okay, a couple of tiny details left out. :laughing:
> 
> Still, since you're already on site, take a few minutes to look it over, familiarize yourself with the layout and any obvious problems, take a few pics, and if he still hasn't shown up, leave a note and head out.
> 
> ...


He called late and gave him ch_t for leaving. How much bu__-kissing required for a gutter repair?


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## lawndart (Dec 3, 2006)

I've been burned like that too many times in the past. Now, all appointments are confirmed 24 hours before, otherwise I stay home.


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

What? The guy on the conference call doesn't have a cell he could have blasted a quick text to you that he was running late? or AFTER the conference when leaving?... :blink:

OK...


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

This is one of those BS deals. Didn't check his messages before he went home? Probably saw you called, and didn't bother listening, hoped you were still there.

Communication is key, and that takes 2 people, you can't do it alone.


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## hdavis (Feb 14, 2012)

Since you work for a company, you reflected poorly on the company. It's one thing for me to look at someone like they're crazy, tell them it looks to me they want to do it themselves and walk off, but I'd never do that working for someone else.


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## wireless (Nov 2, 2006)

youngbuck said:


> You're joking right?


Not at all. Do you think the customer is sitting around waiting for you? What if he was in a meeting till 4, your arriving early will disturb it. You also can't count time you waited before the appointment time as hid being late. You left after 10min not 15. 
It is great to show up early but you should wait in the truck till the right time.


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## huggytree (Nov 3, 2013)

i give 1 chance unless they are a repeat customer....repeat customers = gold and i do what it takes to keep them

i always give a reminder call the night before for every job....then i call when im on the way...if i dont get a hold of them at this point i often skip the job if they are far away..if they are in the area or on my way home i still show.....its typically not a problem

i rarely get stood up, but it has happened.......tell him you'will come back for a $75 trip charge


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## SectorSecurity (Nov 26, 2013)

I had a guy call once while I was driving to an estimate and he wanted me to give him an estimate the same night, his house was an hour and a half away, on the phone he starts telling me I need to do it tonight, he wants it done, he can find other people to do it, so I said good find someone else and hung up.

If they want to be all moody on their free estimate I usually walk away.


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## S.U.M (Apr 17, 2013)

Andrew6127 said:


> Well a conference call is what it is, you really can't leave it once you're on it. However if he knew he was going to be on the call later in the afternoon and there was potential to run late he shouldn't have set up the appointment. If he had the attitude of "Sorry I was on a call I couldn't leave..." And wasn't being a DB it's different but your post sounds like he was being a tool, imagine what kind of client he might be if he is already acting like that before giving you any money. I don't think you're missing out, but that's just my opinion.


He coulda sent a text message or email while on the conference call.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

huggytree said:


> i give 1 chance unless they are a repeat customer....repeat customers = gold and i do what it takes to keep them
> 
> i always give a reminder call the night before for every job....then i call when im on the way...if i dont get a hold of them at this point i often skip the job if they are far away..if they are in the area or on my way home i still show.....its typically not a problem
> 
> i rarely get stood up, but it has happened.......tell him you'will come back for a $75 trip charge


"It's not personal, Sonny, it's strictly business."


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## avenge (Sep 25, 2008)

If the first thing out of his mouth wasn't an apology I would have told him to get effed before he could finish a sentence.


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## Shellbuilder (May 14, 2006)

I guess yougbuck won, he got nothing and burned up his gas. Customer spent.0001 on phone service


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## youngbuck (Mar 17, 2010)

Shellbuilder said:


> I guess yougbuck won, he got nothing and burned up his gas. Customer spent.0001 on phone service


Not sure what your point is. 
The guy obviously does not respect my time, so I actually view it as a win for me. I don't want to do work for someone that does not value my time.


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## youngbuck (Mar 17, 2010)

wireless said:


> Not at all. Do you think the customer is sitting around waiting for you? What if he was in a meeting till 4, your arriving early will disturb it. You also can't count time you waited before the appointment time as hid being late. You left after 10min not 15.
> It is great to show up early but you should wait in the truck till the right time.


Of course the customer is supposed to be there waiting for me. 
Do you set up appointments with people and then not expect them to be there?
When I setup an appointment with somebody and they're not there, I give them 10 minutes and then I leave.
Do you not think that that is reasonable?


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## kevjob (Aug 14, 2006)

He is not your customer. He was a prospect who was 25 mins late and rude.

I had the same deal this summer, I waited and then he was rude and demanded an itemized estimate, material take offs and plans for free. No thanks.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

Was the customer's name Ben Dover, by any chance?


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

Screw him.


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## WBailey1041 (Jan 31, 2014)

This is so simple, wait for the guy and charge accordingly. A lot of my customers are too busy to do anything but write a check. I'm happy to email pictures and the estimate if I don't have to listen to THEM tell ME what the problem is, or where to set up a ladder, etc. 

Your original question was how to handle this. I would have waited for him and then SOLD him. He would have known when he went to bed that the issue is in my hands and I won't call him until it's done! I would have let him feel in charge long enough to get either a deposit or a contract for services. Some folks need their hands held, some need to feel like they got over on you and some need to treat others (you) like crap. My job is educate them on what their needs are and then separate them from as money as they are willing to give me as fast as I possibly can. 

I like to think I'm mentally tougher than my customer and I try not to lose focus of my goal because of their attitude. My goal is to sell them while coming as close to the moral line in the sand as possible without crossing it. I would have sold him, that would be my revenge for him wasting your time.


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## jabrams00 (May 27, 2014)

This is 2014 even if he was on a conference call he could have texted you back. Who doesn't have a smart phone these days. I usually wait 15-20 minutes for customers, after that they get re-scheduled at my convenience.


Sent from my iPhone7++


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

WBailey1041 said:


> This is so simple, wait for the guy and charge accordingly. A lot of my customers are too busy to do anything but write a check. I'm happy to email pictures and the estimate if I don't have to listen to THEM tell ME what the problem is, or where to set up a ladder, etc.
> 
> Your original question was how to handle this. I would have waited for him and then SOLD him. He would have known when he went to bed that the issue is in my hands and I won't call him until it's done! I would have let him feel in charge long enough to get either a deposit or a contract for services. Some folks need their hands held, some need to feel like they got over on you and some need to treat others (you) like crap. My job is educate them on what their needs are and then separate them from as money as they are willing to give me as fast as I possibly can.
> 
> I like to think I'm mentally tougher than my customer and I try not to lose focus of my goal because of their attitude. My goal is to sell them while coming as close to the moral line in the sand as possible without crossing it. I would have sold him, that would be my revenge for him wasting your time.


Sure, maybe he cut out a bit too soon, but we don't know the details of his schedule, nor what the company says about that. How long are you willing to wait without hearing from someone? Kind of depends, doesn't it?


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

youngbuck said:


> Of course the customer is supposed to be there waiting for me.
> Do you set up appointments with people and then not expect them to be there?
> When I setup an appointment with somebody and they're not there, I give them 10 minutes and then I leave.
> Do you not think that that is reasonable?


If you keep that as your blanket, never deviate policy, you'll eventually regret it.

I play em all by ear as to how long I wait. I'm usually pretty forgiving, even when irritated. The one thing I never do, is make personal & give the reason to hang up on me. Course, there's probably a reason 90% of our work is referal work.


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## MarkJames (Nov 25, 2012)

pinwheel said:


> If you keep that as your blanket, never deviate policy, you'll eventually regret it.
> 
> I play em all by ear as to how long I wait. I'm usually pretty forgiving, even when irritated. The one thing I never do, is make personal & give the reason to hang up on me. Course, there's probably a reason 90% of our work is referal work.


Well said. :thumbup:


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## KAP (Feb 19, 2011)

Look in today's day of instant notification of voice mail/email/text, IMHO he did the right thing...

He arrived early, waited around, called the customer to let him know he would leave after 15 minutes, got no return call/text/email.

He had no idea how long (what ended up being) the conference call was going to be... with no communication from the prospect, he could have very well been in an accident for all he knew and waited around much longer...

Thinking he should have just hung around and waited all night (I mean after a certain time, you're committed), all you are teaching the guy, who ended up not even apologizing, is that your time means very little...

IMHO, the prospect had no leg to stand on and should have been apologetic when he called at 4:25pm for a 4pm appointment... 

And to boot he had the balls to say "where are you" in an accusatory tone after being 25 minutes late, especially when Yong Buck left him a voice mail...

My response would have been "on my way home"... I would give him one more chance at a reschedule, but if he was a no-show that would be it...


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## HardWorks (Aug 6, 2014)

In life guard your time like gold. Time is not money or gold it is life. Use it as you see fit.


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## 98crewcab (Oct 7, 2013)

maybe im just a dick....but i stand behind youngbucks actions as thats how i handle them too. I Also show up early, by about 10 minutes sometimes. Most of the time they just want you in and out, get the numbers and get on with their life. If they see you sitting in your truck for 10 min....gives them time to look you over, make judgments, wonder what the [email protected] you are doing sitting out there...I roll up, black book and cards ready, tape measure at my side ready to git er done. If nobody answered the door, I will hang out until the actual appt. time and then give them a call to see that we are still on. If no answer, give them another 10 minutes and leave a note. Explaining that the first attempt of an estimate is free, the next one includes a trip charge of $65. If they are apologetic, and show that it really was no way to communicate or make the appt, then I usually wave the fee to reschedule. But I am NEVER late. A couple times it looked as if I was cutting it close, and I shoot them a call letting them know that I may be a few minutes late....but I still always arrived dead on time. If I go out of my way to leave early, and plan my route.....to make the appt ON TIME, I expect them to do the same. I have the mind set to NEVER leave people waiting on me. And I sure as hell expect the same courtesy.

PS, we are busy as hell....booked out a month or 2 at a time. All via referrals. Maybe if I was hungry....I'd have a different outlook on things, but as a man of my word, punctuality is extremely important to me....


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## meltinijupiter (Oct 20, 2014)

For a gutter job, absolutely. The guy could of at least called. You handled it right. Can't win them all.


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## NYgutterguy (Mar 3, 2014)

meltinijupiter said:


> For a gutter job, absolutely. The guy could of at least called. You handled it right. Can't win them all.


I agree with a gutter "repair" i would of done same thing. However average gutter job is $1000 and takes 2 hours and material is $150 . Careful dismissing the simplicity of just a "gutter job"
There is no doubt some other overhead but just trying to put things into perspective


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## GTX63 (Sep 9, 2011)

One of the reasons many contractors are their own boss is because they don't believe the "customer is always right", and this guy was not yet a customer. The OP has the right to call it the way he sees it. I don't charge for rudeness or abuse, and I don't accept it for free either. I think most folks can read others well enough to decide if it is a bad day thing or just the way some people are. I wouldn't lose sleep over it.


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## gastek (Mar 29, 2011)

I would have looked at the job and came up with a price so that when he called back you can give him the price. You at least looked at the job and have a quote for him. Granted it's different than meeting them face to face but hey, you're already there so you might as well look at the job.


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

We are the professionals. They aren't. We can't hold our customers to the same standards that they expect from us because they pay us to serve them. I don't apologize for what I charge. They don't need to apologize for being late.. especially if they have something that I want. It's just a matter of how badly I want it.


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## youngbuck (Mar 17, 2010)

tedanderson said:


> We are the professionals. They aren't. We can't hold our customers to the same standards that they expect from us because they pay us to serve them. I don't apologize for what I charge. They don't need to apologize for being late.. especially if they have something that I want. It's just a matter of how badly I want it.


I have plenty of customers that actually respect my time and are punctual. I don't need customers that are not going to offer me the same respect I give them. I always, yes, always call if I am running behind and yes, I expect them to be somewhat professional and be there on time, or within 15 minutes of our appointment. 

How long are you willing to wait for
them? An hour? 2 hours? 

The 15 minute window I give them is plenty of time to contact me, because I would have already called them, left a message or knocked on the door.

I cannot wait for longer because I usually have appointments on the hour, and it is not fair to the other customers to have them wait.

If they are apologetic and offer some form of condolence for not being there, I will always reschedule. This particular homeowner did not apologize, instead he said I must be so busy that I do not want his business. 

Damn right I dont.

They don't need to apologize for being late? The ones that show up in the 15 minute window I give them always apologize because they realize that time is money.


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## needs glasses (Aug 12, 2014)

I have a couple old customers come to mind. One I'd scheduled to do the work, when I got there no one home. So I called her cell phone, she says "Oh, I decided to go skiing and I'm on my way to whistler mountain!" WTF?

Another booked me for a week and I was scheduled to start on a Monday. She called me on a Saturday and said she's changed her mind now and only needs me for a day (Monday) So I told her I was pissed off and had turned other work down in order to do hers.

I couldn't believe it when I showed up on the Monday at agreed time and she answered the door and said "come back in 45 minutes, I'm going to walk my dog" @#$^^&&


To me it sounds like you did the right thing.


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## RangoWA (Jun 25, 2014)

I would have left a business card and a bid since I already invested the time to get there, assuming I knew what they wanted. 10 to 15 minutes is about all I'll wait, if they called and asked what's up I'd just say I had to get to the next job. He could have called before the conference call (assuming that's true) so it would be a red flag and the priority would go down.


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## Zack78 (Dec 1, 2009)

Customer is not always right but customer is always a customer.
If I could I would go back and simply add my time to the proposal+ annoying fee.
Don't believe everything you think. Maybe this guy was on the phone trying sell 200k job and that was more important to him that your $1500 gutters. That dose not mean he did not want to buy from you. 
Don't take it personally. Its business and you should think what is more important for your company not for you personally. 
I think we all can be as....s at times. Is that make us bad or just our day bad? I like to think the second one.


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## Zack78 (Dec 1, 2009)

One time I have the customer who raised his voice on the phone with me. I got upset but stayed professional. Next day I went to meet him. He apologized and said he is stressed out about his daughter wedding. 
Than he asked me how much all the things we talked about will cost?
I said $2500. He came back from his house handed me $3500 cash and said if i get to something more please take care of it and if the amount will be less than $3500 I can give him money back next time I see him. If I see something that needs to be repaired I can call him and he will send a check with more money next day but if i will not start the work befor the check comes he understands. 
I have done bunch of small jobs for him for last 5 years for probably 20k.
Maybe not a lot but he referred me to 2 other people and is my one off many good customers.


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