# How do I handle this customer service issue?



## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

Hi,

Long time lurker, first time poster.

This will be kind of long so please bare with me.

In the 2 years we have been in business, we have only had two unhappy customers out of the 328 customers we've had. Now I think we have a third. 

This just happened to me today and I'm a little confused how to handle it. Emotionally, I'm a bit angry but I want to make sure I handle it correctly so I'm coming to you "old-timers" for advice.

All of our jobs are set up where a customer only pays until we have completed the job to a 100% satisfaction. No contract, just a written estimate with line items. The past two unhappy customers were never charged and they both got labor and materials for free(I was out about $300 each customer). The first customer, we were delayed because of factors outside of my control and caused their jobs to take a little longer than we quoted. The second customer, one of my techs forgot to screw in a hinge screw and the customer was really upset about this fact. 

Now this third customer is affected by a delay outside of my control. A week and a half ago, I left the customer site finishing about 90% of the workorder items plus a free repair we did for them in another one of their rooms that we never quoted for. Anyways the remaining items include: We only have to repair some minor paint damage that we caused in the process of our work, finish up some small details that we normally do as a customer service, and install a storm door but this particular storm door(the one they want) is on backorder. Before I left, I told the customer that the backordered item will take an additional 7-14 days to come in and we will call them around that time to reschedule a service appointment to finish up. I also outlined the remaining small detail items that we would do for them. I even offered to take $50 off the final invoice price for the delay. They accepted. 

Well today the customer calls our main number which rolls to my cell phone on weekends. I did not pick it up because I was outside doing yardwork. Literally 30 minutes later, the customer(and her husband) arrive at my home demanding to know when we planned on finishing up and why we haven't called them. I was a bit flabbergasted and was a bit in shock and told them that we would need to check our dispatch log to see when we could fit them in this week if their items came in. I apologized again and they left angrily. 

The reason I was flabbergasted and in shock was because we do not publish our address and are very private people. Somehow they got our address and arrived at my home making the demands. 

I'm all for customer service and taking care of customer complaints but I feel that this is a bit over the line. At this point, my gut feeling is to call them on Monday, telling them that while I am sorry for the delay what they did crossed the line and that I would be cutting the job short. I would also tell them that I'd rather just cut ties by giving them the previously finished workorder line items to them for free and we be out first thing to finish up the small remaining item but we would be canceling the final back ordered item and install. 

All in all, I'd be out about $350 in labor and materials as of right now. Remember, they haven't paid anything yet and I had already agreed to take an additional $50 off the final invoice price. 

Before I do this, how do you guys suggest I handle this? Luckily I can afford to lose this job and chaulk it up to "cost of doing business" but I always worry about bad impressions of my company.


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## Tiger (Nov 21, 2007)

Some people will take advantage of you, but maybe in the future you shouldn't start a job until you have all the materials to finish the job. 

BTW it's possible to get a lot of information about people on the internet unless they have a common or famous name. In 26 years I've never had a client come screaming at my home, so either they're mental or you need to sharpen your skills.


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

Showing up at your house and confronting you over a $350 job is way out there. May not be the soundest thing to boot them, but may be the best course of action.


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## Warren (Feb 19, 2005)

Couple things jump out to me here. First off, why would you credit someone the whole job because you didn't install a hinge screw? Did the door fall off and maim someone? I can see a quick service call and an apology but cmon! Second, while the folks definitely stepped on your privacy, I would not jump the gun and give the job away for free. I would however ask them how they obtained my personal info and take steps necessary to tidy that up. I agree that customer service is #1. I will do whatever within reason to make a customer happy. I will not work for free unless I totally screwed something up.


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## kevjob (Aug 14, 2006)

1. Have a boundarys conversation 1st thing Monday am. let them know that visits to your house is un-acceptable, how would they like you coming to their workplace demanding money?

2. Time to get a asimple service contract stating delays, damages etc...

3. Complete the work, ask for payment file lien when they don't pay.

4. Forget these people. easier said than done but 3 crazies out of 328 is great customer service so keep it up. Some can never be satisfied becuase complaing and whining is their salvation.:blink:


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

Tiger said:


> In 26 years I've never had a client come screaming at my home


Duh, you're a Tiger. People are scared of you.


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

OK, I change my mind. Do what everyone else suggests: finish the work and bill them. Don't work for free, and if you forget to install a hinge screw, instead of doing the job for free, fix the hinge screw.

And tell them in no uncertain terms that they are never to come to your house again


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## PrestigeR&D (Jan 6, 2010)

*NO Contract???*

ah, that IMO is a :no::no:. I would recommend getting paid in 1/3rds, especially with people that are new customers, . In my case - I always have a contract, but I don't always ask for installments, IF I HAVE WORKED WITH THEM BEFORE, and it is under a certain price,,,but a contract is crucial and should not be overlooked. Always have a contract- regardless! It is the only legal instrument to protect yourself and your clients. And if it is special order items that are involved with the project- They are the ones footing the bill , that is not coming out of my company- forget it. :no::no:
Brian


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## send_it_all (Apr 10, 2007)

Never do any job without at least a signed acceptance of proposal. For a $300.00 job, a contract might be a little much, but get them to sign something saying they agree to pay x for x amount of work.

Never do anything that will take more than about 3 minutes for free. It sets a precedent. They will expect everything small to be done for free from that point forward.

Don't give discounts for delays beyond your control. If an item they want is on back order, how is that a reason to take food off of your table?


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## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

Warren said:


> Couple things jump out to me here. First off, why would you credit someone the whole job because you didn't install a hinge screw? Did the door fall off and maim someone? I can see a quick service call and an apology but cmon! Second, while the folks definitely stepped on your privacy, I would not jump the gun and give the job away for free. I would however ask them how they obtained my personal info and take steps necessary to tidy that up. I agree that customer service is #1. I will do whatever within reason to make a customer happy. I will not work for free unless I totally screwed something up.


 
Hinge screw full refund was because it was one of our first jobs and we were trying to build an honest reputation. I chaulked that up to learning the business and honing our customer service. 

Like I said, I'm thinking on emotion right now and will probably not end up giving these folks the entire job for free. I may still cancel the storm door install and just invoice them for the completed items, albeit probably at a lower price. 

As to showing up until we have the materials in hand. I agree that this is the best way to make sure a job comes off without a hitch but come on. Give me some credit, this has happened to all of us. You place an order expecting materials to arrive and it doesn't but you still have to show up to the service call to start other work. While it happens rarely, it does happen in service businesses.


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## PrestigeR&D (Jan 6, 2010)

workingintx said:


> Hinge screw full refund was because it was one of our first jobs and we were trying to build an honest reputation. I chaulked that up to learning the business and honing our customer service. *Yes- BUT YOU FIXED THE PROBLEM*
> 
> listen to what you are saying Bud,,
> 
> ...


Do you value your time,, 
I hate to say this to you, but these people sound like they are walking all over you , I think you gave them an inch and now they want a yard,, and you gave them the leverage by giving in and doing things for free. they have "GULLIBLE" impression's of you that you should never portray to any customer. 
you can solve this by asking them to go to work, make a mistake, and because of that they are not getting paid for the day. see how the freeloaders react to that, then ask them for your hard earned money- NOW! You do NOT want clients like this- period. If you corrected all the accidents or mistakes-at NC,,which you should not charge,,,,irrespective ,you should get paid for the work that was requested and completed- you will get eaten alive out there if you keep this mindset up, suck it up, stand up for yourself and your company, they don't like it- to bad,,,,,,,,,,,NEXT! But again, as I said before - you lost your leverage write form the beginning with "NO CONTRACT" I don't care if it only $300.00, that is $300.00 you don't have and all that time is waisted. Wake up buddy and stop taking this crap, and next time- GET A FREAKING CONTRACT.
Brian


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## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

Wow: Welcome to Crazy Town

1. These people are nuts and demanding. They also have selective memory or simply don't talk to each other

2. This is a prime example of why you need to have a signed contract or at least a signed work order

3. If you ever do have a contract, cover your butt for unexpected delays and exactly what your warranty is on your work

4. I think the main goal here is to finish the work and get paid. That's it. No discounts, nothing. Just get paid and walk. Don't do business with them again. 

5. Every time you do something for "gradis" or free, then both in your mind and the client's -- it will be free the next time too. Value your time and experience -- it's always worth something.

6. Don't justify those little free things you do, or those extras for no charge as part of: building relationships, establishing yourself, good PR, "enjoy taking in the ass", etc. This is BS --- I know this, cus I have done it myself early on and the only reputation you get is being a push over and a "discount contractor". What you want is Quality and a Cost = Value type of guy.


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## Anti-wingnut (Mar 12, 2009)

Prestige,

I think he gets it. It's no fun *****-slapping someone nice like Working in Texas, when we can slap around numb skulls like Constructionomics and (ultra certified in Florida), people who just don't get it.


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## shanekw1 (Mar 20, 2008)

Wow.

I think I would lose my mind if a customer came to my house yelling at me about an issue like that.

Finish the job and bill an EXTRA $50 for the stress they caused your children/wife/dog/lawn/driveway whatever. 

Then when they don't pay, show up at their work demanding payment.


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## rwa (May 6, 2009)

forget today even happened ... don't be upset about them coming to your house, you've obviously have been to theirs ... they will never see the difference ... they're a bit like a six pack that doesn't have the plastic thingey to hold them together ... it would be a battle you'd never win ... finish the job, ask for payment, take what they offer and know that your life is not as miserable as theirs


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## PrestigeR&D (Jan 6, 2010)

*I feel for the guy Anti-*

seriously, 
But he has got to stand up for himself- and start NOW:thumbsup: It is what it is, I don't mean to sound like I am coming off as an ass, just trying to boost him up, get his cotra back, and stop the mindset he has- it's all good! 
Brian


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## mnjconstruction (Oct 5, 2008)

the thing that stands out to me is that you know that you have had 328 customers in 2 years. now that there is some good record keeping. i would not even have a clue how many customers i have had over the last 2 years. or the last year or month............


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

Seems like an awful lot of drama for a $350 job.


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## WNYcarpenter (Mar 2, 2007)

Phone calls after 9 PM are rude, and unjustified unless there's an emergency that warrants it or pre-arranged....unannounced visits to your private residence are 100% out of line and borderline criminal IMO!

I have a friend who prides himself by using different tactics to get what he wants for free....It's a game

They prey on 'perceived' weaknesses.

You should be mad, stay mad...they obviously are used to confrontation, so tell them like it is.


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## BuiltByMAC (Mar 11, 2006)

mnjconstruction said:


> the thing that stands out to me is that you know that you have had 328 customers in 2 years. now that there is some good record keeping.


Actually, that's basic record keeping. If you do jobs on a professional basis, you should have a record of each and every job, each and every customer. 

To the OP, yeah, like the other's have said...having them show up unannounced on your doorstep is out of line. Period.

Don't give them jacksh*t for free. Do what you said you were going to do, then charge them what you said you were going to charge them.



Mac


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## Mellison (Aug 3, 2008)

The scary thing is these nut jobs have a voice, its called Angies list.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

workingintx said:


> All of our jobs are set up where a customer only pays until we have completed the job to a 100% satisfaction. No contract, just a written estimate with line items. The past two unhappy customers were never charged and they both got labor and materials for free(I was out about $300 each customer). The first customer, we were delayed because of factors outside of my control and caused their jobs to take a little longer than we quoted. The second customer, one of my techs forgot to screw in a hinge screw and the customer was really upset about this fact.


This method of business is a gimmick. You do it for the reasons you know you do already, so I won't go into them. However, it comes with a price. The fact you've only ran into trouble 3 times is 

1) That you are concerned with customer service
2) That you do small ticket jobs

Switch to higher valued jobs and I guarantee you'll be having more and more problem customers screwing you on your open ended no contract, pay at 100% satisfaction deal.





workingintx said:


> Literally 30 minutes later, the customer(and her husband) arrive at my home demanding to know when we planned on finishing up and why we haven't called them. I was a bit flabbergasted and was a bit in shock and told them that we would need to check our dispatch log to see when we could fit them in this week if their items came in. I apologized again and they left angrily.
> 
> The reason I was flabbergasted and in shock was because we do not publish our address and are very private people. Somehow they got our address and arrived at my home making the demands.
> 
> ...


At the first sign of them arriving at your residence with anything but a chocolate cake or a six pack for you, I would have told them you're off work and for them to call you on Monday. Showing up angry at your home is out of line and you'd be fully within an 'rights' ethical or otherwise to tell them to go stuff themselves, or at the least to have cut them short and simply refused to talk to them and repeat for them to call you on Monday.

As for what you should do?

I'd complete the work and be prepared to smile when they screw you in the end.

Be ready for it, know it's coming and smile and take it and move on.


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## mnjconstruction (Oct 5, 2008)

BuiltByMAC said:


> Actually, that's basic record keeping. If you do jobs on a professional basis, you should have a record of each and every job, each and every customer.
> 
> Just found it funny that he knew exactly how many customers he has had in the last two years. If I needed the exact number for my company I could look at records. But sure would not know the number off the top of my head. But you are right it is basic record keeping.:notworthy


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## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

mnjconstruction said:


> BuiltByMAC said:
> 
> 
> > Actually, that's basic record keeping. If you do jobs on a professional basis, you should have a record of each and every job, each and every customer.
> ...


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## mcnorth (Mar 1, 2009)

I'm with everybody else on the absurdity of getting stung for forgetting a screw! A satisfaction guarantee means you take care of what they aren't satisfied with so you come back and put in a screw. But they still pay!!!

Do you collect anything up front? I think someone earlier suggested payment in increments. I usually do 1/2 on commencement and the balance on completion with new customers. I also have an acknowledgement line on my proposal. If they don't sign the proposal but pay the first half I think I have a pretty good case for saying they acquiesced to the proposal. (But admittedly I'm pretty green)


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## Double-A (Jul 3, 2006)

workingintx said:


> Now this third customer is affected by a delay outside of my control. A week and a half ago, I left the customer site finishing about 90% of the workorder items plus a free repair we did for them in another one of their rooms that we never quoted for. Anyways the remaining items include: We only have to repair some minor paint damage that we caused in the process of our work, finish up some small details that we normally do as a customer service, and install a storm door but this particular storm door(the one they want) is on backorder. Before I left, I told the customer that the backordered item will take an additional 7-14 days to come in and we will call them around that time to reschedule a service appointment to finish up. I also outlined the remaining small detail items that we would do for them. I even offered to take $50 off the final invoice price for the delay. They accepted.
> 
> Well today the customer calls our main number which rolls to my cell phone on weekends. I did not pick it up because I was outside doing yardwork. Literally 30 minutes later, the customer(and her husband) arrive at my home demanding to know when we planned on finishing up and why we haven't called them. I was a bit flabbergasted and was a bit in shock and told them that we would need to check our dispatch log to see when we could fit them in this week if their items came in. I apologized again and they left angrily.


Someone is not understanding something, or something was miscommunicated. 

You left 10% of your work undone, including some damage to their home, complete what you have one your schedule, but are asking these folks to wait 7-14 days so you can get the storm door installed at the same time?

I wouldn't be satisfied either unless I had been asked about it before hand. You told the client about the delay, and said you would schedule time to come out and do the install. 

Now, 10 days later, they are calling and coming by your house to get some answers. They are panicked for some reason. You need to find out what that reason is. 

Oh, and one word of advice... _Never _let damage caused by your folks wait. Ever. Ever. Did I say, never?

Its insulting to some and worrisome for others. If your folks damaged the client's home or possessions, they need to drop everything and make it right ASAP. Waiting only breeds ill will and anger.

People stew. These folks stewed for a week and a half and now they boiled over. They didn't understand or you didn't understand.

They over-reacted and now you're tempted to do the same. Talk to them, find out where you went south in this relationship and fix it. First thing Monday morning if not before. If you're going to advertise 100% satisfaction, you need to deliver it. Otherwise, you're just indulging in a mental fantasy. 

As for them visiting your home 1/2 hour after calling, that wasn't reasonable under any circumstance. To prevent this in the future, I would suggest two things. 

First, set boundaries and limits. You need to explain to all your clients what your business hours are, when and how they can reach you, and how you will return calls if they have to leave a message.

Second, you have to do it. If that means the lawn if half cut, well, its your business and your clients are your bread and butter. If you don't care of them, they will remember it. If you take care of them, they won't forget it.

Good Luck


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## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

I understand what your saying. I agree that a call should have been put in earlier by my company but we are all human and sometimes things like this happens. Honestly, we must be doing something right if we've only had 3 compliants over 2 years and 300+ jobs. 

Putting myself in a customer's shoes, I'd be concerned that a call had not been placed earlier and depending on the personality that level of concern would differ, but coming to a service provider's home is over the line. 
Especially when that service provider does not publish their home address on most normal channels, ie. phone book, etc. From my point of view, 1. we have not committed fraud, 2. we have not stolen money from them, 3. we have not charged them at all, and 4. there were no "bad contractor" issues you always hear about or see on tv, ie major damage or bad work. So this level of frustration and intrustion outside of normal business channels is out there. 

I also did not want to bring this up because it's ageism but I think it plays into the situation, but this particular customer looks to be in their 70's and may be hard of hearing. I spoke to my employee and he did mention that when he would tell one or the other something, they would not communicate it to the other, which would cause one or the other to repeat the same question. 

Just to clarify what the "damage" is. It isn't damage at all really, we got a finger print of darker paint on a small section of trim near a door frame. You have to look at it at certain angles to even notice it. It's more cleanup than damage and would not have been noticed by the client unless our employee would not have pointed it out during his normal leave-behind process. 


So this is what we plan on doing. 

1. Call the customer on Monday and schedule an appointment at their earliest convienance. I will be going on site myself to do the work.
2. I will converse with them and state that because of the delays that are out of our control, we are going to cancel the remaining product install(the delayed item) and I will redirect them to another contractor who does storm door installs as their main business and who may have items on hand. 
3. We will complete all remaining small detail work.
4. After the work is complete, I will hand them an invoice with charges for only the completed line items. 
5. Leave site.

If we do not recieve payment, I will just send it through normal collection channels. 

I don't plan on bringing up their out of bounds behavior because it would just cause drama rather than remediation.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

How are you going to send a customer to collections when you don't have a contract, and you have a publicly acknowledged policy 100% satisfaction or they don't pay?

Your business method exposes you to customers like this, they are going to be part of a planned annual loss of a percentage of your gross sales. 

If your business is based on a 100% satisfaction guarantee, don't you think you should follow through and go satisfy the customer?


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## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

Mike Finley said:


> How are you going to send a customer to collections when you don't have a contract, and you have a publicly acknowledged policy 100% satisfaction or they don't pay?
> 
> Your business method exposes you to customers like this, they are going to be part of a planned annual loss of a percentage of your gross sales.
> 
> If your business is based on a 100% satisfaction guarantee, don't you think you should follow through and go satisfy the customer?


I don't think I ever said I wouldn't follow through and satisfy the customer. We plan on(which we did all along and communicated to the customer the day we left the site) remediating any issues and diffusing the situation but we will be modifying the workorder to not include the storm door install becuase of the delay and possible future delays. I'd rather redirect a customer to someone that can complete the work sooner than later and not completely leave them hanging. They may not like it but at least we "may" get paid on our other work. 

Good points from you Mike. I'm damned if I do or I don't and have already accepted this as a complete loss. Honestly, I'm playing it by ear as of right now. Hopefully I can diffuse the situation and get some payment to at least cover my costs as I mentioned above. If not, I'll accept the lose and move on. A number of lessons were learned including: 
1. having my lawyer finalize the legaleeze on our workorders. 
2. redefining or eliminating the 100% satisfaction guarantee because it can be defined by people in different ways
3. continuing to improve customer communication
4. rethinking services offered(I was never comfortable doing things outside of our normal service scope)
5. and making sure that customers know bounderies, ie. office hours, ways to contact, etc.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

100% satisfaction guarantee is a marketing method and nothing more. 

I thought you were aware of what you were doing, but from your last post it sounds like you were never really aware of what you have been doing all this time.

Any company that uses the 100% satisfaction guarantee marketing method, I would hope uses it with the knowledge that there will always be a certain percentage of customers every year who will use the method against the company unfairly or fairly, but the bottom line is there will be a certain dollar amount of loss associated with it. The belief in using this method is that the losses are offset by a higher than normal gain due to the customers they do sign up just because of the guarantee.

It doesn't sound to me like you were aware of this at all, but were just blindly using this 100% guarantee thing as part of a normal operation, thinking you were never going to run into any customers you couldn't deal with?

That's why I'm confused at why this is even an issue at all for you to be discussing. If you're aware of what comes along as baggage with this 100% guarantee marketing method then this should all be just business as usual. Go satisfy the customer and hope he ends up paying you. If not it just goes into that account in your books that you write off as part of that accepted percentage.


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## workingintx (May 8, 2010)

Wow, this conversation has gone from me asking how to handle a customer that shows up at my personal residence to a personal attack.

Before saying I don't know what I'm doing, maybe you should reread my earler posts. You don't even know me but you can apparently judge my abilities by 4-5 posts.

I said we honor the 100% guarantee and even gave examples. Just because I am trying to salvage payment, doesn't mean I don't know what I'm doing. At the end of the day, if I cannot difuse the situation, I will still honor it. Again see my earlier posts. Many of your fellow posters said I was nuts for giving the work away for free but we still honor the guarantee.

Don't say I don't know what I'm doing just because I'm attempting to salvage at least my job costs. Again, reread my posts, you and I are on the same page. Just make sure to stay away from the unwarranted personal attacks.


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## cwatbay (Mar 16, 2010)

I think that people are not necessarily making this a personal attack piece, but are reacting and giving their opinions based on information that is slowly dribbling out. 

The quickest way to end this thread is to quit responding. That will it. I have started threads and when I heard enough ( whether I liked it or not - but remember it's peoples opinions not necessarily fact ) -- I shut up. 

Back to the 100% satisfaction guarantee. In a perfect world, that would great. But this isn't perfect. There are people who will take advantage of that policy to the "nth" degree -- to get extra work, extra materials and void payment, etc. 

If you look at this marketing ploy (which it is), whenever 100% guarantee is used - it is followed by paragraph after paragraph of legal-ese explaining what the guarantee is, what it entails and what it's limits are. 

It's nice to have a "philosophy" of 100% satisfaction, but I wouldn't be putting it in writing or blabbing about it -- just too many pitfalls.


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## Mike Finley (Apr 28, 2004)

workingintx said:


> Wow, this conversation has gone from me asking how to handle a customer that shows up at my personal residence to a personal attack.
> 
> Before saying I don't know what I'm doing, maybe you should reread my earler posts. You don't even know me but you can apparently judge my abilities by 4-5 posts.
> 
> ...


There is no personal attack. I'm asking you---

Do you realize that 100% satisfaction guarantee is a marketing issue?

Do you realize that there will be a percentage of loss associated with this marketing tactic?

That's all. What's personal about it? 

Like I said, it's confusing you are aware of those two things, that you are having an issue with this situation. It's simply a loss showing it's head, they are going to be there with this type of thing.

Anybody with a 100% satisfaction guarantee cannot afford to have customers bad mouthing them. This is the worst thing that can happen to a company who's brand is established under the fact that they are better then everybody else, right? When your business revolves around making the sale off of saying we are so good we guarantee it 100%, if you aren't satisfied you don't pay... having bad publicity stings much worse in that case right?

So you have to protect that reputation like a delicate flower. As I said before, all there is to do is go out and satisfy the customer and if he decides not to pay you accept it and hope he keeps quiet about it.

*You on the other hand were talking about taking him collections.*


_-- How do you take somebody to collections when they don't have to pay you if they aren't satisfied, there is no contract so there is no verbiage that decides what 'satisfied' is except that which the customer decides to define it?_

So before you get all bent out of shape, step back and think about things. 

From all this it appears to me you aren't really aware of what goes along with a 100% satisfaction guarantee, that's all.

Maybe you are and you're just not getting it across in like you said 4-5 posts.

So go ahead...

Maybe you will let us know you are fully aware, or maybe this is an eye opener and you'll learn something?


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## BuiltByMAC (Mar 11, 2006)

Just so you know, workin, if you'd been the brunt of a personal attack here, you'd have KNOWN it! I read through this thread and see nothing but professional advice being given to you. No smoke is being blown up your ass to be sure, but no personal attacks either.

Mike makes some very good points. Take from this conversation what you will - 

Mac


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## CGallagher (Apr 20, 2010)

Did you ever find out how they came to know your residence? Is it becuase your company is home based and the people were able to look that up as public knowledge. Or did they find you in the phone book. 

I'm interested because I've always been scared of that myself. I've had subs come to my house uninvited on a Sunday night. They weren't out to cause trouble, they just wanted work. I was very angry and explained that I do not allow anyone at my home. I couldn't imagine what would have happened if only my wife had been home. 

My business is home based, but all of my mail is recieved at a PO Box. But someone could always find my home address by looking at my state filing of business location. The subs found out my address because one of them actually lives close to me and recognized my vehicle.


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## grayman74 (May 5, 2010)

*Following up...*

I've been reading this thread and was wondering how things turned out. 

I would never try the 100% satisfaction route, I've experienced customers that even God could not satisfy - and his Son was a carpenter!! 

My last non payer was about 2-1/2 years ago - I took it personally and made multiple return trips in a vain attempt to remedy all of the things that he thought were incorrect - we are talking about items such as him wanting the GFCI's indoors instead of outdoors because he wanted to be able to use them as switches for outdoor lights. He also stubbed wires into boxes (and connected them) and stubbed the wires outdoors for additional outdoor receptacles (he was the mason) the wires were aimed upwards and on live circuits, they took in water which was funneled by the romex into the home and ended up dripping out of the receptacles - yet somehow this was my fault!! 

I tried and tried to satisfy him, only to find out later that he had not paid for: garage doors, insulation, electrical, hvac, drywall, masonry, part of the lumber, and many many other things... He has since filed bankruptcy, failed to make payments on said bankruptcy, and has lost his lawyer. All this time and he is still living in the house that I helped build, searching for this guys name on the local court website shows HUNDREDS of results - all nearly the same.. The guy doesn't pay his bills. 

IF I were you I would do all that could be done to satisfy the customer and change the verbage on your agreement for the very next job that you do. That is just my 2 cents worth..

Some people just use others - I personally fear that the 100% guarantee would draw this type...

Please let us know how your problem is resolved!


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## grayman74 (May 5, 2010)

*Regarding Address Lookup*

Check out spokeo.com and intellius.com - it is scary how much information they have on some people!!


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## UncleBob (May 5, 2010)

workingintx said:


> Regarding the contract, my lawyer and I went round and round on the best way to do a contract for these "small ticket" services and we are still working on it, even after 2 years.


Just an aside to this thread... but you can do *something* tomorrow. Go to your local print shop, spend $30 and ask them to print you up a bunch of 3-part (NCR) basic contracts, no detail just plain - your name, space for their name, space to write down what you are doing and what you are charging, and two spaces/boxes for your signature, their signature and the date... then improve it as you go, you might wanna add you license # etc, but do please put _something_ in place. I promise you this one little gem of advice is worth more than your lawyer has done for you in two years!


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## Electric_Light (Nov 25, 2007)

workingintx said:


> I understand what your saying. I agree that a call should have been put in earlier by my company but we are all human and sometimes things like this happens.



Imagine how you'd feel if a payment is owed to you, then suddenly lost touch with them. They probably feared they've been left stranded. Perhaps they've been scammed in the past? 

Scammers count on their victims to wait and the more they wait, the more they wait, the higher the chance of evading them. Perhaps they visited your house not out of malice, but to establish you can be located?


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## jimmys (May 1, 2009)

*storm door?*

How hard can it be to find a storm door? In spite of their being out of line coming to your house, I'd find a door someplace and install it.
I'm not as old as you think your client is, and maybe not as deaf. But I do think with older customers you are better off if you're more explicit, not less. Yes, a proposal/contract/work order - you can buy premade ones at Staples, for gosh sakes. If they had something in writing, they may not have freaked out and visited you mowing the lawn. And ten days is too long for a touch-up.
Still, I'd finish the job and ask for payment. They don't want the hassle of another contractor, they just want the job done. And while they have bad judgment coming to your place, they deserve to get the work you agreed to.
I know you've probably settled this matter already, and would like to hear how it came out.
Jim


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