This client takes the cake!

[Norsk]

I took on a block paving job for an old client,easy work,move half the old pavers in the front to between the houses,lay new pavers in the front.

Clients went on holiday,perfect! I think.Should take about a week.

Job took a bit longer than expected because half the pavers were out of stock,the client was to order them for me to collect but didnt.Anyway thats life and now I get a request for a discount off the bill on account of the old pavers I have "sold". The clients friend had a workmate who had bought a bunch of used pavers off someone that were similar to what I took up at their house.They have sent me the listing from FB that shows the pavers for sale.Well thats not my address and those pavers had been laid in dirt not sand by the look of them.The clients want a refund for all their broken and used pavers,the tip fee refunded as well as the time I have charged to transport them.

Now for the best bit.

"The surface slopes away from the house"

Yes,the former surface did too.If I reversed the gradient the water would run into your house and there would be a step up from the road.

But wait there is more.

"Some of the pavers have been cut to fit,we expected you to use whole pavers but we cant see a discount for the half pavers you bought"

I think the bloke is going do-lallie,he is old and used to be sharp as a tack.Shame since I have been doing their tree work for almost 20 years and they have been great to deal with. I will take this to court if I have to,their laughable arguments are easy to disprove.Its all in writing but seriously,who needs this hassle.

 

[bourbon]

That's customers for you.

 

[frank horton]

Alzheimer's
just got a female friend who's husband just acted the same...
she had to get Power of Atterny because he was ordering stuff off the net etc etc....all kinds of problems...
just before this he was getting very angry and violent....denial I guess....
all very diff to deal with....

 

[roofman]

Dont do court, work out your losses and claw it back on next two jobs...learn from it and re-write your contract for future work so it cant happen again.. I have been re-writing my contract for well over 40 years as a new senerio crops up and now its almost water tight against losses...Thats buisness ime affraid.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Frightening when you see it.
Look down, and your blood will freeze.....

 

[Kayos]

As @roofman says, court is an expensive waste of time

Do what you can, lessons learned and tighten those terms

My install terms evolved over times, my design terms are tighter than a gnats chuff

 

[ajlelectronics]

court is an expensive waste of time

I beg to differ. Get your ducks in a row and it is straightforward, even if it takes a while. I have nearly 100% success in court including against the NatWest, the only one I lost was due to my not preparing properly.

 

[Jackimus]

Alzheimer's
just got a female friend who's husband just acted the same...
she had to get Power of Atterny because he was ordering stuff off the net etc etc....all kinds of problems...
just before this he was getting very angry and violent....denial I guess....
all very diff to deal with....

This, potentially

Also, I think as some people get older, they are aware (or at least think) that more people are going to try to pull a fast one on them or take the **** - putting them on a hair trigger looking out for it, and seeing it where it isn't happening.

 

[Gragson]

As much as we hear about old people getting ripped off, they can also be illogically unreasonable.
Shopped around to get my mums roof replaced, went with an outfit that had an excellent rep & competitive quote.
They took loads of photos before, during and after and did an excellent job.

She complained constantly of being ripped off and they had cut corners, which they hadn't.
Not Alzheimer's, just unreasonable stinginess...

 

[BrokenBiker]

Court isn't an issue if you have undeniable and easy to present evidence...court only becomes an issue if you dont prepare...my brother is a barrister and when he was in uni he did free work for those that could t afford a lawyer and he got to enjoy embarrassing people at tribunals and magistrates courts, small claims were dropped after his first reply usually...



Personally I would tell the old boy here's your money, ill be taking every single paver back, speak to your friend about the missing ones as its him that kicked them, not me that sold them...ttfn...make it as difficult as possible for him to get a word in edgeways and he will get bored and drop it pretty quickly when he realises he isnt going to get what he wants...

Life is too short to be messing about with this petty stuff...

I did a small job on a mate of a mates navara a while back, little repair to side step bracket and a small patch on chassis...charged him 50 quid took about 2 hours...he came out with a spirit level to check the step after I had refitted it...bearing in mind the car was parked on a bit of waste land...he complained it wasn't level so rather than taking rhe level and showing him thw whole car wasn't level I just grabbed the grinder, cut my bracket back off, gave him 20 quid back and left...

 

[Olderisbetter]

My mate does plumbing and often has a customer say he has "stolen" the scrap from jobs so now he asks what they want him to do with it before a job, if they say just get rid of it he does but if they start saying they want a discount or money back he gives them the name of another guy and waits till they get the other guys quote.

 

[Smallfry]

I wonder if this sort of thing is down to the prices "professionals" charge for any work these days ? The feeling of not getting your moneys worth,

When you are older, as I am you hear what someone is, or has paid for some job, and think the trader is taking the p*ss ? As of course, a lot of them are. It really grinds my gears when some go on about how difficult a job is blah blah blah. 18 months ago, one of MiLs friends, a widow on state pension, was quoted £600 to remove a 5 metre high conifer in her front garden. MiL asked me if this was fair. I went and looked at it ....... it was one of those skinny column like things, so SWMBO and I went and did it. All done loaded in the van and tidy in less than two hours.

As I am able to do most stuff myself, I don't see how some of them justify the money they want to charge, especially when they do not do a full days work, and spend a lot of their time on their phones.

But anyway, about the pavers, was the price agreed before work started ? If it was, I would take them all up, leaving the site tidy, and let the customer do whatever. If not, then that's a dangerous game these days, as someone will always be expecting it to be a lot less.

I am SO glad I do not have to deal with this sh*te any more.

 

[Erie Fred]

Look at the overhead a professional has to pay ^^^
before passing judgement.

 

[Norsk]

The price was agreed before the work started. Since I literally drive past the builders merchants every day,I agreed to pick up the pavers the client said he would order. Instead when I dropped in,no pavers were ordered so I took what they had and a few days later drove a two hour round trip to collect the rest of them.

I discarded the broken / extra pavers at cost. I didn't take any mark up on the materials because the job was so simple and these folks have been great up until now.I see another Email has arrived from this muppet moaning about the 6 bags of ready mix for a whopping £60.

I think its small claims time, I have literally removed someone's entire front garden in the past via grab lorry,but in this case the truck won't fit down the lane.

 

[Smallfry]

Look at the overhead a professional has to pay ^^^
before passing judgement.

Yes, I do. The example conifer tree should take a professional a lot less time than the two hours we took. Not unreasonable ? Travelling time, a chain saw chain, some oil, and disposing of the waste, no doubt straight on a bonfire on their own land ? A whole morning for two fit guys if they took their time ? .

They have their huge pie key pickup truck (F150 equivalent) and Merc to pay for, their huge electric gates, expensive phone, holidays etc.

Most building and allied trades here want to start at 9, after breakfast, want to be away by 3, after spending a lot of chargeable time on their phone. Lunch break too.

 

[Smallfry]

The price was agreed before the work started. Since I literally drive past the builders merchants every day,I agreed to pick up the pavers the client said he would order. Instead when I dropped in,no pavers were ordered so I took what they had and a few days later drove a two hour round trip to collect the rest of them.

I discarded the broken / extra pavers at cost. I didn't take any mark up on the materials because the job was so simple and these folks have been great up until now.I see another Email has arrived from this muppet moaning about the 6 bags of ready mix for a whopping £60.

I think its small claims time, I have literally removed someone's entire front garden in the past via grab lorry,but in this case the truck won't fit down the lane.

If price was agreed beforehand, don't know what his problem is.

I wonder if he is being prompted by someone ?

In 1975, I could have got that readymix for £10 !

 

[Erie Fred]

Yes, I do. The example conifer tree should take a professional a lot less time than the two hours we took. Not unreasonable ? Travelling time, a chain saw chain, some oil, and disposing of the waste, no doubt straight on a bonfire on their own land ? A whole morning for two fit guys if they took their time ? .

They have their huge pie key pickup truck (F150 equivalent) and Merc to pay for, their huge electric gates, expensive phone, holidays etc.

Most building and allied trades here want to start at 9, after breakfast, want to be away by 3, after spending a lot of chargeable time on their phone. Lunch break too.

I-N-S-U-R-A-N-C-E
Biggest part of the job.
Liability
Workmans comp
on and on.
Maybe you should get into the business then ?

 

[Norsk]

Yes, I do. The example conifer tree should take a professional a lot less time than the two hours we took. Not unreasonable ? Travelling time, a chain saw chain, some oil, and disposing of the waste, no doubt straight on a bonfire on their own land ? A whole morning for two fit guys if they took their time ? .

They have their huge pie key pickup truck (F150 equivalent) and Merc to pay for, their huge electric gates, expensive phone, holidays etc.

Most building and allied trades here want to start at 9, after breakfast, want to be away by 3, after spending a lot of chargeable time on their phone. Lunch break

Its really easy to underestimate the costs involved with tree work. You did that job with a van and saw,but if that's the only gear you had to make a living you would starve.

My minimum charge is £450 equivalent because every job takes 3 hours at least.

Take call/ email
Book quote
Drive to quote
Talk to client
Book job
Load wagon
Drive to site
Set up
Work
Pack down
Drive to tip
Put gear away
Maintain/Service kit

Insurance,advertising,qualifications,yard rent,security,alarm,road tax,wear and tear,replacement savings,ppe,accountancy fees.

I literally turn up at a £450 job with £100k worth of kit and 30 years experience. Absolute minimum day rate is £800+vat and that gives me a very average living.

 

[gaz1]

I took on a block paving job for an old client,easy work,move half the old pavers in the front to between the houses,lay new pavers in the front.

Clients went on holiday,perfect! I think.Should take about a week.

Job took a bit longer than expected because half the pavers were out of stock,the client was to order them for me to collect but didnt.Anyway thats life and now I get a request for a discount off the bill on account of the old pavers I have "sold". The clients friend had a workmate who had bought a bunch of used pavers off someone that were similar to what I took up at their house.They have sent me the listing from FB that shows the pavers for sale.Well thats not my address and those pavers had been laid in dirt not sand by the look of them.The clients want a refund for all their broken and used pavers,the tip fee refunded as well as the time I have charged to transport them.

"Some of the pavers have been cut to fit,we expected you to use whole pavers but we cant see a discount for the half pavers you bought"

I think the bloke is going do-lallie,he is old and used to be sharp as a tack.Shame since I have been doing their tree work for almost 20 years and they have been great to deal with. I will take this to court if I have to,their laughable arguments are easy to disprove.Its all in writing but seriously,who needs this hassle.

that reads as someone sticking there nose in and going blah blah bah

as goes for broken stuff we always expect broken stuff i dont think ive ever seen a delivery that hasnt got broken stuff within it as you always have to buy extras
cut stacked slates they fall for fun when you open them pavers are the same more so when your stacking up materials for room flags gave been delivered broken

out of stock reference if owner is at fault then add your prices on make it clear that they didnt order materials for the job and you had to come back extra times

there is no discount for cut pavers they are expected part of the job whilst cut pavers do help to start a job off also depending on patern
but yours reads as they dont want to pay for cuts or the time to do so to make the job better

from my point of view there not happy about the price and are trying anything to to reduce the bill its sort of an old haggle the price down after the jobs done an old method

i wouldnt be doing there trees again and i wouldnt be taking another job off them either

oh and next time no materials dont pick them up

 

[Norsk]

Yes I believe you are right.

I even took the extra pavers back because the old bloke wanted 85 and I said let's just get 100 incase some are broken ( none were).

The pavers were 50x50cm concrete jobbies,they used to be £5 a throw but now are nearly £13.

85 of those soon adds up. Normally I dont do paving and if he wasn't so familiar would not have agreed to move and relay the old pavers, its usually more hassel than its worth.