This client takes the cake!

[Red'n'Black]

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.

From what I've seen, watching from the sidelines of a few small claims cases, they're more likely to succeed against a big corporate, so long as you have a sound case.

The one that went nowhere, my parents vs a pair of cowboy builders, they just immediately declared bankruptcy, phoenix'd the company under a slightly different name and carried on the following week. That was 40+ years ago but still seems to be a common trick.

 

[reb78]

From what I've seen, watching from the sidelines of a few small claims cases, they're more likely to succeed against a big corporate, so long as you have a sound case.

The one that went nowhere, my parents vs a pair of cowboy builders, they just immediately declared bankruptcy, phoenix'd the company under a slightly different name and carried on the following week. That was 40+ years ago but still seems to be a common trick.

Happened to my cousin a few years ago. Left them over 15k out of pocket and with a roof leaking water into their babies room. When my cousin highlighted this 'company' publicly they threatened legal action and scared her off!!

 

[gaz1]

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.

this part has been bugging me

it reads as i didnt want to pay for new but wanted you to go be a mug to collect them from so and so after the fact

it does make me question something did they know about it before the holiday so didnt order the flags

as goes for collecting said flags erm your not a collection service for customers, they pay for fuel time, loading time and unloading time and then cleaning of the flags which the price gets expensive more than buying new flags ( otherwise mug them yourself and clean the flags before i touch them )

my opinion on that subject alone its not been discused before hand and no price has been agreed the above comment comes to mind

another comment would be there friend was selling said items and theyve only just found out and its blah blah blah after the fact

as goes for moaning they want a refund for the broken flags i wish you had them as if i got that comment they would be soon droped on top of the newly laid flags and tipped out of the tipper truck as they are refusing to pay for removal and also have the cheek to demand a refund when infact you was removing waste from the site something that i presume your priced up in the job as well

 

[Dave-sparks]

Yes, I do. The example conifer tree should take a professional a lot less time than the two hours we took. Not unreasonable ?

Have you considered that they may have put in the high price because they didn't want the job?
Did the customer get 3 quotes?

 

[Smallfry]

Have you considered that they may have put in the high price because they didn't want the job?
Did the customer get 3 quotes?

No, because I do not get that anyone would do this. Makes no sense to me. Why not just say they are too busy ATM, or just say they don't want the job. Either has got to be better than getting the rep that they are taking the p*ss price wise. Word gets round.

No idea about the quotes. Didn't ask.

 

[Smallfry]

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 ?

Not with my back. Days of that are long gone !

 

[Smallfry]

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.

The good old boys seem to make enough out of it with just a van and a saw !

The thing is from my POV is that this was a 5 metre high, skinny columnar conifer. I would not even call it a tree, just a big shrub. No specialist gear required, easily dropped on the lawn, cut onto four pieces and into the back of the van.

Had it been a large proper tree, which needed climbing work, and the risk personal injury, and of it all going wrong, I can understand the need for equipment and the costs. Plus of course the time taken, but this wasn't like that at all.

I would never have been able to charge an elderly widow these sort of rates for the job involved, which is why I would have never have made it at being self employed. I would have done it for nothing.

Soft touch ? Maybe, but what would you be thinking if I presented your mother a bill of £600 for putting up a couple of shelves ?

 

[Dave-sparks]

No, because I do not get that anyone would do this. Makes no sense to me. Why not just say they are too busy ATM, or just say they don't want the job. Either has got to be better than getting the rep that they are taking the p*ss price wise. Word gets round.

No idea about the quotes. Didn't ask.

We do it to get rid of the job, or if we do get it to make it actually worth the hassle.

Small jobs are often far more hassle than they are worth, you see it as a job that can be done in a couple of hours, a lot of us see it as time lost on other jobs and a load of unnecessary hassle.

Often it is easier to put in a high price to get rid of the job than it is to just say no because when you try to say no they come back with a sob-story if why you should make an exception just for them.

Personally I'm an electrician doing strictly commercial work only. I sometimes get people asking me to do domestic work and when I explain that I don't do it they, instead did respecting my boundaries, come up with all manner of reasons why they think they should be the exception 'its just a 5 minute job' 'i'm a widow' 'my dog died' 'im a single mum'. The only way I can get rid of them is to give them a ridiculous price.

 

[Robotstar5]

Have you considered that they may have put in the high price because they didn't want the job?
Did the customer get 3 quotes?

When I worked for ABB Ford asked for a quote to update a couple of robots, they didn't want the job so trebled what they would normally quote, Ford said "OK, when can you do it?" I spent a couple of weekends at Halewood as the robots had to be worked on outside production hours, ABB made a lot of money and I just got time off in lieu

 

[reb78]

We do it to get rid of the job, or if we do get it to make it actually worth the hassle.

Small jobs are often far more hassle than they are worth, you see it as a job that can be done in a couple of hours, a lot of us see it as time lost on other jobs and a load of unnecessary hassle.

Often it is easier to put in a high price to get rid of the job than it is to just say no because when you try to say no they come back with a sob-story if why you should make an exception just for them.

Personally I'm an electrician doing strictly commercial work only. I sometimes get people asking me to do domestic work and when I explain that I don't do it they, instead did respecting my boundaries, come up with all manner of reasons why they think they should be the exception 'its just a 5 minute job' 'i'm a widow' 'my dog died' 'im a single mum'. The only way I can get rid of them is to give them a ridiculous price.

I'm with @Smallfry on this. I'd rather you just said 'I don't want to do it', 'I don't have time', 'it's not worth my while', 'whatever'.... I was waiting for a builder to get back to me with a quote and he never bothered. I don't know why he came to look in the first place tbh, all he did was delay me paying someone else to do the job and not recommend him elsewhere or even tell people to avoid as he was a timewaster. It impacted negatively on him and wouldn't have done so if he was just... honest.

The guy I use now when I can't do a job myself messaged me the other day to say his rates were going up.... My reply 'ok, no worries, I'd rather stuff was done right so that's fine, when can we book you in for that kitchen?' ... I pay him the day he invoices. We have no issues.

 

[Norsk]

The good old boys seem to make enough out of it with just a van and a saw !

The thing is from my POV is that this was a 5 metre high, skinny columnar conifer. I would not even call it a tree, just a big shrub. No specialist gear required, easily dropped on the lawn, cut onto four pieces and into the back of the van.

Had it been a large proper tree, which needed climbing work, and the risk personal injury, and of it all going wrong, I can understand the need for equipment and the costs. Plus of course the time taken, but this wasn't like that at all.

I would never have been able to charge an elderly widow these sort of rates for the job involved, which is why I would have never have made it at being self employed. I would have done it for nothing.

Soft touch ? Maybe, but what would you be thinking if I presented your mother a bill of £600 for putting up a couple of shelves ?

I see your point.

Did she get any other quotes?)

 

[Dapph2]

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...

The old gal next door is like that. She got the cheapest traveler to re-roof her bungalow in two days time. Scaffolding was put up and five months later it was reroofed and another four month before the scaffolding was removed and several barrowloads of crap left behind, she bitched every day and found fault everywhere .

I found a local well established just about to retire guy company . He gave me a possible start date six weeks ahead at a decent price to remove solar PV. strip the roof entirely fit breathable membrane re-baton with new treated wood and all new tiles which he goy his lads to unpack and re make pallets so there was an even tabby colour spread across the roof , he did a good job with the roof-line too . Refitting the panels exactly as they were originally fitted .
All done in 8 days , rain stops included . Scaffold removed the afternoon they finished and a final revisit to clean up .

Mine cost £800 more than Ramona's .... found out a few months ago , she was unhappy because my roof looks so good whereas hers is all blotchy because the tiles were laid straight off the pallet with no mixing. Nnow she tells me they didn't put a new membrane on ( they only part replaced a few rotten baton ends too )

 

[reb78]

The old gal next door is like that. She got the cheapest traveler to re-roof her bungalow in two days time. Scaffolding was put up and five months later it was reroofed and another four month before the scaffolding was removed and several barrowloads of crap left behind, she bitched every day and found fault everywhere .

I found a local well established just about to retire guy company . He gave me a possible start date six weeks ahead at a decent price to remove solar PV. strip the roof entirely fit breathable membrane re-baton with new treated wood and all new tiles which he goy his lads to unpack and re make pallets so there was an even tabby colour spread across the roof , he did a good job with the roof-line too . Refitting the panels exactly as they were originally fitted .
All done in 8 days , rain stops included . Scaffold removed the afternoon they finished and a final revisit to clean up .

Mine cost £800 more than Ramona's .... found out a few months ago , she was unhappy because my roof looks so good whereas hers is all blotchy because the tiles were laid straight off the pallet with no mixing. Nnow she tells me they didn't put a new membrane on ( they only part replaced a few rotten baton ends too )

Sounds like you live the other side of an old neighbour to me. She beats people down in price to the point that noone professional would take a job on, then beats the person down a bit more. The amount of quick fixes she had on her roof was crazy. Must have spent more getting that fixed than if she'd just found someone to do it properly in the first place.