posted
I like that Rick! I agree, sometimes adversity in circumstances, or people can be a gift to us. helps us to grow if we learn by it. Your comment is causing me to think about things, thank you!
-------------------- The Word in Signs Bobbie Rochow Jamestown, PA 16134
724-927-6471
thewordinsigns@alltel.net Posts: 3485 | From: Jamestown, PA 16134 | Registered: Oct 2002
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one would guess that many of you have had a customer just like this one!
It is true that he, like many customers out there, has allowed himself to be in control, and we, like many businesses, have inadvertantly allowed it.
The reasoning behind charging him more is that we have given him nothing but the best of bargains from the beginning because he has allowed his to pick from our scrap pile and build odd-sized signs that most people can't use. He has shown very little realization or appreciation for this, so the PITA charge is really just the prices coming back to where they should have been in the first place.
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
Ahhhhhh... "scrap pile"! Get that word out of your vocabulary and never ever use it with a customer. You don't generate scrap; you generate "off cuts". Scrap has no value; off cuts have value. Yes it is semantics but it works.
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6737 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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posted
Seems everyone forgot to mention the downpayment or "pre-payment" for jobs under x dollars and the contracts etc. that would normally accompany a discussion of this length. 2 cents
-------------------- Nikki Goral Image Advantage Signs 4050 Champeau Road New Franken, WI 54229 920-465-4500 "Finish every day and be done with it. Tomorrow is a new day."-Ralph Waldo Emerson Posts: 928 | From: New Franken, WI (East Green Bay) | Registered: Jun 2007
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posted
My favorite saying: That's not scrap, that's profit!
'course sometimes it is just scrap.....LOL
but I am more lenient when someone's willing to take an odd-sized piece of "profit" off my hands!
-------------------- Michael Gene Adkins The Fontry 1576 S Hwy 59 Watts OK 74964 Posts: 845 | From: Watts, OK USA | Registered: Jun 1999
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posted
Bump the bill by $25 bucks, tell him to knock on the house door next time (most of my customers do anyway) and let him know that what he did is criminal...theft of property. Unless he left a check or cash, he took something that was yours, not his.
If he doesn't agree to all of the above, tell him to go somewhere else...permanently.
The first customer I want to see is one who knows how to do business. The LAST ones I want to deal with are the $50 brain dead idiots who are not worth the aggravation like this...or the subsequent ulcers they cause.
Your shop, your rules....POST THEM! Rapid
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
Money is money, but at what cost? If you were raking in thousands from this guy, it might be worth it to hang onto him and add the PITA tax. But for chump change, I wouldn't even turn on my computer for him personally.
Next time he calls, double your price and tell him your deadline is a month away before you can even see him if you can't outright fire him. He won't be back and your blood pressure can stay down.
It's about choices. You can continue to 'take him on' and play games, and learn to control your anger around him, or just make a choice to stop the nonsense if it's a proven deal that he does business like this continuously. If you continue to deal with him, you're also chosing that route.
posted
Frank's post speaks volumes!!!! Luckily, I've learned to control my anger before it reached that point. I've also learned that there are some people in this world that just "don't get it". They are damn near impossible to deal with. I have a few members of my family that fall into this catagory, some of whom I basically have little or nothing to do with, it's just not worth it. Customers of this ilk are pretty easy to spot. I will do my best to deal with "difficult" customers and actually have a great deal of patience when it comes to "difficult". Cross over the line into "unreasonable" and I refuse to fool with them.
-------------------- George Perkins Millington,TN. goatwell@bigriver.net
"I started out with nothing and still have most of it left"
posted
It's interesting to see the difference between small town signshops and bigger Community shops. Here in Fergus, it's still not uncomman for roadside vendors to just leave a cardboard box. Everyone just works on the honor system.
This is just a blatant promotion for Letterville. If you feel $50 is nothing, why not become a Resident and help cover the costs of running this meet? With more and more Suppliers cutting back on advertising, the additional income is more than welcome.
quote:Originally posted by Steve Shortreed: It's interesting to see the difference between small town signshops and bigger Community shops. Here in Fergus, it's still not uncomman for roadside vendors to just leave a cardboard box. Everyone just works on the honor system.
This is just a blatant promotion for Letterville. If you feel $50 is nothing, why not become a Resident and help cover the costs of running this meet? With more and more Suppliers cutting back on advertising, the additional income is more than welcome.
posted
Hey, I'm sorry to say this . . . but it's just SO darn EASY to say . . .
Have you ever noticed the people who, quote: get "ABSOLUTELY RAGING MAD" and then ask, quote; "what would you do?"
. . . are often the same people who could have EASILY avoided the enraging situation in the first place and who also have some of the silliest responses to solutions provided by those who would humor their dilemma.
Meanwhile, as for what I DO . . . when I finish a job I call the customer to find out when they will come by, just so I can personally make the exchange I worked for, or I might make a provision to deliver the job COD.
I seriously doubt I would question anyone about a customer 'stealing' their signs from my unlocked shop . . . and the only person I would be enraged with would be myself if they did.
How's that for being blunt and candid?
Smile! Your on candid camera!
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
If you feel $50 is nothing, why not become a Resident and help cover the costs of running this meet? With more and more Suppliers cutting back on advertising, the additional income is more than welcome.![[Applause]](graemlins/applause.gif)
Well said Mr Shortreed!
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