Sly Bald Guys Forum
Various Non-Bald Discussions => General Discussion => Topic started by: Timmay on February 06, 2008, 04:26:16 PM
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Hey all, I just wanted to tell you something that happened today and actually I, myself, cant believe I actually took the actions that I took today against a customer.
She had come to my store about 2 weeks ago wanting us to come in and put in some new vinyl flooring in her entry way. This morning we did that job and it wasnt 5 minutes after the installer left that she called complaining about it. I tried to reason with her on the phone and she insisted that she either wanted a different color or she wasnt going to pay for it. I explained to her that the color we installed was the color she had picked out. She didnt disagree with me but she felt it was a terrible installation job and she wanted a different vinyl. I told her we would have to charge her for another new vinyl IF there WASNT any wrong doings on our part. She wasnt happy about and just plainly told me that she wasnt going to pay for it. SO, I agreed to come out and inspect the job. I get there and there is nothing wrong. all the glue had been spred out ..all the cuts were done right....and just a normal looking job. She still insisted that she wasnt going to pay for it. I asked her 2 times if she insisted on not paying for it...she said Yes both times. So at that point I grab ahold of the corner...took the vinyl and rolled it up. She stood there with her chin dropped to the floor and was like..but but but...theres not going to be any flooring there...I said YULP youre right.....but but but.....its going to be sticky....again i said YULP Ma'am Youre.Right......but but but what am i gonna do for a floor? I said well Ma'am I guess you will have to go out and do some more floor shopping...then i walked out the door.
So to all you Sly guys out there....Dont ever tell another Sly Flooring Guy you arent going to pay for newly installed floorcovering...cause I will yank it out......
Made me feel good lol....
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I deal with customers alot and thankfully my boss does not subscribe to the philosophy that "the customer is always right". He flat out told me early on "The customer is very often wrong". I often get people that flat out say "Well I am the customer and I am not happy, what are you going to do about it?"... it is soo nice to be able to say "nothing".
I am not talking about customers with legit excuses, I am talking prople that are just trying to get things for free by basically holding their breath.
The precedence set by places like Wal Mart that will take anything back has made people feel they can just be stubborn and get their way.
Way to go Tim, people like that do not deserve to be rewarded.
That just made my day.
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That freakin rocks Tim!!!!!!!
I'd like to do that with some of my clients
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Yea, people suck!
Good for you Timm!
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Great story!
The customer is not always right.
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TIMMAY!
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Yeah Timmay!!! After 20 year in the Hotel industry Where the customer is allways right I had to deal with a lot of those who believe -- if you complain you'll get it free. Their were a few people floor I would have liked to pull out
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You are GREAT!! O0
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timmy....good 4 U! i woulda loved 2 C that incident on youtube.com. think of all the "hits" you'll get on that one. O0
WARHAWK O0
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Man Tim, wish I could use some technique like that on some of the parents I have to deal with.
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being in construction and dealing with people you just cant please that is the funniest and greatest thing i ever heard of. :*)) :*)) :*))
going to tell your story to the other contractors and i bet i get the no way you have got to be kidding. they will get a kick out of it. man that is to funny.. O0 O0
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Alright guys... it was a great story until I learned the truth......
My 90 year old grandmother called and said some guy in red and white shorts came in and ripped up her vinyl flooring not 2 hours after it was installed... she said he told her her social security checks couldn't cover his fee's and he was still gonna bill her for the glue!!!
I'm commin for ya Timmaaayyyy :x!
Just kiddin man...stay away from my flooring :*))
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Oh boy, floor repo man....sounds like another case of a greedy, wealthy business owner who employees Americans "victimizing" an innocent customer. Hmmmm...I'm afraid your company will be taught a painful lesson after Hillary gets in charge and nationalizes private businesses and gets the profit spread around to the victims.
LOL. All joking aside, I think thats great. Sounds like another so called customer who felt they were "entitled" to free products ans services. Does everyone remember when the Internet got big in the 90s, we were all promised free goods and services or at tleast at cost? And remember we were all going to buy our groceries on line through Web Van and have UPS deliver them?
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Thanks guys....to be honest all day long I stewed around wondering if I did the right thing. I mean lets face it......she basically wasnt going to pay for the flooring and it was installed and in perfectly good shape. So if I didnt take it out....she would have gotten a free floor, the work and materials all together for her entry way was right around $300 bucks...so I dunno. My boss will still have to pay the installer for his work..but at least she didnt get the satisfaction of pulling the wool over my eyes. What she was trying to do is still considered theft...no matter how you look at it. Thanks for the back up and support..i dont feel so crappy now.
Timmay
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Timmj, look at it this way. She can't sue you because she never paid, your company wouldn't take her to court cause it would cost more money than the floor was worth, and she would have just done the same to the next person who she hired because she got away with this one.
Always live with no regrets!! O0
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You are right there Champ....but word of mouth is stronger than anything. Im sure she is out there bad mouthing our company. Oh well.....there is a long story behind her anyways....maybe I will post it up some day I dunno....just dont want to waste alot of good energy on such a worthless creature...........
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I kind of like the wayay you dealt with it however generally that probably would have wound up in collections after she refused to pay the bill and then some sort of civil court, small claims, etc.
I deal with that sort of thing all the time as a cop, customers refusing to pay for services they didnt like, etc. Last one I handled was a night club refusing to pay for a delivery of ice. Its mostly civil unless the elements of the offense of theft can be proved, IE intent, etc.
Another aspect is the repeat problem customer-they try to cheat every business owner by claiming poor service, etc . They figure the business would prefer to " roll over" than fight them
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Yeah Timmj, like skinhead said she would have bad-mouthed your company anyway. Now when she says anything about it she will probably have to explain why the floor was taken out, which if the person she is talking to knows her, will understand why it was done.
PS... you have to admit the 90 year old grandmother was funny! :)
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Very true....because everyone in town knows this lady. To kinda fill you in on the story behind her..in a nut shell. About 20 years ago she was with her daughter and grandchild and son looking at a house trailor. When they opened the door there was some kind of gas leak and when they flipped on teh switch the whole place blew up. It killed her grandchild and her son and herself were badly burned. The son had to wear one of those mask that burn victims have to wear. Well they took the home owner to court and won a good sized settlement. THey never had anything to their name. So they get this windfall of money...........in unfortunate circumstances...and in which I think she was totally entitled to it. Well she basically pisses the money away. Builds this big huge house. Very nice home at that...but totally doesnt take care of it. She hires this unknown contractor and builder from out of state to come build this house. Totally screws it up....the syptic system was always backing up in her basement...but she kinda just brushes it under the rug ..so to speak. This began about 7 years ago...but it wasnt until about 3 months ago that she started getting sick and now that she has been to the dr. its from the bacteria that is growing on her basement walls from teh syptic system backing up. NOW she wants to sue everyone involved. She even had a front page article in teh paper about it. Pictures and all....trying to get everyone to feel sorry for her. Im like well you let 7 years go by before you even did anything about it? Why the hell would anyoen feel sorry for you. So I dunno...thats where she is at on things....in other words...to my interpertation....the world owes her.........if you know what i mean
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That was a ballsy move on your part, but appropriate. Given her background, any bad-mouthing of your company will probably be igored by most. Perhaps word will get around that if customers don't pay for the products purchased from your company, they will be confiscated. (by a mean bald-headed dude wearing red and white shorts)
How does your boss feel about this?
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He really didnt have much to say about it. He is the type of person who will let almost anyone walk over him. I do feel bad in a way.... but then again I dont. Oh well life goes on...
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The customer is rarely right, usually loud. Good for you Timmy. Sounds like something I would have done!
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Tim-
I agree with the other brothers........ she got exactly what she asked for!!
You Rock!