Customers from hell!

[Ashwood Heating]

They have got grown-up kids and they both work full time, why?

The reason i asked is because these people have nothing better to do than to criticize your fruits.

 

[bengasman]

Subbing? As in dom and sub? Guess we have all done it. Which is why most of us do not do it today. Itallian stuff usually looks nice but does not fit or last long. My GOLDEN rule: if customer supplies, customer is responsible for it as long as it is installed according to the manual. After i started doing things like this i lost a few jobs and ALL my headaches.

 

[sierracsierra]

hey you guys,
Give us customers a break Yes, I agree that Mike has got a particularly awkward one here. But like any relationship, it takes two. You guys need to take a step back too, and look at things from a customers point of view.

As Mike says

get a rougue in and they pay over the odds no questions asked then shyte on thenext guy in.

But how do we know who are the rogues? How do you define a rogue? After all, no real offence meant here, but you have all picked up tricks of the trade which drive us customers barmy. Like, walking away when we are talking to you, not answering your mobiles, praising the customer next door etc etc i could go on, but I don't want to cause offence. I have had damage done to my furniture, appliances etc when work has been done, but no-one will ever own up to it. I don't consider myself an awkward customer, I am fair. But like most Englishmen/women, my home is my castle. And if I have to have workmen in to repair something, I expect some common courtesy, a decent job done and above all HONESTY. ALL I ask is to be told the truth (and no B.S!)

I did all the plumbing but can't seem to fit a toilet cistern?

Again, a two way thing. Your are not dumb and neither am I. So just be honest and then I won't think "I can't believe he's stupid enough to think I'm stupid enough to believe that!!"

Sorry to rant on , but it is a subject close to my heart (just having had an extension built (9 months). I have honestly considered over this time whether there is anything I can do to make this general relationship better, but it will take a long time and EACH party to consider the other!!
The world would be a better place. Rant over

 

[Agile]

hey you guys,
Give us customers a break But like any relationship, it takes two. You guys need to take a step back too, and look at things from a customers point of view.

But like most Englishmen/women, my home is my castle. And if I have to have workmen in to repair something, I expect some common courtesy, a decent job done and above all HONESTY. ALL I ask is to be told the truth (and no B.S!)

I repair boilers often after others have failed!

I try to treat customers with respect and ask before going into any room or using the toilet.

However there is one thing that really upsets me! In most cases I am better educated and better off than my customers and I do not like to be referred to as a workman!

They would not call their solicitor or accountant a workman so why their boiler engineer?

Tony

 

[Mike2007]

Yes, there is a common assumption that a "workman" ( the person asked to undertake the work), has not got two brain cells to rub together!
I have many other qualifications in computer programs I don't use for plumbing and heating, but I don't recite these to prove my intelligence.
There are many customers who can afford to use an engineer to do work for them but this does not mean they are bright, articulate and reasonable people (it means they have funds to pay for the task only)?
Most of my customers are as GOOD AS GOLD, I respect them and they respect me. In fact I automatically respect ALL my customers until they try to take the ****.
Some of the contributors (naming no names) on this site are VERY bright people and add much to cleaning up a tarnished industry! Customer thinks that anyone that "fiddles" with his toilet must be a"low caste" due to the nature of the task. He may be paying me but WE are 100% equal men, not the Lord of the Manor and his "cap wringing" servant.
Mutual respect and a civil tongue is a first port of call for a job.
Lines of communication are always open after a job has finished and I never lower myself to level of the ranting person on the other end of the phone...

PS. I do know of the slap-dash type of "plumbers" that were described above.....giving everyone a bad name

 

[doyle]

im the oppossit mike know of and worked along side a guy who then became plumber and made his 1 million. how charging 75/150 or even 350 to the little old grannies for changing a washer etc.

 

[Ashwood Heating]

However there is one thing that really upsets me! In most cases I am better educated and better off than my customers and I do not like to be referred to as a workman!

I bet you have had it when they are on the phone and they say they have got the plumber around fixing there boiler...I love that one

 

[gas4you]

They also think they 'own' you refering to you as 'my' or 'their' plumber/gas man

I hate being referred to as a plumber

 

[Ashwood Heating]

And of course you must be sitting around the corner the second they phone.

 

[sierracsierra]

I apologise, 'workmen' was the wrong choice of word. i used it only to cover all 'people who come to the house, plumbers, electricians, builders. labourers etc etc' And no. I would'nt call my solicitor a workman, but he is a professional, and I am sorry to say that I have'nt had a professional person yet come to my house to do work, plumber. electrician, builder, labourers etc. (Now you know why i used the one word 'workmen', maybe you would prefer 'tradesmen'?)
I think you are being a tad sensitive to think that the word 'workmen' means a lower intelligence. I certainly don't equate the word with low intelligence.
But I can empathise with your sensitivity, I am a woman, as well as being a qualified mechanical engineer. I don't tell 'the people who come to the house to do work' what I do for a living, consequently they have this opinion that I will accept their B.S. and that I am just the little woman at home, of little intelligence. So you see there are similarities!! What between me and builders NO WAY!!!

 

[sierracsierra]

Oh and in addition....nearly all the 'people who have come to the house to do work' are making loads more money than me, especially plumbers. They have bigger houses and flash cars. But thats not what life is about as far as I'm concerend. I would rather be honest and fair, and enjoy life, than have all the material possesions.
(I wish they had a smiley showing an angel with a halo!)

 

[gas4you]

I for one treat all my female customers with the same respect as any male. I do not talk down to them as if they are a 'blonde', hence the fact I get good recomendations from all my customers, male or female It wouldn't change the way I talk to you if I knew your profession either, in fact as conversation I always enquire about my customers profession.

 

[Balenza]

sierracsierra wrote

and I am sorry to say that I have'nt had a professional person yet come to my house to do work, plumber. electrician, builder, labourers etc.

Pay peanuts and you get monkeys. What do you expect ?.

nearly all the 'people who have come to the house to do work' are making loads more money than me, especially plumbers

Have you considered a career in plumbing ?
You could join the elite band of CCC's.

as well as being a qualified mechanical engineer

What branch of engineering are you involved in if I may ask ?.

 

[Rob]

nearly all the 'people who have come to the house to do work' are making loads more money than me, especially plumbers. They have bigger houses and flash cars.

Umm.. are you just making this up. At what point have you seen all of the houses and cars of people that do work in your house?

 

[EliteHeat]

Umm.. are you just making this up. At what point have you seen all of the houses and cars of people that do work in your house?

The number one item on my conversational list, when I meet a new customer is, how big my house is, how much I earn and what sort of car I have

Actually, I live in a cow shed, don't own a car and wish I earned more!