Irritating customers, lets hear about yours.

[xsrock]

Anyone else get annoyed when you are doing a job and the customer looks over your shoulder the whole time. Had one yesterday. Was wiring the basement of a new house and the homeowner stayed right with me for most of the day just watching. Don't know why it bugs me, but it does. I should make up one of those rate schedules that go up if you watch or help. He is a nice guy, but man I wish he would go away.

[dcreel]

I think the issue is with the scumbags that do shoddy work and expect good money for it. If I have the opportunity I will do the same thing as your customer. It's hard to find good honest people to do work for you anymore. Let alone come into your home and do work for you. When I was an owner operator and getting work done to my truck I'd be up in the tech's @$$ to make sure things got done correctly. My point is that you have to see it from his point of view. He doesn't want to be replacing or having someone else redo your work a few years down the line. Watch Holmes on Homes. Just think, if you do a great job and he witnesses it.. you will get that much more positive feedback for more business.

[cattle-dog]

we have a construction company been in business 45 years, true there is shoddy work out there, the thing is people want someone to do thier work as cheap as possible, so you get scumbags that will work for peanuts. they have no insurance , comp or liability and drive junk trucks.
instead of trying to get a-1 quality work for nothing while bringing home the good wages themselves try hiring the middle priced guy in the quotes you get, let him make a decent living and you wont get a guy who just wants to get done to get his money.
oh and we dont advertise its all referal my customers do the talking for me.
tell the customer they are not covered when they cause a accident by being in your way allday.
heres some of my work this is what you get for hiring and paying a quality craftsmen, and the homeonwners stiff us contractors all the time, i have a lean on a 500 acre farm now for over 10,000 dollars http://cid-63a961d4a6cda958.photos.live.com/albums.aspx

[xsrock]

You are getting off the mark a little. I somehow knew this was going to turn into a critique of my abilities. I am not a fly by night. I have been in business for 9 years and have been in the trade for 20. Licensed, insured, all that. Said customer just had nothing else to do that day. I don't mind the customer being there for a little while, but after 6 hours it was wearing on me.

[dcreel]

You are getting off the mark a little. I somehow knew this was going to turn into a critique of my abilities. I am not a fly by night. I have been in business for 9 years and have been in the trade for 20. Licensed, insured, all that. Said customer just had nothing else to do that day. I don't mind the customer being there for a little while, but after 6 hours it was wearing on me.

Oh no man.. What I posted wasn't about your abilities whatsoever... Who's to say he hasn't been ripped off before by someone doing wiring in his old house? My point was is that he is just looking out for his property and to make sure the job is done correctly to the best of his knowledge. Or he might have just been bored and wanted to hang out with you.

But, I assure you I have no knowledge of your work, and wouldn't judge a man without firsthand knowledge of such. I was looking at things from the homeowners point of view.

[cattle-dog]

You are getting off the mark a little. I somehow knew this was going to turn into a critique of my abilities. I am not a fly by night. I have been in business for 9 years and have been in the trade for 20. Licensed, insured, all that. Said customer just had nothing else to do that day. I don't mind the customer being there for a little while, but after 6 hours it was wearing on me.
just another contractor sticking up for you bud i to dont like the over the shoulder watchers

[fabiodriven]

I do inspection stickers on cars and heavy trucks. It's a great job and I really don't have all that much to complain about, but here are a couple of gripes.

I am required by the state to drive every vehicle into and out of my bay. One thing I hate is when I go outside to pull in a vehicle and I get in only to realize that the customer has just farted in said vehicle. This happens more often then you might think.

Sometimes I work on my truck in my shop (one bay) when I don't have any customers. When somebody shows up I have to pull my truck out to pull their vehicle in, which is not a problem. The problem arises when I pull my truck out and the customer has their vehicle parked in my spot. It almost never fails. Then I have to pull my truck out and try to find somewhere to stick it where it won't be in the way, pull their vehicle in, and then move my truck to its spot after they leave.

I also get customers that get in the way. I allow my customers to stay in the bay while I inspect their vehicles. This is because I know most of my customers pretty well. Every now and then I get a jack-ass that follows my every footstep and get in my way while I am working in and around their vehicles.

This one almost never fails- Some days it is so busy in my shop that I do not get to sit down all day. Other days it is so slow that I sit there for hours at a time waiting for customers. If I have been sitting there all morning on my arse, either as soon as I order my lunch or as soon as I take a bite of my lunch somebody comes in for an inspection. Never, ever fails. It really butters my bagel when that happens.

[MTS]

Doing commercial and industrial tires for a small company..I get to talk to customers when they call...The most irritating thing i would say is the..." i got a flat tire..what do you think is wrong?" :lol::lol: phone call...It can be quite entertains somedays...An just plain old irritating when they dont let up about it for 5 mins, when your up to your elbows in grease.

[Chazz of Blades]

I worked at a pawn shop for a year. You have your few regulars who are great people, then you have.........those other people.



Always picking things up, complaining, argueing about prices, not haggling or negotiating, that I'm fine with, I love to haggle, but just pure argueing.

People coming in saying that their item is worth a ton, when I look it up on the net, and show them that it's not worth a tenth of what they thought, they start screaming that the internet is lying.

[xsrock]

"I am required by the state to drive every vehicle into and out of my bay. One thing I hate is when I go outside to pull in a vehicle and I get in only to realize that the customer has just farted in said vehicle. This happens more often then you might think."


That's hilarious, have to remember that the next time I take the car to the shop.

[fmnrd]

I am required by the state to drive every vehicle into and out of my bay. One thing I hate is when I go outside to pull in a vehicle and I get in only to realize that the customer has just farted in said vehicle. This happens more often then you might think."

Fabio : I heard you were a smart feller , now you tell us your a fart smeller ?:p

[bigbadktm]

i do decorative concrete overlays, if you dont know what that is, you might wanna look it up...its interesting work. so i have to go through this guys house to get to his decks that we are working on. he wants one completed to see final product before he does the 2 larger decks. it was a tile pattern that he wanted to be exactly 16.125 x 16.125 ins . with a 5/8" grout line. well we only carry 3/8" grout tape so he had to suffer there. the tiles came out to 16 and an 1/8" square, not bad for being an overlay and not real tile. the guy was out there with his tape measure measuring every tile that we had laid down, then he was out there while I was coloring said tiles, and while i was sealing the tiles, guy was up our arses all day every step of the process.

he came out and pointed out some things that we missed, very minor imperfections that nobody else would notice, but we did fix cause thats what we do. now remember this is an imperfect process not like laying real tile. i could go on and on about this guy looking like andy dick and living up to that last name...lol

job came out better than most and not just cause he was out there, but because i made the sample that sold the job, and made the job just like my sample. I have been doing this stuff for the past 10 years...its what i do son. im sure that I am leaving some complaints out but this guy will top the cake for some time to come...dang long rant and i'm sorry lol

[fugget1]

I started my business in 92, and I agree completely with homeowners being a pain in the neck when they crowd you while your working. As far as them just being careful and covering their butts, maybe 50% of them have some idea what they are seeing, the other 50% have clue. I lost a job to a cheaper cut rate guy. No hard feelings, but i was definitely disapointed in this economy. The homeowner went in ever hour or so and saw what was happening. The guy actually put 1/2 sheetrock in as a sub floor under a toilet, then covered it with luann, and then 1/4 hardibacker, then tile. I was really surprised when I got a call form the homeowner to come see why the newly remodeled bathroom had its toilet broken, and the floor falling out. I only knew how he did the repair after I tore it out.

[Dammit!]

I used to run into "the watcher's" when I was installing satellite systems. Found out the best way to deal with them was put them to work. Most get sick of it pretty quick and leave you alone. If they don't, what the hell you just get a free gopher for the day.

I (unfortunately) have been forced to work phone jobs lately though. I hate phone jobs. It's amazing how rude people can be when there's no threat of getting punched in the jaw. Just this morning, my very first call, some drunk idiot. So drunk he couldn't even communicate what the hell he was calling about. I ask the usual "what can I do for you?" He then replies in a stream of profanities about he is the f*%^ing customer so he is right (right about what I still have no idea). I'm used to it so I just put him on penalty hold and use it as an excuse to get up and walk around a bit. After about five minutes I come back and of course he had hung up. Turns out he called the billing department and did the same thing to someone else. The best part is that when he wakes up he's going to discover he no longer has a website or any domains left to complain about. :lol: I really don't know what people think they're going to accomplish acting like that. The e-mail people are even worse. Every e-mail support question I see that has even a slightly bitchy tone to it gets skipped right over.

[hoosierlogger]

I cut trees and hate it more than anything when the land owners want to watch. They will bring the whole family out for an all day viewing. Kind of makes it tricky to answer natures calls in privacy. We let them watch us work from a distance, but they inch closer when they think you are not watching them. I had an old man drive his John Deere Gator down the trail I was working right along the edge of. The tree was cut loose and on the way down when he drove around the corner under the tree. He didnt know what happened until he heard it hit the ground. He apologized for not paying attention and we never seen him again the rest of the time we were there.

[Sick200x]

I work at an Outdoor Power Equipment dealership (lawnmowers, chainsaws, snowblowers,etc) had an irrate woman call today demanding to know why her snowthrower still wasn't done after 2 wks, trying to curse me out before I even got her name. After calming her down a bit and getting her name, I asked for her claim check number. Wrong move, profanities flew again! Calmed her a bit and put her on hold to go look for it. Couldn't find it anywhere and the other mechanic knew nothing about it. When I got back to the phone she had hung up. Just as I'm getting back to work repairing another one, her husband calls back claiming I hung up on her, and "I didn't want him coming over", I assured him I just put her on hold, calming him a little. Asked his name again, what kind was it, what color, when did you drop it off? That was the question that solved it, "my son dropped it off 2 wks ago!", then I could hear 'ol wifey in backround yelling to son. Turns out it wasn't even brought to me, the son took it to my competitors next town over. This has happened before, but usually they apologize and we both have a laugh about it. This guy just says, "It's at the other place" and hangs up. Pretty rude, I feel sorry for the other shop when he calls them. I hope it's still not done there, we're having the blizzard of the season tonight here in Michigan! Thanks for letting me vent, what a day.......