This is carried over from Gutterdogs FB post about cancelling jobs. We don't do it much, maybe 5 times this year. But we get quite an uproar when we do. Customers cancel on us all the time. Sometimes we don't even get the memo until we show up to do the job. Customers will claim "oh I cancelled it last week". Sometimes they won't even give an excuse even when I ask.
Don't we also have the right to cancel? I understand some customers may take time off work which can make it more slippery. We started a job last year and bailed when she yelled at my guys for starting before she came home but the husband came home before her and told us to start. She called, was confused, and promised to ruin us.
If at any point a customer didn't feel comfortable with either the job being performed or the person performing it, don't they have the right to cancel the job even if their feelings are unwarranted? Maybe my thinking is backwards but I am liberal about refusing soup. I get that gut feeling and learning to go with it.
We have the right to cancel, but convincing a homeowner of that can be tough! I try not to ever let it happen. What I have done-because I'm whacked sometimes, is just forget to write a job down, after talking with the customer and setting a date. Then I get a call "It's 10am and you were supposed to be here at 8:30 to clean my roof" If I am healthy enough to do anything, I tell them my mistake and that I will be there in an hour or so and do it myself. I set up my 2nd rig and head to work!
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Serving Englewood Rotonda North Port Cape Haze Venice Port Charlotte Punta Gorda Boca Grande Charlotte and Southern Sarasota Counties in Florida.
I am not at all as busy as Ed and most of you guys so it's not hard for me to keep on schedule. But I would say twice a year I get a customer I bail out on, most of the time they are just difficult to please and think they are the only people that matter, they are just not worth the headache. Had one this week....one more to go and smooth sailing rest of the season. I also think when Ed shows up with his bald head the customer bails out....
Unfortunately that is the nature of the business... Your reputation (if you care) depends on your being prompt and satisfying the customers demands no matter how hard they are. You are the one getting paid not the customer. You have to keep your feelings to yourself and remember that the customer is always right even if you do not agree. If you do a good job you might get lucky if that customer refers you to their friends. Do a bad job or pi... a customer off and that customer will tell all of their friends about you in a way that you do not want.
At worst case if you have a customer that you do not think that you can please then tell them so. Thank them for the invitation to give them a bid but explain to them in a cordial way you do not think that you can live up to their expectations. Never be rude to a customer as that will come back to haunt you.
Marcus I have to disagree my friend. Keeping your feelings to yourself means NoT going with your gut. The customer is NoT always right even though we'll bend in their favor. Just yesterday a guy complained that we altered the paint on his door knob. That's right, he said he paid someone $30 to paint his door knob. Guess how much we deducted from his bill? The door knob didn't appear altered at all. Was he right? I say no, but we bent in his favor. We walk away a lot now especially because we're busy. Of course our tolerance is higher once it slows down. I think it pays to be subjective. My best customers are those who know what it's like to run a business.