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Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
i had some aggresive idiot this morning who thought him parting with money was out of order. his wife explained problem over the phone and i told her all our charges up front so no surprises then when i get there aggresive husband starts doing his nut because ive had to charge him a minimal charge and im only talking 20 quid here so not huge amounts! starts shouting at me and his wife what a great way to start the week!
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Part P doesn`t cover these
4. What types of electrical work does Part P NOT cover?The approved document for Part P from the office of the deputy prime minister (ODPM)
lists the following examples of electrical work that IS allowed without notification, and
thus is NOT applicable/covered by Part P:It should be assumed that all work outside of that listed below should be notified
through Part P (competent Persons scheme OR local buildings control office).Work consisting of:
> Replacing any electrical fitting including socket-outlets, control switches and ceiling
roses.
> Replacing the cable for a single circuit only, where damaged, for example, by fire,
rodent or impact (a)
> Re-fixing or replacing the enclosures of existing installation components (b)
> Providing mechanical protection to existing fixed installations (c).Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
called to a old lady few months back, bust be knocking on, nice old dear her top loading washing machine had give up the goose. i did not charge her for callout or estimate at all. why? simple reason is you know whats coming next, in fact you could put money on the phone will go and a relative will be kicking off,
she asked me to supply her with a new top loader which i did, i had it on sale for £175.00 as its a belter so what did i do? supply and installed for £100!! why? well i was just being the good Samaritan that i am, an old lady living on here own?
i then spent at least 40 min demonstrating how to use it, and putting labels on the machine so she wouldn’t forget.
all goes well about 4 weeks later she books a service call (give 1 years warrantly will all recon appliances) as said softener wasent being taken went round checked out ever time on rinse it takes the softener, turns out some of the colour was left at the bottom of the compartment and looked to her like it had no been taken,
next call its sticking, next knobs dont work,
each time insists on having a brew and a chat if you get the picture.
well to be honest each time i went was on my way back home and its obvious what she was up too.sat and talked about the war each time!!anyway each time very considerate and polite as being a vulnerable old lady in my own community.
only last week her daughter on the phone to report the machine was sticking again, she insisted that their were a fault with it, although she had personally never used it. so to settle this once and for all i took the machine this time back to my workshop for a complete functional test
tested the machine its working spot on perfect, a1 no problems what so ever.
phones her back to arrange re-delivery and she bought a new machine! thats within 1 day! her daughter gets on the phone and is slating me down and becoming abusive demanding a refund and being called a con man who robs old lady’s!
what the hell do i do? iv spent countless hours with this customer now insisting on a refund, the product that i sold her was a1. its not as if there were any problems at all, the old dear is struggling to get around so probably cant use it very well.
iv took the trouble to day to send her a letter explaining everything inc. a print out of test results of safety test and additional functional test i did extensively covering all the functions of the machine.
you just no pleasing people?
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Simon,
You know damn well what the answer to this one is. You’ve been had for a mug by trying to be nice. You’ve got the machine back, I’d suggest that you just pay back the £100 and forget about it. Make absolutely sure that the damn thing works properly and sell it for what it’s worth – top loader is a niche market appliance, so charge a damn site more for it, especially if your going to warrant it.Oh, maybe tell your other local repairers the address……. But, only if you like them.
Chris.
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Have had a similar one recently but not from a sale. Old dear complaining of Hoover wm no spin. Every time I get there the spin selector is at no spin. She ‘s adamant that she returns it after every wash. Been out three times and not charged as its on my home route. Last but one time the daughter leaves a terse message to ring her once the problem is sorted so I told her the story as it was and that I don’t think the machine is at fault. She agreed and said she thought she was geting forgetful, so I put it to her the next time the old dear complained of no spin go out and check it themselves rather than leaving it to an engineer, as it was begining to cost money which would be billed eventually.
Two weeks later son in law rings to complain of no spin, reminded him of the scenario and the cost and he decided to have a look himself which the lazy get decided to do 😉 .
No calls from her or son in law for four months 😉 .TC
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
i think your right chris prob the best alround, bite the bullet and give a refund , since took the thing back iv had it on none stop in the workshop, now i recon in total it must have dont 20 odd washes including pre sale testing not 1 has failed. 😥
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
With people like that you’re better off just refunding and walking away. They may tell their friends that you aren’t any good (telling the tale from their own warped viewpoint) but if their friends know them at all well they’ll know how to read between the lines.
Mike.Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
I just wonder in all seriousness WHY all you guys who sell used machines still do it 😕 Dont get me wrong, i’m all for re-cycling & its great that a landfill bound appliance ends up giving a few more years useful service.. great in theory at least 😯
In practice i’ve found that people will complain MORE about a hundred odd quid appliance than they will about one costing five times that!
Only did it a few times over the years, carefully selected machines, carefully selected punters.. still HASSLE!!
Still, each to their own, i take my hat off to all who do it 🙂 😉Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
I used to do a roaring trade in re-built appliances due to the large volume of property work we do. It has died off, but I will still do the odd one to order. Back then the failure rate in relation to the volume of sales made it very cost effective. Now it’s the odd one-off for customers with difficulties or odd circumstances and they will pay at least £150 for a decent front loader. At that price, I can afford to do the job right and get very few complaints.
Chris.
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
This is a boom time for recons.I have had a shop for 12 years and now is busier than at any time.
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Hi, customers who buy cheap items, treat them like rubbish hoping to get their “monies worth”, and if they are going to break down do it within the warranty. I used to do the same deals with customers, and as you have found out, you are doing nobody any favours any more. Don’t get me wrong, there is the odd customer who is over the moon with their purchase and rings you up to say so. But I tend to filter the “problem” customers out from “experience” like you have had. It’s better to walk away and sell it to a discerning customer than a PIA. It saves you a lot of money, grief and bad reputation (in the pub), than profit and good name.
Stop thinking about making money, rather “will my business and reputation still be intact in 4 years time after selling to this customer”. Set up a “black list” of bad customers to remind you who not to deal with, or who to get your money back off. The customer who says they don’t want to deal with you is great, it stops them causing you problems and causes problems with your competitors. Their reputation will soon get around and nobody will deal with them in the future, they will then come to you with cap in hand and you can tell them politely to B***** off.What I do is send them to my competitors, they can spend a lot of time and effort with them while I am making money looking after my good customers.
Good Luck, and remember them in a few years time when they want something off you and all the trouble and expense they caused you!
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
I treat every client the same, polite effective repair no matter age or IQ.
If it was me I wouldn`t refund any charge of the appliance and I`d be in court defending my position.
I once issued a Small Claim for £14.00, why, becuase of his attitude.
His attitude didn`t gain much respect with the Judge either, as he tried it on in the court. :rolls:
These kinds of idiots cannot cope with the thought process required to deal with complicated matters.
They only respect one action and that is them wining.
Giving a refund may well get rid of some hassle, but they will still slag you off.
I would deliver her appliance back to the old lady along with a solicitors letter explaining the situation and what will happen.
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Having read some of the previous pages i was reminded of a call i had a long time ago,customer requested i call to look at her washing machine,ok says i,ill be along first thing in the morning.
So on time i arrive to be led into the Kitchen(makes a change from the upstairs bathroom).Customer asks me to mind the new quarry stone floor she had laid last week(you know whats coming next)she tells me the machine won’t spin,so i go to pull the machine out and not a hope in hell.I politely explain to her that she has to get the builder back because her floor level is now,wait for it,nearly two and a half inches higher so removal of her machine was impossible from under the worktop.I explained that when the floor or worktop was removed i could get the machine out and said goodbye trying to keep a straight face 😆
To this day i dont know what happened because she did’nt phone back.
Now this one got my goat yesterday,an employee of a local firm that only do refridgeration phoned me to say his wm would’nt drain the water properly “what could be the problem be” he asked, after i explained the normal possabilities ie pump,blockage ect he asked what my charges were £40 i say plus parts if you need them and no vat(im not registered anymore)to which he replied but you can look at it for nothing and i can think about it,plus you can give us a bit of discount as well.When i asked the chap if he worked for nothing he replied certainly not our call out is £65 8O,im still waiting for him to book the call :?.Some you win and some you lose.Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
I sell the odd recon. machine and rarely get any complaints. I’ve never advertised them though and usually I offer them as an option when the customers old machine is BER. There are a few landlords who are regular customers for such machines, again sometimes supplied after I condemn an existing appliance. I am careful what machines I sell though, mostly Zanussi and the old small tub Hotpoints. I do sometimes get called back to repair machines I’ve sold but customers seem happy to pay for the repair if the 3 month warranty is expired.
Re: Whats the most annoying thing customers do?
Still think its UBER hassle. Like the OP described, it was mostly imagined faults the owners would drag you back for.
That, & snapped door handles.. had a few heated debates about whether door handles were covered by my guarantee.. i said no.. they said yes :rolls:
Gave up doing landlord jobs for similar reasons.. piggy in the middle is not where i wanna be 😉
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