how do you deal with the public?

i think i have just finished my last comercial job.
i have been doing work for this guy for the past 2 years and every time he pisses and moans about the price.
this time he had a road grader kingpin spindle housing he wanted to weldup then have me bore it for a bushing, press fit to boot.
anyway at the time i quoted him $125. for the job now he has a memory loss and wants to weasle out of payment. what a pain in the butt it was to do anyway, nothing to reference from nothing square,had to align with a plug from the matching hole and a total of 6+ hours to complete plus he didnt weld the bore completely just from 11o'clock to 7 o'clock.
at the time we discussed this job i advised him that i never had much sucess machining welds especially where you are welding the interface of a machinined surface and expect to machine it cleanly.
anyway sorry for the rant what would you professional guys do? im going to tell him to try the other shops in the area, after he pays me.

i'm so looking forward to putting my NEW insurance liscence, yes i finally passed the state exam, to work starting in March at least i can work from a premium chart instead of listening to the cry babies...jim

The only way around that is to have a written quote and work order... No memory loss there..

Yes Jim, those kind of customers will drive you to the looney bin.

The best way to clean up a welded bore is a toolpost grinder. Welded bores are tough on tooling. The interrupted cuts are murder. The grinder doesn't seem to care how uneven the surface is and will knock off all the high spots no problem. Depending on how decent the weld job is and your finish requirements, you can either grind to your final dimension or switch back to boring for a final clean up.

Good luck with your insurance biz.

Les

Him,(your customer)
I tell to not let the door hit him in the ass on his way out!
I "will" not take on a customer that always bitches about price.
I will always *work* with a customer on a price, if we can both come away happy, or we can come tyo some understanding.
It goes back to the old "pick two" philosophy.
Service, good product, or price....

And what is up with $125 for 6 hours of work?
Okay, double rant off:

doug.

i use the pen to paper trick at the begining. this helps with memory loss and final moaning it also cures that is not what i wanted syndrome. there are some folks that i skip paper but these are folks that i have worked with for a while and we go back and forth with ripping each other off. Good luck with insurance, what kind will it be.

I guess he doesn't want his parts back then does he? You did request payment before delivery of the goods right?

I would say this:

1. always get everything in writing. Write out an estimate on the spot.

2. If the customer in question brings in alot of work for you, or is connected enough to be of value, then i would not argue with him. He can bring business in. and refer to point 1.

3. If indeed, he does not bring in business (not well connected, etc..), then i would still not argue with him and refer to point 1.

If they dont like the price , throw thier part out into the parking lot and tell them "dont come back, get gone right now"

as far as machining a weld , I like to undercut the part and remove the old workhardened worn metal , pre heat and weld , when you go to machine it you are machining 100% new weld and not a mix of old workhardened and new metal.

if done right the welded part will be the best looking part on the work, not one hard spot.

good luck jim

Road Grader, huh?

There is still at least 22,850 lbs. of it left back at his place.

You didn't give the part to him did you?

He's gona need it, he'll pay.

Jim,
When I had my shop, all of the quotes were in writing. I picked up a book from one of the office supply places for either auto or body work and used it. More formal quotes were done on the computer and the numbers entered into the book. The jobs that I got I alway went back to the book and put my final costs in.

I never turned a customer down, I just quoted higher. I've also asked customers that I know went somewhere else, where I was on the quote. If I was close, it didn't bother me. If I was a long way off, I would go back to see if I missed something.
JR

The way to handle him would be the next time he brought in something, add aggrivation tax onto the job. Maybe double your usual price, he may go for it and you will be happier with the outcome. If he doesn't go for it then he may not come back, if he does keep doing it to him.

This is a better way of getting rid of a coustomer, that way he can't bad-mouth you for kicking him out, and if you get the job, you can laugh at him.

Either way make sure it is in writing.

Good luck
Dave J

This is a better way of getting rid of a coustomer

Click to expand...

Why would one want to get rid of a customer?

Read the whole thread...
Jim

I've been doing service for the public for 36 years now, and virtually always work by estimates. I do give the customer a copy of the work order with the estimate noted.

All my estimates are based on my own experience and my hourly labor rate, and I try to guess on the high side to avoid missing my target. IF the work goes substantially quicker than I expect, I'll back down the price a bit and make a friend. If I miss it and my estimate is too low, I ALWAYS eat it myself. That's a good learning experience for me and I still have a happy customer.

If a customer tells me my estimate is too high, I may try to help find a way to do the job that involves less labor, or suggest that it could be done in stages. That gives the customer what he wants - a measure of control. And, it gives me what I need, which is never to reduce my hourly labor rate. I will never bargain on hourly labor, stating simply that what I'm selling is TIME, and there's no way to make more of that. Once I state it that way, most customers immediately agree.

I simply do no do business with whiners who complain about the cost AFTER the job is done.

heres one you may tell the skin flints next time around

if you want good clean oats you must pay a fare price but if you can be happy with oats that have all ready gone thouth the horse well thats a bit cheeper

I assume he runs the motorgrader for free, just to help folks out... I have had to deal with many so-called customers like him through the years... Just part of the big picture.. The ones that really make me mad are big companies that I have done little or no work for, that are trying to get some work done for free... One company brought a mold in, needed a few small repairs... Could I do them ??? I said yes & gave them a price of $400.00.. Guy acted offended, & said if he was going to pay, he would send it to a shop they used all the time (50 miles away) I told him that was a good idea...

Toolmakerjim,

Your price was to low, but I dont know your area or your customer. This sort of thing should be Time and Materials. For this particular job if you estimated 6 hrs, Figger on 8, that's the intire day. Then your $125 should of been a lot more. For a Not to exceed price make it 8 hrs @ $40 or $50/hr...So you Not to exceed should of been at least $320. Then when you actually charge him a few less he is pleased.

Then you say "after he pays" WHAT??? This sorta thing is COD...unless he is a regular customer that has a good record of paying on time. And I dont mean Net30 turns into Net what ever and whenever you catch him. COD... a little discount for CASH could be offered.

Next you mentioned a state exam and a license? Can you explain this? I had a small shop in Pa for a while and there was none of either required, and I did some work for the govmnt as well as comercial customers.

Raise your rates, never work for free, let the other guy do that.

I grew up working with my dad in a home-based machine shop business. I remember a farmer that brought a broken tractor axel in right in the middle of planting season for dad to fix. He was in a big rush and a new axel from JD would take at least 2 weeks to get. Dad gave him a price range estimate and told him it would be 3 days before he could have it done because of other promised work he had ahead of it. The farmer whined a little but said he understood. The next day the farmer showed up wanting the fixed axel and grumbled when dad reminded him about the jobs ahead of his. Day 2 he shows up again and grumbles even more when it wasn't ready. Dad worked all night to get it done as promised. The farmer now referred to as a-hole showed up at 6 AM for his shaft when dad had said noon. Dad was just taking it out of the lathe as he came in. Dad made out the ticket, which ended up just under the high side of the estimate, and the farmer started ranting about it being to high and he wouldn't pay it. Surprisingly, after being up all night, Dad kept his cool and said "no problem, wait here just a minute". He went into the other room and put the shaft in the band saw and cut the shaft in half right where it had been broken, took it back to the guy and said "You can have this for free, take your business elsewhere". The guy stood there with his mouth open in shock. Dad helped him out the door with his broken axel, locked up the shop and went in the house and slept like a baby. Two weeks later the guy came back, paid the bill apologized and gave dad some more work. He became one of dad’s best customers.

Jamie

I have been doing custom work for 25 years - mostly small forging and tricky welding jobs. I don't put up with weasley customers who won't pay their bills or have convenient memory.

Two cases in point: A fabricator asked me to forge some unusual railing parts that he could not get any other way. We agreed on a price, I did the work and he paid on delivery. The next time he called, I was 'johnny-on-the-spot' but he started complaining about the price for the last job - said he lost money. Against my better judgement, I went ahead and quoted a figure for the second job. He agreed so I did the work and delivered it. This time, it took a month to get paid and I had to make two trips to get a check. The next time he called, I was too busy to do his stuff and that remained the case every time until he finally got the hint and quit calling.

Had another guy call with a micro-welding job that required a very small TIG to do the work and would generate a good amount of scrap to get some level of acceptable product. He choked on my price and said it was too much. A few days later, he called back and after a lot of small talk, finally said that no one else even wanted to quote it. I did the work, he paid and that was the end of it.

There will always be people who want something for nothing. There will also always be those who take that work at a low price and then go out of business doing it. Don't be one of them.

Jamie,

That's classic.