Clients that make you go hmmmmm.

[Mick Dempsey]

5 minutes ago, Stubby said:

Thats when you tell them that whatever they want done it will £128.87p/hour .

Always a fine line to tread between being firm with clients and outright rude.

 

[Mark Bolam]

Always best to err on the side of rude though, saves confusion later on.

[paddyvero]

Itemised quote? Then if its a decent amount of work I offer a discount, maybe 10% if we do it all. 

[Mick Dempsey]

9 hours ago, paddyvero said:

Itemised quote? Then if its a decent amount of work I offer a discount, maybe 10% if we do it all. 

Who can be arsed with that? (Not me in case you were wondering)

[lux]

On 12/08/2017 at 17:43, Mick Dempsey said:

Now, I'm a big boy, been paddling my own canoe for more than two decades now, I know that when you price work there are no guarantees, and you have to take the rough with the smooth.

 

Today though, the literal biscuit was taken, I was out all day, and the first appointment was 30 minutes away, arranged by email, so I pull up, look at the abandoned cars and neglected garden and instantly think "probably not" but I'm here now so put on my game face.

 

It was a dying thuja hedge and a couple of small lombardies, all about logistics so I give it some ol' chat and price it.

 

The lady then told me that they are doing it themselves and wanted to know what it would have cost!

 

Luckily the rest of the day was more successful but that really riled me.

 

Any outrageous time wasting client stories?

Went to look at Beech tree last week. Customer said a branch had dropped off but she wanted to save the tree. 

 

Arrived at a very lovely old house that is now split into apartments. lovely building and very well kept so I was thinking this was a positive as I waited at the impressive front door. 

 

Got taken to the rear garden to find a very large Beech with  a failed leader from an included union. Big lump to clear up and a very large Beech remaining that could do with some reduction work and perhaps some cobra bracing in places. Spent some time going through it and gave a price on the spot for the clear up and suggested tree work to then be told the tree no longer belongs to them and that the owner has arranged a contractor to do the clear up and that until they buy the tree back they wouldn't carry out any work on it but just wanted to know what it would cost.  

She then asks what would I charge to do maintenance.  Maintenance on what ? She says they would like to buy the woods back but would like to know what it costs to maintain. 

I gave her some advice about getting a woodland survey done prior to buying it and any maintenance costs could be forecast from that. 

 

Waste of time visit to look at trees they don't own and someone else is supposedly already instructed on. 

 

Probably wouldn't of minded so much if that had been made clear on the initial phone call rather than halfway through looking at it all. I grumbled all the way to getting a take away cappuccino down the rd. 

 

 

[doobin]

5 hours ago, lux said:

Went to look at Beech tree last week. Customer said a branch had dropped off but she wanted to save the tree. 

 

Arrived at a very lovely old house that is now split into apartments. lovely building and very well kept so I was thinking this was a positive as I waited at the impressive front door. 

 

Got taken to the rear garden to find a very large Beech with  a failed leader from an included union. Big lump to clear up and a very large Beech remaining that could do with some reduction work and perhaps some cobra bracing in places. Spent some time going through it and gave a price on the spot for the clear up and suggested tree work to then be told the tree no longer belongs to them and that the owner has arranged a contractor to do the clear up and that until they buy the tree back they wouldn't carry out any work on it but just wanted to know what it would cost.  

She then asks what would I charge to do maintenance.  Maintenance on what ? She says they would like to buy the woods back but would like to know what it costs to maintain. 

I gave her some advice about getting a woodland survey done prior to buying it and any maintenance costs could be forecast from that. 

 

Waste of time visit to look at trees they don't own and someone else is supposedly already instructed on. 

 

Probably wouldn't of minded so much if that had been made clear on the initial phone call rather than halfway through looking at it all. I grumbled all the way to getting a take away cappuccino down the rd. 

 

 

Just to cheer you up further....that absoloute monster that we looked at? A relative is going to rent a cherry picker and take off the worst bits apparently. You couldn't make it up.

 

I'll post the news article when it happens...

Edited September 30, 2023 by doobin

[lux]

14 minutes ago, doobin said:

Just to cheer you up further....that absoloute monster that we looked at? A relative is going to rent a cherry picker and take off the worst bits apparently. You couldn't make it up.

 

I'll post the news article when it happens...

😂😂😂.  Let me know the date.  I’d like to come and watch that.   😂 what’s the odds you’ll be doing a little fencing repair down there.  It’ll be interesting if the new replacement oil tank takes a whack too 😂