# Told a commercial customer to pound sand!



## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

So got a call on Tuesday from a decent sized RV park down in the desert. I did work there while at my last shop and the manager is a real d!ck. so he calls and it goes to voicemail...he needs 6 Backflow preventers tested. I call him back 25 mins later, and he's just a peach talking about "when I need service I expect it promptly (insert stroking action here).
He says "yur too late I've got somebody on their way already" 
Me.."good deal, sounds like you've got it under control, I apologize for the delayed response..have a good day"

But before we end out conversation he asks how much do I charge! I tell him, then of course he absolutely goes berserk "holy s**t, I'm glad I got the other guy coming out as he's half" I told him my price allows me to actually cover my time and not seek every little repair. I say again, have a good day Sam!

So, I just now got off the phone with him. He calls me up this morning.
Customer..."hi Tim, so I've got a problem. All 6 of our assemblies need some type of repair and 1 needs total replacement." He's of course calm and collect

Customer..."can you come over on your free time and give me a second opinion." Haha, WTF is 'free time':laughing:

Me..."Well Sam, I really can't give an 'estimate' on repairs as I can't rely on someone else's test report being accurate. If their test wasn't performed properly I may spend time repairing only to find another issue they missed, then my 'estimate' would be worthless."

Customer..."So, how much for a retest?"
Me..."Well, it's not a retest for me, but instead an initial test which I quoted you on Tues. 
Customer..."OMG! I just dropped $180 on a series of tests and now your telling me I have to pay another $360? Give me a break!"
Customer...Listen Tim...so, we're in the process of changing our service providers for the resort. We're looking for an honest plumber!"
Me..."so what's 'unhonest' about them?"
Customer..."they're expensive!":no:
Me..."Well Sam, price has nothing to do with honesty"! Too be honest! Honesty is charging a proper rate, that covers the time and expenses associated with running a business...then being 'honest' in whether or not repairs are needed! Then providing options that meet your current needs while maintaining proper code requirements. I run my business differently than the guy you had out, so our prices may not be the same"
Customer...."Tim, were getting A little off topic here, if you can come out give me an awesome 'good guy' price to resolve our issue, I think we can give you more business"!
Me....Sorry Sam, but I must decline your offer. 
Customer...
Me...You see Sam, your a bottom dollar kinda guy, you don't care about quality, only the cheapest price, which you take as being 'honest' and you have nothing to offer that I want to deal with as im not a cheap plumber... But i assure you i am honest. Sound like we are not meant for each other. Have a great day Sam. 

Customer...".Fuuuuuuuu(k you dude!
Me....:laughing: have a good day Sam and God Bless!

There was little more to it than that but he thinks he's getting screwed at $95.00 drain cleaning with a cable and $195.00 jetting and a general $80/hr labor. :laughing:


----------



## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Kiss off Sam.......:laughing:...Go pound salt.


----------



## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

I want to say "WOW what an #@$" but unfortunately it is nothing new. All one can do is to leave them to deal with others like themself, the so called plumbers that often don't have a licence.


----------



## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

Our industry would be a lot easier and cheaper without customers.


----------



## TXPlumbBob (Dec 13, 2013)

Good for you for declining his whining. I hate people like that.


----------



## cjtheplumber (Mar 9, 2012)

You know some people think they can just have you at their disposal and some way some how think we won't eat tonight if we don't take their work. There has been plenty of times where I'm trying to get home to my kids and the client is acting like Sam. I pick up my phone infront of them and tell them I got a family emergency I got to go now.

I'm very sorry I'm sure you can call lots of plumbers right now and they will be happy to come help you. And I bail right there. I really believe is not always but sometimes that client is not for us and our company is not their company. Honestly some clients need to get fired. Good job man!


----------



## wyrickmech (Mar 16, 2013)

He will be back and he will beg for your services they always do.


----------



## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

working for some trailer park in the desert is not high on my list of people that i would desire to deal with... I wont step foot in the hell holes around our city.. 

you did the right and proper thing for future success.... 

cut loose all the dog crap[/SIZE


----------



## wharfrat (Nov 1, 2014)

nicely played Tim!


----------



## Redwood (Sep 8, 2008)

He should be able to find a handyman on CraigsList who will suit his needs just fine... :laughing:

As for you... Stick with profitable plumbing...


----------



## Hoosier Plumber (Nov 28, 2013)

You did better than what I would have done. 

Never will understand people who demand unearned savings. They don't give discounts for there service unearned.


----------



## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

Howdy howdy! So things got a little more interesting yesterday. Turns out "Sam" got my name from the certified county testers list. Now, the county has yet to change my employer status from my last company to my own. My last company did not do Backflow testing.

So my former boss calls me and apparently, they are the plumbers who currently service this R.V. park. So, he's concerned regarding my rudeness to one of their clients:laughing: Needless to say, I advised him that they attempting to lure me into doing their plumbing service as you guys are dishonest. 

Me...So, (bossman, name withheld) are you guys really charging $95 of drain cleaning.

Bossman...yea..we kinda got stuck into giving them a lower rate so we can get the pumping!

Me...so, how's that workin out for you?

Bossman...well not too good, they have more backups than is worth it for the pumping. (They're normal rate is $175.00 for snaking and $250 for jetting.

Me...well good job at perpetuating the downfall of the industry! :yes:
I continued..Look, you do what you want, I guess you have the luxury of 100+ calls a week. Me, I need to charge what I need to charge and I don't appreciate the call from you automatically taking the side of a [email protected] while wondering while I was so rude. I'm the same guy I was when I worked for you, but now I don't need to ask permission to tell a customer to go pound sand. 

Me...he's an @ss whom you let sucker you into cheap work. Do you take me for one of those fly by night plumbing companies who feels they need to undercut everyone to get work? We've had this discussion before and I have not changed my business model. I am now and most likely will continue to be more expensive than you because you, for some reason, fail to understand how to justify your price. I know this because I worked for the company for 12 years and 7 of them were for you. Are you afraid that your church group will think un-Christian of you if heaven forbid you charge what your supposed to to actually make a profit (yea I said that). Your problem is you still have a few of those @sshats working for you that are costing you money while not making any. 

Anyway, this was a 45 min phone call and it really pissed me off. It kinda made me think a little about how small of a world it really is, and how far I feel I've come as a business owner and the importance of sticking to my guns. Truth is, I don't want to land every job. I'd rather go broke spending time with my family (I know hat sounds crazy), but there's truth to that as I'm not out trying to work 16 hours a day...do i want to? If its profitable and keeps good money coming in so I can grow and hire, then sure.

After I got off the phone with my old boss, I called another local plumbing buddy of mine to see how things are going. He's a third generation plumber, however, he still running the family shop at the same rates his dad was at in 2002 when he took over the business. He tells me all the time that he's overworked but yet isn't very profitable. He's mostly in the remodel side of things, he doesn't like drain work or late night service calls. I told him...look dude we've had this discussion before. If you value your work similar to those found at the Home Depot looking for work then your going to charge that amount. 

So apparently nobody takes advice from a new business owner I guess. Perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about!

I will ad this. I just can't wait to see what kind of drama will unfold if and when I decide to actually market the desert communities. Right now I don't do much out there. I've taken some septic installs from my last shop (yes, I was more expensive) I have a lot of contacts at a lot of resorts and the casinos but there's no way I, as an OMS, hell, even a 2 or 3 man shop can meet their timeline demands and volume and I'm not assuming I can land all the accounts and simply hire some guys and go all in. Right now steady growth is fine by me. But I do know that when I get my bigger jetter I will be a force to be reckoned with out there (that's the confidence in me talking). I'm just glad I went on my own for all the right reasons and not one of them was out of bitterness towards my last shop as it keeps me from making poor decisions base on taking work away from them.


----------



## tims007 (Aug 31, 2013)

Shoot'N'Plumber said:


> I don't want to land every job. I'd rather go broke spending time with my family (I know hat sounds crazy), but there's truth to that as I'm not out trying to work 16 hours a day...



ALL THIS RIGHT HERE its why i started my own company, i got 5 kids and i missed out on the first years on four of them


----------



## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Shoot'N'Plumber said:


> ...So apparently nobody takes advice from a new business owner I guess. Perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about!


You don't sound like a rookie Plumbing Business Operator to me. It's not just anybody that offers to mentor one of his mentors.


----------



## Johnny Canuck (Feb 24, 2015)

tims007 said:


> ALL THIS RIGHT HERE its why i started my own company, i got 5 kids and i missed out on the first years on four of them


That's exactly why I'm trying to as well.


----------



## Hoosier Plumber (Nov 28, 2013)

This weekend I was contacted via facebook by a sign guy who was offering to help me save money on my new signs as his lead into getting my business. 

Why is that always the default mode? Save money, cut my own throat, hurt the whole industry. 

He could have and should have offered a better value for my dollar and maybe I would entertain the opportunity.


----------



## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Nothing better than being busy enough to send the price shoppers and whiners packing. Go away please, I busy earning a living.


----------



## Shoot'N'Plumber (Apr 27, 2013)

dhal22 said:


> Nothing better than being busy enough to send the price shoppers and whiners packing. Go away please, I busy earning a living.


Meh! It's not I'm too busy, believe me I'd like more work, but what point is it in picking up a new customer who gives a bunch of work yur way that you don't make money at.

I was faced with this decision 6 months ago...I did a nightmare of a repipe under an old house. I have the customer a price range (i didn't have a camera at the time so I couldn't dial it in) then finished the job coming in at the middle. They were concerned about my price and told me "we'll if you want continued work from us your gonna have to cut your price rate in half..we were thinking more around $65/hr. or, they said, we can get squared away with this bill and we will part ways".

I told them I will get squared away wit this bill as It makes no sense in continuing to do business where I lose money, thank you. So, I just need to countinue to reach out to my target customers and continue with my business plan, as I'm not a out to get swamped with cheapo customers and risk losing my good customers.


----------



## plbgbiz (Aug 27, 2010)

Shoot'N'Plumber said:


> ..."we'll if you want continued work from us your gonna have to cut your price rate in half..we were thinking more around $65/hr. or, they said, we can get squared away with this bill and we will part ways".
> 
> I told them I will get squared away wit this bill as It makes no sense in continuing to do business where I lose money, thank you...


Yes, it is my privilege to work with a customer, but it is also their privilege to work with me. If we are not on a two-way street, then we cannot travel together.

My competitors need more clients like that. It would be selfish of me to not share.


----------



## cjtheplumber (Mar 9, 2012)

plbgbiz said:


> Yes, it is my privilege to work with a customer, but it is also their privilege to work with me. If we are not on a two-way street, then we cannot travel together.
> 
> My competitors need more clients like that. It would be selfish of me to not share.


Exactly.


----------



## h2omanipulator (Feb 14, 2015)

Shoot'N'Plumber said:


> Howdy howdy! So things got a little more interesting yesterday. Turns out "Sam" got my name from the certified county testers list. Now, the county has yet to change my employer status from my last company to my own. My last company did not do Backflow testing.
> 
> So my former boss calls me and apparently, they are the plumbers who currently service this R.V. park. So, he's concerned regarding my rudeness to one of their clients:laughing: Needless to say, I advised him that they attempting to lure me into doing their plumbing service as you guys are dishonest.
> 
> ...


Good for you! We need more Owners like you, not ones like him driving prices into the ground. 

My Dad has always said "we can go broke a hell of a lot slower by just sitting at home and drinking"


----------



## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

h2omanipulator said:


> My Dad has always said "we can go broke a hell of a lot slower by just sitting at home and drinking"


My father would have liked your father on a lot of levels.


----------

