Most of you reading this will be part of the supply chain. Whether that be an installer dealing with the general public, or a supplier dealing with an installer. And lets face it, we all have those customers which are a pain in the arse! In fact I’m probably a pain in the arse to some of you where I work! And I’m sure we all do our best to try and satisfy the customer, no matter what the problem might be at the time. But there are some occasions where we have to put out foot down, and these are becoming more and more often.
I was told a story privately by a friend of mine how they had been struggling with some unreasonable customers over the last couple of weeks. Although the business was trying to deal with the problems at hand in a mutual way with the clients, they refused to act in the same manner. I have been a little vague on the details I know, but the underlying theme was that no matter what the company tried to do, the customer refused to be reasonable. It is situations like these where I think businesses need to start firming up.
I have said before that customers have far too much of an advantage over business these days. Yes business must do as much as they can for the customer in order to gain their hard earned cash. But there is a limit and double glazing installers must start putting their foot down. For example, if I were to show you one of our quotation templates, it is almost like reading a chapter of a book. We have expanded the wording of our quotes to cover absolutely all bases and make it as difficult as possible for customers to wrongly wriggle out of their own obligation to the contract. It’s a shame that we’ve had to construct such a water tight contract, but we’ve had to due to previous experiences where customers have tried to pick holes in the paper work to try and shirk out of something. Usually it is down to them not liking what they ordered and regretting not going for something different. Well, that’s not our fault and it’s certainly not right to start being difficult when it comes to paying the balance.
Luckily, there are very few of these clients and I am sure that most of the customers we all deal with are perfectly reasonable and obliging. However, I do also believe problems clients are on the rise thanks to a falsely heightened sense of entitlement. Since when have people thought it is respectable to start messing around genuine businesses? I don’t know the answer to that question, but what I am sure of is that installers should be having a look at their contracts to make sure that customers don’t find a way out of them.
I know when installers sign their customers up the thought of them wriggling out of it at the end of the work is something way back in the back of the mind. But by reviewing the wording and clauses of contracts, it will help in the future when a problem customer decides to try and cause trouble.
What do you think? All comments welcome in the section below.
We’re with you on the contract. We specify absolutely everything for a customer and anything that changes is acknowledged in writing. We don’t accept any verbal communications that alter what was originally contracted. Unfortunately, it is the few customers who have spoiled for the majority by trying to avoid paying in full based on silly things. We’ve had customers lying on the floor in front of their door with a lit match to demonstrate a draught, or using a magnifying glass to detect an scratch on the glass…I could go on. Customers seem to think it is a one way… Read more »
Great post , and good reply . I think most of us in this industry could tell a similar story. How many of us have taken a customer to the small claims court ? Would the company get a bad name ( in the eyes of the general public) if we took a few to court ?