Late night customers

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Lloyd13
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Late night customers

Post by Lloyd13 »

Sunday night 11'00 a customer decides to text me, asking when I'd be available to go back to refit a radiator I removed so he could re-decorate.
Really annoyed me, I do advertise as 24/7 plumbing but emergencies only obviously!
Just wait a few hours, message me in the morning then you might get a more polite response. Grrrr
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Re: Late night customers

Post by wine~o »

Some people..... they just think that because they live their sad little lives by their mobiles... everyone does.
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Ktuludays
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Ktuludays »

I've had a message today requesting a quote, she finished the message with "can you call me after 10 tonight please?" I hope she doesn't sit up waiting [GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]

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Re: Late night customers

Post by Bob225 »

text messages can sometimes get lost in the ether I have had text messages take 3 hours before now
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Dave54 »

I had one bloke ring me at about midnight to discuss some furniture he "Might want making"
I suggested politely (really!) that he might like to ring back in work hours, and that it really wasn't a convenient time at present.
He never rang back.
My first (suppressed) reaction was to give him a round of "go aways", as I can rarely remember getting work off anyone ringing at an odd time like that. I should have followed my first instinct!
I've even had them actually turn up at 9 on a Saturday night in the Summer.
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ayjay
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Re: Late night customers

Post by ayjay »

This is the trouble with being practically married to your phone - at that time of night it wouldn't be unreasonable to be in your pit and dead to the world. Let them wait until morning.

Mobile phones have become an excuse for most builders to be disorganised - they think that they can solve anything with a phone call instead of planning ahead.
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Notch1 »

as I do joinery and work mostly from an office, I try my best not to give my mobile number. Customers if they have my mobile then tend to always ring that as it must appear first in their contact list.

Also I find once a customer has a mobile phone number they then are quite happy to send long detailed texts often listing key decisions they have made etc. I just ignore any texts and reply by email. That way I have an easy way to see the correspondence stream and all technical details are confirmed in writing that is backed up on our server. I tend to send details, drawings etc by email to builders and tradesmen as these days they mostly seem to have smartphones that are set up for emails.

Very recently I delivered a kitchen that the customer then said, but youve painted it the wrong colour, it should have been Railings not Downpipe. Luckily a quick search to find the email confirming the colour set that straight!
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Re: Late night customers

Post by chrrris »

Here is an actual e-mail I received last Saturday afternoon:-

"I have 4 windows , I need help with roller blind and curtain pool, 4 scrue for treadmill, and change 2 locks, inside ,
Can you finish that within 1 hour . if so I will like you to do the task, do you have time tomorrow, or tonight ?
Please let me know "

Bear in mind I received this at quarter to 3 on a Saturday. Not really sure exactly what they're asking for, but it looks to me like 4x roller blinds and curtain poles fitting, doing "something" to a broken treadmill, and changing two locks. SURE! I can do that all that for an hour's pay on a Saturday night for you -- WHERE DO I SIGN UP?! :lol: :lol:
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Someone-Else
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Someone-Else »

I used to get emails like that many moons ago. Even though its obvious the job is a complete waste of time, I would always email back with something like.
No thankyou.

My reasoning is from the other foot.
You email a person / company and they don't reply. Its more annoying not getting a reply than one that says "No"
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Re: Late night customers

Post by arco_iris »

someone-else wrote:My reasoning is from the other foot.
You email a person / company and they don't reply. Its more annoying not getting a reply than one that says "No"
Grrrh! In my previous business life I used email a great deal, the ethos being if it's not hyper-urgent you don't want to caĺl them to the 'phone, on the other hand you do expect a written response for the record in reasonable due course.

Now retired & seeking tradesmen in a rural area, I have found that emails rarely get decent response so have taken to 'phoning mobile numbers.

On the one hand, you never no when to call. Are they up a ladder? Are they eating dinner watching EastEnders?

Conversly, I called a tradesman at 9.15am this morning on a landline number (why was he at home then?) and he said, put it in an email & I'll call you back. It is now 11.30pm and I haven't heard from him, as far as I am concerned he doesn't deserve the work. Crossed off my list, it's a pretty big list.
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chrrris
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Re: Late night customers

Post by chrrris »

arco_iris wrote: Now retired & seeking tradesmen in a rural area, I have found that emails rarely get decent response so have taken to 'phoning mobile numbers.
Heh... I'm exactly the opposite. I tend to always reply to e-mails and texts (even the complete time waster I mentioned above got a polite, civil and timely reply about 2.5 hours after she sent her request). If it had been a voicemail though, I probably wouldn't have called back if I'm honest - compared to firing off a quick e-mail, a phone call can take a lot of time and those really awkward people who want you to rebuild half their house and diagnose and fix 5 broken appliances in the space of an hour often are resistant to polite hints that you don't really want to get involved, and I personally find effectively saying "I'm sorry, but I really don't want to do this work for you" very difficult in a phone call. Much easier by e-mail/text.

Also what Notch1 says is very true. Having a documented archive of exactly what was said, and when, is *very* useful, especially on larger jobs. That's saved me on several occasions where I'd have been in trouble if things were arranged verbally (a case of my word against someone else's, usually of the form "But you said you'd supply and install the moon-onna-stick as part of the job"). E-mail/sms is great for easily providing that sort of digital "paper trail".
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Re: Late night customers

Post by fin »

we got a call one christmas day at about mid day ish to ask about work..... they got told its christmas day.... goodbye :lol: :lol:
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Bob225 »

arco_iris wrote:
someone-else wrote:
Now retired & seeking tradesmen in a rural area,
We aren't that type of forum, :? try the builders dating agency screw-fix :lol:

You may have more luck seeking a farmer :salute:
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Someone-Else
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Re: Late night customers

Post by Someone-Else »

For the record. I never said what is written below, "arco-iris" said it.
flash22 wrote:
arco_iris wrote:
someone-else wrote:
Now retired & seeking tradesmen in a rural area,
We aren't that type of forum, :? try the builders dating agency screw-fix :lol:

You may have more luck seeking a farmer :salute:
Above are my opinions Below is my signature.

Would you hit a nail with a shoe because you don't have a hammer? of course not, then why work on anything electrical without a means of testing Click Here to buy a "tester" just because it works, does NOT mean it is safe.

:mrgreen: If gloom had a voice, it would be me.

:idea1: Click Here for a video how to add/change pictures


Inept people use the QUOTE BUTTON instead of the QUICK REPLY section :-)
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