How many of you guys have seen the ads that run on TV for Progessive Insurance. In one of the ads this guy has a plumber show up at his apartment and the water is about two feet high and his dog is floating around. The plumber comments that it looks serious and he better get started and the moron apartment owner replies that he "wants a couple of quotes so he can compare prices". Progessive Insurance has a couple of other ads that exactly repeat a similar theme.

I know the ads are supposed to be cute but they make me thing of every penny wise pound foolish customer out there. Are they purposely targeting idiots that will let their apartment get destroyed while they compare prices?

Anyhow, it just makes me think about some of the customers we have all dealt with at one time or another in our careers - people that are so penny wise and pound foolish that they end up with an unsuable system because they went with some hack. And then they try to find someone to fix it but don't want to pay for that either. I guess they should all make sure and buy Progressive Insurance.

QQQ...

I had a funy reply for here, but the more I read it, the more I didn't find it all that funny....

I agree 100%...those commercials are cute (until you think about em.) Then you just start to realize how moronic people can be.

WE have a customer right now doing EXACTLY that to us.

We pre-wired the house, she hired the local Bose installer to install it. It doesn't work so we went in to fix it, but she won't pay us cause she says she shouldn't have to pay for the same job twice....

ugh

avdude
site admin
www.integrationpros.com

I know a guy who, three years ago, bragged about how much money he was making at $78 an hour.

Fixing free satellite installations.

And I am in the lucky position of having clients who, once they have been penny wise, fortunately are willing to pay and pay and pay to have everything made right.

I think it is an issue of control with these people. They want the free installation, subscription or "free gift" -- one client kept us unpaid and waiting for two months while the "free add-on" came. When it arrived, it was an OTA HD receiver, I told her she cannot receive antenna signals where she lives, and we finished up. Very aggravating, and caused by her needing to contol the process but not knowing or being willing to consider the possibility of her not being as good at this stuff as we are.

It has been SOOOO long since I've had a customer who didn't grind price, shop around or suck knowledge and do the job him/her self. Thankfully, business is good enough that we can refuse the "fix it" requests and quickly dump the knowledge suckers. Getting the job though, involves competition on every single bid and no matter how good we feel we are... if the customer has some trunkslammer coming in at 1/2 to 2/3 of our price we find ourselves working extra hard to get the deal and it is always discounted. The internet also kicks our ass and no matter how many horror stories we tell the client, he/she just can't see paying us extra $$$ when they can just have it (trans)shipped in without sales tax (8.8% here in WA). At the very least we often have to eat that.

This isn't whining... just an acknowledgement of reality. The gross dollars just have to go up to account for the lower margins.

For you reading this who are clients or potential clients... realize that anyone who is a reputable professional in this business IS NOT MAKING SERIOUS BANK ON YOU! He/she should be payed a decent wage when you consider that your alternative is to go to some Circuit S----y or Best Buy... get sold what is overstocked and spiffed by some clerk that needs to read that feature card to even tell you what the freaking thing does... end up with a bunch of mismatched boxes that have no business being called a "system"... and end up paying "less" for a "system" that works, looks and sounds like shit. Ask your professional to show you a clients system that he/she has done and note the flawless easy operation... the good sound... the good picture... the nice aesthetics...the happy client (anyone who has been around a while has these). When QQQ talks about penny wise and pound foolish he ain't kidding. You could go about your normal daily routine... make money doing what you do instead of losing it by wasting your time... or god forbid even spend time with your family!!!! And when you are done... you too can have the system that actually impresses your friends... one that you don't leave off during functions and hide the 7 remotes because no one in the f-----g universe knows how to operate it but you.

Well, to rant a little bit futher off topic...

We just lost 16 of our soldiers in Iraq today. What's the top headline on CNN (as well as some other news outlets)? "Gay Bishop Consecrated".

sarcasm> Thank God we're giving priority to the important stuff!

Why,if it was on the first page people might realize the war is not over, and that the Iraqis are tired of the "liberators" having created a military occupation.

Having been in Iraq for DS/DS I can tell you this is a long change over. Kind of like the KSU/AR game Sat. night. 7 overtimes.

Remember it’s a HUGE impact. We are fighting many knowns and unknowns behind the scenes. While we may be in for a difficult time with lives and money the benefit will be great. Mind wash people for 50 years with one leader and 1000s of years with many others. I find it difficult to change my views after only a few years. We are talking about 10+ in Iraq IMO. The causalities will dwindle in that time period.

Has anyone actually walked/driven close to an airport. RPG a real threat. 300+ people at one shot. Not troops mind you.

I have always said the American public hasn't a clue about what security is or how to achieve it.

Dave