|
|
 |
|
The following page was printed from RemoteCentral.com:
| Topic: | Sorry....YOU'RE FIRED! This thread has 30 replies. Displaying posts 1 through 15. |
|
| Post 1 made on Wednesday March 10, 2004 at 23:30 |
avdude Founding Member |
Joined:
Posts: | February 2002
814 |
|
|
Hey all, Just curious... how many of you have actually, flat out, FIRED a customer, potential customer, contractor, builder, etc..., and WHY? Has to do this recently, as my bid for one surround system and six zones audio was too expensive for his budget. He found one of our local trunkslammers to do it for $1925...installed! My bid was much higher, as you can imagine! Let's view this as a relaxing, maybe humorous, storytime, to remove us from the daily grind...OK?! GO!! avdude www.integrationpros.com
|
AVDUDE
"It might work better if it were plugged in and programmed first...just a thought!" |
|
| Post 2 made on Wednesday March 10, 2004 at 23:43 |
MikeTech Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | March 2004
313 |
|
|
I'm sorry - I believe you must of mistyped the amount of the accepted bid. Please tell me you meant $19,250. Is he by any chance using the new Fisher Price "My First Audio System" components?
|
|
| OP | Post 3 made on Wednesday March 10, 2004 at 23:57 |
avdude Founding Member |
Joined:
Posts: | February 2002
814 |
|
|
sorry mike, that's the point of this thread... the price is correct...and that is the problem... don't care what he is or isn't using...I refused to install what he found on the internet ( www.hometheaterdirect.com ) and I refused to install anything I sell for his MAX budget of $3500.00 but SOMEONE DIDN'T!! avdude www.integrationpros.com
|
AVDUDE
"It might work better if it were plugged in and programmed first...just a thought!" |
|
| OP | Post 4 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 00:07 |
avdude Founding Member |
Joined:
Posts: | February 2002
814 |
|
|
OOHHHH OOHHH...one more thing! Final price paid for this house was 1.1 MILLION dollars...and the customer is the VP of international operations for a small company called IBM! And before you (specifically some of you that will anyway) go off on the shitty salesman spiel...I'll tell you this... I WAS THE SALESMAN...and I advised the customer of EVERYTHING, and EVERY POINT, that has EVER been made here, or anywhere else! His response was... AND I QUOTE...."we like the sound from our 15 year old intercom system just fine, we need nothing more!" Also, this house has 6 COAX ONLY jacks, and 8 CAT five jacks... believe it not..really don't care, cause it's true! The builder allowed $860.00 for pre-wire of Cable, Sat, Sound (six zones), security (8 zones), data and one surround system...cause, "that's what I was paying the last guy!" another complaint, which I'm sure Ernie will complain about! But hey..."Nothing at all is wrong" avdude www.integrationpros.comThis message was edited by avdude on 03/11/04 00:19.
|
AVDUDE
"It might work better if it were plugged in and programmed first...just a thought!" |
|
| Post 5 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 00:30 |
geraldb Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | June 2002
412 |
|
|
Intercom system?
umm, that will be 10X the quote
|
|
| OP | Post 6 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 00:36 |
avdude Founding Member |
Joined:
Posts: | February 2002
814 |
|
|
not 15 years ago! and again... that's the point! avdude www.integrationpros.com
|
AVDUDE
"It might work better if it were plugged in and programmed first...just a thought!" |
|
| Post 7 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 00:47 |
geraldb Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | June 2002
412 |
|
|
|
| Post 8 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 00:52 |
RTI Installer Super Member |
Joined:
Posts: | March 2002
3,320 |
|
|
I guess you will be getting an emergency install call when the $1900.00 deal becomes a small claims court issue. Further I would assume your price will go up correspondingly?
|
Never Ignore the Obvious -- H. David Gray |
|
| Post 9 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 01:10 |
geraldb Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | June 2002
412 |
|
|
If it wasn't the T.S., it would have been his friend, or his relative, or neighbor, or maybe even Sparky.
No offense Larry, You are one in a million.
|
|
| Post 10 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 01:32 |
Larry Fine Loyal Member |
Joined:
Posts: | August 2001
5,002 |
|
|
On 03/11/04 01:10, geraldb said...
No offense Larry, You are one in a million. None taken. Obviously, AV, the guy wasn't looking for your product. I once lost a new whole-house wiring job (I mean wiring the whole house: power, cable, phones, etc.) because the 'other guy' was $500 cheaper, and my bid included a lot the other one didn't. I felt it was his (the customer) loss.
|
|
|
| Post 11 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 10:24 |
AVDesignPro Active Member |
Joined:
Posts: | August 2003
598 |
|
|
I regrettably am in a simular situation, however he is not purchasing any of his own equipment. The home is being built now and the wiring is ready to be done. Now I have no idea how or why he determined that having the electrician do all the wiring including low voltage was a good idea but he did. I would hgave to assume it was the home builder who influenced the customer. Oh and its 15,000sq ft and there is networking,lighting, security, A/V distribution, multible home theaters,big phone sytem,etc. Anyway my point is even for me this is not a slam dunk takes careful planning and forethought to have it work at the end.
Now after careful deliberation and many hours of frustration I decided that was the last straw for this customer. It pains me to do it from a financial position however far more on a personal level since I have been with this customer for many years. That being sad it doesn't change my mind nor my position on it. It is his position that we will address the electronics after fact, that's not gonna work for me. I have enough headaches trying to keep his existing homes with inadequete wiring versatale enough for him. Anyway end result was/is I respectfully resigned!
|
|
| Post 12 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 11:40 |
Impaqt RC Moderator |
Joined:
Posts: | October 2002
6,234 |
|
|
Do have have to do this again?
SOmeone who thinks spending $2,000 in AV in a Million+ home is good, in not a customer you need.
Dont lose any sleep... Move onto the next client who does apreciate what your doing.
You seem convinced that you did everything right. and its no ones place here to say anything different.... so deal with it and move on.
You sound like your in a hevily popluated upscale area (Denver, yes?) There are THOUSANDS of people out there that ARE you clients and Many more that are not. sometimes it takes some time to Filter out the clienets who are not.
I've been in the business a long time... I work on anywhere from 5-15 quotes a week.... and guess what.. We dont get them all....... we do everything posible to to get the job short of giving away product, and if our best isnt good enough... well.. Theres more clients out there who do apreciate what we put into our quotes and jobs......
|
|
|
| Post 13 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 11:42 |
THXRick Long Time Member |
Joined:
Posts: | October 2002
241 |
|
|
AVDude, We have ignored customer's we did not want to ever,ever work for again not returnung calls etc..It seems as though a few of them finally learned they were a PITA.. Those same people have then come back around, backed down and decided to pay full price,stop complaining,and respect us..Its almost like dating a chick who finally realizes she has it good..
THXRick
|
|
| Post 14 made on Thursday March 11, 2004 at 12:26 |
TXHRick thats one of the best analogies(sp) that ive heard yet, used in the AV world and you hit the nail on the head with it. I agree there willalways people out there that dont understand what we do for them until its too late and then it becomes no longer worth the headache or money made to try and correct their screw up that we tried to warn them about in the first place.
|
|
| Post 15 made on Friday March 12, 2004 at 23:17 |
rhm9 Founding Member |
Joined:
Posts: | December 2001
1,347 |
|
|
Your gut is everything...
I usedto run the regional custom division for a bilion dollar box moverwho would not listen to me when I said a deal was not a good one. Salespeople just couldn't dream of losing a commission.Against my will and betterjudgement we took a job that I felt like walking out on after 1 meeting... and it was with a former client of mine.
The tale ends with me being right but taking a lot of the blame... one of the biggest reasons I left back to my meager existence now (meager but sure a lot happier).
Most of you are too small to let some rotten job pull you under... it could end your business. Listen to your ID... its usually right.
|
|
 |
Before you can reply to a message... |
You must first register for a Remote Central user account - it's fast and free! Or, if you already have an account, please login now. |
Please read the following: Unsolicited commercial advertisements are absolutely not permitted on this forum. Other private buy & sell messages should be posted to our Marketplace. For information on how to advertise your service or product click here. Remote Central reserves the right to remove or modify any post that is deemed inappropriate.
|
|
