Now to continue to be politically incorrect,

I have to assume that since you have such a hard time understanding him, that English is perhaps not his native language (note: "native language" and "native speaker" are precise linguistic terms, not some kind of putdown or insult. And yes, I DO have a degree in Linguistics.)

If his native language is not English, perhaps the United States is not his native country. Here in Southern California, that does not necessarily hold.

If his native country is not the United States, you may be barking up the wrong tree when you bargain with him, because he may understand pricing, bargaining and "a deal" completely differently than you do. In Beverly Hills, there is a subset of the population, with, yes, a particular ethnic background (not the centuries-old stereoptypical group), who will negotiate, set a price, have the work done, then start to negotiate again. This has led us to separate labor from any and all parts and components purchases in order to shorten the length of the hammer they can swing at us....


What a country! as noted above. You can profit from this, although he, and perhaps you, might have a hand removed in some other country for being so sacrilegious.

I thought that was what a contract was for?

CJ

Trouble is, with this particular subset of the general population, the contract isn't recognized as the last word until you are standing before the judge. If you get that far, you will never sell this man anything again, and you won't get any referals.

It's sure frustrating sometimes, but I don't hold it against anyone. It's just a cultural difference and hence, they are really doing nothing wrong IMO.

Hello From Alaska guys.
Been following you guys for a while and decided to get sighned up and add my meager abilitys to the cause.LOL

In respose, I was thinking of a shuttle style computer with wav file pluged to an signal sensing intercom input. the computer should be smart enough to learn when to play it, though the customer making changes might get sketchy. HUm use xp and u should be able to link up from your comp and adjust setting as needed. LOL or remind him to pay his bill evan LOL

EXACTLY.

Because of this, we have chosen to structure our deals so that only ten per cent of the total is not paid at the time that we make it play. We use one of two approaches:
Charge in full for the components and an estimated parts cost, then order them; this method has us collecting for labor as we go, with a maximum of ten per cent of the total unpaid at the moment that we make things play. Up to that time, they have nothing that works.

Or, structure payment for all components, parts and labor without requiring payment in full for components and parts to start. Again, there is a progress payment such that only about ten per cent is unpaid when we light it up.

This way, if someone wants to play with the deal after it has happened,
a)we fire in advance any customer who wants to play with the whole ten per cent, or any more, because they know about this in advance, or
b)they can't slap us around for a whole lot of the job. For ten per cent, if we have to, we can still fire them and make sure they know that we will not be available to service them when (never say IF to such a person) it becomes necessary.