I had decided not to take the job the day after he let me know he could get his equipment at my cost.. I don't have time to screw around with jobs/customers like this. I'll let the poor b*st*rd that wired it take it. i wish I knew who it was that wired it, as I'd drop him a line, and let him know what this guy is up too.. We could both turn him down, and let him suffer with holes throughout his house.. LOL....

Amen brother. Just ask anyone who's installed gear into a house with customer supplied satellite equipment who gets the call when the sat goes down.

He may also have an account with Direct Buy. People pay 5K a year and they can purchase equipment at cost. I quoted a client 16 pairs of Jamo in ceilings and he knew the cost down to the penny. it really got my goat. So I wallked because I knew he played me. but check out Direct Buy.com later!

Yeah... isn't that just great. I love how the chickie makes retail stores sound so evil. What she doesn't tell you is how much it costs to put a retail showroom out there and how that "43%" equates to about squat after taxes, employee fees etc. Its so wonderful how these "Direct Buy" people come to you and use up your time because although they got a good price they couldn't get s--t for product knowledge from the "design center".

These words are like the plague to me and I boycott manufacturers who sell to these slimebags.

And what a lame site they have.

I was not able to find a list of the brands they offer to their members. Does anyone know which brands thay offer? We should compile a list.

I DO know that they offer PSB speakers - not sure about the rest of the Lenbrook group proucts (like NAD of which I am a dealer)

Really? That's disappointing; I thought PSB had more class than that.

I don't get all the frenzy here. People understand when you tell them that you warranty the work you do and the products you sell. You will advise them when their own equipment fails (opportunity for new sale - that's good) but not warrantee it.

I just did get a call on a system that's been out for two years and one of the satellite boxes isn't getting all the channels.

Observations:
1. I'm glad the client thinks of me first. I want him to always be my client. I'll help him, which makes him more likely to call me again. He'll want more gadgets and service down the road, to be sure.
2. I might recommend a hard boot of the box which he can do but more likely, call DirecTV and tell them "the family room box is not receiving all the channels" and they'll initialize it.
3. Customer service is what drives this trade and every opportunity for me to look good in the client's eyes is fine with me. I'm glad to make a couple phone calls for someone who has spent a lot of money with me.
4. If the integrator/client relationship is a constant tug of war, then perhaps each will be pointing the finger at the other (YOU INSTALLED IT!!! ---- I DON'T CARE, YOU SUPPLIED IT!!!) but I don't have those kind of clients. Reasonable people settle problems reasonably.

I'm with Larry on this one.

yes, but this is not the topic of the thread. The thread is talking about the guy who goes to an HT shop asks for the list and installation, then goes and buys it whole sale and then asks for the installer to do the installation.

Reasonable people settle problems reasonably, but they don't always marry reasonable people. Just this morning I had an uncomfortable exchange with my old client's new wife on the failure of his 12 year old gear, and her failure to understand why she had to pay for us to r&r it. I've left a message at his office to hash this out, and may end up resigning the account; I would certainly choose my wife over any service provider, and don't expect him to do otherwise.

I don't get the disparity between Tom & Larry's experiences and position and the rest of us; we all do pretty much the same thing, but get different results. Huh.

I am the first to bend over backwards for a customer. Another one of my pet peeves is being at a job when I say I'm going to be there. I have a couple of builders who are still shocked when I roll onto a job site when I say I'm going to. This after doing several homes for them. But when it comes to a customer that has the deck stacked in his favor (knows my cost) I am not going to deal with him. The way I look at a guy like this is, what would his future referals consist of? A friend of his buys equipment from him, and wants me to install it.This could potentially snowball into something that I don't want or need. I've done jobs where the customer buys his source equipment and speakers from me, but buys his plasma at CC or BB. Not a problem. He signs on the dotted line, and understands that I can't warranty what I don't sell him. No big deal. I think that it was more this guys approach that p*ssed me off. He was so matter of fact, like he'd done this before and knew the ropes. Thanks guys..