A guy who has been a customer for 8 years says to me.I think your not honest and you are trying to sell me stuff I don't need and then you are over charging me for it!

I was taken aback to say the least.... I told him I'm sorry you feel tht way, but understand I cannot and will not work for someone who does not trust me!

Pay me what you owe me and find someone else to do the work!


Hey buddy it was not me that broke your 16 channel dvr and it's not my fault a new one costs 1800 bucks and then about 6 hours of programming and
configuration!!!!

I would have blown a gasket if a customer said that to me. he'll be back. Just as soon as the hack he finds "fixes" it and then when there is a break in and they cant watch the replay because it wasn't configured properly he will soon realize that you knew what you were doing....imagine that.

I swear, dumb people annoy the living sh!t out of me.

My hero. I feel the same way. I would rather lose a job than continue to work with/for someone like that.

You really have to have a thick hide in this business and not let stuff like eat at you. Customers are not people we usually choose - they choose us. They come in all different shapes and sizes - and unfortunately have personalities on both sides of the spectrum. Some of my worst experiences with customers were people I had actually considered friends. I am no longer surprised at what comes out of these people's mouths anymore.

Just last week I had a customer whom I considered a loyal one and friend send me a nasty email telling me the TV I installed there was SH$$ because the webcam that the plasma was accessing from the network would go into screen-saver mode after 10 minutes due to inacivity and he couldnt watch the front of his studio. I explained to him if he things the TV is crap now, imagine how crappy it would be with an image of his reception desk burned in the front. Then I proceeded to remind him that the webcam was complimentary and something that I specked in out of my own idea just for his convenience. So he basically complained about something he didnt even ask for and got for free because it was behaving in a way that would preserve his Plasma. I had to take a real step back and ignore the situation until I calmed down. I was glad I did because I think he was having a bad day and looking for someone to vent on. I decided wisely to not be that person, and it worked out perfectly.

tell him to sit on the toilet if he wants to view the front desk :)

Client was rude, and insulting. Good for you.

Too bad it had to come to that - maybe there was a lack of communication?

Have you discussed your overhead? Does he know what you have to cover, and Amazon doesn't? Insurance, van, benefits, rent?

Does he know why you spec power conditioners, UPSs, and reliable (more expensive) distributed video products? High-end brands?

Maybe you could address some of these issues in a well-articulated website posting, to help prevent it from happening again.

I understand vbova's situation where the customer is having a bad day and things aren't working how he wants. Having a customer call you a liar and a cheat like the OP is a completely different situation and I would have done the exact same thing and fired his ass.

A customer of mine constantly called to complain that he couldn't watch TV in the living room. It was one of the early universal type remotes I had done and it worked for me every time. I hadn't used URC or Pronto and was using Harmony at the time, with one H676 in the living room, one in the den and one in the basement (all systems are separate) so they wouldn't need to learn three different remotes. Then, he started calling that he couldn't get it to work in the basement. Turned out that as soon as he pressed the activity button, he would drop his arm to his side while it was still sending codes. It was on his cheat sheet, I told him constantly that "if the green light is on...." and it still took him 6 months to learn this. I should have run away then, but I must have seen it as a challenge, so I stuck around. Recently, he switched to DirecTv from Dish and I told the installer that he only needed to unplug the AV cables from Sat 1 and 2, then plug them into the receivers that would be feeding those TVs but apparently, he decided to be creative. I went over to program the remotes and they all worked when I left. He started having the same problems and called me at 11:15 & 11:27 ON A SATURDAY NIGHT. He then sent an e-mail stating that if it's a problem I can't handle, I should tell him who can....

He asked what kind of TV he should buy and I told him what I would buy, and why. He bought a disco'd LG LCD from another store and immediately complained to me that he didn't like the picture. Then, he complained about the lip-synch issues and I told him that it was because of his old Panasonic HTIB that I said is and would continue to be a problem, starting at the beginning.

I'm tired of this guy and his BS. It was time to kick him to the curb and when a customer cares more about getting the best deal than getting what he needs and having it connected correctly, I lose interest.

I need to get that time travel machine working so I can go back and tell some people that I can't do this stuff for them.

Customers don't care about all of this stuff- they want the best deal FOR THEM. Some of them are selfish, to an extreme and their lack of knowledge of what it takes to run this kind of business doesn't get in the way of them stepping over the dollars to pick up the nickels..

This was the total scope of the project?

If it's broke, it needs to be replaced. WTF was his concern? That it could have been fixed/repaired?

He has spent upper 6 figures with us over the years
And all has been good

And yes this was the total scope of this issue! 4 yr old dvr took a shit I replaced the power supply and main video card and it still wasn't working

Told him he had to pony up for a new one!

unless he was just venting, i can't imagine why a customer would say that. if he didn't want to do business with you anymore, he should just stop doing business with you. why he'd think any self respecting businessman would want to do business with him after a diatribe like that is beyond me. sounds like a troubled person.

Ed,

I'd fire off a NON emotional email stating your position.

Why accuse me of cheating you? We have an established relationship that has been mutually beneficial until now, yada yadad, yada

I tried to fix your unit, but fixing isn't in the cards. It needs to be replaced, yada, yada, yada

Think if it is wise to flat out fire him. Explain that your relationship was built on trust and you feel it is very important that trust go both ways. Leave it that if he no longer trusts your opinions and advise, then it may be best to part ways. I wouldn't directly or indirectly tell him he's out of line. You may be in the middle of some situational stress he has that you are unaware (wife bangin the pool guy, etc)

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that son of a bitch!

he can go to hell, he can go to hell and die! (little southpark humor)