Shorted Money on a Detail

I think you were s#$%^ed but consider two valuable lessons learned:



Count the money what if he gave you $150 and expected change?



quote a rate per hour or a total cost. Wouldn't you be surprised if your oil change ended up being $89.95 when you came to pick up the car? if you quote an hourly rate and total hours you should call him when you realize that the hours quoted were underestimated and let them decide to authorize additional hours.



I'm not questioning your work or ethics but why didn't the client know the bill before he came over?



Just a thought
 
You could try and get him to sign a reciept for the work before you start stating that he/she has to pay this unless unsatisfied where a certain percentage is knocked off.



In more technical and confusing term's like contracts normally are.
 


Hey all,



I have to agree with some of the ohers here.... I too was "shy" to check on money from my customers at first, but you should do it.... with a :)



Your proud of your work, your labours are worth the effort, & you've agreed to a price. Its just plain common sense to count it out when it's handed to you. No-one wants to be short changed (being nice here) for their work in any workplace and would check their pay & so should you.



I bet that guy would let you know if you underpayed him! :furious:



So don't shy away from counting the money. I do it quickly & in front of my customer for 2 reasons. One, make sure I'm paid correctly & two, check to see if I need to get any change. We don't tip here btw... Very, very rare!



Doesn't matter what work you do, in the end your supplying your labour & it's worth every penny. We aren't Video tapes that can be rewound to start over, once our time is used, that's it & you only have so little of it.... :wavey
 
OK well Sean is away for the weekend having fun in the sun but I'll chime in here for him.



The price was set and agreed upon. (he set it way to low I think)

The guy tried to tell sean how to do the job then left.

The guy shorted him after the work was done.



Sean finnaly rised his price to coinside for the work he does.



Done.

OUT.
 
GSRstilez said:
Thanks for the support Autopia :).





I always count the money before I leave a client (in the car) and usually do if they come to me as well. This happened to be when a buddy of mine just stopped by so I was chatting and not checking.



Furthermore, I should've turned this job down from the start. However, he came almost 2 hours to me. He asked if I was going to wetsand the scratches out. I tried to educate him letting him know that wetsanding levels out the surface and if I did you'd have a nice patch of no paint. He told me the detailer near him could get all of the scratches out (right) but he leaves heavy buffer marks. I informed him you need a heavy cut compound and high speed polisher to move the paint creating a filling technique. Finished up with a lighter polish to remove any hologramming, then a sealant.



In the end of all of this, I did learn something, actually a few things, from it all. If nothing else, this car will make for some insane pictures. They'll be up soon :).
Click to expand...



One way to look at it, is that you are protecting both him and yourself. If you were to do it while he was still there but discretely out of the way and then you mention it was $20.00 short, he might think you are trying to bilk him for another $20.00. By counting it in front of him, you are both agreeing that the amount given is accepted and the end of the contract.:)
 
cgc2 said:
Just currious, but why was price discussed AFTER your work, not before hand ?
Click to expand...





Once again the price was set first then he again after the detail asked about the price(thinking it was too much for the work done I guess) Sean always prices first and is not a by the hour detailer. I know this because inbetween acid baths he called me to tell me how bad the car was and that he should have charged more and the guy was getting the deal of the year for how trashed the car was.
 
ok..that makes sense.

thanks for the response.



BTW...I have never heard of an acid bath. Could you or Sean please post what the process is and when it is applicable whenever you have a free moment.

Thanks.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top