Jean-Claude
Keeper of the beautiful
I get a call or two a day from my website and it usually pans out to be worth-while.
Yesterday, on Friday, I had a job scheduled in Midtown(Atlanta) that took about 4 hours starting at 9:30am. I had lunch with my sister in downtown Decatur(about 2:00) and made my way back to Conyers. I met my brother at Cherokee Run to play 9 holes. If we were enjoying ourselves and had time, we were going to pay for another 9.
On the ninth hole I get a call from a lady asking me how much to "wash a car". I ran through my regular questions so that I can make a fair deal for the both of us. What kind of vehicle(4-door Acura), where was she(midtown, 1 mile from where I was earlier ), when she would like it done(now), are you in a parking deck(I tell everyone my van is 9' tall)...she says no, and finally what exactly she wanted to have done. She said she just wanted the "inside and outside cleaned with a basic wash."
I told her if she wanted it done now(for me to leave to Atlanta at 6:00 from Conyers) it would be $75. I know that's not the cheapest in town, but if they wanted a proper cleaning job starting near dark, the day-of, I wasn't going to do it for $45.
She says that it would be fine and ask me when I'd be there. I told her 40 minutes.
When I get to her apartment complex(Post Renaissance) she waited 15 minutes to pick up my call to let me in. I am already telling myself that I bid this job low....
She tells me to go to the 3k building and she'd be down. I waited another 10 minutes and called her back. She says she'd be right down....I wait another 5 minutes for her to come down....
When I met her she had a confused look about her. I already knew something was up....I could just tell she was going to be pulling some kind of shennanigans.
She tells me my van won't be able to get to her car because it's in a parking deck. She tells me that "you can drive around and find a good place to clean it." I told her that I wouldn't do that, but that the spot needs to be about 20' or more away from the next closest car.
She tells me to exit the complex and go to a different entrance that has a empty carwash area I could use. So, I go and wait for her to bring the car.
She parks it and walks around the rear passenger-side and opens it. I see a seat ALL THE WAY DOWN/BACK. She opens the front-passenger door and what do I see?
.....
.....
....a VOMIT BOMB had gone off in the car. I mean, there was vomit covering the WHOLE door, ceiling, carpet, seat.....OMG, the door handle was FULL OF VOMIT. It was sloshing around as the door was moved!!
I can't help but laugh a little. She told me her friend had an accident. I said, "I hope your friend is around to help pay for this, because $75 isn't going to TOUCH that."
"How much to do this?" -all concerned-like.
I inspect it for a minute or two to see exactly how bad it was. "$75 to do a wash, $75 to clean the vinyl and leather, $45 for the carpet and I'll have to get back with you on how much it will be to take off the door panel and clean what got in there."
What does this completely straight forward customer say? Oh, I only have $80....
I told her, "(name here), I am not trying to be rude to you, but had you told me there was a vomit explosion, I would have told you it would be well over $75. Instead, you just asking for a interior and exterior wash. So here I am staring at 2-3 hours or work, driving almost 2 hours total and you're telling me that you only have $80....."
All she can say is, "I dunno....I dunno." I tell her that I can work with her but I would not do everything for $75. I told her I would clean the vinyl and leather. I would allow my steam cleaner to heat up the time it took me to clean the leather/vinyl but I could not promise a thorough job for that little of money. But I would not clean the rest of the car.
She tells me that if I don't clean the rest, the car would be dirty still.
I tell her she can choose one or the other but it was not my mistake in not giving the proper price when she deceived me over the phone.
"I dunno....I dunno...."
I know where this is going and I know I might as well be firm with her. "(name here), you keep telling me you don't know. What is there not to know? You called me asking for X-service and then you throw a monster job on me. If you were in my shoes what would you do?"
She says I should do it all for $80 so I can have SOMETHING for my time. (ooooooooooh boy that pissed me off, this dumb broad knew exactly what she was doing)
She says she can't afford to give me any money for time/fuel because if she did give me $20 then when she found someone who would do it for $80 she could no longer afford it...(AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!)
I told her that "she cost me about $20-30 in fuel and 2 hours and that I charge $45 for even LOOKING at a car if they choose to not have anything done. People can't find fuel in Atlanta and here you are trying to stick it to me. You are being REALLY CROOKED!" (I know she won't be a customer so I wasn't going to be sweet with her at this point I WAS LIVID)
She actually asks me in a half-way upset tone how she was being crooked. I said, "I don't know how much easier I can put it, I just explained how much money and time you cost me and intentionally deceived me."
I said thanks for wasting my time and money. Don't bother calling me when you can't find anyone to clean this up for $80.
I can't believe folks. I've had folks tell me that I should have accepted the $75 up front and told her I'd do the job and just do the wash. But that would make my word worth nothing. What can you do? If you want to be honest but don't want people to feel like they can do whenever they want a deal. Now she gets to have vomit in there at least another night.
:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall
Yesterday, on Friday, I had a job scheduled in Midtown(Atlanta) that took about 4 hours starting at 9:30am. I had lunch with my sister in downtown Decatur(about 2:00) and made my way back to Conyers. I met my brother at Cherokee Run to play 9 holes. If we were enjoying ourselves and had time, we were going to pay for another 9.
On the ninth hole I get a call from a lady asking me how much to "wash a car". I ran through my regular questions so that I can make a fair deal for the both of us. What kind of vehicle(4-door Acura), where was she(midtown, 1 mile from where I was earlier ), when she would like it done(now), are you in a parking deck(I tell everyone my van is 9' tall)...she says no, and finally what exactly she wanted to have done. She said she just wanted the "inside and outside cleaned with a basic wash."
I told her if she wanted it done now(for me to leave to Atlanta at 6:00 from Conyers) it would be $75. I know that's not the cheapest in town, but if they wanted a proper cleaning job starting near dark, the day-of, I wasn't going to do it for $45.
She says that it would be fine and ask me when I'd be there. I told her 40 minutes.
When I get to her apartment complex(Post Renaissance) she waited 15 minutes to pick up my call to let me in. I am already telling myself that I bid this job low....
She tells me to go to the 3k building and she'd be down. I waited another 10 minutes and called her back. She says she'd be right down....I wait another 5 minutes for her to come down....
When I met her she had a confused look about her. I already knew something was up....I could just tell she was going to be pulling some kind of shennanigans.
She tells me my van won't be able to get to her car because it's in a parking deck. She tells me that "you can drive around and find a good place to clean it." I told her that I wouldn't do that, but that the spot needs to be about 20' or more away from the next closest car.
She tells me to exit the complex and go to a different entrance that has a empty carwash area I could use. So, I go and wait for her to bring the car.
She parks it and walks around the rear passenger-side and opens it. I see a seat ALL THE WAY DOWN/BACK. She opens the front-passenger door and what do I see?
.....
.....
....a VOMIT BOMB had gone off in the car. I mean, there was vomit covering the WHOLE door, ceiling, carpet, seat.....OMG, the door handle was FULL OF VOMIT. It was sloshing around as the door was moved!!
I can't help but laugh a little. She told me her friend had an accident. I said, "I hope your friend is around to help pay for this, because $75 isn't going to TOUCH that."
"How much to do this?" -all concerned-like.
I inspect it for a minute or two to see exactly how bad it was. "$75 to do a wash, $75 to clean the vinyl and leather, $45 for the carpet and I'll have to get back with you on how much it will be to take off the door panel and clean what got in there."
What does this completely straight forward customer say? Oh, I only have $80....
I told her, "(name here), I am not trying to be rude to you, but had you told me there was a vomit explosion, I would have told you it would be well over $75. Instead, you just asking for a interior and exterior wash. So here I am staring at 2-3 hours or work, driving almost 2 hours total and you're telling me that you only have $80....."
All she can say is, "I dunno....I dunno." I tell her that I can work with her but I would not do everything for $75. I told her I would clean the vinyl and leather. I would allow my steam cleaner to heat up the time it took me to clean the leather/vinyl but I could not promise a thorough job for that little of money. But I would not clean the rest of the car.
She tells me that if I don't clean the rest, the car would be dirty still.
I tell her she can choose one or the other but it was not my mistake in not giving the proper price when she deceived me over the phone.
"I dunno....I dunno...."
I know where this is going and I know I might as well be firm with her. "(name here), you keep telling me you don't know. What is there not to know? You called me asking for X-service and then you throw a monster job on me. If you were in my shoes what would you do?"
She says I should do it all for $80 so I can have SOMETHING for my time. (ooooooooooh boy that pissed me off, this dumb broad knew exactly what she was doing)
She says she can't afford to give me any money for time/fuel because if she did give me $20 then when she found someone who would do it for $80 she could no longer afford it...(AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!)
I told her that "she cost me about $20-30 in fuel and 2 hours and that I charge $45 for even LOOKING at a car if they choose to not have anything done. People can't find fuel in Atlanta and here you are trying to stick it to me. You are being REALLY CROOKED!" (I know she won't be a customer so I wasn't going to be sweet with her at this point I WAS LIVID)
She actually asks me in a half-way upset tone how she was being crooked. I said, "I don't know how much easier I can put it, I just explained how much money and time you cost me and intentionally deceived me."
I said thanks for wasting my time and money. Don't bother calling me when you can't find anyone to clean this up for $80.
I can't believe folks. I've had folks tell me that I should have accepted the $75 up front and told her I'd do the job and just do the wash. But that would make my word worth nothing. What can you do? If you want to be honest but don't want people to feel like they can do whenever they want a deal. Now she gets to have vomit in there at least another night.
:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall:wall
J\K
