Pain in the arse customers!

[bewsh]

Went to service a Range Powermax 155 for the first time to see if it's suitable for the company to cover it. Strip it out, all baffles have fallen to the bottom, the mech part of the burner is separating from the housing. Clearly never been stripped down before as it still has the original burner gasket - even though there was a sticker to say it had been serviced 2 months previous to me visiting.

So, I cap it off and give them a quote for replacing the burner, gaskets and baffles. They weren't happy with the price and said they are going to get a new boiler fitted, and their father-in-law was a GSR so he could do it. Happy days, I thought.

Then a couple of days later (today), I get a call off "customer relations" in the office. The customer had put a complaint in about me saying that I had broken their boiler and it was ok before I visited, as it had been "serviced 2 months ago and everything was fine", and they've had to spend £2000 on a new boiler....

Safe to say, I just laughed down the phone to the office!

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Scumbags...

 

[Whyme]

Cheeky burgers the lot of em..We fit a boiler 4years ago (open vent) and since then she's had a new pump and kicked up a stink. tuesday went round and the old 12year old 3ports stuffed, youve never heard ranting like it "wish she'd never had boiler, never been right from start, old one was ok for blah blah blah." Its not the boiler its your cr^p system that you didnt want altering. I fee.l ur pain bewsh

 

[erpkid]

They can be challenging and occasionally evil. As you get stuffed your ability to spot the takers eventually becomes better. You will be brilliant at it by the time you retire.

 

[bewsh]

I'm normally pretty good at spotting them but they seemed pretty happy at the time and wanted a new boiler anyway (apparently). Clearly just trying to get reimbursed some money from my work! Hopefully, they'll try and take it further and then my boss will have to go and see them, and I'll ask to go with them. See how much crap they come up with, when I'm there as well! They usually change their tone when the engineer is in the actual house. Should be fun 🙂

 

[stani]

Bewsh do you not take photos, always worth it , especially when they say you did this or that, it wasn't like that before. Oh yes it was care to look at the photo, they soon shut up.

 

[Best]

I had one pain of a customer. This is so ridiculous, it's funny -


Phone call from unknown lady - "How much to service an oil boiler?"
Stupidly, she was told only £40, to which she later rang back & unfortunately agreed to.
Then she said it was a Warmflow condensing combi boiler!!
Her partner then revealed when I rang them, that the boiler was actually faulty & cutting off frequently! Typical game people play at! - ask for a service, when it's actually broke!
I decided to help them out & went to it (hour journey there & back) & discovered it was badly installed Had to go back (another hour travel) after doing most of it as filling loop was all damaged & guy had not bothered to mention it, despite knowing all about it. I serviced it, new gasket, nozzle, filling loop gear etc. Also discovered the expansion vessel had no air in it, so recharged it.
All sorted for them & they initially had paid a mere £45. I must have spent 5 hours overall, but was happy to help them & just looked at it as doing a good turn. I left them happy & guy told me to send them bill, including the extra charges.
I hadn't yet sent a bill. Later they contacted me to say, "They had paid me in full for the job & because I had yet to send them a receipt, they were going to take action against me. " ! They also said "They thought it was very unprofessional of me."!
£45 for all those parts & time & they were still not happy!

 

[bewsh]

Nah, I never really take photos, maybe I should start though.

Customer, who needs them, eh?

 

[Best]

Bewsh do you not take photos, always worth it , especially when they say you did this or that, it wasn't like that before. Oh yes it was care to look at the photo, they soon shut up.

Funny you mention taking photos - I secretly if possible take plenty of before & after photos & did so with the oil boiler I mentioned in last post. Was brilliant to give them a photo of their boiler showing it as it really was. Smug professional type people who thought they were cleverer than me. They must hate me. :smile:

 

[Best]

Nah, I never really take photos, maybe I should start though.

Customer, who needs them, eh?

Take photos of just about everything IMO.
Costs nothing to keep digital images & will def pay you some day, as someone will make an allegation.
Great also showing your quality work to others.

 

[Ermintrude]

When dealing with twits put iphone in top pocket on record. , usually a bit of overflow laying across pocket means u get Video footage.

 

[SimonG]

Its getting to the point where you will need a camera and microphone on you at all times to keep you out the clarts. Really impressed with my dash cam. 🙂

 

[Best]

Maybe all plumbers should wear a hard hat with one of those cameras sticking up high on top of it, that some cyclists use.

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

or go pro.

 

[brum]

Never mind TV programmes like Cowboy builders or Tradesmen from hell Ive always thought they should make one entitled Customers from hell would go down well I think..brum

 

[Millsy 82]

Never mind TV programmes like Cowboy builders or Tradesmen from hell Ive always thought they should make one entitled Customers from hell would go down well I think..brum

I would love to see that I could give them a few customers to start with.

In all fairness though the crazy ones are very few and far between for me. Over the past 16 years probably only 5-10 so that's not too bad.

 

[Chris F]

I once had a physical fight with a customer 🙂 he kicked me in the back while I was knelt under his sink because I asked him to move his dog.(nice HA work in Handsworth)
I started to stand up and he took a swing and caught me in the chops,I then proceeded to knock 7 bales of hay out of him. It was pretty satisfying. Though not very professional I admit.Been Thai boxing though for close on 20 years so he had a bit of a shock or maybe thought I would just stand there while his mates sat around laughing, plus I'm not exactly small so to be fair the guy had some stones .

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

dropbox app on the iphone now backs up photos to it automatically so it doesnt clog your phone up. sods law is that the one you dont snap comes to bite you in the arse.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

I once had a physical fight with a customer 🙂 he kicked me in the back while I was knelt under his sink because I asked him to move his dog.(nice HA work in Handsworth)
I started to stand up and he took a swing and caught me in the chops,I then proceeded to knock 7 bales of hay out of him. It was pretty satisfying. Though not very professional I admit.Been Thai boxing though for close on 20 years so he had a bit of a shock or maybe thought I would just stand there while his mates sat around laughing, plus I'm not exactly small so to be fair the guy had some stones .

Awesome dude 🙂

 

[brum]

why oh why work in handsworth even the dogs go round in pairs oh I miss my old toon ,and that's a complete lie..what a dump