Quotation withdrawn!

[obseen16]

Hey guys n gals,

did a quote the other week on behalf of a company i sub to. simple job really, fit new combi in place of old gravity boiler.
went to have a look and talked through the job with custard. got prices in typed it all up for them, sent it to custard.
A day or two later custard says yes please do the work BUT i want a full breakdown of the parts and what they cost.
I did the break down and sent it to custard. he wasnt happy and said he can source the boiler, flue, controls and inhibitor for less on the "interweb". I said ok well just supply pipework and fittings plus the labour. this was all ok but then the next day he called and said "im not happy about how much the materials are going to cost. instead what i would like you to do is come back to double check you have the right measurements and then once you do the job, show me proof of how much you paid and i will pay an additional 10% on top". told the customer ill have a word with the boss of the company, he pulled the quote out the folder and tore it up "Tell custard were not in it to lose out on money, he can go elsewhere".

How do i go about politely telling the custard that hes p**sed the boss off enough to tear up the quote?
never seen the guy get so annoyed lol.

Thus far i have ignored custards phone calls but he wont give up on calling me, should i just say the quotation has been withdrawn as were not supplying the gear???????

OOOH I hate being the bad guy.

please offer me some advice on this one guys.

 

[tamz]

Just tell him the truth.
Although you initially tried to accommodate his requests, they have now become too unreasonable and you do not wish to proceed any further therefore he should go elsewhere.

A bit more polite than what your boss would really like to say to him.

I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. You don't need customers dictating your rates and margins.

 

[secret squirrel]

First of all your not the bad guy here, the customer is being very awkward and wants to pay nothing.

I'd fight every urge in my body by not telling him to grow up and P### off, this is what I would say.

'unfortunately, whilst I can appreciate your point of view, this is not the way we as a professional company work. When we have done this before it has caused nothing but problems for both us and you the customer. If there is a problem with any of the parts you supplied, there will be additional costs involved for you as we did not supply them. We were willing to accept that you were providing the boiler etc. However, it is very time consuming to list every single part, joint, gas used and solder plus the multitude of other parts. We are not willing to quote or take on the job under your terms and conditions, this is not how we run our business. Thanks'

 

[secret squirrel]

Just tell him the truth.
Although you initially tried to accommodate his requests, they have now become too unreasonable and you do not wish to proceed any further therefore he should go elsewhere.

A bit more polite than what your boss would really like to say to him.

I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. You don't need customers dictating your rates and margins.

Exactly, since when do we have to deal with the customers terms and conditions, as if this job isn't hard enough

 

[quality]

It sound like he wants to supply the diesel for your van cause he can buy it 1p per litre cheaper from asda.
I would tell him straight , either I/you do the job for my/your price or get someone else

 

[mikegas]

cant see why your worried, id take pleasure in telling him

 

[stevetheplumber]

sex and travel

 

[quality]

sex and travel

?? ??

 

[SimonG]

I think stevetheplumber is recommending the customer to foxtrot oscar.

I wouldn't worry about it, just tell him not doing the job. Personally I would go in a little stronger, but thats just me.

 

[obseen16]

Cheers fellas, next time he calls ill tell him straight. 🙂

 

[dontknowitall]

I was thinking along the terms of steve's travel thread - something like a shortened version of go forth and multiply.

 

[CES]

I laughed out loud when I read steves travel post. very funny

 

[REDSAW]

tell him after he has supplied the boiler and all the fittings, you can recomend a good employment agency to do the work cheaper than you.
then say 'that will be just £220 for the professional advice and site visits etc +vat, invoice in the post. bye'.

 

[Plumbstar Tom]

clearly your boss has a head on his shoulders

I can tell you now that when you 'finish' this job the custard will not be happy, he will not pay up straight away

and the profit your making on this job does not out weigh it as he wants to supply everything himself

Tell him the job is not worth it, be polite if you want 🙂

 

[leelister6]

I'd just tell him to p+#s off! You will have nowt but trouble from setting foot in his house to beating the money out of him at the end of the job. No self respecting bloke would work for a turd like that!

 

[kirkgas]

NEVER give a breakdown of your quote until AFTER it is done and paid for, if your quote and measure is honest you have nothing to worry about by supplying it, but NOT before you win the job, you are simply doing a free estimate for them to pass the material list to someone else to price less than you or for the punter to shop around,
I will give anyone a supply and fit price OR a labour only price if they want to supply the material, but they need to pay me £100 up front for the measure and do the material list, they dont pay I dont do it, simple, i aint going round as the cheapo's free estimator, the other thing i insist on if a customer supplies material is to ensure they understand and sign to say they agree that all material supplied by them is guaranteed by them not me, so if the material delivery is short or damaged they need to pay me £30 per hour daywork for every hour or part of that i'm held up, eg the flue is missing they need to go and get it and i need to go back the next day i would invoice 3hrs for returning, fitting and inconvenience, if the boiler breaks down and they phone me i charge £50 call out payable up front, if the prob is my work i will refund, if the prob is boiler breakdown they sort warrenty visit, if the leak is caused by the faulty trv or 15x10 crappy reducer they pay me, i'm sick of punters telling me they can buy cheaper than me, i have to buy, pay for then wait on my money, i also cover the guarantee of parts, this MUST be paid for i'm a registered business NOT a registered charity is my favourite, if they dont agree i dont do the job as it will end in tears (mine)
i would have great pleasure telling this punter you are not interested in doing work uder these conditions, if he says you have something to hide etc, tell them you have met people like them before and suspect that the job will end up more bother than it is worth, it isnt for them to decide on a 10% mark up (unless you make your supplier charge you retail for everything, have you seen a retail rad price list!!!!!!!!!!!!!) you will be able to prove you paid about £150 for a 600x500 bathroom rad and will get 10% on top) your mark up is your business strategy and not for discussion with anyone, i am happy to tell someone what i used after the job but NOT how much i paid, tell him to source another person to do the job, its just a pity you have now given them a free full estimate
RANT OVER haha

 

[obseen16]

Kirk gas - i think i love you hahahahaha.

 

[Hybrid]

kirkgas is bang on.

I'd love to tell the guy I won't work on his terms. You have the opportunity to tell a pompous pennypincher that you don't need his money. Can I do it? lol

 

[obseen16]

i ended up e-mailing him. couldnt bring myself to get heated on the phone with the questions hed fire back like "but why?" lol

i thought this was the nicest possible way of telling him to FO!

Dear Mr B,


[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Apologies for not coming back to you sooner. over the weekend i spoke to Mark the owner of *****. Unfortunately ****** is unwilling to agree to your terms and i regret to inform you that the quotation's have been withdrawn. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]I apologise for the inconvenience caused by this action but wish you all the best in finding someone to complete the installation. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Please ensure the engineer you use is gas safe registered and always ask for their gas safe id card before starting the job. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Kind Regards[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]James Thompson
***** Contractor[/FONT]

 

[obseen16]

Dunno what happened to the above post :S

Dear Mr B,


[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Apologies for not coming back to you sooner. over the weekend i spoke to Mark the owner of ****. [/FONT][FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Unfortunately **** is unwilling to agree to your terms and i regret to inform you that the quotation's have been withdrawn. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]I apologise for the inconvenience caused by this action but wish you all the best in finding someone to complete the installation. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Please ensure the engineer you use is gas safe registered and always ask for their gas safe id card before starting the job. [/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]Kind Regards[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]
[/FONT]
[FONT='times new roman', 'new york', times, serif]James Thompson[/FONT]
***** Contractor

 

[Hybrid]

Fair enough.
If he demands a reason explain that with him supplying certain parts it would be a mindfield of conflicting liabilities and responsibility if something were to go wrong. In the end it was deemed too much trouble.

 

[leelister6]

If he demands a reason, tell him is cos he's a plick!

 

[PlumbBobBob]

didn't realise he was chinese lol

 

[REDSAW]

i think it was a resteraunt, cooking chinese bloke

 

[cdodds2004]

thats the reason i dont do breakdown on quotes the net is a dangerous place! i just give a complete price or if they want to supply parts i charge a day rate plus any extra parts at my prices not his! and only gurantee my workmanship, if they arent happy with that then i dont want them as customers! im not a rip off my prices are always competitive and when they get quotes from other reputable guys they see the results! but cant stop people using have a go harry who isnt gas safe and will fire it in on sat morning! leave him to it mate and walk away, just tell him you dont get involved unless its supply and fit due to to many jobs were incorrect stuff ordered 🙂

 

[WHPES]

I generally do a breakdown on parts (not detailed) and I explain that the parts price covers the time and fuel / postage cost etc getting them. Never had any problems with that personally.

 

[cdodds2004]

also you must mark parts up when selling them because if there is a problem they expsect a call back for free etc, so you have to build this into your mark up on parts! i have explained this before to people saying things are cheaper off the net,

 

[kirkgas]

also you must mark parts up when selling them because if there is a problem they expsect a call back for free etc, so you have to build this into your mark up on parts! i have explained this before to people saying things are cheaper off the net,

you are spot on, when anyone tells me they can buy it cheaper i say ok, order me £1000's worth of fittings and deliver them to me, i will pay you for them as i use them, and if any are damaged i expect you to change them for nothing for me, what? you dont want to do interest free credit AND wait on your money????????