British customer vs American customers

[joe]

just as a variation on the thread from davidmartinuk about 'american employees fragile egos' i just had to post about my experiences with British customers. i am fuming mad right now so please don't be offended at my stereo-typing of my fellow brits!

i have to say that i have very few brit customers but, almost universally they are a right royal pain in the arse!

there are 2 major problems......

firstly they are cheap. every time i get a fellow brit on the phone they ask for a 'brit discount'? what exactly is that? i had one guy mention price 3 times in his first conversation with him but then denied that he was price conscious. i lose very little money to bad debts and have few discussions with my american customers over pricing but every brit customer i have had in the last 6 months complains about the price of what i am doing. i have just lost $250 on an $800 repair that this particular brit feels was over priced. i gave an estimate (look up the definition of estimate) of $550 and that is all he is going to pay despite his pool system being 10+ years old and fit for the knackers yard and my guy having to make 3 seperate trips to get it fully functioning. i have charged him way under the going rate for most of the extra parts i used and have charged only a fraction of the labor hours it took. his answer is that he is ONLY going to pay the estimate. the last british customer before that had a green pool (this was just before xmas). he wanted it cleaned up and, because we were closing for xmas, i threw a ton of chemical at it and had 3 or 4 guys out there every day for a week scrubbing it down/cleaning the filter and it turned round really quickly. he thought he should not pay the full quote because we turned it round so quick that it could not have been that bad?

the second issue is absentee british owners. again this is not much of a problem for me normally as most of my customers are permanent residents. the brits who own up here but don't live here are few and far between but when they come into town they will whine and bitch about a leaf in the pool or some dirt on the steps as if the wind never blows while they are not here and the rain never falls. they want everything done yesterday because 'we are only here until saturday'.

i don't know how you guys deal with this type of cutomer 24/7. you have my sympathy and my utmost admiration. far from the typical american customer being perceived (by brits) as pushy and mean, my experience has been the exact opposite.

rant over.....get on with your lives.

Joe

[grumps]

i agree the only problem we have had is with brits, never with the american people. twice i have been shafted by brits.

[joe]

i am sorry that you have had the same experience....i was beginning to think it was just me?

Joe

[davidmartin_uk]

Most tourists are pretty chilled out here. Main problem consistently is with French Canadians, rude, arrogant, get stroppy when you don’t speak French (we are over 100 miles form the Canadian border!!!!) and even worse they don’t understand how to pre pay for Gas or use the C card at the pump and EVEN WORSE when you don’t take Canadian Dollars.

We have an in store saying with the staff with these types

FOW

F*** off to Waynes (the next gas Station 3 miles down the road!!!)

Dave

[jay]

i am sorry that you have had the same experience....i was beginning to think it was just me?

Joe

LOL Brit discount, no joe its not just you.
jayne

[anniefromessex]

When we lived there I must admit the Brits always wanted something done for nothing. They never realised the distances you had to travel, then if you needed something extra and there wasn't a Home Depot or the like nearby you had to travel yet again to get what you wanted - tight or what?!!! I really think they thought it was "beam me up Scotty" and you would be there.

Love Anniexxx

[Paul Elliott]

I always ask for a cash discount and if that does not work, I play the old soldier and ask for a old folks discount and if that does not work, I ask for a volume discount and if that does not work.......Why not? They can only say no. My customers at my DVD store occasionally do this to me [ the Brit ones anyway] and get nothing. They are just a bunch of cheapskates!

[Susie]

just as a variation on the thread from davidmartinuk about 'american employees fragile egos' i just had to post about my experiences with British customers. i am fuming mad right now so please don't be offended at my stereo-typing of my fellow brits!

i have to say that i have very few brit customers but, almost universally they are a right royal pain in the arse!

there are 2 major problems......

firstly they are cheap. every time i get a fellow brit on the phone they ask for a 'brit discount'? what exactly is that? i had one guy mention price 3 times in his first conversation with him but then denied that he was price conscious. i lose very little money to bad debts and have few discussions with my american customers over pricing but every brit customer i have had in the last 6 months complains about the price of what i am doing. i have just lost $250 on an $800 repair that this particular brit feels was over priced. i gave an estimate (look up the definition of estimate) of $550 and that is all he is going to pay despite his pool system being 10+ years old and fit for the knackers yard and my guy having to make 3 seperate trips to get it fully functioning. i have charged him way under the going rate for most of the extra parts i used and have charged only a fraction of the labor hours it took. his answer is that he is ONLY going to pay the estimate. the last british customer before that had a green pool (this was just before xmas). he wanted it cleaned up and, because we were closing for xmas, i threw a ton of chemical at it and had 3 or 4 guys out there every day for a week scrubbing it down/cleaning the filter and it turned round really quickly. he thought he should not pay the full quote because we turned it round so quick that it could not have been that bad?

the second issue is absentee british owners. again this is not much of a problem for me normally as most of my customers are permanent residents. the brits who own up here but don't live here are few and far between but when they come into town they will whine and bitch about a leaf in the pool or some dirt on the steps as if the wind never blows while they are not here and the rain never falls. they want everything done yesterday because 'we are only here until saturday'.

i don't know how you guys deal with this type of cutomer 24/7. you have my sympathy and my utmost admiration. far from the typical american customer being perceived (by brits) as pushy and mean, my experience has been the exact opposite.

rant over.....get on with your lives.

Joe

Oh Joe,

I know exactly what you mean and not offended by your post at all. Sometimes it is very hard to bite your tongue when dealing with holidaymakers 24/7 too they assume that they can call you anytime of the day just to ask where the nearest take away is, or how to get to Downtown Disney or they have an emergency as they blocked one of the toilets.

The one call that springs to mind that really got to me was, a client called at about midnight to say they were lost, which is fair enough but when I asked where he was his reply was #I don't know I am lost# I then had to wait up for an extra half hour or so till he drove somewhere, stopped and asked where he was for him to call me back, what a dope

Do you give written estimates if so does the conditions on the back allow for a margin of error

[Susie]

I always ask for a cash discount and if that does not work, I play the old soldier and ask for a old folks discount and if that does not work, I ask for a volume discount and if that does not work.......Why not? They can only say no. My customers at my DVD store occasionally do this to me [ the Brit ones anyway] and get nothing. They are just a bunch of cheapskates!

lol,

I admire your honesty and have to own up to trying it on too occasionally. For instance, If I am buying a new car (If only) I decide the make model and colour and ring round for the best deal and play one dealership against the other. God, I hate the way car salesmen try the high sales pressure treatment. So is it just us Brits that do this I wonder?

[grumps]

we all try to get the best deal posable. but when we agree a price we pay it.

[British Redneck]

I always append the words, "Errors and Omissions Excepted" to every estimate I write. When the customer questions the verbiage I explain that I'm only human and cannot accurately diagnose a fault they describe over the phone.

I too get asked for a British Discount on occasion but tell them I'm a bit like Wal-Mart in that I don't haggle. But worse still are the little old ladies (of either gender) who think I should be offering AARP/VFW/Moose Lodge/whatever discounts because they are old.

[britcan]

Most tourists are pretty chilled out here. Main problem consistently is with French Canadians, rude, arrogant, get stroppy when you don’t speak French (we are over 100 miles form the Canadian border!!!!) and even worse they don’t understand how to pre pay for Gas or use the C card at the pump and EVEN WORSE when you don’t take Canadian Dollars.

We have an in store saying with the staff with these types

FOW

F*** off to Waynes (the next gas Station 3 miles down the road!!!)

Dave

Now you know why I left Ottawa!!!!!!You have to be French first to get any good jobs there...

[Tina]

Well.....I'm having my kitchen re-modelled as we speak, and I have to say I've never been so frustrated in my life!

It started off, we ordered the units in mid-december and paid a 50% deposit up-front. The kitchen fitting company said it would be a 4-6 weeks wait for the cabinets to come in and they would start work as soon as they got them, so I figured around end of January. Not so.....they only got the cabinets in March.

Then we had to hire a floor tiler, a plumber, and an electrician. Each tradesman was dependent on the one before him doing their job on time. For instance, the tiler couldn't do his job until the old kitchen was ripped out, the electrician couldn't do his job until the floor was finished, the plumber couldn't do his job until the new cabinets were installed......and I don't need to tell most of you, some people say they'll be here then don't show up. So you have this "domino effect" of everything going belly-up when somebody lets you down.

This has been going on for weeks now, and we're just about coming to the end......I've had no 'working kitchen' for 3 weeks.

As regards estimates and pricing.....apart from the kitchen fitter, not one of the tradesmen have given us a firm quote. I understand problems crop up when they're doing a big job like this, and they can't always be completely accurate, but they just seem so reluctant to put a figure on something!

Oh, what I wouldn't give for a British tradesman :mad:

[byjove]

What a crappy time Tina, hope it goes ok soon. But your right its never their fault its always some one elses, on time etc......

Still hope you get your nice new kitchen soon.

[Tina]

What a crappy time Tina, hope it goes ok soon. But your right its never their fault its always some one elses, on time etc......

Still hope you get your nice new kitchen soon.

Thanks. We're almost done, thank heavens. We have the units in, the floor tiled, and the electrics "useable" but still missing some outlets. They are just fitting the countertops now......it's taken 3 weeks to cut them! It's surprising how much you need worktops, that's why I was asking about pressure cookers on another thread......just throw everything in one pan, lol. We've had no sink until today (the plumber's here now connecting it all up) but that's not been without its problems....the daft kitchen men hauled away all the pipes with the old kitchen, so hubby had to run out for new......30 mile round trip grrrr.

Oh well, only in Florida as they say :rolleyes:

[grumps]

i always find that you get one company to do all the work, then they are responsable for make sure each trademan is there on time, it my cost a bit more but you do no have all the frustration. and you only have one person to deal with

[Susie]

Well.....I'm having my kitchen re-modelled as we speak, and I have to say I've never been so frustrated in my life!

It started off, we ordered the units in mid-december and paid a 50% deposit up-front. The kitchen fitting company said it would be a 4-6 weeks wait for the cabinets to come in and they would start work as soon as they got them, so I figured around end of January. Not so.....they only got the cabinets in March.

Then we had to hire a floor tiler, a plumber, and an electrician. Each tradesman was dependent on the one before him doing their job on time. For instance, the tiler couldn't do his job until the old kitchen was ripped out, the electrician couldn't do his job until the floor was finished, the plumber couldn't do his job until the new cabinets were installed......and I don't need to tell most of you, some people say they'll be here then don't show up. So you have this "domino effect" of everything going belly-up when somebody lets you down.

This has been going on for weeks now, and we're just about coming to the end......I've had no 'working kitchen' for 3 weeks.

As regards estimates and pricing.....apart from the kitchen fitter, not one of the tradesmen have given us a firm quote. I understand problems crop up when they're doing a big job like this, and they can't always be completely accurate, but they just seem so reluctant to put a figure on something!

Oh, what I wouldn't give for a British tradesman :mad:

God, it sounds as though your saga would make a best selling movie :)

[Tina]

OK......my update. As said earlier, kitchen fitters were here this morning putting in my countertops. They had said they would be done by mid-day, so the plumber turns up ON TIME at noon, but the countertops didn't get finished until around 2pm. The plumber (bless his heart) sat patiently waiting for them to finish, then went about his job as soon as they left.

Poor Mr Plumber had endless problems, stuff he couldn't have foreseen, but carried on regardless. He left at 9pm.....yes 9pm!!.....AND he has to leave for Boston late tonight on a job, which is why he wanted to get ours finished.

Then comes the moment where we cross palms with $$$'s.....and I'm thinking OMG this is gonna cost me an arm & a leg, given the amount of time he's spent here PLUS he supplied parts etc.....guess how much he charged me?

$225!! Yes folks, you heard it right......only $225!!

I'm now tucking in to humble pie and happy to say my faith has been restored.

Tomorrow is Mr Electrician's day, so watch this space :p

[Tina]

CAN ANYONE ADVISE ME PLEASE?


I'm posting this here on this thread as it's appropriate in that I'm a British customer.

I am at my wit's end with the farce that is my kitchen re-model. If you already saw my previous posts, you'll know I was having an electrician come in today to finish up all the outstanding electrical work.

Well.....he was here for only 2 hours, and in that time, he did nothing but moan and curse as the job wasn't very straightforward (no surprises there). All he did was install 3 outlets, then just went off, saying he had another job to do. He said "I'll call you when I'm coming back to finish up"

Well, I'm not happy and I want to fire him. Problem is, I don't know how much I would owe him for the work to date. This was his third visit, he had done other prep work prior to the kitchen installers coming in.

I'm concerned that if I fire him he may inflate his price in protest.

To be honest, I don't like the man. He's quite aggressive in his attitude, and I don't really want him back in my house.

Any advice on how I can dispense with his services without shooting myself in the foot?

I haven't signed anything. Any and all instructions and requests have been verbal only.

In the spirit of this thread's title......I wonder if an American customer would put up with all the cr@p I've put up with for the past month?

[byjove]

OK Tina, ask him for a fax or written confirmation of work complete to "get your ducks in a row" so to speak. Did you get a quote from him in the first place?

Remember there is a demon called a mechanics lien make sure they dont put this on now, as this has to be submitted WITH the first invoice to be legal on their side.

[Susie]

OK......my update. As said earlier, kitchen fitters were here this morning putting in my countertops. They had said they would be done by mid-day, so the plumber turns up ON TIME at noon, but the countertops didn't get finished until around 2pm. The plumber (bless his heart) sat patiently waiting for them to finish, then went about his job as soon as they left.

Poor Mr Plumber had endless problems, stuff he couldn't have foreseen, but carried on regardless. He left at 9pm.....yes 9pm!!.....AND he has to leave for Boston late tonight on a job, which is why he wanted to get ours finished.

Then comes the moment where we cross palms with $$$'s.....and I'm thinking OMG this is gonna cost me an arm & a leg, given the amount of time he's spent here PLUS he supplied parts etc.....guess how much he charged me?

$225!! Yes folks, you heard it right......only $225!!

I'm now tucking in to humble pie and happy to say my faith has been restored.

Tomorrow is Mr Electrician's day, so watch this space :p

Awe, what a sweetie the plumber was. It is refreshing to hear that some workmen have excellent work ethics and go an extra mile if needs be. As you have used him personally and very happy with him. Please ask permission for you to post his contact details for the benefit of any other member

[Susie]

CAN ANYONE ADVISE ME PLEASE?


I'm posting this here on this thread as it's appropriate in that I'm a British customer.

I am at my wit's end with the farce that is my kitchen re-model. If you already saw my previous posts, you'll know I was having an electrician come in today to finish up all the outstanding electrical work.

Well.....he was here for only 2 hours, and in that time, he did nothing but moan and curse as the job wasn't very straightforward (no surprises there). All he did was install 3 outlets, then just went off, saying he had another job to do. He said "I'll call you when I'm coming back to finish up"

Well, I'm not happy and I want to fire him. Problem is, I don't know how much I would owe him for the work to date. This was his third visit, he had done other prep work prior to the kitchen installers coming in.

I'm concerned that if I fire him he may inflate his price in protest.

To be honest, I don't like the man. He's quite aggressive in his attitude, and I don't really want him back in my house.

Any advice on how I can dispense with his services without shooting myself in the foot?

I haven't signed anything. Any and all instructions and requests have been verbal only.

In the spirit of this thread's title......I wonder if an American customer would put up with all the cr@p I've put up with for the past month?

I doubt whether Americans would put up with his messing around but they are familiar with the laws of the land so know the score when playing the game, so to speak.

If it were me I would be a bit careful as if you have a go at him it could come back to bite you. I know you feel as if you want to strangle him at the moment but sometimes out here you have to bite your togune and be nice to get them to complete their work, this is not right I know and very frustrating but you do stand a much better chance of getting your own way.

I would give him a couple of days to contact you with regards to his time scale as to when he will finish the job. If he does not contact you in a day or so I would fax/e-mail him to request his very urgent attention especially if you are without electricity.

If he fails to contact you then I would send a certified letter giving him x no of days to complete the job or you will have no option to hire another contractor to complete the job and back charge him

[peter gold]

You first need to fix an hourly daily or job rate or you are going to get shafted by this electrician!

[Tina]

You first need to fix an hourly daily or job rate or you are going to get shafted by this electrician!

Hubby's just spoke to him on the phone. Told him we want a breakdown of everything he's done and an itemised costing. Haven't actually fired him yet, keeping our options open and told him we are running out of budget so need to know where we stand right now.

A lesson learned though :doh:

[Tina]

Just been re-reading this thread, and it's a shame some Brit customers are seen as a 'pain in the @ss'.........in my own personal experience, it's the other way around......it's the contractors who are a pain.

Maybe I've just been unlucky, I dunno, but right now I feel like I don't want anything done that we can't do ourselves in future :(

[joe]

Hi Tina,

sorry that these particular contractors are causing you a pain. they do not represent ALL of us, i can tell you.

why did you choose these particular guys...was it on recommendation, advertizing, availability? also, as has been said previously, why did you choose to go for seperate contractors over one company that could 'do it all'?

thanks

Joe

[Tina]

Hi Tina,

sorry that these particular contractors are causing you a pain. they do not represent ALL of us, i can tell you.

why did you choose these particular guys...was it on recommendation, advertizing, availability? also, as has been said previously, why did you choose to go for seperate contractors over one company that could 'do it all'?

thanks

Joe

Hi Joe,

I know this isn't representative of everyone. Like I said, maybe I've just been unlucky.

The reason I chose each of these particular contractors was because the kitchen installation company came very highly recommended to me, but that's all they do...install kitchens. So I had to set about finding my own individual contractors for the other work. The floor tiler was recommended to me by the kitchen fitter as he had seen a lot of his work and said it was excellent.......and it is, no problems there. Then it turns out the floor tiler also does plumbing, so the plumber and floor tiler are one and the same. As for the electrician, I couldn't get a recommendation, nobody seemed to know anyone, so I had to take a chance and picked a card up from an advertisement board we have here on our sub-division. I thought we were gonna be OK with him as his firm actually wired these houses when they were first built.

On reflection, now that we're almost done, I have to say I'm delighted with the workmanship of the tiler/plumber. It's just all been very stressful, people not showing up when they're supposed to, finding "extra" work needs doing etc etc.

Ah well, as they say "it'll all be worth it in the end"......I do hope so!

Bet you're sorry you asked now Joe, lol.

[joe]

no, not at all.

i think you did all the right things all the way through. the worst guy in the loop is the one that you couldn't get a recommendation for so, what else could you have done?.......nothing at all.

just make sure that next time you pass that advertizing board you take down the electricians card!!!

Joe

[SHEILA 13]

Tina,Pleased to read its nearly done !!!!
Sheila

[ihateuk]

the prob is brits what something for nothing people do not realise that you give a dicount no prob BUT you still gotta pay rates if you give them a $200 discount you gotta make that money up somewhere else.
WHY DONT MY FELLOW BRITS UNDERSTAND THIS GOD WE ARE SO ARRAGANT

[Kriz1]

Not sure if I would expect a Brit to give me a discount unless he offered it as normal practice..I would like a little discount for giving someone a lot of work...I get that with my gardener who is American..he has never put up my costs and never lets me pay for any extra work...
I've only had trouble with one workman so far...he was a Brit...but then we do near enough everything ourselves..apart from roofs and windows...