Ethics and morality question

[churchmouse]

Oh yeah, I've done that before and on the next order they will complain that the bill is higher than last time.

"Wait, it was $125 last year and it's $145 now why so high?"
"Well, I forgot to charge for the numbering on the last order so you go that for free."
"Can you still do it for $125?"
:l

Yup.

I actually had a guy ask for a discount because he knew what I charged a friend of his. Word of mouth referral and all.
He asked why so expensive. I told him to look at the other 3 estimates he had just referred me to (he offered and I did not ask) to which I was well under the lowest of the 3. I said "you got my best price for the job you want".
He said "You only charged my friend X amount"

After a half hour of explanations he was made to see he was asking for much more with larger equipment. 2 extra duct add ons and his system was bigger. I left him with my price. I got tired of dickering with him.

A week later he called and said if I cut $500 from my price he would give me the work. I said no to the hell no. Hung up and blocked his number.

 

[Cameramonkey]

I'm slightly confused on the two prices. If you were quoted the lower price to do it then and they are asking for more now (for whatever reason) I'd pay the lower, original price in good faith.

Is it unprofessional to come back and ask like this? Slightly. It also strikes me as petty. They are chasing down $50 here and there? Must be a REALLY small company or they are REALLY hurting for cash. (or they had a biller that REALLY sucked and lost a LOT of money)

Here is how I would handle it:
First, email them so you can make sure its all in writing. No more "he said she said" later.
Agree to pay the original fee since that is what you originally accepted. Anything above that (for whatever reason) is on them.
When they agree to the lower fee, send a copy of the agreement with a money order for the amount paid to the company name in case its an employee trying to squeeze some personal $$ out of customers. (boss forgot to charge them so I'll call and collect/pocket the difference)

Sending a money order also protects you from them hitting you for the larger amount instead of what you agreed to.

 

[Clay Pigeon]

Pay the Loft, sailboaters are notoriously cheap to begin with, dont be that guy and make the sail lofts black lists..
Sail lofts they are not known for hustling there customers...

I gotta ask Doc, why did your MacGregor need a new sail?

And what is this sail window????

 

[hoosierdoc]

Pay the Loft, sailboaters are notoriously cheap to begin with, dont be that guy and make the sail lofts black lists..
Sail lofts they are not known for hustling there customers...

I gotta ask Doc, why did your MacGregor need a new sail?

And what is this sail window????

I did not need a new sail per se, I wanted a furling headsail and bought a Genoa.

it is annoying when you are comparing prices on different vendors and then the one you go with adds $50 seven months later.

I would never go back to the customer for more money and in a situation like this. In fact we ate the cost of an entire case of Pmags, 100 of them, to a person where the post office lost the package and they had declined insurance. Oh well.

I will probably pay it but never use them again.

 

[femurphy77]

I once took an electric motor in for a rebuild. Being from an early '60's era drill press I told them to call me once they had it torn down so they could give me an accurate estimate of the cost of repairs. Nope, they said, we charge $X to rebuild any motor of this size! I again asked them to tear it down and quote it and they assured me $X.

They called a couple of weeks later and said it was ready so I went to pick it up. At this point they said it would cost $3X! No I said, you told me $X. Well once we got into it we found some additional problems with it. Too bad I said. It ended with me paying $X and being told in a not particularly friendly way to never darken their doors again.

If they quoted a price make them stick to it. If they screwed up it's on them. If you knew up front that you underpaid it's only fair to make it right but 7 months later they figure it out? I'd have a clear conscience about not paying them

 

[printcraft]

I once took an electric motor in for a rebuild. Being from an early '60's era drill press I told them to call me once they had it torn down so they could give me an accurate estimate of the cost of repairs. Nope, they said, we charge $X to rebuild any motor of this size! I again asked them to tear it down and quote it and they assured me $X.

They called a couple of weeks later and said it was ready so I went to pick it up. At this point they said it would cost $3X! No I said, you told me $X. Well once we got into it we found some additional problems with it. Too bad I said. It ended with me paying $X and being told in a not particularly friendly way to never darken their doors again.

If they quoted a price make them stick to it. If they screwed up it's on them. If you knew up front that you underpaid it's only fair to make it right but 7 months later they figure it out? I'd have a clear conscience about not paying them

Had the local chevy dealer try that **** on a repair.
I had a fuel line leaking and they quoted $500 and I told them to fix in on that basis.
I went to get it and the bill was $980, parts were higher, repair took longer, etc.
Words were exchanged.
I paid $500.

 

[indyartisan]

$75 buys you peace of mind that you did the right thing even though they have some questionable business practices.
You don’t want the thoughts of if you did the right thing interrupting when you are enjoying a peaceful sail.
I call it a bargain.

 

[churchmouse]

Had the local chevy dealer try that **** on a repair.
I had a fuel line leaking and they quoted $500 and I told them to fix in on that basis.
I went to get it and the bill was $980, parts were higher, repair took longer, etc.
Words were exchanged.
I paid $500.

Same issue with a local Ford dealer. Daughters navigator had a rear air ride issue that I was sure was just the relay as we had ample air from the pump. That relay was a dealer only part....
It was written up to R&R the relay. $325 which in stealer speak is cheap enough. They called and I sent the daughter to get it withe a check in hand. She called me from the stealer ship crying. The bill was over a grand. They replaced the air pump. Claimed it was noisy. Not short on capacity but noisy.
Needless to say a huge scene resulted. The old pump was put back in the truck and I paid the original amount.

 

[Nazgul]

Was a Field Service Supervisor for a large material handling company before retiring. Standard procedure was to stop all work if additional repairs were needed beyond the quote. Stated this on all our work orders and we were insistant on written quotes. Customer approval was required to proceed further.

Even with this we ended up at times eating an expensive repair to maintain good faith with our customers. Sent a couple back in pieces as well after they declined the work. The company was very good at going beyond to do what was right.

Don

 

[femurphy77]

(Puts threadjacking boots on)

Many moons ago I went into a Goodyear Service Center one fine day. As I waited for my turn at the counter I witnessed an exchange between one of the service managers and a customer who was stationed at the local army base. Seems he was a little miffed when they rang up his $19.95 oil change and it was closer to $1995.00, "Well sir while we had it on the rack we noticed the ball joints were bad, the transmission fluid needed changing, it also need an alignment and the muffler bearing was also out of sync with the frammis modulator" or some such nonsense, as a courtesy to you our customer we went ahead and made the vehicle safe for you our customer and your family". The GI was understandably upset and told her he wasn't going to pay for the unauthorized repairs. Her response was "fine, as you can see your vehicle is still up on the rack where it will stay until you've paid for the repairs". With that she turned around and walked off.

I walked over to him and stepped outside with him for a minute and suggested he call the JAG office on base and in all reality he'd probably end up with all of the repairs being done for free. I left before I learned the outcome but did run into the guy several months later and he did indeed get all of the above mentioned repairs to his vehicle for the cost of the oil change.

As I worked for Goodyear at the time I reported sales chick to corporate and she was soon ex-sales chick.

I hate people, give me a good dog any day.

 

[judgecrater]

I would pay what I initially agreed to pay. No more, no less.

 

[tv1217]

I wouldn't, but I'm an *******.

 

[Hookeye]

Months later they contact you over $28?
And their error?

Sounds like they are about done as a company.

 

[WebSnyper]

I did not need a new sail per se, I wanted a furling headsail and bought a Genoa.

it is annoying when you are comparing prices on different vendors and then the one you go with adds $50 seven months later.

I would never go back to the customer for more money and in a situation like this. In fact we ate the cost of an entire case of Pmags, 100 of them, to a person where the post office lost the package and they had declined insurance. Oh well.

I will probably pay it but never use them again.

I'd inform them that you went with them based on price and that you had compared several different vendors, and that while you are willing to pay, you are not willing to provide them any additional business as the one competitive advantage they had (price) is no longer an advantage, along with the drawback of not knowing if a transaction with them is ever complete. Then I would ask them after I paid if it was worth it to lose you as a customer.

Basically, I would not be happy and they would know it.

 

[josh64]

I would probably pay the $28 and sleep easy tonight. Everyone makes mistakes and if they indeed delivered what you ordered, make it right. You may need another sail from them.

agreed, however not charging you for their mistake would go a long way to customer relations

 

[Ark]

It is stunning to me that any owner/manager/etc would believe it is acceptable to cold-call a customer from a transaction completed several months ago and ask for more money because THEY made a mistake, especially over a dollar value that inconsequential.

I understand making a call to tie up a loose accounting end, but actually asking for you to open your wallet and fix it for them? Good lord! My dad has been in professional sales for 30+ years and such behavior would be absolutely unthinkable to him. First of all, as a business you should plan ahead and hedge for screwups like that, and secondly it's just terrible customer service that wrecks any shot at future business. As a business, you should be able to cover any mistakes that are small enough for the customer not to notice themselves and call you themselves to make it right.

They sell sails, their customer base is small enough as it is. Maybe I'm an outlier but I would never burn a bridge with a customer over $28 worth of my own mistake. The customer owns a boat, he will spend more money in the future. "Thank you very much for checking on that for us, sir, it was very helpful to our audit. Don't worry about a thing, and hey if you're interested you should give us a call about XYZ new product we're offering, we'd love to tell you about it".

 

[Ziggidy]

No, I would not pay....