The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

[Nos4r2]

After reading a few of the comments in here about people wanting something for nothing, I figured it'd be a good one to start a thread on in here. I don't think it needs to be restricted to just boats/outboards but this seems the best place to put it-JB if I'm wrong can you move this please?<br /><br />Here's one to start.<br /><br />A few years ago a good friend was manager of a bike breakers. He had a phone call from a guy wanting the plastic dash panel with warning lights for a particular model of Norton Commando that had been deleted. He'd apparently been looking for this final piece to complete the restoration for nearly 2 years and my friend happened to have one there.<br /><br />The guy turned up the next day and was told it was going to cost him 50p. He refused to pay saying it was far too much and he expected it to be free as he'd spent so long looking for one.<br /><br />This went on for a couple of minutes until my friend opened the cash register, put 50p in there and said "Now it's mine-I want £2.00 for it."<br />The guy still didn't realise what an a** he was being and carried on arguing about the price, so my friend put the panel on the floor right in front of him, said "it's mine now, so I guess I can do what I like with it." then stamped on it.<br /><br />The guys face was a picture.

 

[BigPoppaG]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Some people just don't get it. Great story. I love that he bought it himself, CLASSIC!

 

[ufm82]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

LOL- I've got a good one...<br /><br /> Had a guy come in looking for a skid loader. (I sell a popular brand.) We discuss his applications and what size machine he'll need. After we figure up a number and we go through all the financing options, he signs the order to finish the deal. As we are parting company he asks me when he can pick everything up. I tell him that 3 days is normal and he should bring his trailer with him so I can show him how to load the machine. He looks at me and says, "I thought the trailer was included in that price." <br /><br /> I had to stop for a second so I could speak properly. We just did a deal on a machine, discussed it thoroughly and even talked about attachments for a while. Probably spent 45 minutes all told. NEVER once was a trailer mentioned. Now, all of a sudden I'm throwing in a trailer on the deal? Let's see- $25,000 for a machine and I'm going to give him a $4,000 trailer? Can you say net loss? Can you say no profit? Can you say not happening? <br /><br /> The guy was actually of the opinion that the machines were priced with the trailer because that's the way he saw them all the time. I was tempted to ask him if every pizza he ever ordered came with a 6 pack of beer for free too, but I didn't. <br /><br /> Sometimes people amaze me with their ideas. <br /><br />UFM82

 

[JustMrWill]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

The ones I always love is the service related ones. At a friend's mother's house and get cornered with the "my computer is acting strange...can you just take a moment to look at it?" I work on computers for a living..sure I will spend the rest of my day tinkering with your system to unload all the spyware and other unneccessary crap you loaded on it...<br /><br />I am sure doctors, lawyers, electricians all get the "got a sec to give me free work" line all the time.<br /><br />-JustMrWill

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Another type of person used to show up at the car dealership where I worked as a service manager. They would come in with something not working, say tail lights. If I had time I would do a quick look at the fuse box and if a fuse was blown I would replace it with one from my drawer rather than writing a repair order, I would do it as a courtesy. There were some of them that would come back up to several weeks later with something like a headlight out and complain that it worked until I replaced the fuse! I don't do that line of work anymore...

 

[noelm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

just on that doctor theme they are the only "service provider" that wants a call back if you do not get better, as they charge again and indeed usually say take this and come back in a few days!! could you imagine if say a marine techo replaced the water pump and said "there ya go" come back next week and I will replace the thermostat and I will charge you again, then comeback in a few days for a "check up" and we will charge AGAIN!

 

[noelm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

before all the doctors assinate me that was meant to be a joke!!

 

[Realgun]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

I think that a clasic Nos4r2<br />

 

[Twidget]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Many moons ago, I worked for an office equipment company. We had a customer that came in with an old IBM selectric typewriter.(the ones with the ball that spins as you type, for you young 'uns.)<br /><br />The service manager adjusted the pitch on the ball, which was about 1/4 turn on a screw. He then charged the guy $42.<br /><br />The guy said $42 for turning a screw??<br /><br />The manager said, Nope, $5 to turn the screw, $37 to know which screw to turn.

 

[Capt Joe]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

My cousin is a doctor & had the perfect answer when someone at a social gathering asked for a medical opinion.<br />"No worries, go out to the kitchen, take off all your clothes, jump up on the table. I'll be with you in a couple of minutes"<br /><br />Says he didn't get asked too often after that.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Edited by LD: Didnt fit the post.

 

[cntrydude]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

My job is to quote precision machined parts and mechanical assemblies for a machine shop. My favorite is when I quote a job for say 25 complicated parts that have as many as 5 different machining operations. Obviously there is a great deal of "set up" time for each operation which gets amortized over the 25 parts. Many times over the years I have heard "that sounds good, now can you make me one so I can see if it's going to work" and then of course they want the prototype for the same as the each price for the 25! Just boggles my mind.

 

[Ouan]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Originally posted by Capt Joe:<br /> My cousin is a doctor & had the perfect answer when someone at a social gathering asked for a medical opinion.<br />"No worries, go out to the kitchen, take off all your clothes, jump up on the table. I'll be with you in a couple of minutes"<br /><br />Says he didn't get asked too often after that.

ho ho ho ho

 

[noelm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

hehe i just thought of another one, where i worked we had all sorts of wrecked chainsaws and lawnmowers and other small engines from all sorts of stuff, someone would come in looking for a really obscure part like a carby screw or something that would never ever be in stock because it would never break, they wanted one because it got lost in the grass or something while working under the "shade tree" we would rummage around and usually find one, when asked 'how much" the boss would always say $5-00, the customer would hit the roof, $5-00 for a second hand screw, he would reply, "oh no, the screw is free, there is a $5-00 labour searching fee, they usually paid and some could see the funny side to it, that labour is not cheap!

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

My dad's wifes one son is a doctor. We were cmaping one holiday and my daughter woudl have a yellowish discharge from the corner of her eye anytime she had a stuffy nose. Well conversation turned to her eye, and we expalined what we suspected and said nothing more. Well "Uncle Will" apparently looked at her and called the local drug store with a prescription. I did not know this until I was told there was a prescirption at the pahrmacy and I needed ot go get it. Now we were camping in an area not local to any of us, but he went out of his way to care for my daughter. Later we came to realize the cause/effect and that it was harmless, but this is to show that some doctors do care,and will provide free consultations in social atmospeheres if you respect them and their private time.<br /><br />Now a story from my experience. I had a car come in the shop where I worked/managed. The complaint was that the rear defog/wiper/third brake light didn't work in the tailgate. I inspected it and found that the wires were broken where they bent going from the body to the hatch. I advised the customer and had to justify why I wanted an hour to fix 12-14 wires in a confined area without removing the harness completely. I used self-sealing connectors since this area was open to the water/snow, so this was another step. When the car left the shop everythign worked. Four days later the customer came back complainin that the third brake light didn't work. I looked at it and found the lights were burned out. Now the customer admitted that everything worked great for three days. I replaced the light bulbs (two bulbs at $3.00 each, expensive bulbs to be sure) and told the customer I wouldn't charge them to diagnose the problem, but I did need to charge for the bulbs and for the labor to pull down the inner trim panel and replace the bulbs. I was at it for 1/2 hour and wante dot charge her fo r15 mins. I thought it was perfectly fair. She had a fit, "Well you just worked on it." "Yes I repaired the wiring and the lights worked just fine when you left. The bulbsl burned out. I had no control over that." Well, I don't think I should have to pay again for what you just fixed a few days ago." "Fine, I had no control over the bulbs blowing, but you feel it's unfair for me to charge you, so have a nice day." She called the owner and had a fit with him too. He talked to me, and two days later we received a check for $20.00, no note, just a check. Some people's children.

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Originally posted by noelm:<br /> just on that doctor theme they are the only "service provider" that wants a call back if you do not get better, as they charge again and indeed usually say take this and come back in a few days!! could you imagine if say a marine techo replaced the water pump and said "there ya go" come back next week and I will replace the thermostat and I will charge you again, then comeback in a few days for a "check up" and we will charge AGAIN!

Originally posted by noelm:<br /> before all the doctors assinate me that was meant to be a joke!!

And it would be funny if it weren't true!!!

 

[napa169]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Along the computer related quote. I too am a computer tech and used to get asked all of the time if I could "just check out their computer for a moment." At parties, visiting, even on the street. <br /><br />I respond now by asking what they do for a lving. Even if they are a secretary, I then ask them to come over, right then, to do some filing, write a report, or phone some people for me. Some laugh and others look at me with a stunned expression and say but I'm not at work. (or it's the weekend)<br /><br />I nod, smile, and walk away.

 

[demsvmejm]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Napa, great way to handle it.

 

[Winger Ed.]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

Originally posted by Nos4r2:<br /> people wanting something for nothing,.

I run into that all the time.<br /><br />One of my favorites was a few years ago, when I was out in the front yard with a chainsaw pruning some big limbs on our tree.<br /><br />A lady was visiting the next door neighbor, saw me and came over to say, "I have a tree in my yard that needs trimming too, maybe you could work on it",,,,,,<br /><br />I told her, "Well,,, sure,, just bring it over, I'll get right on it"..... <br /><br />She looked at me like I was crazy.

 

[delsol]

Re: The customer wants me to do WHAT? for HOW much?

when i first got a computer, i miss adjusted the display not knowing how to use it...i had a pattern on the desktop . nothing wrong with computer, just a pattern, i thought something was wrong so i got the yellow pages out and found a guy that worked at the house went over he pluged it in and adusted the display in about 1 minute. he charged $25 i am not cheap so i gave him what he wanted , the next day i went to local computer store and had a barebones computer built, so i had a back up and learned as a hobbie so no more $25 adjustments