I’m on the fence about replying to this because we have nearly 60 positive reviews between a few different sites to bolster this, but I think it needed to happen. I’d love to hear the opinion of other business owners on whether or not you would reply to this, what you would do differently, and why.
I would have told him to keep his money if he wasn’t happy. If they can live with it I can live without it. Local company in NC has beenun the roofing business for over one hundred years. Their motto is “Always a good job, at a profit when we can, at a loss when we must”. You are in the right but I’d give him his check back and move on.
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I thought about that and I’ll likely be sending him a refund. At the end of the day $300 doesn’t mean much, but if I’m being honest with myself, he was smug and rude and my ego didn’t like keeping my business face on through his shadiness.
People like that are the worst. No matter how clean the house came out I’m sure he was going to put up a fight about paying.
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To late for a refund now. Just let it drop. Getting in a pissing match online will not help either. I would call him and offer to redo the back wall if that did not make him happy then there not much more to do.
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No offense. You’re a cool guy. But I think you are only making this worse for yourself. You can’t offer a satisfaction guarantee and then complain about the extra scrubbing. Basically you just admitted to the world that your satisfaction guarantee is completely worthless. Your REAL policy is aggressive collection through not only threats, but actually placing liens as standard procedure.
People are smart enough to know there are two sides to every story. If you had just ignored it, people would just figure he’s a random nut who’s probably making half the stuff up. Alternatively, you could have just apologized and asked him to reach out to you so you rectify the situation.
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This whole thing seems like a cluster.
First question, is the back side of the house clean or not? If not, was the stain from where other parts had been sprayed on it. If you couldn’t or weren’t willing to clean that, then customer should have been notified in advance of you starting work and an adjustment made in price if needed to be by one of you to make him happy. Either he ageed to pay extra, if that’s what it would take or for you to just tell him, that you couldn’t or weren’t willing to get off. On my offers I include a sentence that any potential problem areas will be addressed before any work commences if there’s going to be be a price adjustment. Especially since obviously you had seen if you went out to do a test spot.
Second, I’ve never heard of any company in any business with that aggressive of a collection policy. I wouldn’t use you just because of that because I would think that you’re just use to working for a bunch of deadbeats and not use to working on better properties.
I agree with instock on the satisfaction guarantee. If you’re just going to include it on easy to do or when it suits you, then you need to say that. And for you to say that you couldn’t go back out there because he hadn’t paid you in 3 days is kind of lame.
Look at the positive side though, you’ve learned a good lesson relatively cheap. Most of mine have usually been expensive. LOL
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While my policy isn’t so tough, I’m definitely aggressive when it comes to collecting money. A lot of people aren’t home when we clean, so I send them an electronic invoice to pay online that automatically tacks on a 10% late fee after ten days. If they want to use a check, I arrange to pick it up or they can mail it. But theres no way I could have money outstanding for weeks on end. I’m still small enough that I need to collect in a very timely fashion. I’m working it getting to the point where I can just invoice everyone on net 10 or even net 30…just so that it’s not as crucial that I collect immediately. But at this point in time, I gotta get paid, lol.
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You add 10% after 10 days, you don’t put them in front of a firing squad. I’m net upon completion except with corporate. If they’re not home I just email them an invoice with payment link or they can mail. Most just use the payment link.
I put my payment terms on my proposals. I get people all the time offering to pay me when I get there, leave me a check, whatever. I tell them no, just wait till you get home and make sure you’re satisfied with the job. They seem to like that and I always touch base with them after I’m finished, even with just a text. “I just finished up and the house looks fantastic. Your wife (husband) going to think you had the painters out today. I think you’re going to be happy”. I always put the idea into their head, in a sub-conscious way that they’re going to be extremely pleased.
That way you’re adding positive re-inforcement to what they already want to happen. The power of positive thinking. And I tell them, you check it out in case I missed something or you see anything you’re not happy with and I’ll get it taken care of. Oh and I noticed such and such and I took care of it and your front mat was a little grimy, so I washed that for you too. Heck, by the time I’m through I got them begging to pay me before I change my mind and raise their price. I always look to wow them somehow. And if I don’t tell them ahead of time, I’ll just briefly mention it when I send over there invoice along with a couple of finished pics.
Knock on wood, but I 'd bet in the past past 3-4 years my average time to get paid is less than 12 hours from residential. It’s all in the relationship and rapport you build with the customer. LOL, I had a first the other day, had a lady give me a 5 star review with a great comment a couple days BEFORE I even did her house. When I left Friday, last thing she said was, I didn’t say enough good things about you.
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I do many of these things as well. I refuse to take a payment before the job is done. I’ve had checks sent to me early but I held them until I did the job. I also use the positive re-inforcement as well, it’s very effective. And it’s at least a couple times a week where we see a little something that we just can’t fathom leaving dirty, so we clean it up real quick for no charge. Even small sheds, if they are green, we will spray them real quick.
Thats comforting to know that some of the practices I utilize are also used by other successful guys. Maybe one day I’ll have one of those bad ass rigs like you got, lol!
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Boom. No offense taken @instock or anyone else. I asked for feedback, critical or otherwise and I’m grateful for it. 
I’m going to spend a couple days thinking about the lien policy, satisfaction guarantee, payment terms, etc.
For reference, I don’t slap a lien on them in 5 days. I initiate a nonpayment letter at zlien that could take up to 10 days to get there stating that if the payment isn’t made I have the right to lien the property which could take another 25 days.
I wouldn’t typically put a lien on the property for $300 anyway. Thousands, yes. But this guy was obviously trying to get out of paying.
The stains on the back of the house were from over spray and a bad staining job on a huge arbor/pergola attached to the house. Not organic staining. Would’ve required stripper or oven cleaner which I am not about to breathe in for an entire backside of a house without charging a premium.
The test spot he was referring to was for greasy spots around the garage and by the back garage door.
The funny thing is, I should’ve known when he told me he thought $299 was expensive for a house wash and I got no reaction when I told him that’s with $80/off for August’s special.
Anyway, thanks for all the feedback! I’ll let you guys know how I decide to change it and you can let me know what you think of that.
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No offense was intended. My question to you was when you met with him to do demo, did you not tell him then that it would be almost impossible or cost prohibited to get that stuff off of there. I would have included both in my quote once I saw it and let him decide. Then you’re covered. Just be careful out there, there are some shady ones. Just get your procedures in place on how to deal with unexpected. And there are always going to be ones that slip thru and you get nailed, no matter how careful you are. But I, as a lot of us do, bid blind, so we don’t see the actual house until we roll up. Reason first thing I do is walk the house to foresee any problems. If I do, I address then, before I start. And if you couldn’t or didn’t want to deal with the problem, clarify it up front with him. And take lots of before pics.
My problem with the situation isn’t the problem itself, it’s that you, as a friend, let yourself get in that situation. In this case it’s not going to cost you a lot, but as I’m sure Innocent will tell you, sometimes little mistakes can become expensive. Just glad you got out of this one with just a bad review.
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I was referring to instock’s comment when I said, no offense taken.
I appreciate your comment. As far as knowing the entire back side minus the garage was orange tinted, there was no way to tell until it was washed. The way the house was situated it was facing northeast and was the dirtiest side. There was a heavy grey grime on the backside as well as bird droppings, algae, and muddy hand prints from where they pushed themselves up from the garden along a 1/3 of it. The wash uncovered the orange stain.
It was a light orange tinting on the entire portion of the house under and over the arbor.
I’m not really sure how’d I’d be able to tell in the future if I were to run into an identical situation without washing the house first. With the exception of hand wiping a section under and over the arbor or letting the customer know that any paint or wood stain won’t come off doing what we do.
You have gotten a lot of good advice on this. I do agree the Lien after 5 days is a little harsh. My contracts say 10% if payment is not received within 10 days but I send an email the night before every job asking for a check to be left in the BBQ grill for the balance ( I take 30% deposit for fence staining and repair once I start the job). I also agree with you that you should have responded to the review. If I read a bad review I want to hear the response from the business owner. If it is a measured well thought out response I will usually disregard the negative review. In most cases the customer will then start a pissing contest with the business, as long as the business owner has documented a reasonable effort at making the customer happy that is all that can be expected. All that said, he sounds like he was trying to get out of paying.
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I’ve seen a lot of folks here say 10% after 10 days. I think I’ve decided to go with 10% after 5 days and filing for a notice of lien document to be sent after 21 business days. That’s technically a month.
In my 1st conversation with the owners about the estimate and scheduling the work, I always mention that we can take payment 3 ways at the end of the project. Cash, check, or CC.
In the estimate, it clearly states payment is due on completion of the work and if the home is listed for sale or a rental property that I require payment upfront and why. I’m gonna keep that part.
On the initial walk around I plan to hand wipe a spot on all sides of the house in areas that are questionable and document it via pics in the estimate.
I’m changing the satisfaction guarantee to 48 hour satisfaction guarantee because anything can happen in a short amount of time, but this will hopefully keep the window of communication short and not open ended.
Any other ideas?
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3% after 30 days for me. If anyone is unhappy for any reason at all, no matter my fault or weird ill conceived notions on their part, I don’t accept payment.
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In the service industry, forget the notion you will never have someone
complain about work you have done for them.We are talking everyone
has different personality, idea, etc, perception of how clean is clean.
I have found this works for me: “How it begins is how it will end”.
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This.
Bingo - There’s a reason he’s still successful after a lot of years
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Id put it in writing if there is any area of concern the customer has to list it prior to any work being performed, if not, check the no box, if yes, have them write it in. Just so that somewhere its been adressed, no surprises.
