On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 17:53:53 -0000, "Harry Ziman"
wrote:

Its a bit late, but report to trading standards. Maybe if enough people
complain they will act.

I don't agree with that action as a first resort.

If I did a job and the customer was unhappy I would far rather that
they told me first so that I can resolve the situation amicably. Not
all jobs go entirely according to plan (which I hate to admit but it
is a fact of life). I live by the promise that if the customer isn't
happy with what I do then I don't expect to get paid - period.
Furthermore I intend that the customer will not be out of pocket from
having employed me to do a job.

I'd be well miffed if I got paid and then found that the customer had
reported me to trading standards without telling me first. I try to be
completely honest with people I do work for. In this case the
plasterer appears to have screwed up - but unless I'm mistaken his
handiwork could be easily repaired by another competent person without
it incurring additional cost to the householder - which means that if
he wanted to then our cowboy plasterer could choose to effect repairs
thru getting another plasterer in (which he pays for) without the
householder being in any further debt.

Obviously if I was informed of the lack of happiness and didn't do
anything about it to resolve the situation I would fully support
trading standards and any other bodies being notified - but all I ask
for is the option of resolving the situation to the complete
satisfaction of the customer. Is that too much to ask?

Take one example. A customer recently asked me to fit laminate
flooring. I told her straight that I hadn't actually done laminate
flooring before and although I felt it was something I could do there
was a risk that maybe it wouldn't go according to plan. I said that if
I attempted the job and it didn't work out then she wouldn't be paying
me, and furthermore I would buy the materials I'd ruined from her so
that she could employ someone else to do the job competently, without
her incurring any loss. If it went well I get some extra credentials
for doing laminate flooring - and if it doesn't I don't lose any
credibility with my customer. Win-win.

Result was that she was delighted to find someone working as a
tradesman who was willing to be ruthlessly honest - I'd done some
other jobs for her previously which went well so she trusted me to do
the laminate flooring. I've not done the job yet (coming up shortly),
but even if it goes pear-shaped I have a customer who knows I am never
going to set expectations higher than they should be. Perhaps in this
plasterers case that's where the real problem lays?

It is rather unfortunate that in todays environment we are all too
enthusiastic to reach for litigation rather than employ dialogue. I'm
honest (or at least try to be), and it would be no bad thing if
customers were the same. We'd all be a lot happier as a result.

PoP

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