Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.

I think that sort or scenario happens most often when a price is given for a
pretty standard job, like replacing a fixture, then when the contractor
begins work, he discovers other issues that may complicate the job and cost
him more than he bargained for.


wrote in message
oups.com...
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.


My guess is that they realized they were unqualified to do the job, but
embarrassed to tell you that face to face. So, they vanished. If you can't
get the name of a good plumber from a friend, or from someone at work, open
the yellow pages and find a plumbing COMPANY - one that has several plumbers
on its staff. That should (hopefully) lower your chances of having an
amateur arrive to do the work.

Of course, it's also possible that YOU are the problem.

- Is your house filthy?
- Do you chatter to repair people endlessly about stuff they have no
interest in, like your kids and grandchildren and your dog that just died
blah blah blah?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.


Why do guys do this? It's an instinct. You just know that the job isn't
going to go the way it's supposed to and you are never going to satisfy the
customer. What better time is there to leave than in the beginning of the
job?

Bill

Good tradesmen are to be treasured. Over the years, we find it best to
work with a business that has several plumbers although we may request
favorite individuals.
If they have problems, they can bring in helpers.

May cost a little more, but we can rely on them. Neighbor uses one of
these jack-of-all-trades individuals, who will come back, but he is
often left hanging for several days while jack gets his act together on
a job a little complex for him.

Frank

talking a lot about previous troubles and sueing a previous plumber
would no doubt cause troubles.

filthy home a real turn off...

asmoking stinky cigars might do it for a non smoker

a cat when your allergic

when you find a GOOD plumber etc stick with them even if they arent the
cheapest price.

the lowest price often comes with a bad job

In every profession, a few professionals and a lot of amateurs.


wrote:
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.

I have ditched a few customers over the years because I didn't like them or
their house was gross. I never left in the middle of a repair, although I
may not have finished their list of repairs. I also never got paid for those
jobs. No regrets.

cm


wrote in message
oups.com...
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.

"cm" wrote in message
...
I have ditched a few customers over the years because I didn't like them or
their house was gross. I never left in the middle of a repair, although I
may not have finished their list of repairs. I also never got paid for
those jobs. No regrets.

cm

I don't blame you, although it would probably be good to explain why you're
leaving. My dentist said he occasionally gets a patient who doesn't brush
their teeth before coming to his office. Their logic is "Hey...I'm here for
cleaning anyway". Wrong. Probably the same kinds of people who don't clean
under the kitchen sink before they expect a plumber to work under there.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later.

I contracted with Lowes to install a kitchen sink. They quoted a "flat-fee"
for
"normal installation". Knowing that the salesman was not clairvoyant,nor a
plumber, I paid ($50) to have an on site estimate done by their contract
plumber.
He produced a figure that was about $250 higher than Lowes "flat-rate".
I agreed to the price but he never showed back up.
Called a local plumber who came and charged $50 less because
they were in the neighborhood.
I figured Lowes guy was a "flat-rate" plumber and saw the job as
over his head.
McM

"Xeno Chauvin" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
oups.com...
Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later.

I contracted with Lowes to install a kitchen sink. They quoted a
"flat-fee" for
"normal installation". Knowing that the salesman was not clairvoyant,nor a
plumber, I paid ($50) to have an on site estimate done by their contract
plumber.
He produced a figure that was about $250 higher than Lowes "flat-rate".
I agreed to the price but he never showed back up.
Called a local plumber who came and charged $50 less because
they were in the neighborhood.
I figured Lowes guy was a "flat-rate" plumber and saw the job as
over his head.
McM

Translation: He wasn't a plumber. :-) He was more like me. I can handle
*almost* any home repair. But, I know trouble when I see it. I know that
some projects may involve a dozen trips to the hardware store for questions,
parts, and a shoulder to cry on. I've never told anyone I was a plumber.

"A man's got to know his limitations".
-Dirty Harry

I agree with you. I had an experience with my sister-in-law. Got an
emergency call, she had hired a painter to paint her apartment. He left 2
weeks ago and never came back half way through the job. Would I please help
her out.

To keep the wife happy, I agreed. When I got there, I saw why he never came
back. She had done NOTHING to the place in preparation for the painter, and
she had lots of glass and china junk all over the place. I said I would
finish painting but she would have to do some work.

I did the painting, and some repairs and other things to make her apartment
nice. But, it took both myself and my wife constant haggling with her to get
her backside out of her chair. I went to move the fridge, and asked her to
empty it. She didn't do anything and said it wasn't necessary as it would
move OK. So I lifted it on the 2 wheeled cart and tilted it back to move it
through the door and everything spilled out onto the floor, eggs, drinks and
whatnot all over the place. I parked the fridge and made her clean up. To
move a bookshelf, she whined and grumbled about moving the books. I passed
them to her to take to the finished bedroom, when I turned around she had
only walked 5 feet and put them on a table that was also to be moved. The
grumbling changed to bitching when I insisted she move them out of the room
that I was about to paint. This went on for weeks, the job took over twice
as long because we had to browbeat her everyday to do her share of looking
after her stuff.

When it was all over, I think she hated me, and certainly complained of
everything including the paint splatter on her dishes that she was too lazy
to move from the cabinet that I painted.

I see why the painter walked out on her, I would have also if she wasn't my
wife's sister. I am sure that is why many tradespeople will refuse to return
to some jobs.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"cm" wrote in message
...
I have ditched a few customers over the years because I didn't like them
or their house was gross. I never left in the middle of a repair, although
I may not have finished their list of repairs. I also never got paid for
those jobs. No regrets.

cm

I don't blame you, although it would probably be good to explain why
you're leaving. My dentist said he occasionally gets a patient who doesn't
brush their teeth before coming to his office. Their logic is "Hey...I'm
here for cleaning anyway". Wrong. Probably the same kinds of people who
don't clean under the kitchen sink before they expect a plumber to work
under there.

I agree with the "troublesome customer don't bother to show up" thing.

Some people are *never* satisfied with your work and will complain about
anything and everything. They want you to do the work for below cost, then
expect perfection and top quality.

I know a couple of women that I will never do any work for. I have seen
these people complain about every single bit of work *anyone* has ever done
for them.

If I have to do any work in these situations, the price goes WAY up!
(Additional stress and grief fees!)

The opposite is true. If someone is nice to me, offers me water/soda, use of
their bathroom, maybe a snack, the price goes down. With some of these
people, they get free or reduced price service.

Another situation I will avoid is doing any work on manufactured houses.
Always a royal pain. So I am too busy when anyone wants work on their
manufactured home done.

Aaaaaaack! It must be a trend! A few years back, a female acquaintance began
offering to play frequent rounds of hide the salami with me. Two weeks
later, she announced she was moving to a new apartment in a week, and asked
if I would help. I agreed, but noticing the unbelievable amount of crap she
owned, I suggested that she go get boxes immediately, and start packing. She
said that could wait because she had a dozen friends who'd also agreed to
help on the day of the move. I pointed out that this was less than ideal,
but she was unmoved.

The morning of the event, I got there about the same time as her other
friends. She had done absolutely NOTHING. She hadn't even washed the dishes
that needed to be packed. She assigned someone to go get the U-Haul truck
and boxes, but that didn't fly because she didn't have cash to cover their
credit card charges, and nobody trusted that she actually had the money in
the bank. It was 90 degrees outside, no breeze, and the house was even
worse. She had nothing for people to drink. Several people suggested that
she stop at a store after getting the u-haul truck, and pick up at least a
gallon of water and/or juice per person, and a ****load of cups. She did
neither. Things did not go well. Around early afternoon, she also pointed
out that she was expected to clean the place before vacating, and "if
someone could help with that, it would be great". Too bad she'd packed all
the sponges & cleaning products. I left around that time, along with about
half the other people. No salami game is worth that kind of inconsideration.


"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
I agree with you. I had an experience with my sister-in-law. Got an
emergency call, she had hired a painter to paint her apartment. He left 2
weeks ago and never came back half way through the job. Would I please help
her out.

To keep the wife happy, I agreed. When I got there, I saw why he never
came back. She had done NOTHING to the place in preparation for the
painter, and she had lots of glass and china junk all over the place. I
said I would finish painting but she would have to do some work.

I did the painting, and some repairs and other things to make her
apartment nice. But, it took both myself and my wife constant haggling
with her to get her backside out of her chair. I went to move the fridge,
and asked her to empty it. She didn't do anything and said it wasn't
necessary as it would move OK. So I lifted it on the 2 wheeled cart and
tilted it back to move it through the door and everything spilled out onto
the floor, eggs, drinks and whatnot all over the place. I parked the
fridge and made her clean up. To move a bookshelf, she whined and grumbled
about moving the books. I passed them to her to take to the finished
bedroom, when I turned around she had only walked 5 feet and put them on a
table that was also to be moved. The grumbling changed to bitching when I
insisted she move them out of the room that I was about to paint. This
went on for weeks, the job took over twice as long because we had to
browbeat her everyday to do her share of looking after her stuff.

When it was all over, I think she hated me, and certainly complained of
everything including the paint splatter on her dishes that she was too
lazy to move from the cabinet that I painted.

I see why the painter walked out on her, I would have also if she wasn't
my wife's sister. I am sure that is why many tradespeople will refuse to
return to some jobs.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"cm" wrote in message
...
I have ditched a few customers over the years because I didn't like them
or their house was gross. I never left in the middle of a repair,
although I may not have finished their list of repairs. I also never got
paid for those jobs. No regrets.

cm

I don't blame you, although it would probably be good to explain why
you're leaving. My dentist said he occasionally gets a patient who
doesn't brush their teeth before coming to his office. Their logic is
"Hey...I'm here for cleaning anyway". Wrong. Probably the same kinds of
people who don't clean under the kitchen sink before they expect a
plumber to work under there.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote in message ...

- Is your house filthy?
- Do you chatter to repair people endlessly about stuff they have no
interest in, like your kids and grandchildren and your dog that just
died
blah blah blah?

None of the above, but I've certainly had plumbers and repair people
yakking away at me. It drives me crazy. :-)

Cheri

"Bill" wrote in message
...
I agree with the "troublesome customer don't bother to show up" thing.

Some people are *never* satisfied with your work and will complain about
anything and everything. They want you to do the work for below cost, then
expect perfection and top quality.

I know a couple of women that I will never do any work for. I have seen
these people complain about every single bit of work *anyone* has ever
done for them.

If I have to do any work in these situations, the price goes WAY up!
(Additional stress and grief fees!)

The opposite is true. If someone is nice to me, offers me water/soda, use
of their bathroom, maybe a snack, the price goes down. With some of these
people, they get free or reduced price service.

If a repair person wipes their feet in sloppy weather AND does good work, I
send a letter to their boss. If they teach me something about maintenance
and can (and should) do myself, I try and nominate them for sainthood. I've
never managed to find the right web link for doing that, though. Otherwise,
there would be a Saint Bud, from the HVAC company I've had for 20+ years.
:-)

Then, there was Saint Sonny, the garbage man. When my son was 3, he had a
brief fascination with how garbage trucks worked. When he heard the truck
coming, he'd tear through the house to the front window to watch. One day,
he wanted to see more detail. We went out. Sonny told the driver he needed
to do a demo, told my son to cover his ears against the noise, and threw
some stuff in. He was there a good 5 minutes, answering kid questions. :-)

"Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote in message
. ..

JoeSpareBedroom wrote in message ...

- Is your house filthy?
- Do you chatter to repair people endlessly about stuff they have no
interest in, like your kids and grandchildren and your dog that just
died
blah blah blah?

None of the above, but I've certainly had plumbers and repair people
yakking away at me. It drives me crazy. :-)

Cheri

Consider the opposite: The ones that just grunt.

EXT wrote:

I agree with you. I had an experience with my sister-in-law. Got an
emergency call, she had hired a painter to paint her apartment. He
left 2 weeks ago and never came back half way through the job. Would
I please help her out.
......

I had a similar problem with my mother-in-law over painting the
interior of her house. It was October of '77 and a group of us
who played baseball together were going to help paint each other's
houses. Mine had been painted two years ago and my mil's hadn't
been painted in 20 years.

Two of us sat down with her on a Sunday to explain what she needed
to do to be ready for us. Upon her first argument how something
was unnecessary, my friend told her she was getting free labor and
if she did not do what she was asked to do, the house would not be
painted. She stared at me and asked if I was going to allow him
to talk to her like that. My response was that I was so grateful
that he had that I was going to split a bottle of brandy with him.

While we were finishing the last of the four houses, I told my
now ex-wife that if her mother didn't make her house ready for
painting, we were going to paint some apartments in a "project"
in the inner-city for my share of the work. [I know how to jack
up bigots! LoL] All of a sudden it was ready. Then we added
that she could not be there while we painted.

The other houses took a Sat/Sun for cleaning/painting walls &
ceilings and part of a Sat for the trim. We put in a 12 hour
Saturday and an 8 hour Sunday so we would not have to come
back.

One of my friends after meeting my mil said "Next time - we do
the projects."

Dick

RBM wrote:

I think that sort or scenario happens most often when a price is given for a
pretty standard job, like replacing a fixture, then when the contractor
begins work, he discovers other issues that may complicate the job and cost
him more than he bargained for.



In other words, they choose not to honor their contract.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.






--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

Correct, they choose not to honor their agreement, because to do so would
cost them money. Not every contractor can calculate, estimate, and
articulate what they will do and for what price, and I think this scenario
occurs often under those circumstances. I'm not trying to legitimize it,
just my theory on why it happens


"CJT" wrote in message
...
RBM wrote:

I think that sort or scenario happens most often when a price is given
for a pretty standard job, like replacing a fixture, then when the
contractor begins work, he discovers other issues that may complicate the
job and cost him more than he bargained for.



In other words, they choose not to honor their contract.

wrote in message
oups.com...

Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.






--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:57:21 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:

Correct, they choose not to honor their agreement, because to do so would
cost them money. Not every contractor can calculate, estimate, and
articulate what they will do and for what price, and I think this scenario
occurs often under those circumstances. I'm not trying to legitimize it,
just my theory on why it happens


It's not a contract until they actually take your money.
Until then, it's just an offer. And anytime some
worker looks at a job he's supposed to do for me and
decides he's in over his head, I'd PREFER that he backs
out and tells me rather than goes ahead and screws
it up.

Goedjn wrote in message ...
On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:57:21 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:

Correct, they choose not to honor their agreement, because to do so
would
cost them money. Not every contractor can calculate, estimate, and
articulate what they will do and for what price, and I think this
scenario
occurs often under those circumstances. I'm not trying to legitimize
it,
just my theory on why it happens


It's not a contract until they actually take your money.
Until then, it's just an offer. And anytime some
worker looks at a job he's supposed to do for me and
decides he's in over his head, I'd PREFER that he backs
out and tells me rather than goes ahead and screws
it up.


Well, yeah, but telling one that you're not going to do it is one thing,
and running out for something on the pretense that you're coming back,
and don't, is quite another. Shows no class.

Cheri

EXT wrote:
I agree with you. I had an experience with my sister-in-law. Got an
emergency call, she had hired a painter to paint her apartment. He left 2
weeks ago and never came back half way through the job. Would I please help
her out.

To keep the wife happy, I agreed. When I got there, I saw why he never came
back. She had done NOTHING to the place in preparation for the painter, and
she had lots of glass and china junk all over the place. I said I would
finish painting but she would have to do some work.

I did the painting, and some repairs and other things to make her apartment
nice. But, it took both myself and my wife constant haggling with her to get
her backside out of her chair. I went to move the fridge, and asked her to
empty it. She didn't do anything and said it wasn't necessary as it would
move OK. So I lifted it on the 2 wheeled cart and tilted it back to move it
through the door and everything spilled out onto the floor, eggs, drinks and
whatnot all over the place. I parked the fridge and made her clean up. To
move a bookshelf, she whined and grumbled about moving the books. I passed
them to her to take to the finished bedroom, when I turned around she had
only walked 5 feet and put them on a table that was also to be moved. The
grumbling changed to bitching when I insisted she move them out of the room
that I was about to paint. This went on for weeks, the job took over twice
as long because we had to browbeat her everyday to do her share of looking
after her stuff.

When it was all over, I think she hated me, and certainly complained of
everything including the paint splatter on her dishes that she was too lazy
to move from the cabinet that I painted.

I see why the painter walked out on her, I would have also if she wasn't my
wife's sister. I am sure that is why many tradespeople will refuse to return
to some jobs.

had a similar experience recently; an artist who i've done repair jobs
for asked me to paint her living room.i told her previously that i
don't paint but i have a friend who does.he gives her an estimate for
the entire condo but i guess it was too high.she gets other estimates
and then calls me to just paint the ceiling and trim.ok i'll do it
because your a good customer.i get down there and unloaded all my stuff
and she asks "how much do you think this will cost?"i look and say at
least $400.mind you there's paintings all over the place that are
selling for big dollars.well before i can paint i tell her they will
have to be moved because i'm not taking the chance of splattering paint
on them.then she says she had a quote for $600 that included painting
the entire room ceiling,walls and trim and could i give her a break and
do it cheaper than $400.i looked at her and said i think i'll pass on
this job.i didn't want to do it in the first place.best decision i've
made in a while and i think i'll be booked up next time she calls.

Sadly I must admit my wife has a sharp pointy finger, but no interest
in helping with the work, and complains about the quality
etc.....typical lazy customer

I ripped up nearly all the urine soaked carpets gross nasty work....
urine courtesy of a old dog she adopted, nice old dog that has onew
major problem, it presers peeiong in house, even with 2 dogie doors
always open at all times

carpet has been replaced by cheap sheet vinyl as a temporary fix to
protect the hardwood floors

she complained I asked her to help pull staples which I hate doing.....

she REFUSED to ove stuff or prep area, I pushed everything into whats
now known as the junk room. working on that today

If she had helped in ADVANCE things would of been much easier.........

I am SICK AND TIRED OF HER ATTITUDE.........

she almost never cleans does laundry etc.

Wonder how to get her stepforded?

wrote in message
oups.com...
Sadly I must admit my wife has a sharp pointy finger, but no interest
in helping with the work, and complains about the quality
etc.....typical lazy customer

I ripped up nearly all the urine soaked carpets gross nasty work....
urine courtesy of a old dog she adopted, nice old dog that has onew
major problem, it presers peeiong in house, even with 2 dogie doors
always open at all times

carpet has been replaced by cheap sheet vinyl as a temporary fix to
protect the hardwood floors

she complained I asked her to help pull staples which I hate doing.....

she REFUSED to ove stuff or prep area, I pushed everything into whats
now known as the junk room. working on that today

If she had helped in ADVANCE things would of been much easier.........

I am SICK AND TIRED OF HER ATTITUDE.........

she almost never cleans does laundry etc.

Wonder how to get her stepforded?


What does she say about your drinking? :-)

Well, yeah, but telling one that you're not going to do it is one thing,
and running out for something on the pretense that you're coming back,
and don't, is quite another. Shows no class.

Cheri


I agree. It's just plain rudeness and childish behavior, like someone
not showing up for a job interview or business appointment. Difficult
customer or not, it's also a cowardly way to get out of doing a job.
It would be much better for everyone all around if they just said, "I
don't want to work for you".

Beachcomber

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
What does she say about your drinking? :-)

computer keyboard bad, and I am too busy to fix all the
typos...........


I NEVER drink, too many family members with troubles.....

On 24 Nov 2006 14:31:37 -0800, "
wrote:

computer keyboard bad, and I am too busy to fix all the
typos...........

It's a malfunction between the chair and key board.

--
Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

wrote:
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.


Its what is going on today, in all areas ...is like the idiots that
answer the tech support line and after asking and telling your problem,
they say to hold on while they check something and they will be right
back...they never do, and if u hold on long enough u eventually get the
dial tone again...the reason? they know **** and the company that hires
them, are even ****tier for hiring anyone without asking if they are
experience. Speaking of Loews I recently went to them to ask them to
send me a measurer for my storm door replacement. I had to pay up front
$30 for that and was told that if I continue to let them do the
installation they would deduct that amount from the entire cost, and if
I don't I lose it. When the day arrived for the measurer, I saw who
they sent and I thought I was watching one of those old movies that was
called Ma & Pa kettle, only they had deep russian accent. My door
opening was not the normal size, so it had to be custom made. Right
from the beginning i knew they were measuring it wrong and they
wouldn't listen to me and they wouldn't even give me the sizes. I told
them I was going to report them and they said '''go ahead' and drove
off. At least I was able to get my $30 back...Its the companys that
hire these help...apparently they do not want to pay top prices for
knowledgable workers, so we get stuck with those that aren't.

wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
What does she say about your drinking? :-)

computer keyboard bad, and I am too busy to fix all the
typos...........


I NEVER drink, too many family members with troubles.....


Doesn't Mozilla have a spell checker?

Goedjn wrote:

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:57:21 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:


Correct, they choose not to honor their agreement, because to do so would
cost them money. Not every contractor can calculate, estimate, and
articulate what they will do and for what price, and I think this scenario
occurs often under those circumstances. I'm not trying to legitimize it,
just my theory on why it happens



It's not a contract until they actually take your money.
Until then, it's just an offer.

Wow. You hear some weird stuff in here.

And anytime some
worker looks at a job he's supposed to do for me and
decides he's in over his head, I'd PREFER that he backs
out and tells me rather than goes ahead and screws
it up.




--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

Beachcomber wrote:

Well, yeah, but telling one that you're not going to do it is one thing,
and running out for something on the pretense that you're coming back,
and don't, is quite another. Shows no class.

Cheri



I agree. It's just plain rudeness and childish behavior, like someone
not showing up for a job interview or business appointment. Difficult
customer or not, it's also a cowardly way to get out of doing a job.
It would be much better for everyone all around if they just said, "I
don't want to work for you".

Beachcomber


And word should spread, so they go out of business.

--
The e-mail address in our reply-to line is reversed in an attempt to
minimize spam. Our true address is of the form .

"CJT" wrote in message
...
Goedjn wrote:

On Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:57:21 -0500, "RBM" rbm2(remove
wrote:


Correct, they choose not to honor their agreement, because to do so would
cost them money. Not every contractor can calculate, estimate, and
articulate what they will do and for what price, and I think this
scenario occurs often under those circumstances. I'm not trying to
legitimize it, just my theory on why it happens



It's not a contract until they actually take your money.
Until then, it's just an offer.

Wow. You hear some weird stuff in here.

See if it improves by Monday. There's still a lot of cocktail activity going
on. It was obvious on the roads this morning. Damn...

In article ,
says...
"Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote in message
. ..

JoeSpareBedroom wrote in message ...

- Is your house filthy?
- Do you chatter to repair people endlessly about stuff they have no
interest in, like your kids and grandchildren and your dog that just
died
blah blah blah?

None of the above, but I've certainly had plumbers and repair people
yakking away at me. It drives me crazy. :-)

Cheri

Consider the opposite: The ones that just grunt.

Can we say "plumber's crack"? ;-)

--
Keith

wrote:
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job
because of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not
removed any tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no
evidence of 'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this?
They are getting no money from me, they are just causing me
inconvience.

It's genetic. There was a Dilbert cartoon about auto mechanics that's
similar:

Dilbert: "I think it's the carburator."
Mechanic: "You think it's what?!"
Dilbert: "Oh. Sorry. I think it's the #$%*&* carburetor."
Mechanic: "Well, why didn't you say so?"

Why do guys do this? It's an instinct. You just know that the job isn't
going to go the way it's supposed to and you are never going to satisfy the
customer. What better time is there to leave than in the beginning of the
job?

Bill

yeah i get feelings sometimes and respect them. fixing office machines
for a lifetime its a gut feeling sometimes

Consider the opposite: The ones that just grunt.

Can we say "plumber's crack"? ;-)

--
Keith

Didn't you know? CRACK KILLS ;-)

"Bill" wrote in message
...
I agree with the "troublesome customer don't bother to show up" thing.

Some people are *never* satisfied with your work and will complain about
anything and everything. They want you to do the work for below cost, then
expect perfection and top quality.

I know a couple of women that I will never do any work for. I have seen
these people complain about every single bit of work *anyone* has ever
done for them.

If I have to do any work in these situations, the price goes WAY up!
(Additional stress and grief fees!)

The opposite is true. If someone is nice to me, offers me water/soda, use
of their bathroom, maybe a snack, the price goes down. With some of these
people, they get free or reduced price service.

Have you actually worked for someone who WON'T allow you the use of the
facilities? Isn't that just basic human kindness? I'd be mortified to
learn of a repairman not asking me to get him something for fear of me
turning him down.


Another situation I will avoid is doing any work on manufactured houses.
Always a royal pain. So I am too busy when anyone wants work on their
manufactured home done.

wrote:
Please tell me if I am missing something.

A few years ago I hired a plumber to remove and install a new faucet.
He worked on it for about ten minutes and then told me that he needed
to go to the store for a part. He never came back. I hadn't paid him.
He wouldn't answer his phone until I used a neighbors with a different
caller ID. The plumber simply told me that he didn't want to do the
job. I was without a kitchen sink for a couple of days until I got a
different plumber. This one was resonable and did good work. I ahd him
do other work and recommended him to others. Sorry he retired. Now I
want to replace a toilet. Lowes subcontracted a plumber and he showed
up several days later. He worked for a few minutes and then told me he
had to leave to get a valve. Guess what! He failed to come back. Never
answered the phone until the next day when Lowes called him. He told
them I had dry rot in the floor and he could not finish the job because
of that. Not sure how he could claim that, as he had not removed any
tiling or gone down to the basement. I did and found no evidence of
'dry rot'. My question is; why do these guys do this? They are getting
no money from me, they are just causing me inconvience.


If anybody cares, just thought I'd relay what was the eventual
outcome. I called up a large plumbing firm and they were so nice to
come out the same day. I took to heart what others said about a dirty
house and cleaned up and added some aroma therapy and had a drink
ready. While waiting for the new plumber I called Lowes. The contract
manager told me the person they sent was not authorized to do the
"rough plumbing" that was needed. The new plumber came in and talked
me out of replacing the old toilet and just refurbished the old one and
did put in the new pipe. Out come is I have a toilet that is not low
flush, I saved a heap of money and Lowes gets nothing except one less
customer in the future.

RBM wrote:
I think that sort or scenario happens most often when a price is given for a
pretty standard job, like replacing a fixture, then when the contractor
begins work, he discovers other issues that may complicate the job and cost
him more than he bargained for.


Especially when it is a subcontract from a big box store. The person may
be getting $30 for the job so it is simpler to walk away.