Customers that can't take a hint

[klemgraphics]

Anyone else have a couple pita customers that you just cant get rid of?

I have this one in particular that I just cant seem to shake, calls all the time, thinks he is a designer, can't spell or use correct grammar to save his life, no voicemail, expects you to drop everything to do his crap right now(which I don't do).

He is constantly calling wanting me to change a little of this or that on his sales sheets(he sells safety decals), even goes as far as to ask me to make out his invoices and add my phone # so his customers can call me. No matter how much I ignore his calls, put his work aside for weeks on end, and charge him more and more all the time he just keeps coming back for more. Another hour of my day gone today...that's going to cost him at least $100

I know I shouldn't balk at a regular customer but I hate everything about what I do for him and the manner that I have to do it.

Please tell me I'm not the only one!

rant over

 

[TheSnowman]

I used to have a couple. Then one guy finally didn't pay a bill, and I told him I was done, and I wouldn't even consider doing work for him anymore, even if he did pay. The one that I have that calls me all the time now, I really like to work with because they are easily 50%+ of my business, so I have no problem spending time...but sounds like this isn't your issue with this guy.

 

[klemgraphics]

I would love to just tell him to take a hike but every time I'm to that point he comes through with a big order and I re-think sending him packing. I do have some others that I talk to on a regular basis but they are easy going and continuously have work rolling through here.

 

[TheSnowman]

Just keep jacking up the price. The guy I lost said that he would only come to me cause the other guys were "too much money". Since he basically stole the stuff from me...I assume he was looking for free now. Just make it worth your time, or be honest with the guy and tell him you can keep the pricing the same if they quit wasting so much of your time by calling and checking up all the time.

 

[natedawg9640]

well if you hate him that bad. send him somewhere else. like me! lol

I'd just set some ground rules and make him aware that he'll be billed accordingly for all the runaround. and if you need to prioritize things to meet his demands, he'll meet a surcharge.

 

[klemgraphics]

What's your number nate? I'll have him give you a call this afternoon!

 

[James Burke]

even goes as far as to ask me to make out his invoices and add my phone # so his customers can call me

He has weaseled you into becoming his business manager. I think you'd be better off managing your own business.

 

[klemgraphics]

So tonight just before I'm out the door he shows up to pickup a cd with some design work that was completed and wouldn't you know it I had to change almost everything that I just did again! He then insists that my address and phone be the biggest thing on his sales flyer so they can order directly through me since he can't accept cc. After repeatedly explaining to him that unless he is on my payroll as a salesman this will not be the case he finally gave up.
He has absolutely no understanding of how business works, I mean who's to say I couldn't take his customers and just cut him out totally since all he is doing is collecting his markup?! I'll tell you right now that I will not handle his customers when he is profiting!!
Where do these people come from??

 

[James Burke]

Plastering your contact information on his marketing materials may get you more than you've bargained for. Wait until an upset customer levels their barrel at you for something he's been responsible for.

Your contact information also makes it very handy for someone's attorney to come calling.

 

[klemgraphics]

Plastering your contact information on his marketing materials may get you more than you've bargained for. Wait until an upset customer levels their barrel at you for something he's been responsible for.

Your contact information also makes it very handy for someone's attorney to come calling.

Exactly why it will never be there, but he just doesn't understand.

 

[gabagoo]

I dont mean to be rude or politically incorrect, but some of these people are just a little mentally challenged.

I have had them in the past but thank God I have rid myself of people like this for good. I just say no, I dont do that and refer them to some newbie in the biz....or better, someone I dont like heheheh:Big Laugh

 

[binki]

raise prices on them. charge by the call or change. we instituted a $25 fee for every call to make a change for our pita customers. we also put them to the back of the line each time a change is made.

 

[klemgraphics]

I don't think mentally challenged is even the word for it, and his prices keep going up and up and up. He now pays $60 per hour for all the time I spend with him, no matter if I am designing as per his awful sketches, or talking to him on the phone for 20 min. It just goes against everything that I have ever done to tell him I am finished even though that is exactly what I want to say.

 

[chopper]

I guess everyone has their Stan,
I have my sign biz and my bro has a metal fab shop, we live close to one another and we have a neighbor named Stan, he will ask for stupid stuff all the time I end up wasting more time than he is worth, and so does my bro, so finally a few months ago he asked for some thing than I just said no...actually I said f#@k no, and now my bro is doing the same to him it is actually quite liberating
there is also one other neighbor that is a total goof, he came over a while back and asked me out of the blue if I would put a windshield in his truck for him, ( I am not a body shop) and he got the standard reply F#@k no! he hasn't been back for a while now this guy is like 80 years old and acts like a little kid he comes up behind you and pokes you in the a$$ with stuff and thinks it is funny so I have no trouble telling them to piss off..
//chopper

 

[chopper]

I don't think mentally challenged is even the word for it, and his prices keep going up and up and up. He now pays $60 per hour for all the time I spend with him, no matter if I am designing as per his awful sketches, or talking to him on the phone for 20 min. It just goes against everything that I have ever done to tell him I am finished even though that is exactly what I want to say.

sounds like he has no friends so he chose you to be his buddy had a few of those in the past also but again they are in the past..
//chopper

 

[mark galoob]

60 an hour for stupid stuff like that. Send him to me I'll entertain him for 60 an hr

Mark galoob

 

[MikePro]

Paying his bills? "Thank you, sir, may I have another?"