At my retail job "shiny" has become an allergy among customers and the ingredient "fragrance" WILL kill you (which makes it perfectly obvious why the customer made a huge deal out of choosing something without a scent and bought the coconut scented gift set)!
Our little locksmith business doesnt seem to catch a break from the nut jobs either.
Last week a woman called in asking how much it would be to rekey six locks on a house and break into a lock on a bedroom door. I gave her an estimate and told her the tech will give her the actual before he does anything.
When the tech got there the womans husband said we only needed to change one lock and when he didnt like the price he started challenging our tech to get into locked doors. Our tech obviously said, "Umm no..." took the cost we charge of sending someone out ($15) and left the crazy man.
Crazy man called us after screaming about how he shouldnt have to pay $15 because we are shady and probably arent even a real business. I told him to do whatever he had to do but the $15 is the consultation charge and thats that. It took half a day for the man to stop calling and screaming at whoever picked up the phone.
Today we had the Queen of all crazies. I say Queen with a capital "Q" because all other mentally deranged people kiss her feet as she walks by.
We sent out a tech to open a locked car. The woman that called wasnt home. Her husband was home with the car but she was making the calls.
5 minutes after the tech opened the car the woman called screaming that we cheated her out of $90.
Mo had picked up the phone because I was getting ready for work. She claimed I had told her it would be $40 exactly and she wanted the tech to turn around and give back the check or she was going to the Better Business Burrow. She started screaming that she wanted Mo's name, and heard me say "Im pretty certain we dont need to give out full names." She told Mo to put me on the phone.... which was a huge mistake. While crazy people can ignore what Mo says because his accent is thick, I can very clearly bust someones bubble.
Me: "How can I assist you today?"
Her: *long pause followed by her screaming about how I had quoted her $40*
Me: "I was the one you talked to and I did not say it was a solid $40"
Her: "Well if you dont send that tech back and give me my check I'll make it much more expensive for your company!!"
Me: "Look, let me explain the situation, you can go ahead and go to the better business burrow if you want..."
Her: "Im not going there! Im going to call Hupy and Aberham (lawyers that advertise on tv) and sue you!!
Me: "Thats fine too, but you dont have a case. We had your husband sign a form showing EXACTLY what the prices would be BEFORE we did anything. We do this with all our customers to insure that no one even thinks we are being "sneaky". If you didnt want to pay our prices for the services all your husband had to do was tell him to go away and not sign the form. No one forced you to go with our company."
Her: "Well.... well... YOU GOT US ON A TECHNICALITY! But you have to live with the fact that your cheating people out of their money!"
Me: "Im ok with that."
While I was getting ready for work she called back 2 more times to tell us that we could either return the check or "pay a lot more than what we made".
The last call we got from her was THE BEST! Mo just pointed it out to me as he saw me writing this and I cant help but post it word for word, because google voice is awesome...(There is a lot about how the tech was late and he gave a discount but it was still to expensive before hand...thats not the fun part... THIS is)
"I'm just, so you know this is what I do for business. I do go after people in these situations I actually do this for business, but it's funny how it hits you, once it is actually done to you how emotionally involved you get in it, so I can tell how my voice sounds, doing what I need to do here and and and I'm not to sound angry person saying you're gonna do something and not know what to do so. I want you to be aware of everything that was said and done here. And the bottom line is your right. My husband did write a check. We've we felt this is sort of a next door said we waited long enough, it was over an hour before he got here we reported 15 minutes and it took an hour for him to get here in to work, point, running. What we do, say that start all over again. Because we're being extorted. But so he that was this IS A he made. He felt the story, If you have to dothat or the guy was gonna leave So this is going into the reports are being sent off. And again, you have the day to try to make this right. The Force and everything, and I am not just aperson who threatens I'm an educated person who does for living, okay. I think you've got my number. Thank you."
Oh crazy lady... you do know that you cant threaten BBB, lawyers, personal vendettas, AND THEN scream "Its my job to do...this". Honestly, what is your job? To sit around and wait for locksmiths? To complain? How much does complaining pay?
Hmmm. If she's a professional consumer advocate, I'd definitely wait for the next available operator.
ReplyDelete"OK, we agreed to the price, and signed a form saying we agreed to the price, and you did the work, and we paid you. You got us on a technicality. BUT IT'S EXTORTION!!!"
I wonder if she works for someone else...and if so, if they know what she's like in these situations that she claims to be in all the time on behalf of other people.