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January 9, 2017 at 11:58 am #995912Up::0
an aspiring soloist a bum steer.
I get my lawns mowed by one of those home service franchises.
Have loved it over the last couple of years – feels good to support a local business.Recently, my usual franchisee gave over the reins to a new franchisee – no problems!
The new franchisee organised to be at our place at a designated date/time, but didn’t show up because of car troubles (he sent us a text to let us know, so all is good there)
When he did show up, he never sent us an invoice, and at that time, I didn’t have his email address so asked the previous franchisee for it.
So I emailed him, and he said, no this mow was free because he said, he didn’t get there when he said he would.
My thoughts, oh no – please don’t give your services away for free because of something out of your control.
Anyway, time came for the 2nd mow (we’ve had lots of rain and lots of sunshine .. you can imagine)
The lawn gets done, I get the invoice, and well, I pay it twice – picking up the tab for the initial “free” one. No skin off my nose – he did the work – why shouldn’t he get paid?
So I emailed him tonight to tell him that.
I thought I was doing the right thing – then had this horrible thought:
What is going to happen the next time he’s unable to get to a job because of something outside his control and eventually gets there and does the job and sends an invoice.
Will the customer do the stupid thing and call him on it – ie: you didn’t come when you said you would, so I’m not paying….. that is a real problem that I don’t want him to have in the future.
What would you suggest he say to someone if they did that? Or am I being too worried about it, and his business?
He can’t just give stuff away. None of us can. Especially with a service like mowing. Expenses – petrol, (mower and vehicle), time, labour (!), etc etc.
Would love to hear your thoughts.
Cheers
BradJanuary 9, 2017 at 6:11 pm #1204477Up::0I love that you care so much, but really it is his business and he will have to run it his way and learn to deal with difficult customers on his own ans maybe by experience. You can only do more harm than good to foist your ‘mentoring’ on him without being asked. He might be a much better businessman that you give him credit for and already be aware of the risks.
Please stop worrying.January 9, 2017 at 7:48 pm #1204478Up::0bradzo, post: 242865, member: 3742 wrote:What is going to happen the next time he’s unable to get to a job because of something outside his control and eventually gets there and does the job and sends an invoice.Will the customer do the stupid thing and call him on it – ie: you didn’t come when you said you would, so I’m not paying….. that is a real problem that I don’t want him to have in the future.
My question is, why does a customer deserve a free mow because you didn’t turn up on time, you have still provided the service, you still get paid, I don’t see a circumstance where a customer should call you on it. My comment doesn’t just apply to lawn mowing, any other services industry as well.
How many times has a retail store failed to have stock in on time, or a delivery of you new couch being 2 weeks late (just happened to me), should I call the store on it and say you should give those for free. Why do we treat services industries any difference to other industry. we are all just providing a service, be it with our own hands or a product.
And just an aside working in the same industry, this guy will go broke and he needs desperate advise to stop giving people free services, in this industry I can guarantee them that they will miss appointments, be late, and all the rest, we have a silly thing called weather which throws our schedules out the window. Personally only about 10% of my clients have a fixed schedule time, the rest I have just said I will be there sometime. And I have educated those 10% that if I cant get there, they just wait 2 weeks for the next allocated window, unless I can sneak them in somewhere.
Good clients understand that you cant always make it, (weather, sick children, broken equipment, etc), clients who don’t understand, you don’t want as a client.
Good on you for pointing it out to him, and even for paying, I always appreciate the clients who point out that I may have undercharged them.
January 9, 2017 at 7:50 pm #1204479Up::0Props for being a good customer:-)
I am really glad he has provided a free service as it is a demonstration that he not only talks the talk, but walks the walk and his business will be built on a very strong foundation of exceptional service, trust and he should develop a lot of goodwill.
He has just bought a customer list and is at the new stage -this is the riskiest part of taking over a new business. If he loses customers he has already paid for, it will cost him a lot more than a free mow.
Think for a minute about how you feel about your new provider, right now.
I suspect that the trust level you have for him will make you a customer for life – you probably feel that you can rely on him to do the right thing by you.
He will have plenty of time to calibrate these things as he gains more experience.
January 10, 2017 at 2:18 am #1204480Up::0Maybe the franchise has a rule/T+C about instances where it’s the franchisee’s fault for missing a schedule to protect their brand?
January 10, 2017 at 7:54 am #1204481Up::0Give him the link to the site here. Lawn mowing is not very high return compared to say a lwyer…
January 14, 2017 at 7:37 am #1204482January 16, 2017 at 9:09 pm #1204483Up::0I thought about this thread while driving. Actually I tend to go down with the prices quiet all too often. It is a typical beginner’s error. Of course that can’t happen online. Offline I will now change to colour codes and have only four to six different prices and mark EVERY plant.
We were some days camping and stopped at a roadside stall were an Italian sold his produce – what a good salesman! On one hand side the produce was not cheap but he was talkative offered some fruit and olives to try but then charged the FULL price.January 30, 2017 at 7:35 am #1204484 -
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