Handling problem customers in suburbia

tomstrees

tomstrees

Participating member
Over the years I had a few problem customers, not sure I should have seen problems coming, but when customers become unreasonable and won't pay, etc., how do you handle it? Sometimes I have thought there should be an Angie's list for contractors to see customer ratings. Less than a half dozen non-paying customers; after 90 days of sending reminder invoices, I took them to small claims courts and more or less won every case. The problem case was an immigrant couple that refused to pay for tree work around their property claiming that a dead shrub was valuable and I shouldn't have cut it. My climber went to court to fight the injustice, in the end the judge "cut the baby in half". I didn't provide enough evidence, which was my fault as no one counselled me on court issues.
 
Are you meeting face to face with clients during your bids or through phone calls.
Bidding trimming is always harder than bidding removal, but both of you should know exactly what's coming off. I don't like bidding trimming unless the homeowner is there to meet me.
If they aren't happy after I'm done, I'll always meet them again to see what else they want and often that means going back up for one or two small cuts or a lil pole saw work.

Try to see it from the customer's point of view. Whether it's their roofer, or mechanic, or plumber, or electrician; it can feel like someone is trying to get the most coin for the least amount of work. A lot of customers might already think you're out to screw them over before you even meet them.
 
We bill a couple thousand people per year most are good some "forget" to pay. We send multiple invoices. we have a collections company we send people to. They get one last chance, a phone call with collections said ten times normally gets their attention. The reality of their credit getting screwed up over tree work, sometimes over a single treatment for a hundred bucks, makes them change their mind. We dont actually send anything under 500 to collections but if it does go they get 5 nice letters then the collections co goes after them. We pay a yearly membership to the co which covers the initial 5 letters then if they go after them they get half of the amount recovered.

This year we had about 20 people that got the call. 5 people actually answered and gave credit cards 10 called back within 5 mins couple stragglers the next day and 2 or 3 actually went to collections. All in all not to shabby

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I've never had to deal with Collections. 12 years. Lucky, I guess.

One guy didn't pay a $300 job because he lost his biz and was trying not to have his house foreclosed. Took forever to get an answer on the phone, and then the background situation relayed.

I told him not to worry about it. He was off the hook. Go spend time with his family (which suffered during the collapse).

A couple years later, he called me with an insurance job, tree through their garage roof.
 
A few cases, but the scale of my work with smaller than others on this site, never grossed more than around $80K.

A cosmetics executive asked me to clear out some briers and small trees on the side of their multi-million dollar property, including running a chipper. I quoted my rate upfront, went over it with her husband I think, and we did the job on a couple hot summer days. $700 or so job, sent an invoice, she wanted more work done for the same money, which I agreed to and did it, no response, did it a few more times. I filed a small claims court claim at that point, and she finally wrote an emotional and strange response, saying she would pay it anyway. I got a contact from "The People's Court" saying they would guarantee the judgment if I went on their show. No dice on that offer. She ended up telling the small claims judge that she disagreed with my claim but decided to pay it anyway. No payment was received. I let the judge know and they got angry with her demanding payment. Finally I got the check.

A few others were average deadbeats, probably shortage of money on the part of the customers. I had a few customers who balked at normal labor or material fees and returned something.
 
Well anything looks better economically than a little over minimum wage at a big box store's outdoor garden department now. I did a log splitting job today, will be going back, grand total $300 splitting butternut (white walnut), lots of stump type notch wood, not fun. The NY suburban contractor market has gotten more and more competitive with the foreign workers. I have heard stories about how cheap they will work so you have to bid based on that.
 
That's really cheap, 700 multiple days multiple people, yea better then nothing but it cant be that bad. Hell I have a side job it's a cut and leave only me climbing no helper other then the homeowner (done work with him b4, good helper) I'll be done in one day for 500.

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It was bid at one day,, all ground work, gravity feed Morbark chipper, clearing vines, briers small trees and chipping. It becomes a major aggravation when customers abuse their contractors by not paying when the workers are operating in good faith.
 
Care you share the contract.

This might be an opportunity to tighten up some loose ends, perhaps.

Perhaps not.


I had a customer ask me how much to chip piles of stuff he stacked. I said 4 hours, two guys, $600. He asked if I thought that it would mean that most everything would be chipped. I said it meant two guys would have worked hard chipping for 4 hours. He will have lots of chips in piles in his back 40 (back 5 acres, legitimately).

A forestry mower would have saved him tons of work, and he wouldn't have had to pay $600 for chipping, plus more hourly-rate mini-loader moving remaining brush piles and logs to the road to be grapple-trucked away, at $400/ load (not my truck, just a local contractor). He asked me for a price on chipping. I didn't think of other options at the time, I was busy figuring the logistics of access, quantity of material, guessing a production goal.

He's a smart guy, not going broke by a long shot.

Sometimes, referring to another service that may be better-suited for the task is best in the long-run.
Sometimes, its very hard to concisely quantify work. Takes time and practice to foresee the combination of a difficult customer and difficult to estimate job. Maybe that wasn't the issue, here.


Where was the miscommunication about what would be the metric of work completed (hours, size of material and pre-determined area for removal clearly marked out or per square-yard, etc)?

Was there discussion and a signed-contract with terms such as "cleaned-up" or "clean-out" or did it say "all trees less than 3" dbh, all vines, and shrubs as marked, in area bordered by..."?
 
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It was a verbal contract like most I do, some customers ask for written ones, probably the way to go on the bigger jobs. Actually I went back to the job site after months of being ignored ("indifference, the highest form of hatred"). I went back and did more work, the customer apparently just wanted to use a local contractor. I spoke to the landscaper who worked her property, who told me she and her husband were very cheap, not good to work for. I worked for her neighbors without any problems. On the driveway entrance over the garage, she posted the names of her kids in bas-relief, crazy. Around here some people will spend huge money on their kids but jerk around the contractors. Why we would be served with an "Angies List" for contractors talking about customers to avoid.
 
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