Unhappy customer.....best approach?

[Keenanlog]

This is a first for me. We did a straight forward crane job for a customer. The scope of work was to remove a couple oaks over hanging the pool, maple, and a couple dead maple's. We performed our end of the work, plus some extras. Spoke with customer at the throughout job they had no qualms. I received an email Friday (almost two weeks after completion) saying that she feels like she was ripped off, there are still LEAVES going into her pool and basically wanting us to go back to clear more trees on out dime. Mind you the pool is on the edge of the woods and they were concerned with the acorns going into the pool. When I originally quoted the job I explained we could clear the area with the oaks (small hillside) and she said "dont get me wrong we like the trees, just not the acorns". I explained I would be happy to come back to discuss further work but we couldn't do it for free. After a few emails back and forth she wrote a pretty bad comment on our Facebook page explaining how she feels like she was ripped off and would never refer us EVER. This is my first time dealing with a customer who just has unbelievable unrealistic expectations. It's really bothering me and seeking some advice. I feel like I have done what I could to resolve her unhappiness and she just wants us to go back for nothing.......

 

[Gorman]

Sounds like a pain. Delete the FB comment and write her off. There's nothing you can do other than offer free work, which is unreasonable.

 

[tc262]

If you can't appease her an get her to remove or change her review you'll just have to leave a reply to her review and try to nicely and concisely wrote what you did above. It's rare but I feel like some people use bad reviews as blackmail material in an attempt to get stuff for free.

@Gorman, only the person who wrote the review or someone from Facebook can delete a review.

 

[Gorman]

If you can't appease her an get her to remove or change her review you'll just have to leave a reply to her review and try to nicely and concisely wrote what you did above. It's rare but I feel like some people use bad reviews as blackmail material in an attempt to get stuff for free.

@Gorman, only the person who wrote the review or someone from Facebook can delete a review.

Yea, what you said.

 

[climbhightree]

Looks like it is a comment on a post of photos from the job (posted by Keenan)...not a review. So it could be deleted, but that could make it worse. 4700 for 5 trees with a crane, does not sound like a rip off to me.

Did you have a written estimate, clearly stating the work to be done? They sign it? Pay?

Obviously if they want(ed) more tree down, that would cost more...time is money (especially if a crane is involved). The trick is to respond with out attacking the client. To state your side so the public knows, and try to appease the client before washing your hands from them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk

 

[treehumper]

This sounds like a mismatch between the scope of the work and the client's objective. Personally I dislike jobs where clients are trying to prevent leaves or acorns or whatever else falls from trees, from entering their pool, gutters, etc…. Without having qualified the limitations of the outcome of the scope of work it is nearly impossible to satisfy an unreasonable objective.

She was happy with the work at the time because in her mind's eye it was going to meet her objective, nothing from the trees in the pool. While she only cited the acorns she was also, without saying it, thinking anything else from the trees would no longer fall into her pool. When sufficient time had passed she saw that what she thought would happen didn't. You as the expert, in her estimation, should've known this and explained it to her.

For her, she wasn't paying for her trees to be removed by a crane, she was paying to keep her pool free of tree debris. When that didn't happen you became her scapegoat.

Meet with her in person to review the scope of the work and what was agreed to. Be clear that you are open to resolving the issue without claiming any liability. That will be borne out of the discussion on the contracted agreement. Sometimes it takes a point by point objective review to come to an understanding. Come at it with an open mind and make sure she understands that you are more than happy to accept any responsibility for the work if the review proves to show you failed to perform the scope of the work as agreed to in the contract.

Be clear on what you said to her at any point that's not documented or memorialized within the contract. This is often where misconceptions arise. In the end, you may work out an arrangement whereby a middle ground can be found, i.e., you work for cost or a deeply discounted price to perform additional work that is proved to be outside the original scope of work set out and agreed to by the client.

When we take a position it can become impossible to avoid entrenchment and thus an inability to reach any sort of agreement. This will end only with both parties aggrieved.

It's your business that stands to suffer most.

 

[ward]

Was there a mismatch of expectations from the outset? Keenanlog clarified what he could do when he gave her a quote for the removal of the hillside of oaks. Conciliation is a good strategy generally for those in the business of customer service, but in this case, it is to admit too much. She is asking for things beyond what you can do. You did for her what the contract stipulated. I think you should be firm with her. To the extent that you have fulfilled your role in the proposed work, your end is complete.

It sounds like you might have led her to believe that by removing the trees her leaf and acorn problem would be solved. In cases like this, never use absolute language. There are surrounding trees, after all, and guaranteeing anything 100% in nature is an almost sure fail from the start. Language about mitigation and decrease might be better. Always important to state clearly the limitations of one's work and try to prepare them for what will be there when it is done.

I'm sure you know all of this and that is why this might qualify as one of the many games customers play. Call this the 'Buyer's remorse game' and it happens when the agreed upon work doesn't meet the psychological expectations/cost upon completion and they want to return the product, or get a rebate because of that. I don't think you have to give in to this game, but sometimes a little extra play goes a long way towards establish good customer relations. Being playful about things wins the game.

 

[Limb Walker]

This is a first for me. We did a straight forward crane job for a customer. The scope of work was to remove a couple oaks over hanging the pool, maple, and a couple dead maple's. We performed our end of the work, plus some extras. Spoke with customer at the throughout job they had no qualms. I received an email Friday (almost two weeks after completion) saying that she feels like she was ripped off, there are still LEAVES going into her pool and basically wanting us to go back to clear more trees on out dime. Mind you the pool is on the edge of the woods and they were concerned with the acorns going into the pool. When I originally quoted the job I explained we could clear the area with the oaks (small hillside) and she said "dont get me wrong we like the trees, just not the acorns". I explained I would be happy to come back to discuss further work but we couldn't do it for free. After a few emails back and forth she wrote a pretty bad comment on our Facebook page explaining how she feels like she was ripped off and would never refer us EVER. This is my first time dealing with a customer who just has unbelievable unrealistic expectations. It's really bothering me and seeking some advice. I feel like I have done what I could to resolve her unhappiness and she just wants us to go back for nothing.......

You can not make everyone happy. Did you list every tree to cut? or just a vague description of an area? I learned the hard way to specify exactly what your cutting. I don't like people who complain about leaves but they are paying us. Details are worth the time in writing it down and getting her signature. Go back to her and quote what it would cost to do more. Then offer a discount (if she removes the bad review). Tell her you want to make sure she is satisfied and you want to keep her as a client. If she is un-reasonable, just reply to the FB post (in a professional way) and explain that cranes and insuranceare very expensive to operate!!

 

[Keenanlog]

So at our initial visit I understood her objectives and pointed out while we were there with crane we could take more trees than just the Oaks dropping nuts. She explained that they liked the trees just did not want to clean up the acorns out out of the pool. After completion I had to go back to get the remainder of the firewood. She paid me then. Never mentioned any issues or concerns. We had exchanged emails before she wrote the comment. I explained I fulfilled my part of the job and even had in my notes from out initial meeting the comment about liking the trees behind what we took nd not to remove anything extra. I also explained I would be happy to come back and discuss any further work but it would not be performed for free. In her last email she said she would not pay for any more work to be done, ethically I should go back and remove the remaining trees (the ones I had originally pointed out) at no charge. Mind you, they were there the whole time the crane was set up. We even spoke after the crane left about the economics of having the crane there VS. climbing and removing everything by hand. I was happy the way the job went and was under the impression they were happy when she paid me.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

This sounds like it might be headed for a protracted bit of negotiations. To protect yourself for a future claim you should consider filing a lien against the property. There is a time limit from the date of work completion to file the lien. If you don't get paid now you have A good chance of being paid when the house is sold in the future

That said....lots of good negotiating advice already. You're in a spot that anyone in the service industry will be sooner or later

 

[Nish]

I keep a running list of folks I need to track down should I ever find myself with nothing left to lose. If some terminal illness should befall me I like to believe that I would still have the time and fortitude to settle scores. I plan to mete out justice in my golden years. Like one negative value canceling out another the assholes of this world make me pine for cancer. As a therapeutic mental exercise I advise you to visualize all of the trees within a 100' radius of your enemy's house and you deploying all of your arboricultural skills to fall every heavy top and every large tree precisely back toward the center. That is high art. Meditate on such things.

 

[JD3000]

Vengence agaisnt the Bad Hombres!!!

Bwaaaaahahahaha.

Outstanding. You need a special outfit and a cool name now.

 

[treehumper]

So at our initial visit I understood her objectives and pointed out while we were there with crane we could take more trees than just the Oaks dropping nuts. She explained that they liked the trees just did not want to clean up the acorns out out of the pool.

Did you say there would be an additional cost for those extra trees or did you imply that they would be done within the price of the original contract? That she wants them done at no extra cost suggests the latter. That may be why she thinks you should do them now for free. Have you offered to do them at a reduced price given the "misunderstanding"? Have you asked her why she feels you should now do them for free despite her not wanting them done at the time of the original work?

There will come a point where you may have to just walk away with an apology that this couldn't be resolved in a business like fashion. The only thing you may be able to do is respond with a carefully worded review of the facts and your actions. Hold out the olive branch of a fantastic deal to do the other trees and leave it in her hands to decide. But, don't get into a war of words with her. That will keep the post active and at the top of page. Once you've responded, leave it alone until she takes you up on your offer.

Some people's kids…..

 

[Baja Mike]

Give it a few days to cool down. Talk on the phone no email as you can't tell the tone of an email. Politely apologize for any miscommunication not passing blame and explain to her how this review will hurt your business and if she will kindly review it and delete or correct it. Tell her you would like to set things straight and give her a 20 percent discount on all future work.
In the future don't take on jobs where it is hard to meet expectations.
I get calls like this all the time and also for roof clearance for insurance companies and tell the people that without removing the tree their will always be leaves as the wind blows and I cannot control Mother Nature. We walk on eggshells now with all this social media,you have to be careful what you do and or say ,you can prosper or be killed by the reviews.
As with any online source have a ton of reviews so if you do get a bad one it won't drop your rating by much.
Good Luck