Clients.....arrrrrgggggghhhhhh
Discussion
Sometimes, just sometimes I want to overcome the part of me that reminds myself these people keep my business going and tell them to stuff their work.
I have one client who, each time we do work for them has come back asking for the work to be redone because they have found fault in it.
Basically we check and certify the quality of people they intend to employ. This time they sent an email saying they were returning half a batch of work ( 120 people)because they had dip checked the work of one of our employees (the work carries the signature of the employee) and he was unduely firm in rejecting people they thought should be given a job. They weren't happy so were sending back the whole batch of his work to be redone and wanted the work redone and back within 48 hours. They had got their internal person to look at the work who decided it hadn't been done correctly. I have had to move my diary about to be here to do it.
The person in question who is making the bullets has never actually done the job, (although they did attend the training course to do it 5 years ago) and is woefully out of date on the standards required and doesn't understand what it is she is telling her company to reject.
In 5 years and out of over 300 batches the only 2 batches ever rejected have both been from this company, and they have only ever sent 2 batches!
I suspect that when the work arives here on Tuesday that it will be checked and found to be in order and that the criticism raised is due to a lack of understanding on the clients part about the standards (which are laid down nationally) and the process.
I will probably be very polite about it when I point out that they have it wrong but I feel like kneecapping this half baked sh1t stirrer and charging them for the time spent redokng work that is probably fine.
I don't mind answering genuine concerns but I think this internal person is just trying to show how clever they are to their staff by making the contractor jump hoops to suit them.
I wonder what their response would be if I invoiced them for my time in resolving their non issue and telling them we no longer want to do work for them? Nobody else provides trhye service so they would have to do the work themselves and the internal person would cop for it, and have to remember what I taught her 5 years ago, and get up to date pretty quickly!
I have one client who, each time we do work for them has come back asking for the work to be redone because they have found fault in it.
Basically we check and certify the quality of people they intend to employ. This time they sent an email saying they were returning half a batch of work ( 120 people)because they had dip checked the work of one of our employees (the work carries the signature of the employee) and he was unduely firm in rejecting people they thought should be given a job. They weren't happy so were sending back the whole batch of his work to be redone and wanted the work redone and back within 48 hours. They had got their internal person to look at the work who decided it hadn't been done correctly. I have had to move my diary about to be here to do it.
The person in question who is making the bullets has never actually done the job, (although they did attend the training course to do it 5 years ago) and is woefully out of date on the standards required and doesn't understand what it is she is telling her company to reject.
In 5 years and out of over 300 batches the only 2 batches ever rejected have both been from this company, and they have only ever sent 2 batches!
I suspect that when the work arives here on Tuesday that it will be checked and found to be in order and that the criticism raised is due to a lack of understanding on the clients part about the standards (which are laid down nationally) and the process.
I will probably be very polite about it when I point out that they have it wrong but I feel like kneecapping this half baked sh1t stirrer and charging them for the time spent redokng work that is probably fine.
I don't mind answering genuine concerns but I think this internal person is just trying to show how clever they are to their staff by making the contractor jump hoops to suit them.
I wonder what their response would be if I invoiced them for my time in resolving their non issue and telling them we no longer want to do work for them? Nobody else provides trhye service so they would have to do the work themselves and the internal person would cop for it, and have to remember what I taught her 5 years ago, and get up to date pretty quickly!
Edited by Leftie on Friday 22 June 19:29
Edited by Leftie on Friday 22 June 19:35
Edited by Leftie on Friday 22 June 19:36
Bad customers are worse than no customers sometimes.
There is a mentality with some clients, to reject or complain every now and then just to keep their contractors on their toes. I guess that can make sense in cetain situations.
Personally I like to think of everyone in my supply an delivery chain as part of the team, and tend to keep them included and happy.
There is a mentality with some clients, to reject or complain every now and then just to keep their contractors on their toes. I guess that can make sense in cetain situations.
Personally I like to think of everyone in my supply an delivery chain as part of the team, and tend to keep them included and happy.
I have just checked this guys stats against all of the other people we have doing this work and it is spot on.
I will delight in very carefully and very politely tearing them to pieces next week. Our contact might be slightly less inclined to folow the lead of her boss if she is made to feel she has m,ade a fuss over nothing and we all know it!
Sad thing is this employee is very professional and dedicated and if he knew his ability was being called into question I know it would cripple him.
I will delight in very carefully and very politely tearing them to pieces next week. Our contact might be slightly less inclined to folow the lead of her boss if she is made to feel she has m,ade a fuss over nothing and we all know it!
Sad thing is this employee is very professional and dedicated and if he knew his ability was being called into question I know it would cripple him.
I have just started penning a response and realised that the qualification of the person who is making the bullets has almost certainly expired!!! The qualification expires after 12 months if unused and I think that is the case with this muppet.
Monday morning I am on to the issuing authority to check but in the meantime have calculated my guy has gained 10 times more experience in 12 months than she has had in 5 years, and I have checked his gradings against 1500 we have on record and he is spot on to within 1%.
Revenge...a meal best eaten cold.....
Leftie said:
I have just started penning a response and realised that the qualification of the person who is making the bullets has almost certainly expired!!! The qualification expires after 12 months if unused and I think that is the case with this muppet.
Monday morning I am on to the issuing authority to check but in the meantime have calculated my guy has gained 10 times more experience in 12 months than she has had in 5 years, and I have checked his gradings against 1500 we have on record and he is spot on to within 1%.
Revenge...a meal best eaten cold.....
Sometimes you have to let your anger die down to get the best revenge.Monday morning I am on to the issuing authority to check but in the meantime have calculated my guy has gained 10 times more experience in 12 months than she has had in 5 years, and I have checked his gradings against 1500 we have on record and he is spot on to within 1%.
Revenge...a meal best eaten cold.....
In my industry, sound recording and mixing there are plenty of clients who have 'recorded load of times before' and thus know better than someone who ahs actually been doing the job every day for ten years!
The amount of times I could have told someone that they are talking b***ocks when I have mixed something to an extremely high standard on a £30,000 THX certified monitoring system only to find that on the clients own system at home (from Argos) the bass sounds 'wet' and can I change it!
Sometimes I will have another listen, and just *sometimes* I will make a change because I could do it another way. Sometimes I do it with the knowledge that what they want will sound worse, but it is what *they* want. This happens a lot, and I have known of engineers who have begrudgly done this but refused to be credited for the work.
The particular technique which would be interesting in your case I personally call 'The Emperor's New Clothes' after the fable where the stupid Emperor is told by a canny tailor that he had made him the best set of clothes ever (but invisible), but only intelligent people can see them...
In my case where 'Mr Argos Hi-Fi' has told me that the bass should be less 'wet' I make a judgement call to see if he knows what he is talking about, and if he doesnt he gets 'The Emperors New Clothes'. That means that he gets another copy of exactly the same mix, and told that we have made the requested change for the better.
Without fail, the client will say how it sounds distintly better (now we have made their non existant but ego-satisfying changes) and the mix is now perfect!
In this situation, is it possible to suck up to the other companies 'checker' and tell them they were right and you would replace them?
Of course, you replace them with exactly the same items!
Worth a try methinks! That way everyone wins! Personal satisfaction AND money is a lot better than arguing a point!
JustinP1 said:
Leftie said:
I have just started penning a response and realised that the qualification of the person who is making the bullets has almost certainly expired!!! The qualification expires after 12 months if unused and I think that is the case with this muppet.
Monday morning I am on to the issuing authority to check but in the meantime have calculated my guy has gained 10 times more experience in 12 months than she has had in 5 years, and I have checked his gradings against 1500 we have on record and he is spot on to within 1%.
Revenge...a meal best eaten cold.....
Sometimes you have to let your anger die down to get the best revenge.Monday morning I am on to the issuing authority to check but in the meantime have calculated my guy has gained 10 times more experience in 12 months than she has had in 5 years, and I have checked his gradings against 1500 we have on record and he is spot on to within 1%.
Revenge...a meal best eaten cold.....
In my industry, sound recording and mixing there are plenty of clients who have 'recorded load of times before' and thus know better than someone who ahs actually been doing the job every day for ten years!
The amount of times I could have told someone that they are talking b***ocks when I have mixed something to an extremely high standard on a £30,000 THX certified monitoring system only to find that on the clients own system at home (from Argos) the bass sounds 'wet' and can I change it!
Sometimes I will have another listen, and just *sometimes* I will make a change because I could do it another way. Sometimes I do it with the knowledge that what they want will sound worse, but it is what *they* want. This happens a lot, and I have known of engineers who have begrudgly done this but refused to be credited for the work.
The particular technique which would be interesting in your case I personally call 'The Emperor's New Clothes' after the fable where the stupid Emperor is told by a canny tailor that he had made him the best set of clothes ever (but invisible), but only intelligent people can see them...
In my case where 'Mr Argos Hi-Fi' has told me that the bass should be less 'wet' I make a judgement call to see if he knows what he is talking about, and if he doesnt he gets 'The Emperors New Clothes'. That means that he gets another copy of exactly the same mix, and told that we have made the requested change for the better.
Without fail, the client will say how it sounds distintly better (now we have made their non existant but ego-satisfying changes) and the mix is now perfect!
In this situation, is it possible to suck up to the other companies 'checker' and tell them they were right and you would replace them?
Of course, you replace them with exactly the same items!
Worth a try methinks! That way everyone wins! Personal satisfaction AND money is a lot better than arguing a point!
I am thinking I may issue an invoice showing the cost of all this and then showing a discount for that amount so they know what it cost and that our willingness to do this work unnecessarily to play their internal politic game has expired. I think I will increase the QA levels next time we work for them and of they do it again tell them we can do without their business.
I often get odd ones sent back with queries ( usually family friends of the boss who we have kicked out!) but to send back 2 or 3 let alone 120 is unheard of. I had a small number last year of about 4 which were queried and which we talked through on the phone and resolved.
Edited by Leftie on Sunday 24th June 09:41
why not agree to re-do the work but say beforehand that if they prove to be correct the first time or within a certain % tolerance then thet pay again for your time and effort.
We got rid of a nasty bit of work client. Told her to get lost, didnt want her as a client. She huffed and puffed as usual and I didnt give a damm. Made me and the whole office feel sooooo much better. Feel good about it now some 6 years ago!
We got rid of a nasty bit of work client. Told her to get lost, didnt want her as a client. She huffed and puffed as usual and I didnt give a damm. Made me and the whole office feel sooooo much better. Feel good about it now some 6 years ago!
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