Thoughts on this?
Discussion
So my 'mate' who works in the workshop next to me has pissed me off. Here's why.
I come back from Woodstock on Tuesday to see an old guy from the village on the side of the road in his MGF strugling to get home with steam pissing from the rad. I stop outside his house and we clarify his head gasket is shot . Since he hasn't a mobile and I have no cards on me I arrange to leave a card under his wiper so ha can call me later. I tell him I work up the road at the two workshops belonging to another well know village local who he knows well. So I call my 'mate' to ask him how much to do the head gasket since I don't have the time or space right now and he gives me a silly price. I call another guy who does a better and cheaper job and confirm I'll let him have the work if he doesn't try to steal the other service work involved. Keep in mind this is now a new customer to me and not one I have done work for in the past.
I drive into the village yesterday to see my 'mate' and his dips
t son standing talking to my new customer and driving the MGF off to his workshop. I call him and he won't answer his phone all day (I was away north since I saw him pick the car up) and eventually I get hold of him last night to ask him how he came to have the car. He tells me that the well know local told him to call the guy but he did think it might have been the same car I called him about, so I ask him that if he thought it was the same car then why didn't he call me to check before being a bit underhanded and taking the car without letting me know. He has no real answer.
If I were in the same position I would have called him to ask him before encroaching on his turf, common decency I would have thought?
In all honesty I weould have given the job to the other guy since I trust his work more, it would have been cheaper, and I would have given the old guy a loaner in the meantime. My 'mate' has told the guy the engine is knackered and will need to be replaced which I have my doubts about as well.
Just as well I'm moving out.
I come back from Woodstock on Tuesday to see an old guy from the village on the side of the road in his MGF strugling to get home with steam pissing from the rad. I stop outside his house and we clarify his head gasket is shot . Since he hasn't a mobile and I have no cards on me I arrange to leave a card under his wiper so ha can call me later. I tell him I work up the road at the two workshops belonging to another well know village local who he knows well. So I call my 'mate' to ask him how much to do the head gasket since I don't have the time or space right now and he gives me a silly price. I call another guy who does a better and cheaper job and confirm I'll let him have the work if he doesn't try to steal the other service work involved. Keep in mind this is now a new customer to me and not one I have done work for in the past.
I drive into the village yesterday to see my 'mate' and his dips
t son standing talking to my new customer and driving the MGF off to his workshop. I call him and he won't answer his phone all day (I was away north since I saw him pick the car up) and eventually I get hold of him last night to ask him how he came to have the car. He tells me that the well know local told him to call the guy but he did think it might have been the same car I called him about, so I ask him that if he thought it was the same car then why didn't he call me to check before being a bit underhanded and taking the car without letting me know. He has no real answer.If I were in the same position I would have called him to ask him before encroaching on his turf, common decency I would have thought?
In all honesty I weould have given the job to the other guy since I trust his work more, it would have been cheaper, and I would have given the old guy a loaner in the meantime. My 'mate' has told the guy the engine is knackered and will need to be replaced which I have my doubts about as well.
Just as well I'm moving out.
CAPP0 said:
I should have known better than posting on here where a bunch of responses with pictures rather than text are the norm.
Regrettably, you do not own anyone.
If that was my car, I would certainly be grateful for the roadside advice and assistance but would want my car repaired asap. I would not consider myself "your customer" because you put a card on my car. It might be different if he were a long-established client where you had given lower rates and expected some degree of loyalty but I think most posters here are struggling with the concept of sticking a flag in a breakdown and claiming it as yours without some form of marriage ceremony.
It's a tough commercial world out there and customers expect things to be done now and have the assurance that things will be expedited - you weren't available to do it initially and you were up north when it was booked in so that would tell me you're not the one to fix my car. No?.
I accept you may have done a better andmore consierate job but ultimately, none of your "mates" twisted his arm.
If that was my car, I would certainly be grateful for the roadside advice and assistance but would want my car repaired asap. I would not consider myself "your customer" because you put a card on my car. It might be different if he were a long-established client where you had given lower rates and expected some degree of loyalty but I think most posters here are struggling with the concept of sticking a flag in a breakdown and claiming it as yours without some form of marriage ceremony.
It's a tough commercial world out there and customers expect things to be done now and have the assurance that things will be expedited - you weren't available to do it initially and you were up north when it was booked in so that would tell me you're not the one to fix my car. No?.
I accept you may have done a better andmore consierate job but ultimately, none of your "mates" twisted his arm.
Well a few things:
a) You left the guy your number to call to get the car sorted, yet he choose not to and went with someone else. Unfortunately his choice, without being disrespectful if he choose not to go with you after giving him help and went with someone else then something s went wrong in your approach.
b) There are no friends in business, your mate made the effort to contact the customer and chase the work where you have not. Aside from leaving your card you dont seem to have actively chased the guy.
c) Passing on work to third parties is rarely something that will work well, as soon as you leave a customer with another company your already halfway to loosing them (more so if the customer is someone you have never dealt with before).
a) You left the guy your number to call to get the car sorted, yet he choose not to and went with someone else. Unfortunately his choice, without being disrespectful if he choose not to go with you after giving him help and went with someone else then something s went wrong in your approach.
b) There are no friends in business, your mate made the effort to contact the customer and chase the work where you have not. Aside from leaving your card you dont seem to have actively chased the guy.
c) Passing on work to third parties is rarely something that will work well, as soon as you leave a customer with another company your already halfway to loosing them (more so if the customer is someone you have never dealt with before).
lance1a said:
CAPP0 said:
I should have known better than posting on here where a bunch of responses with pictures rather than text are the norm.
But I am a little surprised by your OP. You basically come on here grizzling that you think, or feel, that your mate has had you over. If you're running your own business, you're presumably an adult, so maybe act like one? It was business - if you wanted the work that badly, hire an extra hand.
You must have been around here long enough to know that you weren't going to get a lot of sympathy for this particular cause. What did you want?
Edited by CAPP0 on Friday 14th December 14:38
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