Comments on: How to Fire a Client

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:28:05 +0000

I had a customer whose system I wiped clean and reloaded the operating system for. She didn’t understand that she would loose some configuration settings- and I had told her it was more drastic than just adding ram. I told her things would look like they did when she first bought the computer. Not much would be on it. I told her we could take her files, back them up, and put them back on. I told her after all this we could reinstall the programs she used (as long as she had them still). I asked her how she used her computer.

It all seemed ok except for a missing copy of MS Office. I explained to her I could sell her a newer version. She accepted- although not happy about the price. She still wanted to go through with it since her computer would run ‘like new’.

After all was said and done I got paid and left. Big mistake. I should have set her down and asked her to play with it and confirm it was to her satisfaction. Anyway- she called up angry as could be. Accusing me of software piracy (MS Office 2007 vs her old version), having sold her a kiddy version, and loosing her emails.

Anyway- I went back several times to resolve her issues. None of which were my fault and all of which I explained to her before I did anything. The only one that might have been my fault would have been the emails- but I had warned her of certain risks. After careful examination (hour or so) of her email I concluded the email wasn’t even in the backup of which was 100% backed up. Turns out she had deleted it or maybe it was sent to her work email – I forget which (but I used a hex editor to search through for the persons address just to see if some weird bug between versions or something was causing it to not appear).

Point is some customers have serious mental issues. Definitely not worth dealing with from a money perspective. Look at it from the bright side though- at least you aren’t them. You should feel bad for these customers and do everything you can to make them feel better. They are the ones with the problem(s). Not you. It could be you someday with an imbalance. If you have ever taken drugs (legally) and then had to stop right away- you’ll realize just how these people feel. Withdrawal sucks and these people are living under these conditions with little or no relief. They can’t deal with it-and you should consider yourself fortunate.

I knew a classmate in school who blamed themselves for a similar mental issue (when in college). On his good days where he was agreeable and on his bad days everything was your fault- and he’d disagree with everything. Even if you said the sky was blue you’d be wrong. Point is I realized he was on medications of some sort for this and that was why I saw these huge changes in personality. Without the medications he was a problem- and with it he was happy. The way I dealt with it by avoiding him on the bad days. It wasn’t his fault and I didn’t want to not be his friend over something that wasn’t his fault, nor would it have been fair to him. What bothered me was on one of his good days he told me he was on medications and then when I said I understood and didn’t blame him for his issue- he actually took responsibility for it and then some saying it was his fault. To feel bad over something that I knew he had no control over is just fucked up. Whoever has these types of issues shouldn’t blame themselves even if they have some responsibility to resolve their own issues. We’re all human-

And just remember that it isn’t always the customers who have the issue either. Sometimes it is the techs. I have a competitor who is just as insane as my worst ex-customer(s).

By: Heriberto t.

Heriberto t. — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 16:50:28 +0000

i had a teacher in 8th grade who said he did the work, and the client owed him money. after a couple of weeks the client didnt respond to calls, or emails and he said he finally got an idea. he sent a letter saying that he (the client) owed him money and he put a higher amount than was due. i.e, he owed him 150 and put 275, so later a letter came, and it said that he didnt owe 275 but 150 and with that letter he had the evidence to sue him for not paying. i dont think it’ll come to that, but if it ever does, its worth a try.

By: 911cri

911cri — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:53:11 +0000

I had a customer whom came by with several issues wrong with his computer. One was a bad stick of memory; another was a short in the board. It was difficult isolating the issue but I was able to narrow it down by trial and error. The customer was very concerned about the data on his drive. In his efforts at a “self fix”, he corrupted the partition and it was basically unreadable. Since I had the box apart, I’d offered to recover it up for him for free, as long as I was hired for the rest of the work (i.e. mainboard/os install, etc..) as he’s been a occasional customer over the two years I’ve been in business. He says, “Okay”. He comes by the following evening and states, “I want to take it to get a second opinion!”. I

By: media producer

media producer — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 06:52:45 +0000

Good advice… Having worked in the media and television production field for years, I can definitely say that inevitably, you’ll run into clients who insist that you do great work but then seem to always be the ones who try to get something for nothing. Phrases like “I have looked elsewhere, and they’re not charging what you are – why are your prices so much more?” (especially when comparing apples to oranges). I have even had clients tell me “that’s too much! I could do this myself for less $$!” (in the video production world, this almost always ensures a “made it at home” look to their final project). I don’t answer calls – I always take voicemail. My voicemail even points people to my e-mail address. e-mail & voicemail are great ways to buy yourself time and come up with snappy responses. Moreover, most cell carriers will allow you to send an outbound message from your voicemail menu to another subscriber… a great way to communicate with troublesome business contacts without ever having to speak to them in a “live” setting. I have Verizon service; in their voicemail menu, pressing *,2 and following the voice prompts will allow you to send a voice message to another number of your choosing.

By: Tampa Computer Repair

Tampa Computer Repair — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:33:08 +0000

That’s funny, we were just contemplating how to “let go” of a client. Two checks bounced, they got an attitude when we called them to make arrangements. Got the payment and just don’t return their calls. Life’s good when you have a secretary!

By: Computer Repairs

Computer Repairs — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 04:05:28 +0000

Good advice in there, i’ve had a couple clients myself that want me to work for free, as they think working for them might get me recognition. Its also a good practise to get paid on the spot, thats why we usually carry enough change with us on the job not to leave the customer with excuses.

By: Devendra

Devendra — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:22:43 +0000

Yes, sometimes clients are really really worse. I cant name them, but i have my experience. There is a client here in delhi who wants me to work for free insisting that he is a brand name and if i will work i will get more reward from outer side. HUH

By: gunslinger

gunslinger — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:30:03 +0000

Good stuff. I have found the worse ones to be family. They seem to think its just a hobby and not a “real job” so you should just be happy with whatever they give you. As far as installing keyloggers goes, if its the customers computer and I know he/she wants a keylogger on their system to keep track of a kid, I’ll install it. Its their system, they can have whatever they want on it.I have only refused to do this once when I was pretty sure it was just a case of a wife wanting to spy on her hubby. As for Double your prices, I have not had to do that yet but I do have one customer that I must have payment up front.