thecomputerguy
Well-Known Member
- Reaction score
- 1,326
So I feel kind of bad about this but then I remember our history and then I don't.
I was referred to this guy, from a client which I cannot remember, I wish I did but I don't. I setup a consultation with him at his office and when I showed up I knocked several times and got no answer, but I could hear the TV on in the office. I was about to pull out my phone and he finally answered, in his boxers... no shirt, no pants, just boxers.
I was like, uhh hi. He was like uhh hi. Clearly he had forgotten about our appointment. He invites me into his very small office and proceeds to dress himself. I look around the office and it is just an absolute complete **** hole. Old food, old Styrofoam cofee cups, not an inch of free desk space to be seen. He offers coffee and I obviously decline. He leads me to his desk which is just as disgusting as the rest of the place and proceeds to explain some of the issues he's having, of course without making any attempt and clearing space for me
I line of couple of things up for him, mainly creating emails and buying domains etc. I couldn't keep his attention for long because he was SO disorganized he was constantly on the phone. He asked me to buy him a monitor and come install it which I obliged to do even though I was already ready to can this dude out of sheer disorganization and disgust.
I told him for new clients we don't do any net, it's pay when service rendered. I told him I needed more than just today and he might as well setup a retainer since there will be more stuff coming and I didn't want to front a monitor. He then funmbles through several checkbooks, "Oh this one is dead now I had to close the account", "Oh here lets try this one". Signs the check and hands it to me blank. "You're Jewish right?" "Yes I am" "Ok I trust you".
Like WTF?
I get his monitor and go install it a couple days later, do more work for him... then text him that I'm going to cash the check for the amount he owes me in full. He agrees. I cash the check and a couple days later he emails me, "WHAT DID YOU DO? I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH IN THAT ACCOUNT".
It was like $800.
I explained to him that I told him I was going to cash it in full before doing so and he authorized it and he said that he didn't want to pay THAT much on one check. Whatever, the check cashed and I was on my way.
We did a couple remote sessions, mainly setting up email in his Outlook, and he's the kind of pain in the ass that is unable to install Teamviewer in a reasonable (<20min) amount of time, so all remote work is extremely frustrating.
On one of those I basically just added an email to his outlook because even though I could have walked him through it, he wanted me to do it for him. Literally File > Add account > Type credentials > Done. I billed my minimum remote fee which was $35 at the time.
15 - Days later he is auto-reminded from my billing system.
"What is this for?"
I explain it to him. He still doesn't pay it.
10 - Days later he is auto-reminded.
"What is this for?"
I explain again.
5 - Days later
"What is this for?"
I explain and he says, "Ok I'll call you about this tomorrow".
I say, "There is nothing to talk about just PAY THE DAMN BILL, I don't need 5 different forms of correspondence for a $35 bill.
Still no payment.
He then goes and moves 3 hours away so NOW, he isn't even local to me anymore.
Then his associates start calling for support, and I explain in email that I will not provide any more support until the $35 is paid and $500 retainer is setup. He said that he doesn't "Work that way" and I said OK well if you want work then I need a retainer.
5-8 More times his associates email me asking for help an I simply say I'm not working until I get the retainer. I never did get the retainer so I cancelled it out.
I didn't hear from him for a month or so and I thought, Thank god, he's gone. Then a whole new level of BS starts.
He knows, I don't work on weekends, I've designed my clients around that. But he decides that the ONLY time he's going to call me is Saturday mornings, multiple times, multiple texts, multiple emails. I ignore them until Monday and respond back with the usual give me a retainer or I'm not doing anything.
This goes on for a month, EVERY SATURDAY MORNING. Call, call, voicemail, text, text, email.
Some of these emails are the likes of, we've been looking at our finances and we're curious about your rates, are those standard? They seem really high. Or, why am I paying $1000 a year for email ... "I don't know look into your godaddy account maybe it's because you have 15 O365 emails?" or WATS MY PASSWORD.
All of this and my last bill to him was $35 (which did eventually get paid).
The icing was when he said that it "just seemed like I was never available when they needed me". Well yeah, I have a newborn, I'm not available Saturday morning or weekends, we've been over this.
So the only part I feel about about was this guy goes and has a stroke and is in the hospital for a month. then his condo gets robbed and they steal all of his stuff. I get multiple emails from various people asking for the invoices I billed him for so he can report them to insurance. I send these invoices to 3 seperate people at different times.
He get's out of the hospital starts spamming me on weekends again, still no retainer. Using the stroke as a sympathy card.
This past weekend he calls/texts me all day Saturday, and again all day Sunday saying that none of his email is working ... and I'm like, you know what I'm done with you. He calls me all day today, then calls me from a different number to try and trick me into answering.
I just took a page out of @britechguy recommendation and just emailed him back and said.
"Due in part to the situation with COVID19, my circumstances have changed and I am no longer available for assistance."
He responds, "LOL THAT'S HILARIOUS, everyone's working at home because of covid and it's made things easier are you not working from home?"
I almost want to reply with, "No actually I am working from my office, and I am working onsite. That was my polite way of saying I'm not working for YOU. This is the non-polite way, I am not working anymore for you."
Mind you the last dollar I made from this guy was $35 months ago and he's probably contacted me between 20-30 times through various channels which resulted in no additional work.
So I feel bad he's probably stressed out because he had a stroke and he got robbed and his business is probably in a bad spot because his email isn't working but man this guy a slimy slob. I forgot the part where he had questionable pictures of his daughter on the desktop of his laptop ... not CP type stuff but like, posing in a bikini type stuff.
I have so many good clients that pay more, pay on time, are pleasant to deal with, I don't have to chase, that don't spam me all weekend. I'm just done with this guy.
I was referred to this guy, from a client which I cannot remember, I wish I did but I don't. I setup a consultation with him at his office and when I showed up I knocked several times and got no answer, but I could hear the TV on in the office. I was about to pull out my phone and he finally answered, in his boxers... no shirt, no pants, just boxers.
I was like, uhh hi. He was like uhh hi. Clearly he had forgotten about our appointment. He invites me into his very small office and proceeds to dress himself. I look around the office and it is just an absolute complete **** hole. Old food, old Styrofoam cofee cups, not an inch of free desk space to be seen. He offers coffee and I obviously decline. He leads me to his desk which is just as disgusting as the rest of the place and proceeds to explain some of the issues he's having, of course without making any attempt and clearing space for me
I line of couple of things up for him, mainly creating emails and buying domains etc. I couldn't keep his attention for long because he was SO disorganized he was constantly on the phone. He asked me to buy him a monitor and come install it which I obliged to do even though I was already ready to can this dude out of sheer disorganization and disgust.
I told him for new clients we don't do any net, it's pay when service rendered. I told him I needed more than just today and he might as well setup a retainer since there will be more stuff coming and I didn't want to front a monitor. He then funmbles through several checkbooks, "Oh this one is dead now I had to close the account", "Oh here lets try this one". Signs the check and hands it to me blank. "You're Jewish right?" "Yes I am" "Ok I trust you".
Like WTF?
I get his monitor and go install it a couple days later, do more work for him... then text him that I'm going to cash the check for the amount he owes me in full. He agrees. I cash the check and a couple days later he emails me, "WHAT DID YOU DO? I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH IN THAT ACCOUNT".
It was like $800.
I explained to him that I told him I was going to cash it in full before doing so and he authorized it and he said that he didn't want to pay THAT much on one check. Whatever, the check cashed and I was on my way.
We did a couple remote sessions, mainly setting up email in his Outlook, and he's the kind of pain in the ass that is unable to install Teamviewer in a reasonable (<20min) amount of time, so all remote work is extremely frustrating.
On one of those I basically just added an email to his outlook because even though I could have walked him through it, he wanted me to do it for him. Literally File > Add account > Type credentials > Done. I billed my minimum remote fee which was $35 at the time.
15 - Days later he is auto-reminded from my billing system.
"What is this for?"
I explain it to him. He still doesn't pay it.
10 - Days later he is auto-reminded.
"What is this for?"
I explain again.
5 - Days later
"What is this for?"
I explain and he says, "Ok I'll call you about this tomorrow".
I say, "There is nothing to talk about just PAY THE DAMN BILL, I don't need 5 different forms of correspondence for a $35 bill.
Still no payment.
He then goes and moves 3 hours away so NOW, he isn't even local to me anymore.
Then his associates start calling for support, and I explain in email that I will not provide any more support until the $35 is paid and $500 retainer is setup. He said that he doesn't "Work that way" and I said OK well if you want work then I need a retainer.
5-8 More times his associates email me asking for help an I simply say I'm not working until I get the retainer. I never did get the retainer so I cancelled it out.
I didn't hear from him for a month or so and I thought, Thank god, he's gone. Then a whole new level of BS starts.
He knows, I don't work on weekends, I've designed my clients around that. But he decides that the ONLY time he's going to call me is Saturday mornings, multiple times, multiple texts, multiple emails. I ignore them until Monday and respond back with the usual give me a retainer or I'm not doing anything.
This goes on for a month, EVERY SATURDAY MORNING. Call, call, voicemail, text, text, email.
Some of these emails are the likes of, we've been looking at our finances and we're curious about your rates, are those standard? They seem really high. Or, why am I paying $1000 a year for email ... "I don't know look into your godaddy account maybe it's because you have 15 O365 emails?" or WATS MY PASSWORD.
All of this and my last bill to him was $35 (which did eventually get paid).
The icing was when he said that it "just seemed like I was never available when they needed me". Well yeah, I have a newborn, I'm not available Saturday morning or weekends, we've been over this.
So the only part I feel about about was this guy goes and has a stroke and is in the hospital for a month. then his condo gets robbed and they steal all of his stuff. I get multiple emails from various people asking for the invoices I billed him for so he can report them to insurance. I send these invoices to 3 seperate people at different times.
He get's out of the hospital starts spamming me on weekends again, still no retainer. Using the stroke as a sympathy card.
This past weekend he calls/texts me all day Saturday, and again all day Sunday saying that none of his email is working ... and I'm like, you know what I'm done with you. He calls me all day today, then calls me from a different number to try and trick me into answering.
I just took a page out of @britechguy recommendation and just emailed him back and said.
"Due in part to the situation with COVID19, my circumstances have changed and I am no longer available for assistance."
He responds, "LOL THAT'S HILARIOUS, everyone's working at home because of covid and it's made things easier are you not working from home?"
I almost want to reply with, "No actually I am working from my office, and I am working onsite. That was my polite way of saying I'm not working for YOU. This is the non-polite way, I am not working anymore for you."
Mind you the last dollar I made from this guy was $35 months ago and he's probably contacted me between 20-30 times through various channels which resulted in no additional work.
So I feel bad he's probably stressed out because he had a stroke and he got robbed and his business is probably in a bad spot because his email isn't working but man this guy a slimy slob. I forgot the part where he had questionable pictures of his daughter on the desktop of his laptop ... not CP type stuff but like, posing in a bikini type stuff.
I have so many good clients that pay more, pay on time, are pleasant to deal with, I don't have to chase, that don't spam me all weekend. I'm just done with this guy.
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