Uncomfortable consultation with small business

[cloud32187]

So I had a call out from a local small business (an animal hospital). I set up a consultation cause the guy had a laundry list of problems, so I wanted to go check out the business before I serviced them or offered them a service contract.

I show up to the business on time and the secretary greets me. I had to wait while the owner finished up with a customer. Sat down in the office and was noticing all sorts of things. The place was messy as hell, couldn't see counter tops, no organization whatsoever. The secretary was making small talk with me about how a previous tech from another company had come yesterday and walked out after 20 minutes. This right here was a red flag to me as i'm sure it would be to any tech.

She tells me he'll be right with me in 5 minutes. So I look around some more and believe it or not, there's just a freaking open box of syringes just hanging out in the open in the office. Customers have to walk past this to get to the rooms, and they were just out in the open.

The owner greets me and clearly is too busy to talk to me. So he rushes through explanations of problems all of which seems pretty straight forward to take care of. He takes me downstairs to another computer to show me the issue. I walk past a dog that was either being euthanized or or knocked out for surgery, I really hope it was the latter. The part that urks me is that he just took someone through, what I assume was, a surgery room that he just met.

On the way back up he gets intercepted by the secretary who was having an issue with a customer who could only put down $100 on a $300 deposit for a procedure. So he went into rage mode and said that unless he gets the 300 hes not touching the cat and that's that. I know hes running a business but money seems to be a REAL hot-button issue with him.

He finishes up with the explanation of the issues, and then wants to know my rate. So I tell him and he says to me "no no, that's unacceptable. I need a set rate." I tell him that we are hourly support for business and have no set rates. I give him an estimate and he seemed to be OK with it. After that I left the consultation and told him that I would call him back when I had an opening.

Sorry for the long story but I just need some input on the situation. What would you guys do in the situation. Any thoughts/opinions? Would you accept the job? Am I overreacting? Anything will help.

Thanks guys

 

[Cornerstone Technologies]

Get payment up-front. Just from your brief story, I got vibes of a guy that will raise hell if hes is owed money, but will shirk about and avoid payment. Also, in this case, it might be diligent to contact the previous guy if you can and get a better understanding of the backstory.

 

[1on1 Computer Services]

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.

"Sometimes the best customer is the one you didn't get"

Trust your gut!

 

[Maniaman]

Sounds like a good place to avoid I think. If you chose to take them on definitely get money up front, but from the sounds of it I'd avoid them.

 

[codegreen]

Get a deposit up front, and make sure you get a work order signed before touching anything.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Gotta go by your instincts on what you can handle.

Some people don't like "clients" that yell, get hot headed, etc.

Some people feel weird around situations like...dead animals or dead people on tables. If you don't like that...don't take the client. That stuff doesn't bother me...heck I used to service a funeral home...I'd be in the back room joking with the owner as he worked on dead bodies getting them looking good for the calling hours.

If you don't all those things...say "Thanks..but no thanks". That's a call you have to make, not us. I don't know your work load...if this will be too much for you, or if you're slow and you don't want to turn away business, stuff like that.

 

[16k_zx81]

Trust your instincts. The fact that you've posted indicates this has really set off alarm bells for you.

If you're comfortable doing it, for sure, take them on, but make sure ever base is covered in terms of paperwork, quotations, and particularly communication, so they have no fall-back for argument.

There could be good income from these guys and could also be good WOM and follow-on work, as there is with any customer.

Just make sure that the conversations are had, the ground rules are laid, and put everything in writing if you can.

.

 

[pcmac]

Let’s not forget the “rich bitch” syndrome,ie: some clients, who you have serviced previously & paid, demand immediate service ,nights/wkends, which you refuse, then when you solve their crisis problem, won’t pay you, for spite! making you have send repeat invoices & bite your tongue

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.

"Sometimes the best customer is the one you didn't get"

Trust your gut!

 

[nlinecomputers]

Run. Run like the wind. My vets offices are so clean you be happy to have the vet do open heart surgery on you not your dog.

If they can't keep it clean and organized for medical reasons why are they going to be any better at paying you.

I had a bookkeeping firm call me up who's offices were a pigpen. I was polite for about 20 minutes and told them that I couldn't help them.
Just a bad vibe all around.

 

[pceinc]

Vet clinics seem to be from one extreme to another. I have a few of them as clients and they are some of the nicest and easiest clients I have. I had a consultation with one of my better clinic competitors about 6 months ago. The previous IT guy was charging her a monthly fee and not doing anything. Crap hardware, server was Windows 2000 with 5 workstations that were running XP. I met with her, took a tour of the clinic and figured I could help them. I laid out an upfront contract which included a paid assessment and informed her typical monthly fees for a business of her size ranged from $300-$600 per month depending on the services provided. She didn't balk at those figures so we scheduled the assessment. I came back at a time when I could have full access to all the machines, gathered my data and left. Two days later I presented the owner with a report of my findings which included bootleg Windows, Office 2007, and all kinds of issues ranging from expired or no AV, to a non working backup on her server. She thought it was being backed up remotely. Surprise, surprise! I informed her I had an action plan to resolve the issues and install her new computers which she didn't tell me she had until the day of the assessment. When I went in for the meeting, she was in the middle of surgeries, yes, multiple surgeries. There were animals lying all over the office knocked out. Cat on the front desk, dogs behind the desk... She asked if I would be willing to speak with her while she performed a surgery or if I wanted to reschedule. I sensed what type of client she was going to be and decided I did not want to deal with her so I opted to speak with her while she was doing the surgery. She did not take in anything I said, basically just kept saying, okay, uh huh, okay... When I got to the part about her systems running illegal software she was ignorant to what I was talking about and thought I was trying to con her. I handed her my report and thanked her for the opportunity and left. Sent her an invoice for the assessment the same day and received payment about two weeks later.

During the meeting she was neutering a dog. Had the little guy spread out on a table cutting and tugging. I was less than 6 feet away while she did the procedure. Her office assistant was shaking her head when she looked at me.
I don't know who she had do the work but I bet she is in no better shape than she was 6 months ago.

 

[ElementalWindX]

I was at a guys house the other day who I swear to god was a wife beater by the way he took off his shirt and started cussing and yelling at his wife in front of his 3~yr old daughter. You could tell that him and his wife were together purely because of legal reasons as they talked to each other like they hated each others guts. I was border line ready to say "dude calm down or I'm gone." Luckily it was a VERY quick and easy job and the guy paid in cash. Before hand I had no idea this guy was like this. What's funny was after he went on his cussing spree to his wife about how ****** of a day he had, he walks up to me half naked and says "Sorry, I'm a god fearing Christian and I don't normally act like this"


I just sat there and said....I'm done.


Probably one of the weirdest calls of the year, and I doubt I'll be going back to help again.

 

[thebughunter]

Sorry for the long story but I just need some input on the situation. What would you guys do in the situation. Any thoughts/opinions? Would you accept the job? Am I overreacting? Anything will help.

Thanks guys

The guy sounds like a pain in the ass, and I don't like the idea of a dirty medical facility. If you're going to take it on, make sure every base is covered in writing. I'm not one to quickly give away business, but I have learned to listened to my gut. The "gut" is usually right.

 

[cloud32187]

Hey guys thank you so much for all your responses.

I am definitely leaning towards terminating the relationship with the business. My only concern is that it might have some collateral damage. Meaning bad word of mouth to other businesses/customers and I don't really want that to happen. How can I end the relationship amicably and with minimal fallout?

 

[nlinecomputers]

Hey guys thank you so much for all your responses.

I am definitely leaning towards terminating the relationship with the business. My only concern is that it might have some collateral damage. Meaning bad word of mouth to other businesses/customers and I don't really want that to happen. How can I end the relationship amicably and with minimal fallout?

I'm confused. You already accepted work from him? I thought that you were in the consulting phase? It is perfectly acceptable to tell a client "after consideration" I don't think I will be able to assist you. Make up some bs but logical excuse and move on. Or offer such a high ball quote that they think you are too expensive and move on.

 

[cloud32187]

I'm confused. You already accepted work from him? I thought that you were in the consulting phase? It is perfectly acceptable to tell a client "after consideration" I don't think I will be able to assist you. Make up some bs but logical excuse and move on. Or offer such a high ball quote that they think you are too expensive and move on.

Ah my bad, yes we still are at the consulting phase, he's signed nothing and I am in no obligation to service him. What we left it at was I would "call him tomorrow to set something up". Thanks for your input, sorry if it seems like i'm a bit sheepish about the whole situation. First business customer I've had to say no to. Not big on confrontation and this guy seems like the kind of person who won't take "no" too well.

 

[contrive]

Welcome to the service industry

I've spent many years in the hospitality industry as well as other various in-home service based companies. My advice is, there's one thing you'd be best to come to terms with when dealing with clients in THEIR environment: You are there to get paid for providing a service, not your judgement.

Secure your payment (deposit, up-front, or signed contract) and unless you feel you are in physical danger, you do your job and leave with a smile.

 

[Tony_Scarpelli]

If I needed the money or wanted to do the work, I'd come up with a highesh quote based on an even payment plan such as $500 (5 hrs) per week till we get you straighten out and then $600 (6 hrs) per month after that and we can review it after 90 days to see if we need to up or lower the monthly payments.

Since it is a new client I would demand that the payment be made at the beginning of each month. So I was paid in advance. Then over the time I can see if I wanted to trust this client to owe me any money. If not, I would stop working when payments were late.

I say this because there is obviously money there as they are busy. Disorganized workers are probably late payers and that is not my problem so I'd have to be setup on prepayment or give me a visa to invoice each time I perform a service so that I never get behind on collections.

If I couldn't stand the work environment I would just leave and let it go to someone else as it doesn't matter at that point.

 

[tbtsp]

Bad Experience at Doctor's Office

I had a similar experience I hope you don't mind me sharing.

When I first began operating my business I was called to a local doctor's office to address an Internet connectivity issue. I discussed the issue with the doctor prior to my visit and it sounded like a perfect fit for me. I mean, who doesn't want a local doctor as a client?

I got to his office within the hour and began to seek out the cause/fix to his problem. They had gotten a new modem but no one knew how to connect it to their ISP (PPoE needed to be configured). I had that fixed within a half hour, and went to the doctor to get paid.

That's when he sprung a larger issue on me. Not only was their Internet down but they also had some LAN connectivity issues (their medical billing software relied on a server which none of their client computers could connect to). It just so happened that prior to starting my own business I managed the IT system of a medical billing business so I was familiar with the system he used and his network was down--meaning his visits weren't getting billed--and he needed experienced help quickly. I knew I could help with this so I agreed to stay and troubleshoot that issue as well. I rattled off a rough estimate for completing the task, he agreed and I went to work.

It was apparent how disorganized, cheap and down right dirty the place was while I was troubleshooting the modem connectivity--but that barely scratched the surface. I soon found myself crawling around, under and between the feet of the office staff trying to make sense of the absolute rats nest of wires that were strung along the walls and under desks. It was a nightmare. It was made worse by dirt, sand, hair and other filthy things in the carpet and on the floors where I was working--not to mention the office staff were in the way.

After about an hour, I found the problem to be an unnecessary hidden workgroup switch wrapped in wires and concealed behind a large wooden cabinet that the server was stored in. In order to eliminate the switch and get things working again, I knew I was going to have to reorganize all the wires in the office--in fact I was determined just to replace them altogether as they were in such poor shape. I immediately went to the owner and let him know I'd need to run new wires and have several hours without office staff walking on top of me to get the job done. This meant after-hours labor and materials to run new wires.

He threw a fit and was ready to cut me a check and have me leave, but he didn't want to pay as much as he owed me for the time I had already spent and at least had the decency to want to compensate me for my time. I also didn't feel comfortable leaving the job in its current state, and was already so dirty and sweaty I wanted to get this job done and make a good profit on the call. It was almost lunch time so I asked him to have all his staff leave for the lunch hour so I could at least pull out all his wiring, untangle it, identify each run and figure out what needed to be there and what it needed to connect to and I gave him a rough estimate for the amount of time I thought it'd take to accomplish this. He agreed, and I was able to get the wires reorganized (somewhat) before staff returned an hour later. Within a couple of hours I had finished the job and had them back up and running.

All this to say, it was one of the worst jobs I've come across. The owner was unpleasant, cheap and impatient (he was constantly on top of me for updates and telling me "let's get this going, let's get it fixed". Ultimately, I was not happy with the quality of the work (utilizing his twisted tangled wiring and low-quality switches) and totally disgusted by the work environment. There were sick customers coughing and sneezing all around, the temperature in the office was sweltering, the floors were disgusting and everything was covered in thick dust.

But, I got paid, the doctor was pleased and enthusiastic about calling me back in the future--and I think it's safe to say things ended well that day. As much as I hated that call, as a new business owner, it has been a constant reminder to me that I don't need every single customer. I have since refused service requests to that doctor's office (mostly due to his personality, but also due to the environment). I value providing a high quality service and if I don't feel I can do that for whatever reason, I don't take on the job. It also reminded me that sometimes the money just isn't worth the pain and suffering. If I don't feel like I'll be comfortable working for a particular client, I politely decline and move on.

Good luck with your vet client. If it were me, I'd politely decline the job--but to each his own. It comes down to what you're comfortable with I suppose. I deal with tightwad customers on a routine basis, but I'd have some concerns in the environment you described.

 

[GeeksInKhakis]

I had one like this, too. Chiropractor, wanted work done superfast, always asking if it was done yet. He bought his own server online, it didn't setup right OOB and I had to reconfigure with CDs. Then it worked. He didn't want to pay me for that. Then in between first and second visit he moves the server and wiring, now he has no internet. Didn't want to pay me to fix moving and re-doing wiring. After I explained things, he paid, but I never went back. Bad part, he's a friend of a mutual friend, so I see him once or twice a year at some summer BBQs.