Nightmare Customer

[BW Landscaping]

Ok...heres the deal, at the end of the season last year i picked up a new customer to start for this season. I was talking to a friend of mine who is also a landscaper and we were talking shop, and this new customer came up. His expression said it all GET RID OF HER NOW!!!!!! (without even saying a word) He used to be her landscaper. So now my question is i dont like just not showing up, so im thinking of a sort of dear John letter, anyone have any letters to share with me? or have any ideas? (to get rid of her)

[fiveoboy01]

Well did he offer an explanation of WHY you should get rid of her?

I'd tend to give it a shot and if she truly is a PITA then you can dump her.

[Woody82986]

Hell, I would at least see for myself before I went jumping to conclusions. If you didn't pick up on any PITA factors yourself when dealing with her, then maybe those two just didn't have a good business relationship. At the very least, look at it as money in your pocket until she becomes the PITA your friend says she is.

[thilawncare]

Offer her a yearly contract with half upfront if she says no then say goodbye... if she agrees collect your upfront money and bill monthly... Money is money man... your doing this to live not to give it away... if she plans on paying then she wont have aproblem.... but if not then its an easy way out...
Just an opinion....

[Vikings]

His expression said it all GET RID OF HER NOW!!!!!! (without even saying a word)
If he never said anything maybe he was just put out that you got one of his customers.

[Myk]

I'm kinda new whats "PITA"?

[txgrassguy]

Pain In The Ass = pita.
Why should you dump the client if they haven't given you any problems?
Maybe the pain was due to your friend?
Just food for thought.

[PhillyShells]

I cant hurt to give it a try... find out for yourself and if it's as bad as he says-
then say see ya ! I have a couple of accounts that other guys dumped complaining they were problems but I havent had one so far with them.
Eveybody's different......

[GreenN'Clean]

I would give it a try as well and if she does become a problem then just send her a letter stating that you can no longer provide service for her, but at least give it a chance

[HOOLIE]

Ok...heres the deal, at the end of the season last year i picked up a new customer to start for this season. I was talking to a friend of mine who is also a landscaper and we were talking shop, and this new customer came up. His expression said it all GET RID OF HER NOW!!!!!! (without even saying a word) He used to be her landscaper. So now my question is i dont like just not showing up, so im thinking of a sort of dear John letter, anyone have any letters to share with me? or have any ideas? (to get rid of her)

You're thinking of dropping this customer because your friend made some facial expressions???? Maybe he was just passing gas... Often there is just a personality clash between the customer and crew, doesn't mean necessarily that she would give you any problems.

[BW Landscaping]

I actually forgot to add, that when i did speak with her, i could tell she was going to be a PITA (gut feeling) then my friend had those expressions, he said she called him at least 3 times a week to come back for some dumb reason. I dont need a headache for $25 a week, i can replace her with no problem.

[Kate Butler]

I picked up a job two seasons ago from an acquaintance who is also in my business (landscape gardening). Her "over the phone" reason was because they just lived too far away from her. I saw her a few weeks later and she apologized to me for not telling me, upfront, what a PITA these folks were.

Thus far (1 and a half seasons) I've had no problems with them - it's just that they are more particular than their former landscape gardener cared to be. One of my 'selling points' is that the client gets to choose the particularity level of jobs performed. I actually ask them about their requirements (and they extra pay for) increasingly high levels of perfection.

This is NOT the equivalent of a customer asking for cuts every other week instead of weekly. This is the client deciding what level of "perfect" he or she requires. Usually the wife wins and the place looks better than if the husband had decided.

The folks mentioned above are serious perfectionists and have the ability and the willingness to pay for it. They're happy, I'm happy - we're all happy.

[Hardwareman]

There's been plenty of jobs that another installer just could'nt get along with, but when I arrived they seemed to love me and we had a great work relationship.

Now that I'm laid off from the construction company I worked for for the last seven years I'm attempting to break into the lawn business. We'll see how it goes.

You may have a great relationship with this client. You really cannot judge based upon what transpired between her and your friend.




Allen

[BW Landscaping]

thanks for the advice gentlemen, but i dont need any headaches, if anyons interested there will be a customer up for grabs in Wantagh Long Island LOL:laugh:

[Uranus]

Do you like money? I do. Spend an extra minute or 2 and talk to the lady. Find out what the problem is/was. Be the hero.

[Big Bad Bob]

Ok...heres the deal, at the end of the season last year i picked up a new customer to start for this season. I was talking to a friend of mine who is also a landscaper and we were talking shop, and this new customer came up. His expression said it all GET RID OF HER NOW!!!!!! (without even saying a word) He used to be her landscaper. So now my question is i dont like just not showing up, so im thinking of a sort of dear John letter, anyone have any letters to share with me? or have any ideas? (to get rid of her)

sometimes it takes a whole season for the pita factor to rear it's ugly head. give it a shot and maybe it was simply a personality conflict. if this customer turns out to truly be a pita and you don't want to just stop showing up, write a letter stating how this customer does not fit into your route anymore and that you are terminating the relationship.

[BW Landscaping]

i guess i will my dec. in the next couple of days...........LOL she just called me while i was typing....she doesnt want a cleanup now, and no fert, she is going to do it, so now she just wants me to mow...thats it

she's a tool

[topsites]

One Lco's pita is another's gold mine, I'm afraid to be fair you should give each customer the same opportunity, then if it doesn't turn out you can walk away. That's what I do, perhaps the opinion of one other Lco in regards to a customer means little, now if you keep hearing the same thing from different sources then it might be a worry.

The only part I somewhat dislike is playing fair when it appears most don't think twice of taking advantage of us, yet therein exist your walking papers, so work out it does.

[Precision Lawns]

I think it all depends on WHY your friend didn't want to work with her, and if the complaints he had are things you could handle or not. If it's simply that she was picky and your friend didn't want to pay attention to the little details but you don't mind picky customers, then there's no reason to drop her. If, on the other hand, it's something along the lines of she doesn't pay her bill, then I'd go ahead and drop her now. "Money is money"...unless they don't ever pay.

I had a customer last season who sounded like a nice guy, paid his bill every month...and then towards the end of the year just stopped paying. I sent him numerous notices, I knocked on his door on multiple occasions at all times of day, I sent threatening letters, and now he's in collections. I was in the neighborhood this season for another customer and noticed that a different company had left a flyer on his door (not an LCO, a cleaning service). I called them and told them not to do business with the guy, because he doesn't pay, and that I've got him in collections right now. Turns out he had called them almost immediately after he got the flyer asking for some services, and they turned him down (which, by the way, means that he was home when I knocked on his door to collect my money, and he just didn't answer). Maybe he would have paid them, maybe not, but I know from experience that the guy is a deadbeat and they thanked me for saving them the headache.

So...it depends on what kind of a PITA they are.