You mis-priced a job. What next?

[crawdad]

I remembered this thread, and thought I'd bump it up. The one who disagreed w/me the most, is now, I believe, out of business.
The last laugh I think they call this... Ha... Ha...

[topsites]

Originally Posted by crawdad

I remembered this thread, and thought I'd bump it up. The one who disagreed w/me the most, is now, I believe, out of business.
The last laugh I think they call this... Ha... Ha...

I notice that a lot, but there were a few who picked 1 exclusively that I'm not so sure are still around.

I've changed my mind, I say it depends how badly underpriced it is.
A 45'er at 40 might not be that big of a deal, do it and suck it up.
But a 60'er at 40 there's just no way, I'd likely not show up.

You can try 3, but I don't think it will work.
If you underbid it, my opinion is you likely ruined this one and it is quite possible it will take this customer a long time before they make the adjustment, their mind is set to the first price you gave, there's almost never much doing, don't even bother.

It's not that this is the best answer from a customer relations perspective but I tell you this much:
- Customers are no more loyal or reliable or honest than that either.
> I used to have that kind of determination to always do right, but boy did I get shown how it works.
>> Once I experienced that over and over, it changed my tune.
- Explanations, in my experience, do little to no good.
> I've explained till I'm blue in the face, nowadays I save my breath.

So ...

[Sammy]

He listed as being in the biz 34 years.
After all that time, all he had was a Crapsman mower ?

By the way, #3 was the correct answer. ..... No need to explain, as those that are in the know, know !

[shane mapes]

it all depends on if the signed a one year contract or just month to month.if it is a month to month i would wait a few mowing's to see if the lawn gets easyer . then ask them to sign for a one year contract . then @ that point let them know how you feel and do the best job you can for them...hopefully you can work it out.. just dumping a customer is the start of bad work habits ......

[crawdad]

Someone else mowed it a few times, this year. Blew the grass out into the street...I can't stand that. What if a motorcycle comes over the hill, hits all that fresh grass?

[Dave_005]

for me it would be the 1st option, you quoted them the price, so now you should go by that price for the rest of the season and raise it a little next year. raising the price now would be going agaisnt your word and price that YOU gave them. and if you simply stop showing up it becomes Very Unprofessional on your aprt and shows the customer you are Not Dependable and Very Unreliable. word of mouth is Great advertising unfortunately its works the other way too. Don;t show up and they could spread the word to everyone they know NOT to call you because you Gave them a Price to do the job and once they gave you the account you wanted to raise it right away or worse yet No show up. we all under quoted at one time or another, but the fact is YOU gave them a price They said yes, now You Should live up to the Price that YOU GAVE THEM. a Good learning experience

[topsites]

Well all right, I can see option 3 being feasible seeing how you got nothing left to lose. Tell them you made a mistake, sorry, new price, let it go, either way you're off the hook.

Because if it's grossly under priced, no, there's no way I'm doing it.

[crawdad]

Originally Posted by Dave_005

for me it would be the 1st option, you quoted them the price, so now you should go by that price for the rest of the season and raise it a little next year. raising the price now would be going agaisnt your word and price that YOU gave them....

Yes, I gave them a price, and told them it may change after a mow or 2. How is that going against my word?

Have you ever done the first option? How did it work out for you? Did you lose money the first year, and lose the customer the second year?

[shane mapes]

Originally Posted by crawdad

Yes, I gave them a price, and told them it may change after a mow or 2. How is that going against my word?

Have you ever done the first option? How did it work out for you? Did you lose money the first year, and lose the customer the second year?

your response sounds fair... thats good advice we all should try to do........

[martinfan06]

Originally Posted by crawdad

Yes, I gave them a price, and told them it may change after a mow or 2. How is that going against my word?

Have you ever done the first option? How did it work out for you? Did you lose money the first year, and lose the customer the second year?

Well IMO could of saved about 7 pages of replies if in the original post you would have stated that you told them it might change, big difference IMO.