[Hometown Lawn Care]

No matter what you do, and how good you do it they always find something wrong with it and make you do it over.

OMG!! anybody else have experiance with pickie clients? and if so tell us the storie! i'd tell you mine but it brings up too many haunting memorys....

 

[bobbygedd]

"make you do it over?" nah, i dont think so.

 

[bob]

Let me guess, elderly person or Indian.

 

[CamLand]

indian? hmmm

 

[Hometown Lawn Care]

worse, independent middle-aged divorced women

 

[paponte]

Nope, people like that I give it right back to them. I tell them that I am a very reputable company, and if my professional work is not acceptable to them to find Joe schmo to mow their lawn. Most people like that just need a taste of their own medicine. If they continue after that, they can find someone else to piss on. Or off for that matter.

 

[General Grounds]

:blob3: i would have to say they arent pickie but very weiny, call every 3 days to see when your gonna trim the bushes, just rained here everyday in august and your worried about your bushes, not like im performing heart surgery, your bushes will get done. many have no idea how weather effects our business, tony

 

[bastalker]

Yes I admit I am like the rest of ya...Complain once, and I'll hand ya the yellow pages Theres hundreds of lco's in there.........Done it a couple times already.

 

[kris]

When I saw the thread title I thought "Man I love pickie clients" BUT not chronic complainers. Best customer is as pickie as they get but he pays for it.... 24 man hours per week. If they want to be nit pickers they have to pay for a quality job.

 

[mottster]

there's a lot worse then picky clients. picky clients are very good for your business. You learn what people like and you can show others what you know and get better business.

yes, they can be annoying by calling all the time but what i do, rather then just giving them up is telling them that I am more then happy to fix what i messed up but i have to schedule it in with all my other clients and it may be next time i'm scheduled to mow their yards before i can fix what i did. I stress to them that calling repeatedly does not get me to their house any quicker, that all they have to do is tell me what i missed, or messed up and i'll fix it as soon as i can.

I must be smokin somethin...i just read what i said. :dizzy:

 

[Rhett]

Thought I had some picky customers till my buddy told me about one of his. Guy meets the crew at the truck to inspect the mowers. First on the agenda is the tires for sand spurs. Then he checks the deck for cleanliness and the blades to make sure they have been newly sharpened. Asked him why he would put up with this. Smiled and let me know that he charges 70 a week for a 35 dollar yard

 

[lawnkid]

Maybe she just likes having you around working hard in the yard. I mow lawns for this girl my age and her mom and she is really good looking and I've caught her a few times looking at me while I'm out cutting the lawn or weeding. We've acctually become pretty good friends now. She looks all the time now.

 

[maple city]

I hate the "watchers". Gotta watch you every minute to make sure you are giving them their money's worth. I just get flustered when I know someone is watching me work.

 

[jaredslawncare]

i know the feeling, I have this old hermit type lady i mow for and never fails, take a glimpse at the curtains and bam there she is.

 

[DUSTYCEDAR]

i just tell um that i have all day and would love to talk and be lead all over the yard and showed what needs trimmed even though been doing it for 10 years. and would they like me to bill them or would they be paying me now for my time. boy they can talk fast when they know i am on the clock.

 

[jaredslawncare]

LOL

 

[sheppard]

Drop them. It is not worth dealing with them. You'll respect yourself also in the morning. If you don't you'll end up being gun shy on the account anyway. You'll think about it the day before and the day after. Too much mental & emotional drain for me. Smile real big and tell them you have to drop them. Say something like "I'm so busy, I'll refer a company to you if you'd like."

Life is too short to deal with people like this. If you'd have a store front business you'd be stuck- but you don't so your're not.

Cordially,
Sheppard

 

[Advanced Lawncare]

If they have something that they want done differently, or I missed something I am ok with that, but if it becomes an every week deal ...... either they will accept what I do or they find someone else....Currently all my clients are easy to get along with...

 

[rodfather]

I allow them to be pickie to a point...

...after that I set the record straight by having a conversation with them in person (not on the phone, email, fax, etc.). If things can be worked out, great. If not, thank you very much for your business, but I think I'm not the company you are looking for...good day.

Now move on.

 

[fblandscape]

I had one client who sticks out in my mind as being picky. I worked for him for 1 year. Towards the end of the year I started complaining that I couldn't work for him again. I figured I would have blown a vein in my head or something. Every time I would work there, the guy would say it looks horrible. Keep in mind I cut this place 2x per week and bagged both times, took the clippings away, trimmed everything, edged what needed to be edged, blew off all the patios and what not, etc. Since the `99 season he has gone through 5 landscapers as far as I know. I took him over from a friend who had just come out of a bad divorce, I dropped it because the guy was too crazy even for me, this kid cut it the next year and he couldn't deal with the guy, another guy cut it last year and he couldn't deal with the customer... I believe midway through the season he actually told the guy to shut up or he would stop right then and there. The guy doing it this year, they have known eachother for a long time... so maybe he will last a little while???? FYI the client sent his own brother into a nervous breakdown.