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I have a limited income as well. Don’t we all have a limited x amount of money to work with? I know no one that has a endless supply of money growing on a tree they can pluck off whenever.
What is this mentality that just because you made it to 82, that nothing should cost money?
I see this a lot in older folks. "Fixed income". Well, lots of people are on fixed incomes. For example, people who have a job that has a salary at a certain leve, that's a fixed income. I know of no one with unlimited money. I am sick of the victim mentality that some senior citizens have. Nobody owes them anything.
I would stop dealing with her, let her write the negative review.
once someone identifies themselves as a victim, you're obligated to pay their way.
That reminds me of a woman I know. She expected a moving company to move all her stuff in her house for FREE. It would have been a huge move, too, that would have cost hundreds of dollars, possibly thousands. The reason why she expected them to move her for free? Get this: Just because she had given them referrals. I found this out because she told me herself. And also because she claimed to be in an abusive marriage and had to leave her home right away. But her husband wasn't anywhere around, he had left a long time ago and wanted nothing to do with her.
we like to dream up stereotypes .... like those words "living on a fixed income " which are supposed to conjure up visions of an old woman counting pennies out trying to buy groceries .
in the mean time those living on a fixed income are those working who don't get raises , at least social security increases with inflation .
so living on a fixed income really means little , you can be wealthy and living on fixed income from bonds ...
here in nyc the term living in a rent stabilized apartment stirs up visions of an old couple in an old hobble struggling to pay rent .
in the mean time stabilization has nothing to do with net worth .. it only has to do with the type of building and how long you lived there .
SS doesn't keep up with inflation. That's the problem and there are various ways of calculating the forumula and the govt does it so it's advantageous to them and sc*ews us.
No. Water softener on well water. Installed when I was still in high school and I am now in my 40’s with a teenager in high school.... to put some prospective on it.
That's kinda funny - I have Fleck 5600's out there that are 40+ years old, and we're able to maintain them to this day. Most of the other ones, not so much. When I first got into this industry, the Sta-Rite residential valve was pretty much "industry standard". Then I started seeing the eroded brass internals, and knew something had to change. Actually ran into one last year - the internal brass was so badly eroded/corroded that it had pinholes. Customer wanted me to "fix" it somehow with epoxy or by brazing it. Got upset when I explained to him that doing so would likely just weaken some other area. It was installed in 1976 - and he tried demanding a discount off the new one because the one I sold him "was junk". I picked up my tools and left - and have since blocked his number. Funny thing was - up until that point, I had already discounted the unit $400 because he was an old customer. People can be funny sometimes.
You seem to really care about your customers...
Can you install an equipment with some sort of financial plan?
Get her credit report to see if she is a good risk?
How much money are we talking about - hundreds or thousands?
You could explain to the daughter that you must put a Lien on the house- until paid in full.
The other alternative: just stop going there and stop taking her calls?
You have to run your business...Let daughter deal with it.
Some people just like to haggle. Some people can't afford to have things fixed. She continues to call this business because she most likely hasn't gotten any better solutions offered to her. She is desperate. The business can charge for service calls so they are making money even if nothing gets fixed. The customer can complain if they want to. It doesn't change anything. It's up to the business owner to resolve any disputes, not the OP.
Sometimes vendors who have a great relationship with a customer just ghost the customer for no reason. It's happened to us a few times. They just don't want our continued business. We have never had a hard time finding someone else who does. Just had a 13 year old gas furnace replaced. It's needed repairs every winter for several years now. Had it done in one day for $3300. If we didn't have the money we'd be using electric space heaters. There comes a time when repairs are no longer worth the money and the inconvenience. If you have the money it's a no brainer. If you don't you're up the creek.
I have a customer with a really old piece of equipment. The last 5 visits the technicians have recommended replacement. She refuses to do that. I have done a few free visits but we have reached the point that I have to bill her a service call for all calls we run now. It’s hard to help someone that won’t take the steps to help themselves.
The lady called to comply that we charged her. I explained that we can’t keep coming out for free. I have to cover labor, truck, materials etc. She thought I was being unreasonable. I gave her rock bottom price to refurbish existing, replace or remove it. She wants to do nothing that costs money.,She threatens to give bad reviews. Fine, without working for free, I can’t help her.
Well then the daughter called back. I explained it all to her. Daughter argues that it’s our equipment and I explained her parents bought the equipment 25 years ago. We just installed it but they definitely own it. Throughout the entire conversation she just kept repeating that her mother is 82 years old... finally I said I am not sure what her age has to do with this 25 year old piece of no longer functional. She is a ****ty tone said, “mam, she has a limited income”.
I have a limited income as well. Don’t we all have a limited x amount of money to work with? I know no one that has a endless supply of money growing on a tree they can pluck off whenever.
What is this mentality that just because you made it to 82, that nothing should cost money?
Without specifying the actual equipment, no one can really judge.
It sounds like a very expensive piece of equipment like a stairlift. It can cost 10K to set up a new one for a 3-level townhouse and 5K and up for a refurbished stairlift. It's probably less to rehabilitate the existing one. The kids generally won't step up to help financially, even for the least costly option.
My 83 year old neighbor had an Acorn stairlift that hadn't worked in a long time. She eventually was moved out by her son, and the house needed extensive rehabilitation. I've seen about 5 or 6 homes sold by elderly homeowners in our neighborhood in the last two years, four of them needed repairs or remodelling costing up to 150K. They pinch pennies to get by, but in the meantime, new problems continue to accumulate.
SS doesn't keep up with inflation. That's the problem and there are various ways of calculating the forumula and the govt does it so it's advantageous to them and sc*ews us.
Many workers get no increases ....
Ss colas should not keep up with a personal rate of inflation ...it is only a price change index on lots of goods and services across the 1500 mini economies that make up this country . Many of which we may have no use for .
What your personal cost of living inflation rate is will be unique to you ...how many times you buy something is unique to you , the quality of what you buy is unique to you since higher quality products tend to see greater price increases but last longer.
What you sub is up to you too ...I don’t buy my sugar free Klondike bars unless they are on sale ..I will buy puddings or something else . The CPI is not allowed to sub like that . That is a personal choice .
Studies also show seniors tend to spend more during the early go go years , then spending drops during the slow go years ..what we no longer buy or do helps pay for what goes up in price in many cases ...then we hit the no go years and medical costs go up .
So don’t confuse a price change index with a personal cost of living index
I have a customer with a really old piece of equipment. The last 5 visits the technicians have recommended replacement. She refuses to do that. I have done a few free visits but we have reached the point that I have to bill her a service call for all calls we run now. It’s hard to help someone that won’t take the steps to help themselves.
The lady called to comply that we charged her. I explained that we can’t keep coming out for free. I have to cover labor, truck, materials etc. She thought I was being unreasonable. I gave her rock bottom price to refurbish existing, replace or remove it. She wants to do nothing that costs money.,She threatens to give bad reviews. Fine, without working for free, I can’t help her.
Well then the daughter called back. I explained it all to her. Daughter argues that it’s our equipment and I explained her parents bought the equipment 25 years ago. We just installed it but they definitely own it. Throughout the entire conversation she just kept repeating that her mother is 82 years old... finally I said I am not sure what her age has to do with this 25 year old piece of no longer functional. She is a ****ty tone said, “mam, she has a limited income”.
I have a limited income as well. Don’t we all have a limited x amount of money to work with? I know no one that has a endless supply of money growing on a tree they can pluck off whenever.
What is this mentality that just because you made it to 82, that nothing should cost money?
If the owner is willing to work for free that’s the owners prerogative. He’s the one losing money. I have had some customers who cried about costs etc and I had some who just wanted it done and paid.
Whenever I had the customer who screamed about very thing I simply dug in my heels got paid then I blacklisted them. I simply refused to do any future work for them. That type of customer is why I stopped doing residential work.
If the owner is willing to work for free that’s the owners prerogative. He’s the one losing money. I have had some customers who cried about costs etc and I had some who just wanted it done and paid.
Whenever I had the customer who screamed about very thing I simply dug in my heels got paid then I blacklisted them. I simply refused to do any future work for them. That type of customer is why I stopped doing residential work.
I am chuckling to myself , because after being in electrical supply for 40 years I cherry picked my customer base to avoid electrical contractors .
Why ? I am a motor controls and vfd sales engineer .... selling commodities to electrical contractors had no loyalty and little profit ... electrical contractors make their money based on what supplies cost .. they will switch suppliers over a nickel difference many times on a fitting ....
On the other hand industrials and facilities need my knowledge , products and problem solving ...they don’t make their money based on what I charge for wire ,pipe or my control panels ....they do other things to earn their profits .
The end result is far more loyal customers who are not as price sensitive and so I kind of passed off my contractors early on in my career.
Many of my customers remained customers for decades because we had a relationship not based on price .
When I retired I had a 5 million dollar customer base at very nice margins . No electrical contractors .
Today I teach controls and drives one day a week .
Sometimes you need to fire customers
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