So easy to lose faith in your fellow man. From a service guy perspecitive

[RaoBurning]

Anytime I deal with service personnel there's always a work order and an invoice involved. That way we both know exactly what is being done and what the charge is. Her attitude was most uncouth, no doubt, but two weeks is an awful long time to wait before collecting.

Maybe she was mentally ill and honestly didn't remember you? Though honestly, if someone showed up randomly to collect money from me and I didn't immediately recognize them I'd probably freak out a bit, too. That probably goes doubly for a woman.

As for the new unit waiting to be installed, perhaps the old one tanked in the time between your visits. Stranger things have happened.

To conclude: You should probably not do work if the person paying isn't on hand. AC is super nice, but like Rich said in most places it's not necessary for survival, the exceptions being old folks in the warmer regions like Arizona, Texas, and possibly Florida.

I charged 95$ for callout charge. and She hands me a 100 dollar bill and asked for 5 dollars back after I fixed their a/c for free. I just don't understand people at all.

Eww, cash. Always freaks me out when people want change. Pizza delivery was way too strenuous back before the card days.

[Fullmetal89]

How have you remained in business so long? Bills should be presented ASAP and payment demanded as soon as possible, if they cannot pay then sic a debt collection agency on them, acting childish and swearing at them cost you.

^ This, the last thing you want to do when you are in an argument is to look like a petulant child. You should have kept your cool and told her that you where going to report this as fraud, or w/e. You shouldn't stop doing kind things for others on account of one bad experience. When I do something for someone else as a favor I don't expect anything in return not even a thank you. Just do it because I feel its right.

[want my Slimjim]

So you like to get your shit worked on and not pay?

well yeah if I can get it for free in anyway. money < life.

[Jayburner]

^ This, the last thing you want to do when you are in an argument is to look like a petulant child. You should have kept your cool and told her that you where going to report this as fraud, or w/e. You shouldn't stop doing kind things for others on account of one bad experience. When I do something for someone else as a favor I don't expect anything in return not even a thank you. Just do it because I feel its right.

I have a serious temper and nice side..its like the old cartoon with the angel/demon on your shoulders.

[Gwiez]

Now if you did have a contract (written preferably, something any business owner should know... or anyone who has ever hired anyone to do anything, even as simple as taking your car to the shop), forget for a moment that you were in their home when they weren't there, you should have left an itemized bill. With a due date. Or mailed it.

You shouldn't be losing your faith in your fellow man. You should realize your customer service skills are lacking. Someone showing up on your front step demanding money is not courteous. It's not a "favor". It's intimidation. Especially if you start swearing at them after badgering them for 5 minutes. Be professional next time.

And if you're going to do verbal contracts over the phone, record your conversations (making the person on the other end aware you're recording them (for 'quality assurance' or whatever other white lie people use to notify their customers they're being recorded)).

And finally, because it sounds like you need it, check with your local community college for small business development courses or workshops.

[Jayburner]

Like I said. I learned my lesson and I have listened to you guys, Gwiez. Lesson learned is all I can say.

[OzoAndIndi]

People are stupid. When I was working in a large clothing store I once had this woman take an attitude with me the moment she got in the store. Was asking where something was and I pointed her in the right direction but I guess that wasn't good enough, I suppose she thought I was supposed to run around the store for her while she remain no more than 30 feet from the door. Not on you life, lady.

Some older (but not exactly old) woman with a cane who acted like the world owed her something and supposedly, as claimed by another woman who was with her, that she can't walk all that well. And this is my problem why? You just came to a large MALL, with no thought of bringing anything like a wheelchair along with you and NOW you're concerned that walking is an issue?? It's also a bit of a walk up to the store from that parking lot, even if you managed to get a handicapped space... you made it here, so KEEP MOVING. Oh you want a manager now? Great, no problem, let THEM deal with you. Talk about me all you want, they know I'm not a problem so it's clearly not me. (I did not verbally say any of this of course.. lol)

[Mormolyce]

Shitty maybe but you should maintain more professionalism really. Telling people to go fuck themselves never ends in anything good in business.

[Deleted]

Between this and your dating thread you seem very sensitive. Maybe you should work a bit on yourself before telling people to fuck themselves over trivial shit. It´s just not worth it getting worked up. Smoke some weed, do some yoga or whatever. You really show the mentality of a 14 year old.

- - - Updated - - -

People are stupid. When I was working in a large clothing store I once had this woman take an attitude with me the moment she got in the store. Was asking where something was and I pointed her in the right direction but I guess that wasn't good enough, I suppose she thought I was supposed to run around the store for her while she remain no more than 30 feet from the door. Not on you life, lady.

Some older (but not exactly old) woman with a cane who acted like the world owed her something and supposedly, as claimed by another woman who was with her, that she can't walk all that well. And this is my problem why? You just came to a large MALL, with no thought of bringing anything like a wheelchair along with you and NOW you're concerned that walking is an issue?? It's also a bit of a walk up to the store from that parking lot, even if you managed to get a handicapped space... you made it here, so KEEP MOVING. Oh you want a manager now? Great, no problem, let THEM deal with you. Talk about me all you want, they know I'm not a problem so it's clearly not me. (I did not verbally say any of this of course.. lol)

Are you 12 or something, because my 13 year old nephew is more mature than that.. Get out of the service industry man.

[Wildtree]

Like I said. I learned my lesson and I have listened to you guys, Gwiez. Lesson learned is all I can say.

Appears, not many in here are working on the "front line". I do though, at least I find some sympathy for your REaction.
As far as I know a lb freon costs some $47.00. So you had expenses right there. For the lady to act like she did, was cheap and extremely rude. Your charge of $150.00 is actually very reasonable, and she should be happy for that. I don't blame you if you told her in the end, to fuck herself. Not that you should have done it, but it's understandable.
And yet, I would not let her get off the hook either. Send her a bill by mail.. If she doesn't pay in time, then do the juiciest thing you can do. Put a lien on her house. That'll get her attention. The only way for her to get that lien off, would be to pay off the debt.... If she's leaving it on the house, she's never gonna get any credit card, if she has some already, chances are the credit card company cancels the credit line. She can never sell the house either, with the lien on it. You got her by the balls, even tho she doesn't have any. She can contest the lien in court, which she will most likely lose.
I've had a customer once who tried to screw me out of $7000.00. Was also a woman.. She tried every cheap trick in the books. From poor quality work, to wrong work, to unfinished tasks. Truth was, she was just short on money, and spent what she had on luxury items like a 52" TV, 2 brand new computers, top of the line mattress, and some other upper level furniture.. etc.. I saw the bill for all that jazz, it was over 10.000...
So, I went and put a lien on the house. She contested. It got to court, she lost.
Outcome: The house I worked on was the one she was moving into. She lost it... It went into foreclosure. The one she moved out from. She lost it, it went into foreclosure. I never seen my money, in the process of her bankruptcy, I was too low in the list of businesses that received something.
But she paid a high price for screwing people over that way.

[TheNationGamer]

Anytime I deal with service personnel there's always a work order and an invoice involved. That way we both know exactly what is being done and what the charge is. Her attitude was most uncouth, no doubt, but two weeks is an awful long time to wait before collecting.

Maybe she was mentally ill and honestly didn't remember you? Though honestly, if someone showed up randomly to collect money from me and I didn't immediately recognize them I'd probably freak out a bit, too. That probably goes doubly for a woman.

As for the new unit waiting to be installed, perhaps the old one tanked in the time between your visits. Stranger things have happened.

To conclude: You should probably not do work if the person paying isn't on hand. AC is super nice, but like Rich said in most places it's not necessary for survival, the exceptions being old folks in the warmer regions like Arizona, Texas, and possibly Florida.



Eww, cash. Always freaks me out when people want change. Pizza delivery was way too strenuous back before the card days.

lol try being in a home with no A/C when it 100+ degrees out in california
I've experienced it, and it feels like a fucking oven


@OP next time don't wait 2 weeks later, you need to be on there ass after you do the service
may i suggest getting receipts that require the homeowners signature

I respect people like you who help out the unfortunate, some people are ungrateful and don't appreciate the extra mile some people do to allow them to have comfort in there home

[Shadee]

I would have done the same thing as her. She didn't ask you to top off the A/C.

[Kalis]

People are stupid. When I was working in a large clothing store I once had this woman take an attitude with me the moment she got in the store. Was asking where something was and I pointed her in the right direction but I guess that wasn't good enough, I suppose she thought I was supposed to run around the store for her while she remain no more than 30 feet from the door. Not on you life, lady.

Some older (but not exactly old) woman with a cane who acted like the world owed her something and supposedly, as claimed by another woman who was with her, that she can't walk all that well. And this is my problem why? You just came to a large MALL, with no thought of bringing anything like a wheelchair along with you and NOW you're concerned that walking is an issue?? It's also a bit of a walk up to the store from that parking lot, even if you managed to get a handicapped space... you made it here, so KEEP MOVING. Oh you want a manager now? Great, no problem, let THEM deal with you. Talk about me all you want, they know I'm not a problem so it's clearly not me. (I did not verbally say any of this of course.. lol)

Yeah, it's a bitch when people ask you to do your job.

[Flura]

Shitty maybe but you should maintain more professionalism really. Telling people to go fuck themselves never ends in anything good in business.

But sometimes it has to be said.

[xinjun]

I have a tennant who is on welfare and is deaf so I sometimes get caught in the trap of feeling sorry for her. She tells me she has no food.. well I happened to have a case of ramen noodles so I figured "what the hell, it's like $6, it ain't hurting me" so I gave it to her. Couple weeks later... she asks for food. I told her I guess I could give her some more noodles.. she says she doesn't like eating noodles every day >< I gave her noodles anyway, the idea is for her not to starve, right? Couple weeks later.. she asks for food. I told her look I've already given you a lot of things.. she says ok I won't ask anymore but just this time can I have bread, butter, and juice? What am I a freaking grocery store that she thinks she can just order up what she wants? I'm her LANDLORD for fucks sake and she already owes me money for unpaid bills. I did something nice for her because I felt bad but I'm not her care worker. It baffles me that she somehow expects me to give her whatever she asks for. I mean, if she is really desperate, I can understand begging... but if you can't afford your own bread, something is very very wrong. If she is incapable of caring for herself, she needs to be in a facilty or something..

Fortunately her rent is paid by the government so that isn't an issue. But, if things continue the way they are I am going to have to evict a deaf and possibly somewhat mentally handicapped lady and her dog.

[Arthas242]

People are stupid. When I was working in a large clothing store I once had this woman take an attitude with me the moment she got in the store. Was asking where something was and I pointed her in the right direction but I guess that wasn't good enough, I suppose she thought I was supposed to run around the store for her while she remain no more than 30 feet from the door. Not on you life, lady.

Some older (but not exactly old) woman with a cane who acted like the world owed her something and supposedly, as claimed by another woman who was with her, that she can't walk all that well. And this is my problem why? You just came to a large MALL, with no thought of bringing anything like a wheelchair along with you and NOW you're concerned that walking is an issue?? It's also a bit of a walk up to the store from that parking lot, even if you managed to get a handicapped space... you made it here, so KEEP MOVING. Oh you want a manager now? Great, no problem, let THEM deal with you. Talk about me all you want, they know I'm not a problem so it's clearly not me. (I did not verbally say any of this of course.. lol)

i find this funny since i have no problems with people asking questions or helping them out it's my job to help any and everyone

only thing that get's under my skin is people who can't read signs and people who call on the phone and expect you to shop for them when they are not even the store

*not talking about finding one item but like finding 10 times over the phone and most of the time these people are in there 20's not 80 yea old lady's*

gotta love retail



ohh and got a stupid customer story to

basically we have a by the yard batting section and well a lady wanted to know where it was so i took her there and showed her the price, she picks up a 50 yard batting roll and rushes it to register before i can even explain to her it was a by the yard price

*she obviously cna;t read signs and i even tried to stop her*

she thought 50 yards was 3-6 dollars or what ever the price was and then i told her if you want this roll you go to get it measured and it will be at least over $150. see then threw a fit how retarded and over priced that shit was and was PMSing around the register and that if we didn't give it to her for the price listed she never come back again *this lady had no concept of what BY THE YARD meant.

anyways she left buying nothing and EVERY customer in the store was laughing talking about how stupid she was to me at the register

[StayTuned]

Being hot in summer is not suffering, Air conditioning is a luxury.

I think it's the first time I disagree with you. Being hot in summer is suffering, depending on where you are. We had some 40+ degrees Celsius this summer. Without an a/c, this is hardcore suffering. Life threatening actually.


To the op. Dude, next time don't do shit until you have something on paper, i.e. a damn bill. How can you work like this? Of course people will screw you over. Verbal contracts are only valid in theory. The hard part is proving that they even exist. Never agree on anything only based on a phone call, especially in business.

Lesson learned.

[Wildtree]

I would have done the same thing as her. She didn't ask you to top off the A/C.

Wait a minute.... She apparently called him, because of her AC didn't work... He's not going to random houses and refills the AC's.. Freon is expensive stuff.. So she calls him, he fixes the obvious problem, and he should be paid for it.
Chances are however, that the coil inside the house at the furnace was dirty. That happens if the owner doesn't change the air filter regularly. It needs to be done pretty much once a month. Now if that coil goes out, the AC cannot work anymore as it should. So she bought a new furnace, probably thinking how our OP didn't or couldn't fix the problem. I or we don't know whether he took the readings to find out if there's more wrong with the system other than being low on freon.

- - - Updated - - -

I think it's the first time I disagree with you. Being hot in summer is suffering, depending on where you are. We had some 40+ degrees Celsius this summer. Without an a/c, this is hardcore suffering. Life threatening actually

40+ celsius is very rare in Germany. If it hits, then it's quite brutal, but it is not life threatening. You can use that term for people with medical conditions where hot temperatures are always a threat. But for the general public it is not a threat to ones life. If that was the case, then there would be air conditioners everywhere, but there aren't. In fact, very very few people spend money on the luxury product of an air conditioner or climate system (as they are called in Germany). You get a fan, you stay cooled with drinks and what not. But other than that, you just stand the heat, even though it's a pain in the ass.

Besides...... as someone living on both sides of the aisle... You can trust me that 40 degrees celsius in Germany is not the same as 40 degrees celsius in Iowa.. The real factor on temperature is the humidity and the dew point coming along with it. Heat is generally a lot easier to bear than it is here in Iowa. We've had the 40s just most recently too. And I was dripping wet already when I reached my car from walking the 20 yards from my house. When it's hot and you can barely breathe because the humidity feels like it clogs up every breath you take. Then it's not fun. hence why we have AC's here as rather the rule and not the exception.

TLDR: In Germany an AC is a luxury, in the USA it is a necessity.

[schwank05]

So... You're a service tech (Self employed?) and you had a customer call to ask you to fix something, you went out of your way to do so - and she refused to stump up?

Did you explain who you were clearly? Some people have REALLY bad memories afaik, but if she wasn't - i'd take her to a small claims court for the point.

-

Or were you a friendly neighbor with some expertise, did her a favor - and cleared the fee she'd have to pay before hand, and she bailed on it?

You apparently have no idea how small claims court works. We own our own business, and took a few people to court back in the early 2000's and guess what all that does is cost you a day of work, much more than $150.00 and they get told by another person to pay the money, in which they still wont pay. Worthless people will always be worthless.

[Skippy88]

The problem isn't that this happened but you let it happened. You have have to expect things like this can and will happen so you have to act accordingly to make sure it doesn't happen. In your case:

1. Don't top them up unless the owners ask for it. They may have already decided they were installing a new unit so they didn't need a top-up from you.
2. Talk about payment when an order is placed ranging from prepaying or picking up cash/cheque immediately after the work is done. Direct deposit through e-mail is also becoming popular.
3. Don't top up when no adults around especially if from #2 you are supposed to pick up cash/cheque.
4. Before going through the legal route try talking to them face to face instead of over the phone. Obviously, you know where they live.
5. Look at your legal options.