C
charlie1
Will try to keep this as short as possible....
Had a very heated discussion with a customer the other day regarding their toilet I tiled 2 weeks ago for local bathroom company. Job was only 9 m2; large format porcs walls half way and floor. When I finished, tidied and all hovered up, I asked customer to have a look and check they where satisfied as most of us usually do, she pointed out a small piece of silicone i had missed so i quickly apologised and fixed,...she was then happy (as she was during installation)!
Yesterday i get a call from bathroom company owner regarding a snaging list at same address....
I turn up and the other tiler from same company is pointing out what the snags where (he was doing main bathroom at same property)..snags: one tiny hole in grout (2mmm), chrome trim scratched, (you can only really take my word for it but it was tiny) there main issue was though... where I finished the tiles half height there was a gap ranging from 3mm to 8mm between wall and tile, I finished this with decorators caulk and looked ok, the wall was slightly bowed hence reason for 8mm adhesive in middle of wall. I don’t really know any way around this unless you bend tiles to suit but the you have other problems, last issue was the floor was too high, I really have no idea how to fix this unless you don’t ply it but I’m just the tiler on this one, this was all prepped by company.
Anyway, I’m working through the list when the customer turns up (I must point out, they where both very nice UP UNTILL NOW)...
Me: he there, can you just show me the problems as better than working from list..
Him: (Very Angrily) ....how about you just rip the whole lot back off, it’s all a mess
Me: eh???????
Him: look at the gap between wall and tile
Me: yes reason......(interrupted)
Him: come through here to kitchen
...Starts comparing his 10 x 10 tiles on kitchen tiles, i tried to explain the difference but uninterested...he went off on a real rant but he said something very interesting, he started mentioning bs standards of how flat a wall should be a over a 6ft edge!!....the tyrade went on.....for a good 5 mins but I managed to calm the him / her down as they were being totally unreasonable, they were not interested in me fixing the small issues (extremely small) , they just wanted me out there house. I explained I just want to try and fix, so managed to calm them down, fixed small errors again, they were happy again when I left, 3 of us laughing about it in the end but something tells me this is not the end of this....???
It raises questions.
1, what makes customers happy with job one day and then furious to extent they don’t even want you in their house the next?
2, where do customers acquire information on bs standards?
3, what makes a customer suddenly become (hyper critical) with your work when they have been happy throughout and at the end of the job?
your thoughts on this are very much appreciated, never seen a change in a customer in my life!!
Had a very heated discussion with a customer the other day regarding their toilet I tiled 2 weeks ago for local bathroom company. Job was only 9 m2; large format porcs walls half way and floor. When I finished, tidied and all hovered up, I asked customer to have a look and check they where satisfied as most of us usually do, she pointed out a small piece of silicone i had missed so i quickly apologised and fixed,...she was then happy (as she was during installation)!
Yesterday i get a call from bathroom company owner regarding a snaging list at same address....
I turn up and the other tiler from same company is pointing out what the snags where (he was doing main bathroom at same property)..snags: one tiny hole in grout (2mmm), chrome trim scratched, (you can only really take my word for it but it was tiny) there main issue was though... where I finished the tiles half height there was a gap ranging from 3mm to 8mm between wall and tile, I finished this with decorators caulk and looked ok, the wall was slightly bowed hence reason for 8mm adhesive in middle of wall. I don’t really know any way around this unless you bend tiles to suit but the you have other problems, last issue was the floor was too high, I really have no idea how to fix this unless you don’t ply it but I’m just the tiler on this one, this was all prepped by company.
Anyway, I’m working through the list when the customer turns up (I must point out, they where both very nice UP UNTILL NOW)...
Me: he there, can you just show me the problems as better than working from list..
Him: (Very Angrily) ....how about you just rip the whole lot back off, it’s all a mess
Me: eh???????
Him: look at the gap between wall and tile
Me: yes reason......(interrupted)
Him: come through here to kitchen
...Starts comparing his 10 x 10 tiles on kitchen tiles, i tried to explain the difference but uninterested...he went off on a real rant but he said something very interesting, he started mentioning bs standards of how flat a wall should be a over a 6ft edge!!....the tyrade went on.....for a good 5 mins but I managed to calm the him / her down as they were being totally unreasonable, they were not interested in me fixing the small issues (extremely small) , they just wanted me out there house. I explained I just want to try and fix, so managed to calm them down, fixed small errors again, they were happy again when I left, 3 of us laughing about it in the end but something tells me this is not the end of this....???
It raises questions.
1, what makes customers happy with job one day and then furious to extent they don’t even want you in their house the next?
2, where do customers acquire information on bs standards?
3, what makes a customer suddenly become (hyper critical) with your work when they have been happy throughout and at the end of the job?
your thoughts on this are very much appreciated, never seen a change in a customer in my life!!
