Nightmare customer

[macten]

Went to look at a job for bathroom wall tiling in a lovely huge old house over the weekend.
Lovely old guy, a professor at the local Uni, married to the nastiest piece of work I have ever met. You could see how she had sucked the very life force out of him.
They showed me the field tiles and the border. She wants the border at the top against the ceiling. You could see how far out the ceiling was by eye.
I explained the problem they would have and he totally agreed but she was having none of it, borders like that are out of fashion apparently.

I do wish tile/bathroom showrooms wouldn't display set outs like these, with their perfectly plumb and square boarded mock ups.

He showed me another bathroom that had been done by another tiler that he was happy with but they can't use him as he is suffering a nervous break down. I wonder why?

 

[Deleted member 9966]

price it high and hope you don't get it?

 

[mikethetile]

Im dealing with a colour supply problem caused by Dulux insistance on only supplying certain shades through retail outlets

so I know how you feel

im going to be venting my frustration at dulux at some point probably when they write to me asking why I dont use more of their product

 

[Scott]

I hate that when you get a realy nice fella and a ***** of a wife. I have 2mates that are married to a pair of sisters that are both horrible old wenches

 

[Dan]

You should have asked them in the shop how they suggest a tiler gets around the problem when the ceiling isn't as square as the display, and see what they come up with.

 

[paul flight]

if you drive over the witch you only get 3 years for dangerous driving out after 18 mths its worth it a !!!:lol:

 

[White Room]

As mentioned, over price that usualy does the trick

 

[Andy Allen]

havn't seen many ceilings that are 100% level, thats why i always cut into the ceiling.

just a shame she hasn't got the sense to see that.

 

[Colour Republic]

Im dealing with a colour supply problem caused by Dulux insistance on only supplying certain shades through retail outlets

so I know how you feel

im going to be venting my frustration at dulux at some point probably when they write to me asking why I dont use more of their product

You should be able to get a match Mike even if the don't call it the same name, they have thousands of colours, is this a touch up job?

 

[mikethetile]

No Rob

this has been a difficult one and it shouldnt have been

priced this earlier in the year and gave her a dulux weathershield and a johnstones stormshield colour chart

she rang back a month ago and said they had chosen a colour and can I come and do it so I booked it in, she specified the dulux even though it was more expensive

went to get the colour mixed in trade and the machine wouldnt have it, so I spoke to her husband who said that it had taken over 2 years to settle on this colour and nearly wrecked their marriage, the woman in homebase said it was available in weathershield, so I rang dulux who confirmed that this shade was available only through retail outlets but they had the next shade darker in trade

went back to them with a trade colour card and a retail colour card and showed them, they wanted the retail so I adjusted the price after explaining that the coverage was less and they would require more paint

good, sorted or so I thought

came to apply to roughcast render , its ready to use but was too thick to for the roller and just matted it and it wouldnt get in to the nooks and crannies, thinned it slightly, let it dry and it looked awfull, tried rolling over it to see what the second coat looked like. it was desperate and there was no way I was going to leave a job looking like that

so I bit the bullet got a 3" purdey from the van and brush painted the lot

a large 4 bed detached house but I got into every little hole with the brush and it looks the mutts. painted the plinth about 3 this afternoon and cleaned up

but 2 days have grown to 4 days and im not charging extra on the labour as it was my descision to brush it, they would have accepted the poxy roller finish but I could nt

so my principles have cost me two days free labour

 

[kilty55]

price it highhhh macten

 

[Colour Republic]

No Rob

this has been a difficult one and it shouldnt have been

priced this earlier in the year and gave her a dulux weathershield and a johnstones stormshield colour chart

she rang back a month ago and said they had chosen a colour and can I ....

That is pants! Good on you though

Just out of interest how did they come up with the darker shade, was it from a weathshield colour chart, or a weathershield fan deck, or maybe via their system?

I know the weathershield colours changed about a year ago and the range got bigger.

If you ring dulux head office they should send you out a fan deck free of charge. The new fan decks now have a weathershield section

 

[SandyFloor]

I walked away from a job a few years ago when a woman insisted the partitions required were to be made from some scabby second hand warped timber of different sections and full of nails and screws. I priced the job for labour only plus materials as needed. I explained I couldn't work with the stuff and I would have had to charge extra for the time required pulling nails and the problems with the different sections etc. We were only talking about £45 of cls. As polite as I was about it she told me I had a bad attitude. The husband looked embarassed but said nothing.

 

[Colour Republic]

Oh and Macten, If it was me I would do them two prices, one with the border lower and another one with a new suspended ceiling, if thats how she wants it then she shouldn't have a problem paying for the extra works. Perfection comes at a price

 

[mikethetile]

That is pants! Good on you though

Just out of interest how did they come up with the darker shade, was it from a weathshield colour chart, or a weathershield fan deck, or maybe via their system?

I know the weathershield colours changed about a year ago and the range got bigger.

If you ring dulux head office they should send you out a fan deck free of charge. The new fan decks now have a weathershield section

it was dulux that gave me the darker shade and I compared the numbers to the charts but my supplier still couldnt mix the shade they wanted as his new mixing machine is computer only and has no manual over ride

it was the same colour but a tad darker and it really wouldnt have made a difference to the overall appearance, the differance was minimal. I was tempted to say nothing and use the trade but they had a sample pot and if there was a dispute they could easily prove it was the wrong shade by dabbing a dot on the wall and letting it dry, there was such an issue over this colour I darent do anything iffy

ill ring tommorrow as my weathershield fan deck is about 3 yrs old

thanks Rob

 

[Colour Republic]

TBH you can get slight variations of the same colour from one store to the next depending on how long ago the machine was calibrated, also the sample pots whilst give an indication of colour, the samples are just a base paint so will look slightly different once the colour has been mixed in the chosen finish, but I know what you mean when a customer has spent so long choosing a colour you do your hardest to make sure it's bang on

 

[macten]

Went in very high but :mad2: got the job :mad2:

Shouldn't complain I know.
Really am dreading it though.

 

[mikethetile]

I raised my prices to try to regulate my work

the more I charged the more work I got

theres a lesson in there

 

[macten]

Well the old bat had her own way

 

[user123]

Well the old bat had her own way

oh yukkkkk!!!! That is just horrible...:nonod: :sick: Why do they make tiles and borders like that still??? That is just too retro..... shudder... to be honest it wouldn't have mattered where you put the border... :sick:

 

[andy-p]

Dear lord those tiles are hideous .. :yikes:
I dont pick em , etc etc...

 

[macten]

I have to stare at them all day!!! :ack2: 😛uke:

 

[macten]

£150's worth of border !!!!!

 

[SandyFloor]

What age is this woman?

 

[Pebbs]

Shes a battle axe with bad taste and make no mistake...the world is full of them...but not me and Gisele...honest!

Lynn

 

[user123]

What age is this woman?

125....:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[SandyFloor]

125....:lol: :lol: :lol:

That's the way I like 'em. Nice 'n saggy.

 

[macten]

This is the same woman who didn't want the border any lower as it looks dated - 'so 80's/90's' apparently.
Now the couple have been arguing about what colour grout, obviously the one she wants will look god awful
and me and him agree on a different colour. He asked me if I could be diplomatic and recommend the better colour
from a proffesional point of view! He said what ever he suggests she will disagree with him as a matter of course.
Poor old chap.
The wife is an asian woman in her 50's - she's nice enough to me, but he don't half get grief off her.

 

[user123]

Shes a battle axe with bad taste and make no mistake...the world is full of them...but not me and Gisele...honest!

Lynn

Lynn, Pebbs-sweetie, you must have had a tough day to even make any connection between those tiles, that woman and us!!! :ban: