Help!: nightmare customer/job

[evertonl36]

I agreed to tile a bathroom for an old family friend 2 weeks ago him and his girlfriend are moving into a new house and asked me to come around and give them a price.So i went around to find the job was 15m on walls and 4 m on the floor after a conversation with the pair they told me they also needed a plumber well my mate is 1 so i said i would get him around to take toilet radiators sink out i told my mate it was a old family friend so i decided to charge him £300 for everthing which i think is a bargain.I supplied adhesive and grout trim which i got from my trade account with topps so i made a bit of money on that.NOW heres my problem they went on holiday last week in that time we got in me mate done the plumbing i done the floor and yesterday the day they were due bk from holiday i started the walls the tiles are 25 by 30cms i already asked them which way they wanted them on the lad told me upright now there home i got a call lastnight to tell me there on the wrong way and they wanted them side on which i no they never asked me to do i went around last night and they were in the bathroomtaking the tiles off the wall as you can imagine i felt really angry and explained to them calmly that it looked very good which they agreed but said it wasnt the way they wanted it.Am now out of pocket no matter what can anyone suggest what they would do? should i grin and bear it and count it as a lesson learned or shall i demand more money HELP

[Sir Ramic]

How many tiles did you fix?

[turnip]

feeling for you, lesson=get everything in writing, even just a quick scribble, even if just for mates, so everyones knows whats what. if they are adamant that youre wrong, worst you can do is walk off in a professional strop, best is to suck it, finish the job (or finish it, block their sink with grout+adhesive, wait for your plumber mate to overcharge the customer on an emergency call out for a bunged up trap and renumerate you for your extra work.....only joking!) and put it down to experience....

[evertonl36]

only had the cuts to go in ,more or less 3/4 rs of the room

[Nardini]

I was taught the lesson over 30 years ago and the lesson was:

NEVER work for friends or family. Ever. The one thing you can be pretty sure of is that you will:

i) Lose money
ii) Lose friends
iii) Lose sleep.

Look on it as a lesson learned and pass it on...

I'm really sorry for you.

[CON5933]

Put it down to experience mate, also...family friend or not..he wasn't too concerned about upsetting you was he..?

[Sir Ramic]

If you put aside the fact that its an old family friend you are left with a customer.
I assume everything was verbal and even if you are sure that they asked for the tiles to be upright (portrait) its your word against theirs !
I think you already did the job far too cheap so you may as well redo the work and chalk it down to experience.
You may do well by making some job sheets, with a duplicate and get the sheet signed before commencing work .

[garretridge]

i always give an estimate sheet- price of job - materials -and layout copy for them and me so there can be no comeback and if there is change price acordingly for your own piece of mind and so you know what to get when the job comes up! £40 for 200 sheets from my local printers!

[Dan]

I'd explain to them that you've got them everything so cheap, and as they're mates you've already worked for a low fee, and that if you change them round you'll be out of pocket, just say you'd need a small daily wage to rectify it, if they're mates, they should sort you out. If they don't change it round anyway but be pleasent on the job, and THEN consider it leason learnt.

I'd always recommend doing jobs for family and friends when you're starting out, it's a good way to work FOR FREE to gain experience, and at that stage, they should expect a few learning curves, but you and your mates/family.

Though once you're established, unless they're a mate that does you favours a lot, then I'd go in with a mates rate. I'd also explain to them that if you do their work for nothing, you've lost money you could have made on other jobs (would they take a day off work to help you on something?). My mates rates used to be half on the labour, and I'd halve the savings on the gear. So you still make money and they still get it cheaper than any other tiler (and that's all they want really, right?).

Got some mates, I'd do it for nothing for. But they're the sort of mates that if I called them at 2am stuck in Wales, they'd come get me and take the day off work. For those mates I'd do all the work for nothing and give them all the discounts, but I wouldn't but their stuff, and I'd do it between real jobs or at weekends or something, and I'd get them to give me a hand somehow. Not doing it if they're off the pub without me!

So yeah, explain to them that if you chance them round you'll be out of pocket and is there any chance they could pay a small day rate to cover your back. If they say they're skint, see if they would be happy for you to finish it off the way it is, if they're not, then swap it round and don't do it again in the future. That's all you can do mate. You don't want to upset them though.

Good luck mate.

[ad tiling]

Put it down to experience mate, also...family friend or not..he wasn't too concerned about upsetting you was he..?

as above but if your thinking about doing it for nothing tell them they need to wait a few weeks or get them to phone another tiler for a price
good friends will meet halfway and they cant be that short of cash
since they need to buy more tiles and pay a plumber again

[david campbell]

total shocker to be honest,they have probably changed there mind sitting on a beach,as above though i would rectify it and put it down to a lesson learned,the only reason i would rectify it would be to save my reputation from being slaughtered behind my back from some ungrateful so-called mate! then i would gradually distance myself from there friendship

you have been taken for a ride because they think you are a friend and they can get away with it,it has happened to most of us at some point and i am no different,the above is how i took care of a so-called friend who now does't show his face near me again

[madmum]

Hiya,

If they really are mates, they'll know you've already discounted the job enough and will be losing time/money for every extra hour you're at their place, if they have any decency, they'll offer something for the extra work.. Failing that, don't re-tile them! then they'll see how much they should have been charged and they'll probably beg you to some back!

[whitebeam]

Everything has been said and I've been thru it aswell, one tough lesson at times.

A friend in need can be a pain in the butt

[Dib Dave]

i sometimes write on wall chosen tile layout,with marker pen /pencil,with customer there,then take a picture with your phone,they cant argue then as its been agreed and you have proof,maybe something for the future

[CJ]

A friend in need.................Is a pain in the Butt

[faithhealer]

Ouch, sorry to hear that Everton, lesson learned, don't do 'cheap' mate. Just been asked to sort my nieces radiators out after she has already stuffed me over two jobs!! Not a chance