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Is the customer always right??????

#1

cooksqualitylawncare

cooksqualitylawncare

Ok here it goes, I had a lady call me and ask me to drop my mower a few notches down. Well here's the thing her lawn looks amazing since I've been cutting it this year. Ive done my research and found that weeds don't like taller grass and etc. So I tried to explain all this to her and I couldn't get anywhere with her. I even told her that the grass would turn brown instead of the dark green like she has now. She then went on to demand that in order to run a business I need to always do exactly what the customer wants even if its not in the best interest for the lawn. I told her I didn't agree with this statement. What do you guys think of this situation and how would you handle this.


#2

twall

twall

I'll probably get told I know nothing (again), but yes, do whatever she wants you to do. It's HER lawn. If it looks like crap, it's HER fault. If she complains, remind her firmly that you did exactly what she ordered. I do believe after the grass is burnt to a crisp, she'll see things your way. Maybe not.

But, yes - IMHO, the customer is ALWAYS right, even if they're wrong.


#3

cooksqualitylawncare

cooksqualitylawncare

I just don't agree with that statement though. The statement should read "the customer knows nothing" I have a business degree and know how to run a business. My concern is the neighbors see me cutting it and once they see it turn to Hell, it makes me look bad like I did this to the yard, you know.


#4

JDgreen

JDgreen

cooksqualitylawncare said:
I just don't agree with that statement though. The statement should read "the customer knows nothing" I have a business degree and know how to run a business. My concern is the neighbors see me cutting it and once they see it turn to Hell, it makes me look bad like I did this to the yard, you know.
Click to expand...

Agree with you 100%, my next door neighbor has a mid sized yard and he pays a service to spray it, it has no weeds but he chops it down so far it practically scalps the grass, it turns brown fast and then he waters it....:confused2::confused2:

I don't have anybody spray my yard, it has a lot of weeds, but I mow it at 3 inches and it stays green while his turns brown...and mine is a lot more comfortable to walk on barefoot.

If you are worried about what her neighbors are going to think of you, I would send them a note or knock on their door and explain the situation as best you can. You told her it's to her benefit to let the grass grow, if she wants it low, the customer is right, BUT I would hope the results do not reflect on you. Man, I wish I could think of a way to resolve this, it's quite a problem.


#5

JDgreen

JDgreen

Oh yeah, should have asked how long has the lady been a customer, how much do you earn off her, is she worth keeping as a customer in the first place?


#6

cooksqualitylawncare

cooksqualitylawncare

It's my wife's sister and actually I charge half what I should. She really a pain in the butt. But if I drop her than she'll somehow start trouble with my wife. I don't like her as a person either but I do it for my wife


#7

BKBrown

BKBrown

I think I'd drop the mower ONE notch at a time and tell her you are cutting it lower. :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :tongue:

I also believe I'd be proactive about telling your wife why you believe the grass should be left longer AND that her sister is already getting a big price break. :biggrin:
It can't hurt to get your side told before the PITA SIL ! :biggrin: :rolleyes:


#8

JDgreen

JDgreen

cooksqualitylawncare said:
It's my wife's sister and actually I charge half what I should. She really a pain in the butt. But if I drop her than she'll somehow start trouble with my wife. I don't like her as a person either but I do it for my wife
Click to expand...

Oh boy, you didn't say it was a relative...may I suggest this as a resolution:

If it is possible, cut the yard in the area NOT visible to neighbors down to the height the PIB, OOPS, CUSTOMER wants. Cut the yard that is visible to neighbors at your recommended setting. Once the PIB, OOPS, CUSTOMER, sees the difference, maybe she will change her mind? GOOD LUCK !!!


#9

JDgreen

JDgreen

cooksqualitylawncare said:
It's my wife's sister and actually I charge half what I should. She really a pain in the butt. But if I drop her than she'll somehow start trouble with my wife. I don't like her as a person either but I do it for my wife
Click to expand...

And, heck, I don't like my wife but adore the rest of her family.....I put up with her for them....:laughing::laughing::laughing:


#10

cooksqualitylawncare

cooksqualitylawncare

My wife knows all about the settings and how to cut cause she reads all my lawn care books I have laying around the house. She knows how I feel about her sister but nothing is worth listening to her ungrateful sisters mouth if I chose to walk away. I treat every yard like its my own and do what's best for the lawns. This has paid off for me and my business. This is the reason I don't want to scalp it. Makes me look bad but this is what she wants


#11

B

Black Bart

You can not win either way.
The reason I have my JD 430 is I bought it years ago and did custom garden tilling with it.
I had this old woman call me and said she wanted her garden tilled,, I said it has been raining for the past 2 days it is too wet.

She replied I have all my seeds I want to make garden today.

I told her I would come over to her house and check it. When I turned over a shovel full it was just a big chuck of mud.

I explained to her that it would just till up into round mud balls and then dry hard as hell and her garden would be a mess.

NO she wanted it tilled the sun was shining and she was going to make garden.
I went home loaded the tractor and tiller took it to her place and tilled and it worked up into mud balls.

I made and extra pass on it but it didn't help much the hard balls just rolled through the tiller.

When I went to the house and told her I was done she came out and looked at it and said last year you did me a lot better job.:eek:

I said yes but last year you did not force me to mud it in.

She never called me again she told her neighbors that I ruined her garden.


#12

Jetblast

Jetblast

A man has got to pick his battles. I'd probably skip this one and just indulge her silliness. Some people like the look of a scalped unhealthy lawn. My next door neighbor certainly is one of them.

IMO the customer is always right, except when they're wrong. Southwest Airlines founder Herb Kelleher spoke well about that in his book. Southwest will "fire" PITA customers in order to protect employee morale, and that's part of why they have one of the most content workforces out there.


#13

L

LandN

cooksqualitylawncare said:
Ok here it goes, I had a lady call me and ask me to drop my mower a few notches down. Well here's the thing her lawn looks amazing since I've been cutting it this year. Ive done my research and found that weeds don't like taller grass and etc. So I tried to explain all this to her and I couldn't get anywhere with her. I even told her that the grass would turn brown instead of the dark green like she has now. She then went on to demand that in order to run a business I need to always do exactly what the customer wants even if its not in the best interest for the lawn. I told her I didn't agree with this statement. What do you guys think of this situation and how would you handle this.
Click to expand...

MY answer to the thread title would be ...NO.,the customer is NOT always right.Everyone is a customer somewhere sometime. Who and how many people can know everything about everything.That phrase was created long ago to lure people(customers) into a business with the notion that the service was better than the competition. A marketing strategy that lots of business use in one form or another.Through time,SOME people(customers) have the idea that they can go into certain business and dictate business policy to suit their own liking.... Now the GRAY AREA. SOME businesses can negotiate business policy to SOME customers and get away with it under certain conditions.In a case of lawn cutting, and a client that chooses to upset the condition of the lawn by cutting at a lower level, i would do it after she signed a paper that relieves the cutter of any responsibility of the potential end result. Or if you really KNOW the person in question maybe a verbal will do.


#14

twall

twall

My dad was a butcher with his own shop for years and years. If you run a business, you give the customer what he/she wants, even if you know better. You're damned either way, so it's best to have the rep of doing what the customer tells you, than having the rep of doing whatever your know-it-all butt feels is right (which is the rep you'll get if you just say 'I know better', and do it your way).

Whether you like it or not, or agree with it or not, the customer is your boss. If you're going to be insubordinate, then go ahead and do it. But, you do not own the lawn. You are paid to care for the lawn the way your BOSS wants it cared for. If that isn't in your rulebook, then you might want to find a different job.

You said you pleaded your case with her, and it didn't make a dent. So, your boss has spoken. If you didn't want her as a boss, you shouldn't have agreed to do her lawn. This is a different case from the lady with the rotten sewer. You knew what you were in for, with her being in law and all, so what can anyone in this forum do to help you?

I'm sure you won't agree with those statements, either - but that's just my 2 cents. You are fighting city hall here, and LMF isn't going to make her any nicer, or give you a silver bullet to fix it. Sorry. :frown:

In this kind of situation, NOTHING you do will be right. I think you already know that. I suppose you're just venting.


#15

B

Black Bart

twall said:
My dad was a butcher with his own shop for years and years. If you run a business, you give the customer what he/she wants, even if you know better. You're damned either way, so it's best to have the rep of doing what the customer tells you, than having the rep of doing whatever your know-it-all butt feels is right (which is the rep you'll get if you just say 'I know better', and do it your way).

Whether you like it or not, or agree with it or not, the customer is your boss. If you're going to be insubordinate, then go ahead and do it. But, you do not own the lawn. You are paid to care for the lawn the way your BOSS wants it cared for. If that isn't in your rulebook, then you might want to find a different job.

You said you pleaded your case with her, and it didn't make a dent. So, your boss has spoken. If you didn't want her as a boss, you shouldn't have agreed to do her lawn. This is a different case from the lady with the rotten sewer. You knew what you were in for, with her being in law and all, so what can anyone in this forum do to help you?

I'm sure you won't agree with those statements, either - but that's just my 2 cents. You are fighting city hall here, and LMF isn't going to make her any nicer, or give you a silver bullet to fix it. Sorry. :frown:

In this kind of situation, NOTHING you do will be right. I think you already know that. I suppose you're just venting.
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I agree with Twall

If you run a business

Rule #1 The customer is always right
Rule #2 When the customer is wrong refer to rule #1

6 months ago I changed barbers and first time their I told him how I wanted it cut.

I get a GI cut and every time I go back he cuts it a little longer.
I don't know if he wants it longer because he likes it or he wants me to come back more often so he makes more money.
I suspect the latter of the two but yesterday I got a hair cut and I told him he was cutting my hair too long and I wanted it cut shorter.

He said no problem and he cut it like I wanted.
If he had not cut it like I want he would have never seen me again.


#16

JDgreen

JDgreen

Black Bart said:
You can not win either way.
The reason I have my JD 430 is I bought it years ago and did custom garden tilling with it.
I had this old woman call me and said she wanted her garden tilled,, I said it has been raining for the past 2 days it is too wet.

She replied I have all my seeds I want to make garden today.

I told her I would come over to her house and check it. When I turned over a shovel full it was just a big chuck of mud.

I explained to her that it would just till up into round mud balls and then dry hard as hell and her garden would be a mess.

NO she wanted it tilled the sun was shining and she was going to make garden.
I went home loaded the tractor and tiller took it to her place and tilled and it worked up into mud balls.

I made and extra pass on it but it didn't help much the hard balls just rolled through the tiller.

When I went to the house and told her I was done she came out and looked at it and said last year you did me a lot better job.:eek:

I said yes but last year you did not force me to mud it in.

She never called me again she told her neighbors that I ruined her garden.
Click to expand...

What a witch...how can you ruin dirt....:confused2:

That woman must be related to the neighbor I had 25 years ago, it was nearing Halloween and my girlfriend and I were sitting in my back yard, the lady next door had a bunch of standing dead constalks in her garden, well a bunch of kids about 10 years old kept crawling on the ground to her cornstalks and when they got close enough they would jump to their feet and grab a cornstalk and then run away, after about a dozen of them were stolen she saw them and came out screaming at them like they were stealing watermelons. One of the funniest things I ever saw. :laughing:


#17

L

LawnBoy420

cooksqualitylawncare said:
My wife knows all about the settings and how to cut cause she reads all my lawn care books I have laying around the house. She knows how I feel about her sister but nothing is worth listening to her ungrateful sisters mouth if I chose to walk away. I treat every yard like its my own and do what's best for the lawns. This has paid off for me and my business. This is the reason I don't want to scalp it. Makes me look bad but this is what she wants
Click to expand...

Yea that's a tough situation. I would drop it just one notch & if you scalp it, then it's her problem


#18

O

Oddball

Sometimes the best business decision is to tell a PITA customer that due to a difference of opinion, work ethic, whatever, that its best if they find someone else to do the job. SIL or not, I'd tell her to find someone else to do the yard. I agree it will make you look bad when her lawn dies off or gets weedy because you scalp it and it sounds like she's not the type to step up and tell the neighbors its her fault and you warned her not to do it. If she wants to start any family drama just tell her to shut the heck up. Sounds like your wife knows sis is a PITA and I bet she'd understand if you did. If you can't tell family to F-off who can you tell?


#19

P

polly

The customer is not always right. when there wrong there wrong. In this case do what she asks and quit talking about it. Time will go by and the sun will come up tomorrow.--polly


#20

O

originalswampfox

This is a loose paraphrase from a quote Winston Churchill made about the US. "The customer(US) will always do what is right, after they have tried everything else." I know this doesn't help you, but a little laugh can't hurt. Hope it works out ok.


#21

M

Mini Motors

I agree with the lot of ya'. There is no wining answer. Doing it her way is the only answer, but only after you tell her what will most likely happen. But telling the neighbors in advance that the approaching death of her lawn is a bad idea. One of them is surely going to say something to here, and then you're done. But, in the case of Black Bart, when the customer make statements to the neighbors blaming you, that's lawsuit material. It would be well advised to have a lawyer send a letter demanding cease and desist, and to tell said neighbors that she was wrong.


#22

173abn

173abn

If you don't do what she wants your fired,if you do what she wants and the lawn pukes out then she will either fire you or maybe come to reason and admit you were right.If it was my lawn I'd expect the service to be done my way or you can take it down the highway.Now if you did it my way and I was wrong I'd admit the error of my ways and keep you on...russ


#23

M

mowerbeast

Reminds me of the time someone wanted me to build them a shed out of old rotting woods that they had.
The problem is, these people don't think of what can go wrong, they think that their way and ideas will always work, when they hardly ever do. Customers higher people to do work because they can't do it their self, eigther because they can't be bothered, or they don't know how to do it. Is she married? Maybe you could explain to her husband what would happened if you cut it too low, and he could reason with her.
Otherwise, don't scalp it, it would make you look bad.


#24

Grass ala Mowed

Grass ala Mowed

Sounds like my ex-wife. If I even tried to explain a physical law, building code, whatever, I was being condensending and belittling her. Note I said ex-wife.


#25

Walleteater1

Walleteater1

So it's the wifes sister, interesting? This would be eay for me. First don't worry about what the nieghbors or anyone else thinks. Your working for the wifes sister. Yes,If the nieghbors see her lawn start to die the sister-in law will throw you under the bus but that is human nature these days unfortunately, always someone elses fault not the source, move on. You gave her your reccomendation and she barks back she is the customer yadda-yadda. Well, cut it her way and if she opens her cake hole of a mouth again and complains to you that it's your fault that now her lawn is dying, level with her and tell her you get this at a discount only because your family and frankly her and her account is too much B.S. for you and be done with her. Explain everything to the wife and if she has a problem with it or sides with the sister so be it. She'll get over it. If your worried that your wife sisters lawn issue is going to hurt your marriage well then you got bigger deeper issues.


#26

cooksqualitylawncare

cooksqualitylawncare

I have decided next year I will not do any business with any family members. It seems there is always problems so next year I won't include them


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