Favorite Customer Conversations - Add Yours

[Ross Moshinsky]

Well it just happened again:

Customer: Do you offer wholesale pricing?
Me: Yes - How many would you like?
Customer: 1

I hate to say it, but that's not that unusual. I'm an ASI member and "regularly" buy small quantities from distributors at wholesale pricing. You're better off saying something along the lines of "We don't offer wholesale pricing, but I do give quantity discounts" or something like "We do offer wholesale pricing but we have a minimum order of $XXX". I've also dealt with vendors who really didn't want to offer wholesale pricing so their "wholesale pricing" was like 10-15% off.

[Dan Hintz]

Well it just happened again:

Customer: Do you offer wholesale pricing?
Me: Yes - How many would you like?
Customer: 1

I hate to say it, but that's not that unusual. I'm an ASI member and "regularly" buy small quantities from distributors at wholesale pricing. You're better off saying something along the lines of "We don't offer wholesale pricing, but I do give quantity discounts" or something like "We do offer wholesale pricing but we have a minimum order of $XXX". I've also dealt with vendors who really didn't want to offer wholesale pricing so their "wholesale pricing" was like 10-15% off.

And let's be clear... "wholesale" means you sell to retailers, not end customers. Wholesale is not synonymous with "discounted rate", it is merely an indication of the supply chain.

A customer who asks for "wholesale pricing" should be responded to with "What retail establishment will you be selling the item through?" If they cannot answer, then suggest they mean "quantity discount", not "wholesale pricing". Your wholesale cost may be lower, but it doesn't have to be, other than the quantity discount that would come into effect anyway. If the quantity becomes "one", then the quantity discount is 0%.

[John Stevenson]

Not engraving but had a guy walk in once with a 25mm diameter bar and wanted a 30mm diameter hole cross drilling into it.
I asked him which half he wanted to keep but it didn't sink in.

[Dan Hintz]

Not engraving but had a guy walk in once with a 25mm diameter bar and wanted a 30mm diameter hole cross drilling into it.
I asked him which half he wanted to keep but it didn't sink in.

Obviously he meant he wanted a 30mm radius hole, John

[Scott Shepherd]

Customer : Do you do metal business cards?

Me : We can, it depends on what you are looking for, can you tell me what you're looking for? Stainless Steel? Anodized aluminum? Cut out? Just engraved?

Customer : I like the look of the colored aluminum.

Me : We can do that, there are some stock sizes available, and if we need to go outside of that or have anything custom cut into the blanks, we can have them custom cut by a machine shop that does that for us, but that can get quite expensive, depending on the complexity of the cut and the number of them you want. The stock sizes are the lowest cost because we can buy the blanks already cut and just engrave them. As long as there are no custom cuts, that's going to be the most economical way to make what you're asking for.

Customer : Great! No custom cuts, let's just use the stock blanks. I'll email my logo to you shortly.

:::::email coming in:::::::

Customer email : I've included the file, I'd like to have the shape cut out of the middle and the rest engraved using the stock blanks.

Me : :::::::sigh::::::::::

[Dana Perreault]

Obviously he meant he wanted a 30mm radius hole, John

And again Dan, one asks, "which half does he want to keep."

[bill liscombe]

Were I Work ( Power generation) I have people ask me for lables " about the size of a post it note" or " about A4 size" etc.

then they say Oh thats not the right size and the text is the wrong size too.

I now show a lable with the following on :-

If you require a lable, Please Draw it with dimensions and text size
or else



Power station staff ( including Engineers and Managers) are not very bright !!!!!

[Bill Cunningham]

The funny thing is, I don't get a lot of those type of customers. I've been dealing with the public and 'adult(?)' students for over 45 years so maybe I subconsiously head off most of the stupid questions before they hit home. I occasionally get calls from ditzy brides that never seem to read or understand any instructions I send them. I.E. the 1/2" high 72 dpi .gif they want engraved 10" high on a wooden plaque to be framed. I explain that its going to look like a field of bowling balls, but they say nooo it looks great here are you sure you're looking at it right?
There's an old saying:
When you're dead you don't know it, so it's only a problem for other people.
It's the same when you're stupid!

[Tim Bateson]

Customer: Do you do laser cutting?
Me: Yes, but it depends on what you need cut.
Customer: It's a steel plate..... but it's only 1 inch thick...
Me: ummmm...

[Dave Sheldrake]

I have a sign on my wall that reads

"Seriously! I don't know when the aliens arrived and dropped off all the stupid people but apparently they aren't coming back for them"

[stan kern]

My experience with people and a lot of them is the stone soup technique and i still fall for it.
They start off with a real basic request,then its discussed to no end many emails and priced
Then its all changed and becomes something very complicated a whole lot more work and the price must not change
and the wood is not ordinary.
Stone soup --a guy comes to the door and asks to borrow a pot holding 2 stones,person asks why the stones and whats the pot for
"stone soup--he says,the giving person laughs and gives him the pot ,he then asks for 2 cups of water,then he says that a few carrots would go nicely with the stones
and it goes on with potatoes being added maybe some left over meat pieces and other vegetables --this is what people do when they want something for next to nothing and get away with it

[Keith Colson]

I had a very frustrating customer this week. I have had 4 visits from the mother, father and daughter. Each time they visit they change things a little and I say "here is the price, would you like to go ahead"?, each time one of them says "I will get back to you"

Today I get a call "Is it ready yet"?. Me - "You were going to get back to me with a go ahead". Angry customer "I really need it today". Me "Sorry, I can have it ready in two days". This was not good enough.

I find it hard to believe that people can act like this.

[Dan Ashlin]

I had an encounter with one of my customers that was pretty infuriating. I do work for a big university nearby, and they are mostly pleasant to deal with, but their football team always places a big order once a year at the last minute and it's like pulling teeth to get payment. They picked their order up 60 days ago and it says at the bottom of the invoice "please remit payment withing 30 days. If payment is not received, a 10% late fee will be added to the total bill". Well, I had reminded them at 30 days and let it slide but finally had it and re-issued with the fee. I got a nasty email from the billing department that said "We don't get funding for late fees, so please issue another bill with the late fee taken off because we don't pay them". What!? I replied that that was unacceptable and they said they would have to go with another vendor next year if I insisted on charging a late fee. I told them next year I would choose not to do business with customers who choose not to pay on time. Got the check today....without the late fee. Ugh.

[Bert Kemp]

I would send them another bill for the late fee and add 10% to it for having to reissue and if their business wasn't crucial and you could do ok with out it I'd tell them to find another vendor. Sounds like they think they can do just what they want ,pay when they feel like it and tell you to stick your fee's after you went above and beyond and reminded them at 30 days and waited another 30 after that. Better yet tell them you want 50% up front before any work is done.

I had an encounter with one of my customers that was pretty infuriating. I do work for a big university nearby, and they are mostly pleasant to deal with, but their football team always places a big order once a year at the last minute and it's like pulling teeth to get payment. They picked their order up 60 days ago and it says at the bottom of the invoice "please remit payment withing 30 days. If payment is not received, a 10% late fee will be added to the total bill". Well, I had reminded them at 30 days and let it slide but finally had it and re-issued with the fee. I got a nasty email from the billing department that said "We don't get funding for late fees, so please issue another bill with the late fee taken off because we don't pay them". What!? I replied that that was unacceptable and they said they would have to go with another vendor next year if I insisted on charging a late fee. I told them next year I would choose not to do business with customers who choose not to pay on time. Got the check today....without the late fee. Ugh.

[Ross Moshinsky]

I would move on without the late fee this year. Next year if they come back, I would stipulate that they have to pay the total or provide a purchase order from the university at pickup. A 10% late fee is high, most people would charge 18% per year or 1.5% per month interest charge for the unpaid balance. That does not mean you will get it, but charge you may.