Me vs. the customer

[growler]

It's just a little 20" picture-tube TV. I really would get her a TV (a used one) .

If you get her a TV make sure it's new and just write it off as materials used on the job. On a service upgrade I always allow a little more for material than I hope to spend just in case.

Sure she may be ripping you off but we do have ways of getting even if we are patient. If I buy her a new TV then I'm taking the old one home to see what's actaually wrong with it. That's just for my own curiosity, if it really is fried you will know it's a rip off but it's it's something simple it could be coincidennce that it just failed at a bad time.

 

[benaround]

Buy a new TV for yourself, give her one of your old ones, make sure you get to take her

'fried' tv, in a few days call her and tell her how nice her old TV is coming in.

 

[mivey]

Buy a new TV for yourself, give her one of your old ones, make sure you get to take her

'fried' tv, in a few days call her and tell her how nice her old TV is coming in.

But she wants one of the new ones that has a digital tuner.

 

[celtic]

Take the TV to a repair shop of YOUR choosing.


Let her know in advance:
- If the service upgrade was the cause, it will be repaired or replaced at YOUR discretion.

- If the service upgrade was NOT the cause, the repair shop's bill - as well as your time for running around like a jackass over a 20" TV - will be added to her bill....with all the same conditions of the original contract.

 

[mivey]

Take the TV to a repair shop of YOUR choosing.


Let her know in advance:
- If the service upgrade was the cause, it will be repaired or replaced at YOUR discretion.

- If the service upgrade was NOT the cause, the repair shop's bill - as well as your time for running around like a jackass over a 20" TV - will be added to her bill....with all the same conditions of the original contract.

So an appliance repair person is going to ascertain the quality of your workmanship and procedures?

 

[satcom]

I sure hope it was not working because since the power was out for a while the cable box had to download for security before the TV could get a signal, that is a common problem and many people don't understand they need to wait a half hour before it allows the TV to come on.

 

[celtic]

So an appliance repair person is going to ascertain the quality of your workmanship and procedures?

Of course not silly...it's calling her bluff with a bluff of your own ~ "...a repair shop of YOUR choosing..."

Personally, I'd choose my garage :grin:

 

[boboelectric]

Good one,Celtic. I worked at "Witches Houses" before.Next one,I'm just going with a Lien.

 

[electricmanscott]

No doubt in my mind she is pulling a scam.

The is the best response.

Ask her to show you the ground pin on the TVs power cord

.

I'd add to that by telling her to have the barber/tv repairman/cd salesman assist her in showing you.

As for the guys that would buy her a new tv no questions asked, I have some electrical work I need done at my house. Can you help me

 

[TOOL_5150]

no way man

dont buy her a tv till she can show you the ground pin on the cord..... which doesnt exist.


~Matt

 

[frankft2000]

Even if you found a brand new TV for free and gave it to her, doesn't that mean you admit you did something wrong? I'd stick to your guns for now, and say I wanted a written statement about what was wrong with the TV. Let her do the leg work.

 

[electricalperson]

there is no way you fried this TV. i fried a TV before but thats because i removed the neutral of a MWBC by accident. not having a ground in no way shape or form will cause that tv to fry. send her a bill, get your money and tell her to buy a new tv on her own since you did not fry it. like the others say ask for proof on why no ground will fry a tv when there is no ground pin on the cord. impossible

 

[jrannis]

I would knock $100 off of the bill and not think twice about it.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

there is no way you fried this TV. i fried a TV before but thats because i removed the neutral of a MWBC by accident. not having a ground in no way shape or form will cause that tv to fry. send her a bill, get your money and tell her to buy a new tv on her own since you did not fry it. like the others say ask for proof on why no ground will fry a tv when there is no ground pin on the cord. impossible

To expand on that, there aren't any MWBC in the house, and all of my neutrals were landed prior to energizing. I agree, there is no way i fried that darn TV. I will pursue my money from the job, as I have a written and signed contract. And if it comes down to going to court to get my money, can I charge her for money and calls lost while in court? For instance, if we're in court for 4 hours, I could have made $260 taking calls in that same amount of time. Could I countersue for that? That would be the icing on the cake. I know I may be thinking too deep on this, but I always try to be prepared for other peoples' stupidity.

 

[K8MHZ]

To expand on that, there aren't any MWBC in the house, and all of my neutrals were landed prior to energizing. I agree, there is no way i fried that darn TV. I will pursue my money from the job, as I have a written and signed contract. And if it comes down to going to court to get my money, can I charge her for money and calls lost while in court? For instance, if we're in court for 4 hours, I could have made $260 taking calls in that same amount of time. Could I countersue for that? That would be the icing on the cake. I know I may be thinking too deep on this, but I always try to be prepared for other peoples' stupidity.

Care should be taken if the case is brought to small claims court. If you win (at least in Michigan) a small claims case you don't have the same rights as one won in district court. One important one is 'self recovery', or the right to get back the materials you bought and paid for if the customer does not satisfy the judgment.

 

[celtic]

And if it comes down to going to court to get my money, can I charge her for money and calls lost while in court? For instance, if we're in court for 4 hours, I could have made $260 taking calls in that same amount of time. Could I countersue for that? That would be the icing on the cake. I know I may be thinking too deep on this, but I always try to be prepared for other peoples' stupidity.

Laws will vary by State.....it has been my experience that time lost in court is "...the price of being in business" . [ As quoted by a judge to me ]

 

[Mr. Wizard]

Care should be taken if the case is brought to small claims court. If you win (at least in Michigan) a small claims case you don't have the same rights as one won in district court. One important one is 'self recovery', or the right to get back the materials you bought and paid for if the customer does not satisfy the judgment.

I have a clause in my contracts that basically states I own the material until the customer pays me in full, and I have the right to reposess my material if not paid

 

[Mr. Wizard]

In all honesty, all I want is the HO )) to pay me what is owed, and we can settle up with the problem with the TV at a later date. The repair shop is supposed to call me Monday with their diagnosis. I could understand the uproar if it were a new flat panel TV, or a new TV period. But she really made a mountain out of a molehill, her attitude about the whole thing really ticked me off. I just feel if i'm right then i'm right, and will give no concessions to her if I am right. I won't bow down to a con artist or a crook. This is a first for me, and i'm sure it won't be the last.

 

[Besoeker]

Did a service upgrade today. Everything went smooth, passed inspection. While waiting on POCO I ohmed my circuits, all ok. Panel gets energized, I turn on the main, then branch circuits one by one, all ok. Homeowner comes out and says her TV isn't coming on. I go in and verify there is 120 on the recep. A cable box is plugged into the same outlet, and it's on. She, after a rant, tells me I fried her TV. She then takes the TV to the local barbershop/cd retailer/TV repair shop, and comes back 20 minutes later with the diagnosis of "there was no ground on the TV when the power was restored, so it fried the TV." Huh? If her TV (built in the late 90's, and by the homeowners own account, stays on 24 hours a day) would have fried, then the cable box and anything else on that circuit would have went up in smoke too. I remained very polite and cordial to her, but I feel she's going to run this one in the ground. What would be my recourse, or how could this best be handled? Thanks

I guess I'm with most here. Her complaint has no substance. It's an attempt to get out of paying or a reduction in costs. And a pretty dismal attempt at that. You could get into an argument that the work passed inspection, that the grounding had no relevance to the defective appliance etc. but...

Your priority, I assume, is to get paid for the work you did.
Remaining polite and cordial is, in my opinion, a good approach.

I don't know how much the bill for the work was. Maybe an offer, without accepting any liability, of replacing the old television with a similar working unit provided your bill gets paid first could be a way to go.

 

[roy g]

roy g

roy g

two schools of thought on this. one, dig in and continue to argue, with result being a lost customer with no potential to work for her again (along with her friends and every one else she will bad-mouth you to) , or two, (requires supressing your hormones because you feel you have (and may have been) done wrong, but either credit her on the bill for a equal value TV, . This solves the problem of getting paid, having an unhappy customer who will likely cost you more in negative speaking than (loss of even one job?) and putting the matter to rest so your time can get to more productive issues. Be sure to get a signed release for damages. Scripture tells us it's the little foxes that eats the grapes. this can be equated to that the little things destroys a business or us as individuals. It's not fair, but it's logical to move on.