Honesty pays

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WinZip

Senior Member
Gave a customer a price of 800.00 for a small job when the guy's got done I stopped by to look it over an then went to speak to the customer but she wasn't home but the mother was so I explained what we did and she says fine let me pay you ,before I could say I will send a bill she hands me a roll of 100$ bills that I didn't count , later I stopped at a store an counted the money an it was 1300.00 - 500.00 more than the quote so i called the owner to explain an would return the balance to her and she said oh I thought the job was 1300.00 so she then says keep it we have a chandelier we want installed.

Maybe the lotto gods will notice my honesty tonight.
 
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wireguru

Senior Member
Buck Parrish said:
Good for you.
I just hope the chandelier doesn't wiegh 80 lbs 20 ft high.
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funny how situations like this turn out to be a huge PITA. I would have returned the surplus funds (and had them sign a copy of the invoice with a notation of the situation), and told them to call you for a bid when they need the chandelier installed. I wouldnt want to be holding customer funds as a deposit for future work, it always tends to become messy.
 
Buck Parrish

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
wireguru said:
funny how situations like this turn out to be a huge PITA. I would have returned the surplus funds (and had them sign a copy of the invoice with a notation of the situation), and told them to call you for a bid when they need the chandelier installed. I wouldnt want to be holding customer funds as a deposit for future work, it always tends to become messy.
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Yep...........
 
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IrishRugger

Senior Member
WinZip said:
You guy's must run into some rough people lol
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Sometimes you run into rough people, most are nice and it is nice to hear about the decent folks out there thanks for sharing your story. BTW good for you about being honest with the surplus cash, it takes great character to do what you did.
 
cowboyjwc

cowboyjwc

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Simi Valley, CA
Did a job for a guy one time and it was T&M, got done, cleaned every thing up and it looked like I had never been there. Handed him a bill for $500 and he handed me a check for $600. I told him I'm sorry I must have made a mistake on the the bill, it was only supposed to be for $500, he said it's Saturday, you did a great job, take your wife out to dinner on me.:)
 
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ishium 80439

Senior Member
Location
Denver foothills via the Horn of Africa
I've had similiar situations where I realized I added wrong or some such and called the customer to let them know. It was never near $500, but it has always seemed that the customers were quite pleased when I brought up the mistake before they noticed it.

I think that I would offer to hold on to it for a week or two and if the work isn't scheduled to get a check back in the mail to them. Just another mark of honesty on your part that they will remember.

As an aside when I was younger and a cashier counted the change wrong in my favor I treated it as my lucky day. Then I had a few part time jobs working a cash register. Now I'll drive back to the store when I notice an error like that. It really stinks to be on that losing end.
 
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WinZip

Senior Member
The customer called about an hour ago wants to meet in the morning to go over the chandelier install an few other small items,not to worry guy's I'm not one of those other guy's.
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
WinZip said:
before I could say I will send a bill she hands me a roll of 100$ bills that I didn't count.
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It's nice that you offered to return the extra money and I commend you on being honest but I must suggest that accepting rolls of un-counted money as payment without a receipt is not a good business practice.

It's not that I don't trust people but I always count cash and give a receipt for funds given in payment. If the lady had only given you six hundred it would be real hard to go back and say you were short two hundred.

:) it's just my opinion but I think money should always be accounted for to avoid confusion. The only thing I like better than an honest person is one that's precise in accounting.
 
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hunt4679

Senior Member
Location
Perry, Ohio
I have gotten $100 tips before that I would decline but just like my grandmother would do, I would find it in my truck or my tool pouch at the end of the day.
 
zappy

zappy

Senior Member
Location
CA.
Right move!

Right move!

This happened to my father. He does a service change, gets paid. Looks at the check, It's over $100.00 He call to tell them, and they said yeah that's your tip. They call him for more work, but this time they told him about the tip. He thought maybe they were testing him, to see if he would say anything about the over payment.
 
mcclary's electrical

mcclary's electrical

Senior Member
Location
VA
It can become a real pain, I had a small business that had a construction loan. The loan had a date that it could not be used after that date. So they piad me $ 2,000 dollars extra, and wanted me to work it off later. It's hard to get back to them and work when you were paid two months ago,,,,,I would have rather them kept it and held it.
 
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WinZip

Senior Member
I didn't count the cash because to me that's just not classy in front of the customer but I knew the 800.00 was all there having handled a lot of cash in my days, with that said I have a meeting with the owner today and will of course offer the 500.00 back to her but I know what she will say do the chandelier and the other few small items an we will both be happy, It's a custom home with 10 ft ceilings how bad could it be unless it's a motorized lift up and down for the chandelier.
 
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