Unfiltered Story #240693

(I am on the phone with a potential client who has already been difficult. He is a referral and already called once while I was on the other line, didn’t leave a message, then called the company who referred him to complain. I have called him back and left two messages as well as emailed him as soon as I could, which he complained about. He also complained that the attorney would not be able to speak with him until Tuesday, even though it is late afternoon on a Thursday and the attorney is in court on Friday and Monday. He has moved on and is currently complaining about our consult fee, even though he gets a discount because of who referred him)

Caller: [Company] said it would be a free consult.

Me: (looking at the information the company sent over about him and already frustrated because it says no such thing) I apologize, sir. It says here that you are entitled to a 25% discount on our services. For this type of law, there is a consult fee in our office.

Caller: I’ve never heard of that. I could call any other law office in [city] and I would immediately be able to speak to an attorney for free and they could tell me if they wanted to take my case.

Me: (internally: Then why don’t you call someone else and stop wasting my time) I can’t speak for any other law offices, sir, but we have always operated like this. If you’d like, you can reach back out to [company] for another referral or I can go ahead and schedule a consult with the attorney for Tuesday.

Caller: OK, I guess I can call her sometime on Tuesday

Me: (trying not to bang my head against the desk) Sir, we need to have an official appointment on the calendar and she will call you at the scheduled time.

Caller: But I don’t know my schedule for next week yet!

(He then continued to argue that he shouldn’t need to set an official appointment, what would he do if he missed the call, and continued to rant about paying a consult fee. At the end of the call, he didn’t set up a consult and said he would call back. Looking forward to that one.)