Not Gonna Happen: You Can Quote Me On That
My client, a condo builder, calls to upgrade a specific feature of a penthouse suite as a condition of sale.
Client: “When are you going to start the project?”
Me: “I sent the quote, which states the payment terms, and it clearly states 50% deposit upon acceptance.”
Client: “That’s not how we work, upon completion we will pay you. This project has a very short timeline. I need to know if all materials were purchased.”
Me: “The 50% deposit is required in order to start the project.”
Client: “The sale depends on having this complete. We need this done now.”
Me: “The quote with payment terms was sent over two weeks ago. I sent an email shortly after with no response.”
Client: “We will lose the sale if you don’t start this immediately, we will pay once the unit is sold. I need receipts as proof that you purchased all materials, you will be held accountable for the lost sale!”
Me: “The terms were clearly stated in the quote. We itemized the costing on the quote. The timeline takes into account availability of all materials.”
Client: “I didn’t have time to read the fine print! You have delayed this project by two weeks. The timeline is no good now! You now have less than two weeks to finish this, the sale was accelerated. You need to start tomorrow!”
Me: “The payment terms were clearly stated on the quote, there is no fine print. We are not responsible for a job that we did not start”
Client: “We are a large company, we do not pay in advance, there are more jobs that we could have sent your way but clearly you don’t know how to run a business. You need to make this right. The sale is on condition of you completing this project. I will contact our lawyer on Monday!”
Me: “I have all correspondence that I will gladly forward to your lawyer.”
Client: “We need this project to start on Monday!” *Click.*
The project did not start on Monday.
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