High maintenance customer

[Laura Brody]

Quoting Bill Campbell <bill at celestial.com>:

> On Mon, Nov 26, 2007, Tom Palmquist wrote:
>> Laura,
>>
>> I feel your pain. The only customer that screwed us out of
>> our fees was a lawyer. Because he owed us <1k$, we elected
>> not to get another attorney and sue. We chalked it up to
>> experience.
>
> So far in the 23 years I've been doing this, the only customer
> that we have had serious problems with was a Baptist Church.
> They seemed to have the attitude that our work should be done for
> free because it was the ``Lord's Work(tm)'', and to make matters
> worse, a committee was involved (there was no issue with the work
> we did, just that they didn't feel like paying for it).

   I try to give non-profit organizations a break, but I also try
not a non-profit on purpose....

   The convoluted logic behind this position gives me a headache.
So their thinking is "since the work benefits the church, the
Lord tells us that it is OK for the church to steal from you" -
does that sum it up? :-)

> We have done a fair amount of work for lawyers without problems,
> but it has always been for small firms where we knew the people
> involved.  That isn't to say that I trust land sharks, just that
> I have been very careful in choosing the clients, and making sure
> that there's an understanding of the work involved.

   I suppose that part of the problem is that he never met me.
I talked to him on the phone a few times, but most communication
was via e-mail. I understand that it is easier to steal/rip-off
someone who is, essentially, a stranger.

-- 
Laura Brody
+------------- Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc ----------+
| PO Box 859 120 Sixth Street    http://www.hvcomputer.com      |
| Verplanck, NY 10596-0859       Voice mail: Quoting Bill Campbell  
<bill at celestial.com>:

> On Mon, Nov 26, 2007, Tom Palmquist wrote:
>> Laura,
>>
>> I feel your pain. The only customer that screwed us out of
>> our fees was a lawyer. Because he owed us <1k$, we elected
>> not to get another attorney and sue. We chalked it up to
>> experience.
>
> So far in the 23 years I've been doing this, the only customer
> that we have had serious problems with was a Baptist Church.
> They seemed to have the attitude that our work should be done for
> free because it was the ``Lord's Work(tm)'', and to make matters
> worse, a committee was involved (there was no issue with the work
> we did, just that they didn't feel like paying for it).

   I try to give non-profit organizations a break, but I am
not a non-profit on purpose....

   So their thinking is "since the work benefits the church, the
Lord tells us that it is OK for the church to steal from you" -
does that sum it up? :-) The convoluted

> We have done a fair amount of work for lawyers without problems,
> but it has always been for small firms where we knew the people
> involved.  That isn't to say that I trust land sharks, just that
> I have been very careful in choosing the clients, and making sure
> that there's an understanding of the work involved.

   I suppose that part of the problem is that he never met me.
I talked to him on the phone a few times, but most communication
was via e-mail. I understand that it is easier to steal/rip-off
someone who is, essentially, a stranger.

-- 
Laura Brody
+------------- Hudson Valley Computer Associates, Inc ----------+
| PO Box 859 120 Sixth Street    http://www.hvcomputer.com      |
| Verplanck, NY 10596-0859       Voice mail: (914) 739-5004     |
+------ PC repair locally, filePro programming globally --------+