When I go out to a customers home to give them a free estimate, I tend to listen to the owner and try to figure out what it is that they want done and what is the reason that they called me out to look at their trees. Sometimes I think they are just calling me out there because someone has told them they need to get more than one estimate, and sometimes they just want to have someone reassure them that their trees are okay because they have been told absolute lies about their trees and they are afraid they are going to have to get a costly removal.
And then there are people that call you out because they think that they can get a better deal with you and save money. These are the type of people that if you are a tree service provider that you will run into occasionally. They start out by telling you that its going to be an easy job, or that they would do it themselves but they don't have the time. Then there are the ones that try to tell you how to do the job, how many cuts its going to take , or tell you that they want their palms Hurricane cut. A terrible way to trim palms. When i tell them that I am a certified arborist and i have been taught that hurricane cutting palms is a bad practice they actually say " I don't care that's how I want them trimmed".
I went on an estimate last week. I no sooner then drove up to the house and the lady came out of her home and up to my car, before i even got out of my car she was telling me how she wanted the tree trimmed and telling me she was going to be out there watching me because the last guy that came out to trim it " hacked it up" Well the tree looked alright to me and i did not see anywhere that the tree was hacked up. And after giving her a price then she started adding more she wanted done and after telling her that the extra trimming would be more she turned and said to me " You just don't want the job do you?" and walked back to her house and went in. I was speechless!
Shortly after this incident I had a lady call about a broken limb over a home. she told me that everyone she called would not come out. She sounded pretty desperate so i told he that I would be able to stop by the next day. So the next day came and I proceeded to drive the 19 miles to the mobile home park to look at this tree limb. When I got there I had to stop at the gate to get in. I called her and got no answer, now people are starting to back up behind me to get in. Well to make a long story short i had to get everyone to back up so i could turn around. What a nightmare! On my way back i get a message from her telling me that she had gotten someone to do it. Now either she was lying to me in the beginning or she had someone already and was just looking for a better price.
This is how 15% of my estimates go these days, I don't mind going to look at a job but it just seems to me that people do not have any respect anymore for people trying to help them out.
As late as yesterday i was supposed to trim two palms for a lady in land o lakes. She said that when i was on my way to page her so she could bring the dogs in. I said okay and i paged he before i left my home , well when i got to her gated community i could not get in so i paged her , then i called her . No answer . After driving home got a message that her phone was dead and was being charged, and something about her husbands phone?
I don't know how long i am going to be able to give free estimates. free advice , This is not working out to good. I spend time and money to provide a service and a lot of time all i get is disrespected by people.
And i could go on and on about being bitten by peoples dogs and they just laugh about it like its no big deal. Well that's enough of my ranting for one blog post . Leave a message and tell me what you think. Have a nice day.
And then there are people that call you out because they think that they can get a better deal with you and save money. These are the type of people that if you are a tree service provider that you will run into occasionally. They start out by telling you that its going to be an easy job, or that they would do it themselves but they don't have the time. Then there are the ones that try to tell you how to do the job, how many cuts its going to take , or tell you that they want their palms Hurricane cut. A terrible way to trim palms. When i tell them that I am a certified arborist and i have been taught that hurricane cutting palms is a bad practice they actually say " I don't care that's how I want them trimmed".
I went on an estimate last week. I no sooner then drove up to the house and the lady came out of her home and up to my car, before i even got out of my car she was telling me how she wanted the tree trimmed and telling me she was going to be out there watching me because the last guy that came out to trim it " hacked it up" Well the tree looked alright to me and i did not see anywhere that the tree was hacked up. And after giving her a price then she started adding more she wanted done and after telling her that the extra trimming would be more she turned and said to me " You just don't want the job do you?" and walked back to her house and went in. I was speechless!
Shortly after this incident I had a lady call about a broken limb over a home. she told me that everyone she called would not come out. She sounded pretty desperate so i told he that I would be able to stop by the next day. So the next day came and I proceeded to drive the 19 miles to the mobile home park to look at this tree limb. When I got there I had to stop at the gate to get in. I called her and got no answer, now people are starting to back up behind me to get in. Well to make a long story short i had to get everyone to back up so i could turn around. What a nightmare! On my way back i get a message from her telling me that she had gotten someone to do it. Now either she was lying to me in the beginning or she had someone already and was just looking for a better price.
This is how 15% of my estimates go these days, I don't mind going to look at a job but it just seems to me that people do not have any respect anymore for people trying to help them out.
As late as yesterday i was supposed to trim two palms for a lady in land o lakes. She said that when i was on my way to page her so she could bring the dogs in. I said okay and i paged he before i left my home , well when i got to her gated community i could not get in so i paged her , then i called her . No answer . After driving home got a message that her phone was dead and was being charged, and something about her husbands phone?
I don't know how long i am going to be able to give free estimates. free advice , This is not working out to good. I spend time and money to provide a service and a lot of time all i get is disrespected by people.
And i could go on and on about being bitten by peoples dogs and they just laugh about it like its no big deal. Well that's enough of my ranting for one blog post . Leave a message and tell me what you think. Have a nice day.
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