The most insane customer you ever had - Paint Talk

Dacosta Painting · 01-31-2010, 12:25 AM

With me it was two winters ago. I go look at this small cape and the HO wants to repaint the whole place. The place looked like it just got painted so HO goes on to tell me how its not up to his standard, I didnt see why he wanted to repaint this the same colors, so he tells me it was just painted that summer, but hes not happy.
Im thinking this guy is nuts so I give him a high price figuring that he would bulk at it, he says when can you start, I say next week, and get a deposit for half. I bring two helpers so this can get done professional ASAP, as we paint this place I get to talk to the guy and hes telling me some crazy stories and Im thinking good thing I didnt do this job solo.
Then two guys knock on the door and It was the painters who painted his place in the summer talking about picking up a very expensive sprayer they left behind, they got the sprayer and left and then called me warning me that the HO has a bad case of ocd.
Then the HO lifelong buddy came buy and told me how when they did the tiles he stood behind them with a dust buster. So you had to see this guy for the five days what we had to deal with, he watched every move, looked at the same wall for hours on end . And that was my longest final walk through as it lasted a whole day with a punch list of things he was seeing but nobody else could see.
I got paid we left and he calls back two weeks later talking about how much to do the exterior, I give him a even higher price, he says can you start next week(middle of January in CT) I say April, he says you can paint in the cold, I say you may, I do not. He gets mad I never hear from him again.

johnpaint · 01-31-2010, 12:35 AM

This is the truth, you really never know how people are going to act when you get in their home. I have found out through the years that some people can act the worst in their own home than any other place.

Mantis · 01-31-2010, 12:57 AM

Please dont underline your entire post. it makes it really hard to read. *blind*

About 5 years ago we had a lady insist to the GC that no mexicans be allowed to work on her home do to any type of work, from framing to cleaning. According to her claims, two mexicans had painted her friend's home in California and left the door "unlocked" when they left that afternoon. Supposedly they later came back later that night and raped the lady then robbed her blind.

So, when it came time to do the post-move-in touch-ups, i had my two mexican employees join me. we knocked on her door and i introduced myself and then informed her "This is Baltazar and Carlos. They are two of my service painters. They recently moved here from California. If they can do anything to help please let them know."

She stayed locked in her room the entire time. i'm not sure why.

Picky Painter · 01-31-2010, 10:20 PM

Mantis you sadistic bastard

Mine is from labor day weekend 2008 involving a former good friend.
The guy calls me on the thursday before the long weekend , while still on vacation. Seems he persuaded another friend of ours to replace all the trim in his house in exchange for some furniture he was looking to replace. That right there was a heck of a bargain in his favor. Anyways, he tells me to go over, take a look at what the trim guy is doing and get back to him with a price. The trim guy is intent on getting in and out real fast, so he has slapped on the backbanding without pre-priming it, and I had already painted the walls the previous summer. needless to say, it was gonna be a real pain in the ass to prime, paint and caulk without mucking up the walls. I call him back and let him know that the job is a real PITA, but since he's a close friend I'll do it for $900. I made it perfectly clear that I would not be hitting $20/hour on his job. There's a long pause on the phone, then he says he figured the job was worth 500 bucks, he says he will have to think about it and get back to me. When he does call me back, he says he'll pay me the $900 AS LONG AS i PAINT ALL HIS DOORS TOO. That's 13 x 6-panel doors and 2 x 9-pane french doors. On top of all that, he also told me he wanted me there working on top of the trimmer all weekend to get as much done as possible before he gets home from his vacation because he felt that his life shouldnt be disrupted by my work.

I went ahead and did the job, then scratched him off the ole friends list.

DeanV · 01-31-2010, 10:23 PM

I would have removed him from the friend list and not done the painting.

woodtradesman · 01-31-2010, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeanV

I would have removed him from the friend list and not done the painting.

What he said.

NEPS.US · 01-31-2010, 10:38 PM

....................

Metro M & L · 01-31-2010, 10:51 PM

"And you didn't paint the ceiling underneath the light fixtures." Translation, I did not remove all the dome fixtures and paint under them.

j0tun · 02-01-2010, 01:24 AM

Oh boy..this one was rather recent. After hearing about the customer above with the OCD, I would actually wager that this is what my customer suffers from. His expectations were absolutely disgusting. We would finish for the day, and come back the next morning, and there would be green tape tags all over the place. He would go through after we left and look for all the imperfections, even on work that clearly hadn't been completed yet. He compiled lists and walked through with me every day. It was to the point where I would ask him to show me an imperfection on his list that I couldn't find for the life of me, and he would fail to find it again himself. He actually said, after frantically looking and feeling for an imperfection on some door trim and being unable to do so, "Oh just a second, I'm gonna go get my flashlight!" Of course he then proceeded to fetch his flashlight and point out some of the most insignificant flaws I have ever seen. I explained to him that there is a limit as to how far we can go, especially on a re-paint with some old drywall and trim. He then went on to tell me that his father-in-law had told him to find every flaw possible and 'see how much you can get them to do'. Wow. And by the way, this house could not at all be considered high-end. He expected better workmanship than what I did in a 10 million dollar home, and I thought those contractors were picky (rightly so).

chrisn · 02-01-2010, 04:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j0tun

Oh boy..this one was rather recent. After hearing about the customer above with the OCD, I would actually wager that this is what my customer suffers from. His expectations were absolutely disgusting. We would finish for the day, and come back the next morning, and there would be green tape tags all over the place. He would go through after we left and look for all the imperfections, even on work that clearly hadn't been completed yet. He compiled lists and walked through with me every day. It was to the point where I would ask him to show me an imperfection on his list that I couldn't find for the life of me, and he would fail to find it again himself. He actually said, after frantically looking and feeling for an imperfection on some door trim and being unable to do so, "Oh just a second, I'm gonna go get my flashlight!" Of course he then proceeded to fetch his flashlight and point out some of the most insignificant flaws I have ever seen. I explained to him that there is a limit as to how far we can go, especially on a re-paint with some old drywall and trim. He then went on to tell me that his father-in-law had told him to find every flaw possible and 'see how much you can get them to do'. Wow. And by the way, this house could not at all be considered high-end. He expected better workmanship than what I did in a 10 million dollar home, and I thought those contractors were picky (rightly so).

Something like this?

Wolfgang · 02-01-2010, 05:56 AM

I seem to recall that post Chris.

aaron61 · 02-01-2010, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisn

Something like this?

I remember this 1....classic blue tape syndrome..I'm surprised he didn't tag your radio!!!!!!

high fibre · 02-01-2010, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisn

Something like this?

the scary thing is, you usually have no idea untill you have the final coats on. some people are appreciative, and the you have the people who want their walls and trim to look like the hood of a car.

the pics with the blue tape made me want to hurl, and brought back a few nighmares.

at least they didnt use a ball point pen.

Wolfgang · 02-01-2010, 09:13 AM

... or a Sharpie. Happened to me once.

tntpainting · 02-01-2010, 09:44 AM

i had a guy go thru my work with a level and a flash light i did some striping on a wall and told him not to touch any thing on the walls especially the lines where the stripes were well he f&*&** with everything includeing the stripe lines and then had the nerve to tell me the stripes were off by like 1/8 inch and i marked allmy lines w/out him knowing and showed the idiot that if he would have let me do my job w/out messin w/it it would have been perfect .as for the flashlight thing thats just stupid who goes thru theyre hous w/ a friigin flashlight ? needless to say this guy has called me back a couple times to stain his deck told him no thanks

**RCP** · 02-01-2010, 09:54 AM

Have a NC house we did last month, GC had to tear out and replace tile because the grout lines were too big for the HO. GC calls me Friday and says it is ready for final touchup, but don't freak out when we see all the blue tape the HO put up! Can hardly wait.

high fibre · 02-01-2010, 10:27 AM

ive written up proposals that state>>>>>you are paying for a process.

then write in detail exactly what the process is.

they do not get unlimited touch ups.

Paint and Hammer · 02-01-2010, 11:40 AM

My craziest customer was an older gay couple. Big guys...the term is "bears", who just inherited a few million dollars. They bought a fairly big house with 1700 sqft pool area.

The colours were outrageous! Purple doors with bright green trim, pinks, reds ect.....the place looked like a carnival. To be honest, painting those colours was fun, a nice break from earth tones and another shade of white.

So far....who cares right? Not the way I choose to live my life, but it's a good job and their paying.

Well, a disco ball was put up in the pool area and the place filled with partying gay guys. Wasn't long before the clothes came off and 'stuff' happening. We were painting in another part of the house and naked guys were 'wondering' over.

I got paid (I think it was around $7000) in cash by a fat naked guy with at least 30 more naked gay guys dancing and swimming in the pool area.

Talk about bee lining it to the front door!

Rcon · 02-01-2010, 12:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisn

Something like this?

I hope you billed her for using up all your tape

BenPaintinTooLong · 02-01-2010, 12:23 PM

I had a customer not the worst for sure , but I had repainted a rental unit total wreack walls was a mess lots of dints and dings , just wanted the nail holes filled and one coat of white on wall, I finish and here he comes in with a 500 watt haligeon light to shine on the walls to make sure it was done properlyhe said, I am protesting as he ,with a smurk on his face, plugs in the light and it wont work , he tried for a half hr in all plugs and took out the bulb ,but no good.
He gave up finaly and paid me, if he had shined that light on those walls it would have looked like an abortion, and he knew it

Some people! Thank God for blown bulbs