Quote:
Originally Posted by Sliver
Typically, yes, you can do things like that. Did you miss the part where there was an 18-month lead time, though? I'm sure there are a lot of parts in a hot tub. There is going to be a wood structure (wood has gone up big time in the last 18 months). There are going to be chips (LED lights, stereos, fountains, motors, timers, etc.)...have you bought anything with a chip lately (if you can even find them)? I don't even know what hot tubs are made out of...acrylic maybe? There's no way that hasn't gone up.
So yeah, we can sit here at our desks and just say, 'lock the price in, guy' but you can't honestly think that's the way the world works right now...particularly when obviously the hot tub company would be in a better position if they could collect payment in full and deliver the hot tub any time sooner than 18 months. Like, that's an insane lead time on a hot tub, but one that isn't a total shocker, either.
I believe the hot tub - ordered in November 2020 - could not possibly cost the same when delivered in April 2022. No hot tub company is going to be able to sue the chain of suppliers that would undoubtedly have increased their prices to the hot tub company. Locking in contracts is great and all, but at a certain size - which I assume most hot tub retailers would find themselves - enforcing a price contract in this day and age is impossible.
If a customer wants to walk from a project because their circumstances have changed would I let them? Of fataing course because I'm a human being and don't like to make things harder for other human beings. I'll typically just keep a portion of their deposit to cover any of my costs and give them the rest. Sometimes I'll even do more. Like, I read in the paper about a customer of mine who died after he had given me a deposit on a project. I was out money, but the last thing I figured his estate needed was trying to figure out that charge or having to worry about getting a deposit back on something he was clearly never going to need again and I certainly wasn't going to throw the old "bUt We HaVe A cOnTrAcT" at him. I just came in on Monday, refunded his credit card in full, and didn't even contact his estate.
And you wouldn't be too happy if there was a pricing error on bananas? I wouldn't fataing care. I'd chalk it up to mistakes happen and I wouldn't give it another thought.
I mean, if somebody is actually trying to scam me obviously I'll get really annoyed. But if people are just cruising around doing their best and then let me know their circumstances have changed, regardless of which side of the arrangement I'm on I'll try to work with them and not just randomly dig in.
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Well we can up with scenarios until we are blue in the face. I have no idea why there is an 18 month lead time for a hot tub but that was pretty nice of the customer to allow the business to keep his money for that long until the hot tub market turned around.
I feel like you are focused on customers screwing over small business. Well I have no idea what business you are in but do you supply warranties to your customers? If your cost of providing service under that warranty goes up unexpectedly, are you no longer honoring it or asking for more money?
To me this isn't randomly digging in, it's respecting a relationship predicated on people keeping their word.