Once bitten, Twice shy

In all walks of life things will come along to test you, possibly anger you and upset you. There's nothing a lot of the time you can do to stop this from happening, it's how you react that counts. Recently I have found myself tested on a few occasions and I had wondered how'd I'd react if it ever happened to me. Now I know. In my business you get a lot of time wasters, not all are deliberate. A great many love the idea of having a professional decorator in to do the work in their houses, only to find upon receiving a quote it's a lot more than they'd originally anticipated. (For reference purposes, expect to pay upwards of £120 a day for most good decorators) Upon that quote they can't afford to proceed, that's not a problem at all, I completely understand and respect that. The other time wasters are those who let you down on everything. Meeting times, payments, avoiding calls and texts, etc. These people wind me up. Promise you everything and fulfil nothing. The amount of jobs I've gone to view and nobody is there is too many. Same with quotes. I realise they might not the work doing by myself after seeing the quote and I don't expect to win every single job I price for, but I do spend a lot of time and effort into writing up these quotes and sourcing products and prices which I don't charge for, all I request is that I'm told either way. I have a lot of respect for the people who say, sorry I'm going with someone else.

I've recently done a job, with the promise of additional work, but was messed about constantly. Still not received payment either, won't go into detail as I'm debating with myself if it's worth pushing the issue further due to the amount owed. This is what winds me up though, I am a honest person and I will be at somewhere when I arrange to be there, on time. I expect the same courtesy from others. Maybe I expect too much. Same with getting paid, I ask for payment on completion or on agreed staged payments if its a longer job. So many delay payment its unbelievable. For example you don't go in Tesco, get your shopping and say can I pay you on Wednesday? It doesn't happen so why do people think it's ok to make tradespeople wait? This isn't just a personal thing either it happens across all the construction trades. We all have bills to pay like yourselves, late payments can make or break businesses as not everyone has enough to cover costs all the time. Could be something as little as two late payers that send a business under. Do wish some people would realise this.

These gripes make you appreciate the good customers the more. The ones who pay on time without fail, the ones who are there when they say they will be. These are the people who you go that extra mile for to make sure they are happy with everything you have done, it's a two way street. I suspect the further on in business you are, the better you become at weeding out the time wasters, something I hope to be better on in the future.

*I must give a big shout out to www.mypaintbrush.co.uk for the exceptional customer service I received the other week. A parcel sent by them got lost by the courier company, but from the minute I informed mypaintbrush to the minute the parcel was found they were brilliant in assisting me. Good customer service goes a long way and I won't forget it in the future.

www.db-decs.co.uk