Flakey Customer

[DGPEAKE@AOL.COM]

I can identify with you having such a customer.  I do not know if I would 
have let him go so long without paying.  After a net period of time, if I 
need to send another bill to the customer, I add a late fee.  Usually I 
receive a check with an apology.

Piano customers are the best customers any business could have.  In my 20 
years of business, I have had only about 3 checks bounce, and only one I 
never was able to collect on.  Nearly all of my customers pay as soon as the 
service is completed.  Other customers such as institutions I need to bill, 
and only occasionally do I need to call or send late notice.

I congratulate you for your patience.  Something we all need to learn.

Dave Peake, RPT
Portland Chapter
Oregon City, OR




In a message dated 10/15/99 11:57:12 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
tcole@cruzio.com writes:

<< 
 It is rare that a customer will not pay me for my services.
 Occasionally, I'll need to leave a bill but soon the check comes.
 Whether it's that piano owners are more responsible or that I know where
 they live or... maybe somebody has a good answer for this one. Suffice
 to say that it's a nice aspect of this business (now institutions,
 that's another story).
 
 I had a customer, Vic, whom I have characterized as
 less-than-responsible. After the first service call, he would always pay
 me in arrears, later and later each time. One time, he neglected to send
 me a check altogether. Returning the following year, I mentioned it to
 him and he apologized and immediately wrote me a check - for the
 previous tuning - and left, as in the past, without paying me for the
 _current_ one. I felt unappreciated.
 
 Years went by and he didn't call. I began to think (hope) that he had
 left the area. Tonight, as my wife and I were enduring a very long wait
 at a popular restaurant, much longer than anticipated, I noticed that
 ol' Vic had entered the waiting area. Too grouchy from hunger and a long
 day to be glad-handed by a non-paying customer, I prayed that he might
 choose not to recognize me to avoid a confrontation.
 
 Not so. He came right over and struck up a lively conversation: trekking
 in Nepal, visited friends in Australia, went to New Zealand, Bali, Alpha
 Centauri... It was difficult to feign interest.
 
 Then, unexpectedly, he asked me if he had paid me for the last tuning. I
 said that, no, he hadn't and, without hesitation, he pulled a $100 bill
 from his pocket and gave it to me.
 
 At that moment, the owner of the restaurant came over to us to say that
 our table was ready. 
 
 It's moments like these that I think about judgement and the power of
 forgiveness. 
 
 Thanks for listening.
 
 Tom
 -- 
 
 "Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to
 die."
 
 Thomas A. Cole, RPT
 Santa Cruz, CA
 mailto:tcole@cruzio.com
 
  >>