Trader of bespoke furnishings problem with customer

[king12345]

Do you make blinds?

What product are we talking about?

And what faults the customers thinks are there?

I worked with wood, so i know what you mean that something that it's an indication of a good job can be seen by the ignorant eye as a defect.

[king12345]

This sounds like the ever unhappy customer. 

I had a couple in my days and on one occasion I cleared the site within half hour and left a kitchen extension half done.

I lost a couple of grand on that project, but I was glad to go with all my team to a better job with a more reasonable customer. 

The woman ended up begging us to go back because nobody in the area would deal with her after we spread the news around local pubs.

So, my advice is: if you can walk away and cut your losses, do it, otherwise she will make your life a misery.

Tell her to buy her curtains and blinds from argos, they have a no quibble refund policy, so she can take the all lot back in a continuous cycle and keep moaning forever.

[king12345]

The customer can always argue that the product is not fit for purpose, even when custom made.

Then what?

A long battle probably through county court.

I'd avoid that like the plague and walk away with a loss.

[king12345]

Don't be impressed by the fact he's a lawyer. 

They very rarely sue someone because they know the risks and hours involved in the process. 

My bet is that short of doing all the work for free or at cost price, she'll complain.

It's typical of people who come from squalid backgrounds and meet some money along their way.

They know it all and nothing is good enough for their superior standards.

They want top quality at cheap prices and they love being the customer who is always right.

In reality they're still the same people who had to search food from rubbish and use bushes as toilets.

I put them in their place a lot of times when i was at the beginning,  then i learned to spot the trouble makers and avoid them.

I remember one in particular who threatened to sue me because I refused to give him a quote. 

He was convinced that I had no right to refuse his custom and insisted on many occasions that I visited his house for a quote.

He eventually stopped calling but then 12 months later he called again because his compatriot contractor had messed things up and the extension had been failed by the council.

My answer: "pay peanuts, get monkeys"

I gave him a 45k quote there and then on the phone, to demolish and start again: he never called again.

Your case is difficult because you have already done a lot of the work.

The risk of starting negotiations is that they'll feel you are at fault, so if you do that, make sure you let them know that you are doing it because you don't want them as your customers.

As soon as you give them an inch they'll take a full mile.

One more thing: if you have any contact with them, face to face or phone, record it; their other trick is to say that you agreed to something or that you threatened them.