Elegant Floor Services

"This customer's poor evaluation relates to one issue - our charging of the Member's credit card without his 'approval'. He paid us the required 30% deposit on his credit card. To suit his schedule, he asked that we supply and install material in a first stage (11/29-30), he would then have cabinets installed, then summon us to do sanding/finishing in a second stage (12/6-9). We agreed under our standard policy that we would invoice him for material/progress after the 1st stage, the balance after the 2nd stage - we invoiced the Member after each stage accordingly. We did make a mistake, billing the Member for ~$800 out of ~$6000 of the work because he decided mid-course that he was not ready to have the $800 work done. But as of 12/22, nearly 2 weeks after all other work was completed, he had not paid either invoice, nor had he called to point our mistake. Our terms are net due, we do not offer credit, and he signed a contract agreeing to those terms. Since he seemed happy with the work, and since we had his credit card on file from having collected his deposit, we ran the balance for the job to close out his invoice. We're not a bank or credit card company, so we allow/encourage our customers to pay by credit card for their convenience or to use credit. The Member immediately sent me an email to complain that we had charged his credit card without authorization including for work not yet done. He demanded that the entire amount be refunded, not just the amount for work not yet completed. I sent him a detailed explanation as to why we felt justified charging his card for monies long overdue to us, but acknowledged our error in charging for the $800 work not yet completed - offered to refund the $800 - even though this was $800 that we expected to earn any day when he summoned us to complete the $800 work that he had requested be suspended. That didn't satisfy the Member, he insisted that the entire transaction be reversed, which would leave him owing us $3600 rather than us refunding his $800???? Just as he had not responded to our invoices, the Member gave no answer to my question 'When did he intend to pay what he owed?'. The Member claimed that if we had emailed him he would have paid the bill. This is not true, our emailed invoices elicited no response. We've never in the past had a customer object so strenuously to charging their card when the job is complete, thus honoring their agreement to our payment terms, although we'll never do so when a customer has outstanding concerns about our work. For the record, in his emails, the Member pointed out that he was pleased with our work and has never given his reason for not paying his bill. In a later email, the Member suggested I pay him $1250 rather than the $800 owed to him to 'settle the matter', an extra $450 of his self-determined punitive damages I suppose. He's now contacted the attorney general's office with whom I agreed to a more modest concession. The whole incident is regrettable and underscores how easily damaged a customer relationship can be - it seems we're either heros or villains, no in-between. Fortunately we're far more often the former, as evidenced by 4 straight Super Service awards. We just ask that customers be sensitive to the fact that employees and many suppliers don't take IOU's, they still have to be paid whether you pay us or not. Our collections advisors coach us that every customer debt (receivable) represents a customer 'walking around with our $$ in their pocket'. Nevertheless, we'll learn from this and be more careful to get customer approval before running credit card transactions."

"The member called us at the last minute with an urgent need for services that could only be done on Sat, 9/18 - we don't usually schedule Saturdays but agreed to in this case. Our Crew Chief fell ill on Saturday AM and could not get there. Since it was Saturday and the office was closed the Crew Chief could not relay his situation and the member was not informed in a timely way. I sent email offering to send the crew on Monday but got no response. Evidently the member was able to have the service done later in the week. Had he scheduled with us on a weekday the problem would have been avoided. Nevertheless, we need our Crew Chiefs to take better initiative to contact the customer if they cannot keep their appointment. We apologize for not keeping the member informed."

"Among the most difficult customers to please are those who have actually done some floor refinishing and know what the challenges are, where to look for flaws. This is the first I'm learning of this member's concerns so I can't dispute his report. But he's quite correct, we would have readily gone back to address his concerns had he asked. Glad to hear though that 'everyone thinks they look beautiful'."

"As promised I did indeed speak to our Foreman and the assigned Crew Chief about the 'stain' on the back deck. The Crew Chief indicated that noone from our crew ever went onto the back deck, there was no reason to go onto the back deck. I know that testimony was not likely to be received well by the member and I apologize if we did not convey that to her."