People don't appreciate small businesses and treat them like shit

[toepick]

I'm a small business

I have to smile and be nice to customers of course but most of them are cunts

People just take, take, take
Don't appreciate the effort that goes into a good small business and will think nothing of not paying when they should

I am self employed within my own small business client facing

I potentially on average work face to face with anything upto 40 clients a week sometimes and hand in heart I don't feel negatively towards them at all

Most of them have been loyal clients for many years

They stay with me because I provide an excellent service but I also have fairly strict boundaries in place

These include notice of any cancellations or a fee will be due. If the fee is not paid they are no longer allowed to book.

On the other side of the coin I've had clients that have insisted on paying the fee due to late cancellation even when I've waived it due to it not being their fault.

I've never had to chase anyone for payment because they pay before they leave the premises on the day.

If anyone emails messages or calls out of working hours (most don't anymore to be fair)it is left unopened or I replied to until the next working day.

If I have ever had to move a client due to running over etc I have always given them a percent off of their bill to show I appreciate their time is as important as mine and vice versa.

I've only ever had one person be rude to a staff member over the phone and they were calmly told by myself that sort of behaviour is not tolerated and an apology to staff member was made and it has never happened again.

I have been in the same role and business for nearly 30 years op,I treat my clients well with little extras and they treat me well.

You sound very angry and frustrated which is a horrible place to be.

I have had times where I've really dreaded going to work and then I remind myself I'm in a very lucky position because of what I do and the clients

Maybe you need to step back or out for a minute

I have premises outwith my home, thank goodness. I also see clients by appointment only. I once had a very pushy woman appear without an appointment, and she actually tried to barge right in to a bridal fitting I was in the middle of! Eventually left when the brides mother got cross and told her to bugger off.

Pushy woman came back later, again without appt, insisted on leaving bag of things with me to price.

I sent her quote, she tried for a discount, I said no , come get your things and then she said she'd "allow" me to do the job.

When done, she again asked for discount. Again, told no.

Honestly, some people are put on this planet to test you if they can.

She's now blacklisted.

I kind of regret this post

Was just so tired and fed up this morning

I feel this is something that was noticed a lot during lockdown. Many small shops deemed 'non-essential' by the government while massive online businesses boomed. Small businesses were clobbered and some never recovered despite loans. Then the post-lockdown boom, which saw many more people turn into vile cnuts. While I do a lot of online shopping, if there is anything I need that is sold by a small business, I'm always happy to pay the full prices. It's still a business like online ones are and people need to make a living all the same. You name the price and I'll pay it. No fuss.

I run an online small business and would say 95% of my customers are absolutely bloody lovely.

I do get emails (and occasional texts) out of hours, but never phone calls. I just leave them till I’m back at my desk the next day.

Don’t regret your post OP, you’ve had a bad day and it’s fine to vent in an anonymous forum.

Sounds like you might be a B2C business, some customers these days have very very high expectations! They will falsely compare you to international online sweat shops in pricing and delivery whilst also wanting hand made bespoke high quality products/services. The two don’t compare. It’s like comparing a plastic deep fried Mcfast food chain to a the most overbooked, brilliant local home made gastro pub with a roaring log fire.

The mistake is theirs, not yours and a few boundaries, a decent returns policy, and some wateright T&Cs will get rid of the bad ‘uns. Good luck.

We all have rotten days and nit being paid for your work is just plain theft. I'm angry on your behalf.
I thought a client was going to refuse to pay for a huge job last week, as I was foolish enough to drop it off before she'd settled her invoice. I felt sick for 16 hours till the auto reminder in my invoice app set it again and she paid up.
I won't do that again.

We all have bad moments.

If you are getting screwed over can you change your terms and maybe require deposits for materials so at least you aren't out of pocket ?

Can you ask for non refundable deposit before work, or prepayment? I learnt the hard way as a small business owner in that way too. I read an article on the amount of invoices not paid by people/large businesses to small businesses/sole traders and its millions of pounds missing! It's awful, but you can do things to protect. I have to have clear guidelines and all prepayment now.

Exactly this op...might be worth having a few sentences stating the quality of work etc, cause people really do want so much for do little these days

For all the reasons set out above, our small family business does not deal with the general public -- at all, ever. We maintain, repair and remanufacture large engineering systems but it comes under a general heading that now embraces domestic 'green' power and heating systems so we get lots of walk ins wanting to know if we can help them. Ten years ago, we thought about going into the field, and backed off at 90 mph.

I’m tired and fed-up today too, OP.

I drive 2.5hrs to an appointment with a small business that I made two weeks ago. Paid a deposit and received my confirmation email.

Arrived at the appointed time to find the door shut. After twenty minutes of trying to reach her by phone, I finally managed to get a response to an Instagram message that basically said “sorry but I lost your number so couldn’t tell you I’d not be in today because my child is sick”. She’s now ignoring my request for my deposit back.

Talk about a waste of time, money, petrol, parking cost, and effort.

There’s a big business half an hour away from my house that I could have gone to instead. If the person I’d booked had been sick, I’d have been reassigned to another member of staff.

I’m also tired and fed-up because I booked a tradesman a week ago and he still hasn’t arrived.

I guess all small business owners must just be cunts 🤷‍♀️

@WeekWeekWeek your post isn’t really fair and you’re using this as a way to kick OP when she’s down.

Couldn't agree more OP.

No, I’m just pointing out that OP has strong feelings towards her customers, and sometimes customers have equally strong feelings about businesses, especially small ones that can be lacking in terms of people, customer services, and systems.

If she would like to label her customers as “cunts”, I can’t imagine she’ll be too upset at my tale of the cuntish behaviour I experienced from a small business owner this week.

It sounds to me you are simply burned out and maybe it's time to reconsider going into employment rather than carrying on as you are. I used to run a small catering business. Going bust in 2008 recession was the best thing. Even though it was very traumatic at the time. I had so many transferable skills. Still, it took me some time to work out how to move on. I still have occasional dreams about my business, I had put so much effort into making it work but it wasn't meant to be. I can honestly say I am much happier now. I earn a lot more money being employed and I never have to look at a work email on my day off unless I want to. I hope it helps

This

i will never touch a small local buisness ever again after being fucked over many times

Kind of with the OP on this one., small businesses with much smaller margins are expected to provide big business levels of around the clock customer support and generally absorb any losses due to customer fuckwittery in their stride with a smile on their face and if they don't they get a hatchet job one star review.

We are also working towards a B Corp certification and have a huge focus on ethics and sustainability which again is more expensive

I'd save yourself the bother. Being a B Corp clearly means absolutely nothing if Nespresso can get the certification. Coffee pods are not sustainable and even the recyclable ones are far less "green" than just using filter coffee! I was shocked when I saw it was a B Corp!

If it's getting you down this much OP, maybe it's time to consider paid employment?

I appreciate the ones I use! Recently I had problems with deliveries to Europe from one company - I got a bill on two occasions for customs duties when these are supposed to be covered by the company. I emailed a few times late at night, expecting a reply the next day. To my surprise I had more than one reply almost immediately, at around 11pm in the U.K. They apologised and will refund the taxes (billed due to a communication error between couriers). I much prefer dealing with small companies as they mostly have a more flexible attitude, rather than being of the 'computer says no' persuasion. And your chances of communicating with someone who can help are much much higher, rather than being passed from pillar to post.

Yes, looked at B Corp certification and it’s greenwash.

Threatening legal action and if you can't be bothered but want at least some money back sell the debt to a debt collection agency. Tell them first because no one wants them on your case so they are more likely to pay.

You can kiss their custom goodbye but who needs customers like that.

Many people are so used to mass or slave produced 'hand painted', or 'hand finished' items, that when they come across something genuinely hand made, the actual cost shocks them

It often takes hours to make even a relatively small item, but people genuinely don't understand what it takes to make an item

Minimum wage + costs + p&p all add up

This is very true and why I would never turn my hobby, sewing, into a business.

DH was an electrician for a few years. Only ever had one customer who thought paying for her electric shower to be fitted was optional.

He gave up when he realised that a lot of people were using him to find out how much having a job done professionally would cost. They would then say that their mother's cousin's cat would do the job for a tin of Whiskas. DH, as a Part P electrician, would have to do the job properly and make sure any circuit he worked on was up to code. The mother's cousin's cat had no such constraints.

There's an awful lot of dodgy wiring out there!