Grrrr..something for nothing

[hoofnhound]

Have a new client mad at me because I charged her $40 instead of $30 to trim her 2 year old stud with horribly neglected feet.
grossly overgrown bars,crushed and impacted to make false sole all the way out to the white line. 1" higher on the lateral heel from toe out conformation,oozing,tarry thrush at the seat of the corn in both fronts.
Got him looking great and she thinks I'm ripping her off.
Had to vent!
:mad:

[Gary Hill]

You can really **** them off if they don't stay on a regular 6 or 8 week trim schedule , then I charge by the 1/4 in . Cut an inch off ,equals 4 trims missed. They either smartin up or quit ya, either way you win! Good Luck!

[Julie Plaster]

You know you did right by the horse. It's a good thing you got to her horse when you did, sounds like it needed you. I like the charging by the inch client test. Beats a bad check. Got my first one in almost 13 years this week from a new client. Left a phone message, could be an oversite. That little voice inside says not.

Julie :-)

[J.H. shoeing]

She doesn't sound like a very good new client. I think you should have charged her more, if ten bucks got her started I would have really had her smokin'. I would have probably charged double and scheduled her for REGULAR service. So when she calls back next year for her yearly hoof care advise her that it will be $240. That is eight trims (one every six weeks for a year) at thirty bucks.

Jeff

[Bill Adams]

What I've done in the last couple years is to have a realy nice invoice made up by Kinkco's or some one who knows how to run one of these things I'm pecking on, has a nice logo and all these different things I can charge for like "excess hoof prep", or number fourty two, "manners of the horse". The space is blank too, so I can put in any amount!
When you tell someone a price it dose'nt have the impact as a professionaly printed invoice. With new clients I also give a price list and a primer on hot shoeing.
Another good thing about a long list is thay can see what you can charge for in the future if the need arises.
Some folk will belly ache no mater what the charge, and there's a new Farrier's card on the feed store bulletin board just waiting for 'em.

My $0.02,
Bill

[hoofnhound]

Well,after not getting paid for weeks,sent her an email politely requesting remmittance.
Got a semi-nasty email back 'firing' me - I'm a rip-off (about a month ago.)
Comes to this week (2 months later) and I leave her another bill at the barn,not expecting to ever get paid.
Lo and behold,trainer calls me today, (ex)client left me a check at the barn not only for balance due,but 'paid in advance' for next trim.
I guess I'm un-fired.
Tempted to tell her to jump in the lake,but the horse needs attention and I do the rest of the barn,so no skin off my nose.
Seeing as I have the rest of the barn,I can only imagine the reactions she got from farriers she called to try to replace me-
"One horse,middle of nowhere,2 yr old saddlebred stud,old farrier too expensive."
!!!! :eek:
Alison.

[Jaye Perry]

Well,after not getting paid for weeks,sent her an email politely requesting remmittance.
Got a semi-nasty email back 'firing' me - I'm a rip-off (about a month ago.)
Comes to this week (2 months later) and I leave her another bill at the barn,not expecting to ever get paid.
Lo and behold,trainer calls me today, (ex)client left me a check at the barn not only for balance due,but 'paid in advance' for next trim.
I guess I'm un-fired.
Alison.


That's what a lot of farriers don't relize, it's a business first. Take the money and do your job . If they want to fire you they will let you know. Know-
somebody will have already done the work or they migth have enough GUTS to tell you in person.

Business comes first.

[J.H. shoeing]

Take the money and run, after you trim the horse. Make it while you can. Just like Jaye said business comes first. Charge them till it's fun!!

Jeff

[Dave Purves]

In a situation like that I'd be hard pressed to do that horse again. It's a respect issue. Apparently the owner didn't respect you the first time and is begrudgingly having you do it again for what ever reason, I think I would raise my prices on this one until she did fire me. I can't stand that kind of behaviour. You didn't rip her off the first time, you did her a favor. One of the questions I ask when I get a call is how long has it been since the last time the horse was trimmed or shoed? If they say 6 months, then I let them know that it may cost more for the first initial trim, and then I tell them that if they are not interested in keeping the horse on a regular schedule then I'm not interested. There are too many good horses, and good owners that are happy to get good service, for me to put up with **** like this. I'm blown away when people act like that. I guess if I did all of the horses in the barn I would be more prone to give her another chance, but there would be some strict ground rules applied before I touched the horse.
good luck
Dave Purves CF ;)

[Red Amor]

You could use this oppertunity to adjust the attitude of the hole barn

I would imagine by now they all know of your strife with this oteose of a woman

hand her a roll of sorbent and decline the offer to work for her
that'll keep the rest thinking ;)
you have a standard of respect and care you provide and have a right to expect at least the same in return

[EileenHughes]

Maybe she needs to be reminded that horses are luxuries, and luxuries are often expensive. ;)

[hoofnhound]

How about this for icing.....now she wants me to apprentice some friend of hers!!!!!

Some people have a fine set of brass ones.

[Mike Ferrara]

How about this for icing.....now she wants me to apprentice some friend of hers!!!!!

Some people have a fine set of brass ones.

Sounds like she wants you to train your own replacement. LOL

I'm doing that now. Between now and Jun all I have to do is train my Mexican (right out of school) replacement.

[Bill Adams]

Alison,
I go for what Red said.
Cash the check, add a late fee to her last bill, write a check to her for the dillerence.
Maybe she'll get so mad that she tares up your check. There's the win-win.
My $0.02,
Bill

[Rick Burten]

I'm with Bill on this one.

Further, if you want to take the guy on as an apprentice, tell her and him it is a 3 year committment and your fee for training this guy is $5000.00/per year, paid in advance, no refunds if he quits early. He supplies his own tools, must show proof that he carries correct and adequate insurance, and indemnifies and holds you harmless in case of accident or injury. He provides his own transportation to and from your shop/home, and you will buy him lunch only, during the work day. Make sure that you stipulate that during the entire course of his apprenticeship he cannot do any work other than what he does with you.

Oh, and check with your attorney before you get into any arrangement.

Be interesting to see the reactions of both those folks.

Rick

[steuck92]

I have one for this situation, I was shoeing for a local guy and his father-in-law no big deal. They were real good to work for, their horses needed a little attitude adjustment but oh well. That's part of the job. One day I asked him about renting his pasture behind his house for my two roping horses, he said yes no problem. Well I went to Denver for a graduation and called him on a Saturday and told him that I would be by with the horses on Monday and pay for the whole year rent. Well I got there and there was already three horses in the pasture and they weren't mine! When I talked to him about it he said "that money talks" that someone else had stopped and wanted it and had money in hand. I told him that I was coming back on Monday to pay, I got a little ticked off by this time. But it gets better, he asked me if I had ever thought about training someone. I said that I am a one man band, so I asked if it was someone in high school or just out that wanted to learn. No it was him the guy who just rented ground out from under me. I said " No I don't think that would be a good idea". So before I left I told that if money talks than the other part of that saying is standing in front of me. Then I left and took my horses home.