I had fun with a scammer today

[sofadoc]

     Remember the pen salesmen, (I still have one call with his bad jokes.) 

Do they REALLY think that a corny joke will "warm us up", and put us in the mood to buy their crummy pens?

But the ones I hate the most are all of the "Internet Yellow Page" places that call, saying that they only want to "verify your free listing". The want you to state your name, address, and position with the company. When I tell them that I don't want their "free listing", they call back later and say that since I have cancelled my service, a final bill of $400 is now due.

[kodydog]

I had a guy walked in one day asking for a can of spray glue. I told him $4. He said "but the guy down the street only want $3". I said "will why don't you buy it from him". He said "because he doesn't have any". I said "I could sell it for $3 too if I didn't have any".

[Highvelocity]

Speaking of scams check this out. We've got an upholsterer here that pulls the perfect one. They will give someone an estimate, charge full retail for the fabric and under bid the labor enough to make it look like a really good deal.

They get full deposit for the fabric and order it. But they never pick up the furniture. A few months later the customer calls them back and wants to know whats going on. They always have an excuse like their upholsterers sick or family emergency or something and then say to just come and pick up your fabric.

They haven't done anything illegal just a little dishonest. That's when the customer calls us. Their always surprised when we give them a real quote on the labor. This has happened 8 or 9 times in the 10 years I've been in this area. I don't see how they stay in business.

The last time it happened I went to a lady's house to give an estimate on a sofa and loveseat. She told me she already had another estimate from these people. Not only was their labor quote way low but the fabric quote was 10 yards short. I didn't say anything bad about the other business but just showed her my quote. She was a little surprised but said she thought there was something fishy with them. She's using me.

Isn't it the truth about extremely low pricing.  Don't most people feel like if they don't pay enough they are going to get a bad job?  And for that matter, they usually do.  My Dad has a neighbor that saved 6K on his bulkhead job by going with company A, company B had a much better reputation but was higher in price.  Wouldn't you know a year later that was problem in a corner that blew out.  Company B be was called to come fix it after company A said it wasn't there fault...etc.  It cost him another $10K to fix...  

I don't take jobs to break even or lose money, sometimes you have to let people get stung before they come to you.  

[ajlelectronics]

I had a guy walked in one day asking for a can of spray glue. I told him $4. He said "but the guy down the street only want $3". I said "will why don't you buy it from him". He said "because he doesn't have any". I said "I could sell it for $3 too if I didn't have any".

The usual response is that when I don't have them in stock, they are only $2.

[kodydog]

A fabric salesman told me that joke years ago. I like your punch line better.