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What A Friggin Jerk!

10K views 164 replies 85 participants last post by  WoodSpanker 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Yesterday I got a telephone call from a guy who said he and his wife saw my work at a show I did back in May and he wanted to know about a certain box he had seen. He said his wife is having a birthday next week and wanted to surprise her with it since she really liked my work. He asked if he could come by and buy a box for the occasion. I said yes, and he came by about 6:30 yesterday afternoon.

I recognized and remembered him when he came over. When he and his wife were at the show she really liked my Jewelry boxes and she wanted to buy one on the spot be he kept saying "Don't buy it, I can make one for you" He talked about how he is a contractor and builds houses and could make one for her. I can appreciate this because I will not pay anone to do something that i can do myself. He asked how I created the sculpting and I explained about the angle grinder and all of the sanding involved.

Well, when he came over he said that he told his wife he had built a box for her and did not want her to see it until her birthday so it could be a surprise. He then said on the attempts he made they came out bad and he ended up destroying them.
Now the crazy part…He wanted to buy one from me to give her and wanted to tell her that he made it.
I have no control over what someone does with a box once they buy it…and I guess they can do whatever they want since it is their box now…Then he said his wife has my business card and asked that if she should call me to tell her I do not remember selling him a Jewelry box.
I told him I do not lie for anyone and would not consider that option. He was aggrivated but bought it anyway since he had told his wife the lie that he built one already. I told him cash only" and when he asked how much I gave him a price $200 higher that when it was for sale at the show. He was pissed but bought it anyway.
 
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#27 ·
Thanks everyone for the positive support and feedback. I knew i was doing the right thing because have no tolerance for someone asking me to help getr over on someone. I just is not right..
As far as what his wife believes..that is his problem…good or bad.

I always put a small laser engraved brass plate on the bottom of each box that has my name on it. I previously tried branding my work…bought one of those fancy electric branding irons from Rockler…but I somehow seem to get more of the branding messed up and half burned or unreadable since different woods handle the branding differently…and i can't undo a botched branding. That is when i switched to the engraved nameplates. Wanted something I couldn't mess up. Besides, when I removed the nameplate for him I can use it on something else.
 
#30 ·
Its one thing for him to lie and tell his wife he made it. Thats all on him and his conscience… but to ask you to get rapped up in the lie, well, thats just flat out crossing the line. I don't blame you for sticking it to him, after he tried sticking it to you. I sign all my pieces, unless they want to strip it down, sand my name out, and refinish the piece, good luck trying to pass it off as theirs.
 
#34 · (Edited by Moderator)
I hope the story that the guy had to pay $200 more is just dramatization. If it was indeed the case, allow me to disagree with many of the comments posted here. Yes, that guy was wrong to ask to you to lie for him, and you as the seller were absolutely right not to comply with his request. You had every right to tell him he was wrong or even refuse to sell the box to him. But why did you have to punish him the way you did, perhaps sensing he had no other options because of his commitment to his wife?

Don't mistaken me, I am not here to defend the action of the buyer. He started on the wrong course right from the beginning. But to make him pay more because of his situation isn't a much more honorable act in my view. If everyone behaves in a similar manner, this world will be full of people who judge and punish as they see fit. An eye for an eye rules? I feel sorry for the guy and his wife who are now $200 poorer. I do not share with the views expressed here in support of the seller's punishing action. The degree of punishment is out of line.
 
#35 ·
I think the $200.00 Idiot/A-hole/Jerk fee is completely appropriate considering the situation. I probably wouldn't have sold him anything after he told me he lied to his wife like that. BUT I'm pretty stubborn that way!!!!!!! I would have told him "Good luck making your box, SEE YA!!!!!"
 
#37 ·
I rarely reply, but wish to share my thoughts. I agree with ChuckM to the extent that I would not have charged the lying husband an additional $200. I have no respect for a man who would lie to his wife, however, I believe taking advantage of his situation for personal profit is wrong too.
 
#38 · (Edited by Moderator)
Rance: "I choose to believe that the price at the show was "On Sale", later on he had to pay the "regular price". "

The seller doesn't provide any info. on this and your assumption may be right or wrong. If the additional price was the normal mark-up, that was absolutely fine, but the seller was giving a different impression as he wrote:"I gave him a price $200 higher that when it was for sale at the show. He was pissed…." Not trying to split hair here: he wasn't saying "I gave him the regular price."

On the other hand, if he was indeed offering the buyer the regular price, all the comments singing praises about the seller's "action" have been misplaced. What did the seller do to earn all the applause? The $200 extra he charged was just part of the normal thing in his business. He just did what he usually does with a customer coming forward after the sale period. I may have misread his point or the title of the thread is misleading, but the pouring of support and encouragement really surprised me. In my view, two wrongs don't make a right. The seller might not be intentional but his course of action isn't something I'd endorse.
 
#40 · (Edited by Moderator)
ChuckM…
I did the right thing by charging him what I did. I was not the one asking someone to lie if necessary and I most certainly did not force him to dig into his pocket and take out his money…he had a choice to not buy it just as he had a choice to be honest. He could of easily told his wife the truth and saved money and would not have backed himself into a corner. I believe that if someone will lie that easily to anyone, whether it is a spouse, friend, stranger or whoever then they do not have my respect.
I spend alot of time creating my work and can charge whatever I like and it is up to each person to either decide it is worth the money or decide it is not worth the money.
I have also sold my work cheaper than my asking price to people I enjoyed meeting and took a liking to.
Sales is all about negotiating and this just happened to be negotiated in an upwards direction.

Randy Sharp…No one was taken advange of because I expressed my honest thoughts to him and he made the decision buy instead of walking away. There was no lies on my part. I stand up for what I believe.
 
#41 · (Edited by Moderator)
Grey: You haven't clarified whether you charged the guy $200 more because he intended to lie. As a seller, you're free to charge any price you think your work is worth. The impression of your first post and many of the responses to it, however, seem to be suggesting that the $200 extra was levied simply because this guy wanted to "cheat."

For the record, I do not condone the guy's action nor did I suggest your work be worth anything more or anything less. If you were just selling the box to him at the regular price, you might have sent a different message in your story.

Also, if a potential customer is a jerk, I, as some have expressed so too, will exercise my right as a seller not to sell. Of course, that's me only-and every seller has his or her own considerations.
 
#42 ·
Perhaps the $200 should be seen as the fee for performing a particularly onerous service - that of removing the brass plate from the bottom. After all, the plate is Greg's advertising for future business. Without it there, he is potentially losing future work and so he should make the greatest possible profit up front on this box.
 
#43 ·
It is juts pure capitalism. A seller sets the price for each individual potential buyer at the maximum he believes that individual will pay.

Did you ever have to buy a bottle of water at an airport now that they won't let you bring it in from outside the security zone?
 
#46 · (Edited by Moderator)
Please reread my posts. At no times did I challenge Grey's right to set whatever price he wanted from the buyer. He can charge anything he likes; I am only openly voicing my concern about the views expressed by many that seem to suggest if the guy planned to cheat (one wrong), we could do another wrong based on his circumstances.

It's not an issue about capitalism nor about the potential loss of revenue. If Grey came over here and told us he charged the guy $200 more for extra service because his nameplate was removed by request or because there would be a loss of potential sale (as remote as it might be-the guy wasn't planning to put the piece in a gallery or museum for the public to view, was he?), fine. No one would think he charged the extra $200 to teach the guy a lesson (and that exactly is what it was based on his first post and that was why many sent in their applause). But that has not been the case. (By charging the guy $200 more this time, Grey was pretty much losing this customer for any future purchases. Grey might not care, but the point that the removal of the nameplate would cause loss of revenue is a moot point to try to argue that the $200 wasn't a punishment in any way.)

I didn't use words like overcharging, ripping off, or stealing to describe about the extra money Grey received from the guy. The guy did agree to pay that amount even though he was pissed off. If he had had a better option, he might have walked away. If he had done as WayneC suggested, he might not have had to pay the "penalty."

No one is playing Saints here. Even if I am a lone voice (the majority are in silence out of some 700 views), I have to point out that I don't go along with the notion that charging the buyer $200 in this case was something to be proud of or worth the kinds of praises or "congrats" we see here. And to suggest that this guy must have other bad qualities because of this one act or because he's a contractor is pure emotion and beyond logic. At least he was trying to do something to please his wife. The intention is at least honorable though the method is wrong. There're more gracious ways to treat this person and making him pay $200 more isn't one of them, no matter how we spin it.
 
#47 ·
Greg, would you have charged him the extra $200 if he simply wanted to buy it without the deception?

My first reaction when I read your account was similar to ChuckM's. I found it odd that you would add $200 to the price simply because he asked you to lie for him, but then I thought that's one way to discourage a sale without an outright refusal to sell to the guy. If so, you should have tacked on a $1000 to clearly convey the point.
 
#48 ·
The irony of this all is that if the guy had been honest with his wife in the first place and told her her had tried to make her the box himself but failed (and showed it), but as he only wanted the best for her, he took it upon himself to go out and purchase a box from a WW whose work she admired.
Now how many brownie points do you think that would have made…... and all the truth. Greg would be flattered, the guy could say he tried to make one personally but failed, And the lady would think he walked on water.
 
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