Thoughts on what to do regarding a customer who wants me to lower my price after paying me?

I have a customer who I put together a large basketball hoop for. It was a hard job, and later I read reviews saying that a lot of folks have had issues assembling this hoop. I spent awhile talking to customer service, and I did not charge him for that time. I also waived my trip fee for him. I got a message from him, after he paid me, telling me that I ripped him off, and that my bid was for a certain amount total vs hourly. We actually hadn't had a conversation about what my bid was (I usually do with customers) and I am not always sure what a customer sees on their end. With some types of jobs it says the initial estimate cost rather than my hourly rate, and I could see that being confusing. However, I worked very hard on this, and what he said I should have been paid would have equated to $13.55/hr. I really worked hard on this job, and actually have some back and knee pain after doing it-which is what it is; not his fault. But he has told me that I need to compromise and take a lower amount, and he'll give me a 5 star review, and if I don't, I won't like what his review will be. I'd rather take the low review, but is there anything I can do? That's sort of feeling like blackmail.

Comments

  • Adonfish
    Adonfish Posts: 3

    @DustiO do you know if from his end he's violated any terms/conditions by threatening that?

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,809

    If you have in writing that the customer is asking you to lower your price in order to get a 5-star review, please send that to support@thumbtack.com and I would also use the "report" feature that you can find in the message thread with the customer - I think there are 3 dots at the top, if you click on that you'll see it. In general though, I would ALWAYS recommend being very clear before you even start a job, about what the charges will be. If a job end up taking longer than you expected, I would take that as a learning experience that you'll charge more for those types of jobs moving forward.

  • Adonfish
    Adonfish Posts: 3

    Thanks!

  • DustiO
    DustiO Administrator, Moderator Posts: 1,809

    You bet - let me know how it goes!