So there I was on a one hour live radio show at 10 am til 11am PDT when my doorbell rings and it’s the carpet cleaning guys that I had scheduled to come after noon today. They decided to show up at 10:30 instead!
I handed a note out to them that I was on a radio interview until 11am. I wasn’t ready for them and had a couple extra uh’s and um’s on the show as I was in the middle of talking when they came ringing the doorbell off the ringer. (they kept ringing until I answered because they heard me talking).
They came in and looked around my small place and asked me a couple questions about what I wanted. The guy on the phone the day before had quoted me $60 for my place. The guy who was assessing the place then quoted me $180 for all the extra’s they wanted to do. I said forget it, too much money for this small place. They proceeded to get ready to do the house. They talked to their boss and made an offer of $140 for all the extras. No deal, I told them just do the regular cleaning.
Because they came early I wasn’t ready so was scrambling to get pets out of the way and move excess furniture ; chairs etc. While they were getting their equipment from the car, my son came out of his room and left. They asked did I want his room done too and told me it would be $30 for that. I said I was quoted $60 for the entire house. They called the boss and ended up passing me the phone.
The boss then told me it was $20 for an extra room (not the $30 the other guy quoted me). I told him he quoted me $60 for the entire house. We went back and forth but I stood my ground on the $60. He kept saying different things and I went back to “I hear what you are saying but yesterday I told you the size of my place and you quoted me $60 for the entire place.” Every time he brought up another point, I repeated the same thing back to him until he finally said pass the phone back to the technician.
End result, entire house done for $60. They showed up early, attempted to upsell me into 3 times the price they quoted and were in and out in a few short minutes. Then they wanted to be paid in cash but never told me to have cash for the payment. They took my debit card in the end. I won’t be calling them again.
The point is, stand your ground and don’t let people push you into a different agreement. Actually I should have asked for a discount for the trouble they caused me showing up significantly before they were suppose to. In the end I didn’t let them push me around which is part of what negotiation is all about.