Hello John and all;
 
    I haven't had that particular problem with the Trace DVM, but have had enough other problems to be skeptical.  The Trace TM500 has not done me any favors, either.  I intend to spend some time this year during the slow season to research "beyond Trace". 
 
    But really, I want to talk about your difficult customer situation a little.  I know how it can be to get ramrodded into a job sometimes.  No need to beat yourself up over it.  Live and learn.  I'm sure that everyone out here on the list has found him or herself in the middle of a job they wish they had never taken on in the first place.  Sometimes, we really need the work, and just about all the time, we really want to get out there and install RE.  My experience has been that, when work is really slow, I'm bidding crappy work cheap just so I have something to keep some bread coming in.  So, then I submit the bid, and the customer tells me he's not quite ready to do it just now.  Then, I get a bunch of good work going, and don't have time to take a crap, and that's when that other guy calls back and wants the work done--NOW.  It's hard to tell people "No, thank you.".
 
    I try to collect good advice whenever I hear it.  Some of the things that come to mind are:
 
        "Your failure to plan ahead does not constitute an emergency for me."
        "No, I don't know (the answer to the question you're asking me), but I'll find out and get back to you."
        "I try not to let stressed-out people rub off on me."---my buddy, John Smith (real name)
        "Fu-- a buncha deadlines!"--my buddy Jerry.
        "If you do the right thing, the money will come"--The Seven Laws of Money
 
    I keep thinking that I've surely run into the ultimate difficult customer, but, every year it seems they just keep getting stranger and stranger.   But, after awhile, you start to notice some of the signs.  Go with your instincts.  If you smell trouble, RUN.  Now, if only I can learn to take my own advice.............I'm sure the next one is lurking just around the corner somewhere, waiting for me to come around.
 
                                            Best Regards, and hang in there, man.
 
                                            --Don Wallingford