<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Yes, an interesting thread. Glad to hear I\u2019m not the only one seeing this more and more these days. Internet lowballers and Youtube \u201cpros\u201d aren\u2019t helping the situation either. There is always a bit of guilt not helping someone out especially after hearing that declining to help really often unfolds into more unfortunate turns for them. It\u2019s always a balance of what's best for me and my time versus the best for the safety of our community. Just have to accept that I can\u2019t save everyone and perhaps by not they\u2019ll find someone else that needs the experience.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">As far as \u201cfiring" a customer yes that can feel really good. I did that a couple years ago with a client I had been helping for 16 years. It was the best $830 I\u2019ve ever walked away from! Brings a smile to my face to this day!</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Just for fun, here\u2019s a sweet system I declined to work on a few years back. He didn\u2019t like the fact that I told him I was going to completely remove it before re-installing it and then charge him a $300 fee to clean all the carbon deposits off my tools and body each time I was there. Not shown 4\u2019 away is 100 gallons of diesel fuel and the generator. Yet somehow he got this permitted by parking a tractor in front of the access door (so he claimed).</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Nick</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="2FFA1A08-CBDE-44F0-B91B-C276BE99688A" src="cid:044C5AC3-E24D-44BB-ABB8-32AEB2742A5B@lan" class=""><img apple-inline="yes" id="79051C35-B45A-460A-88F1-784CB6FEBCCA" src="cid:049BC987-E8CC-4285-8792-6FD95FE318E0@lan" class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div id="__MailbirdStyleContent" dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Arial;" class="">And did you ever walk away from from a longstanding PITA? I call it "firing" a customer. You took them on years ago 'cause maybe you needed the work, or just felt sorry for them. But have been nothing but a pain for all the reasons you mentioned. And they get upset when you finally tell them, nicely or not, to find someone else. I've done firings no less than 5 times in the last several years. At this late date in my career, who needs it.<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="mb_sig"><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class=""><a name="_MailAutoSig" class=""><b class="">Kirk Herander / </b></a><b class=""><a href="mailto:kirkh@vermont.solar" title="Send an email to kirkh@vermont.solar" style="cursor: pointer; color: blue;" class="">kirkh@vermont.solar</a></b><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class=""><b class="">Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC</b><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class=""><b class=""><i class="">Celebrating our 30<sup class="">th</sup> Anniversary 1991-2021!!</i></b><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class=""><a href="https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.vermontsolarnow.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C9f0330d75a244870112408d685311841%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636842843233477645&sdata=0NjyuKeQbEK6245SNnk8X4XnP9Q%2B%2BqtvcALkdDghvk4%3D&reserved=0" title="Click to open in a new window or tab
https://nam02.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=www.vermontsolarnow.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7C9f0330d75a244870112408d685311841%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb..." class=""><b class=""><span style="color: blue;" class="">www.vermont.solar</span></b></a><b class=""><o:p class=""></o:p></b></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class="">dba Vermont Solar Engineering<o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span style="font-size: 10pt;" class="">802.863.1202</span><br class=""></div></div><blockquote class="history_container" type="cite" style="border-width: 1px; margin-top: 20px; margin-left: 0px; padding-left: 10px;"><p style="color: rgb(170, 170, 170); margin-top: 10px;" class="">On 2/24/2021 8:28:47 PM, Hilton Dier <<a href="mailto:hiltondier@gmail.com" class="">hiltondier@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</p><div style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" class="">I\u2019ll say it again: The most important clients are the ones you turn away. The penny pinching, pound foolish, never satisfied, paranoid, DIY-without-asking, ear bending, time sucking, slow paying nightmares that we have all had. The key is to see the warning signs on the way in, a skill that comes from grim experience.<br class=""><br class="">The \u201ccan you cob this back together for $200?\u201d job is a non starter.<br class=""><br class="">Hilton Dier III<br class="">Renewable Energy Design<br class="">Missisquoi River Hydro LLC<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br class=""><br class="">List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" class="">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br class=""><br class="">Change listserver email address & settings:<br class=""><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br class=""><br class="">There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:<br class="">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/<br class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class="">List rules & etiquette:<br class="">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<br class=""><br class="">Check out or update participant bios:<br class="">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><div><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Feb 25, 2021, at 7:11 AM, Dana Orzel <<a href="mailto:dana@solarwork.com" class="">dana@solarwork.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class="">Succinctly put & thank you! <br class=""><br class="">Add to that "I did it myself what do you think?"<br class="">Learning to walk away is probably one of the hardest lessons in the solar business I have had to learn (years ago).<br class=""><br class="">I just had a request to add batteries to a11 KW Solar Edge system that was according to the phone call that was sold to "to supposed to back up his house" without batteries??? <br class="">The first time the power went out he was upset?? <br class="">How do you buy a solar backup system & not know you needed batteries? <br class="">Red Flag #1<br class=""><br class="">This site is 9 hours away from my shop & he bragged about asking the electrical inspector during the original installation to "find something" so that the original installer would have to do a 26 hour round trip to the site. <br class="">Red Flag #2<br class=""><br class="">I laid out the inspection trip to do an analysis & layout of the conversion & the associated costs & have not heard back for 3 weeks. I was doing all I could to not be rude & realistically honest as to what it was going to take to pull all the SolarEdge equipment out (he wanted me to take it as trade-in towards the revamp on the system). <br class=""><br class="">Junk installs - <br class="">Being able to say that a system would not pass inspection & therefore probably will VOID their homeowners insurance in the event of a fire related or not to the solar installation is a safe, honest & effective start with a junk installation request. You FEEL that you cannot afford this liability on your company. Ask what they feel about this.<br class=""><br class="">Remember their feelings & your feelings are facts! Especially gut feelings, walk away. :-]]<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">Dana Orzel Great Solar Works, Inc. <br class="">C - 208.721.7003 <a href="mailto:dana@solarwork.com" class="">dana@solarwork.com</a><br class="">Idaho Contractor - # 028765 Idaho PV # 028374<br class="">NABCEP # 051112-136 <a href="http://www.greatsolarworks.com" class="">www.greatsolarworks.com</a><br class="">"Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988" <br class="">\uf050 Please consider the environment before printing this email.<br class="">__________________________________________<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">-----Original Message-----<br class="">From: RE-wrenches <<a href="mailto:re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org" class="">re-wrenches-bounces@lists.re-wrenches.org</a>> On Behalf Of Hilton Dier<br class="">Sent: Wednesday, February 24, 2021 6:20 PM<br class="">To: <a href="mailto:re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" class="">re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br class="">Subject: [RE-wrenches] What would you do/say?<br class=""><br class="">I\u2019ll say it again: The most important clients are the ones you turn away. The penny pinching, pound foolish, never satisfied, paranoid, DIY-without-asking, ear bending, time sucking, slow paying nightmares that we have all had. The key is to see the warning signs on the way in, a skill that comes from grim experience.<br class=""><br class="">The \u201ccan you cob this back together for $200?\u201d job is a non starter.<br class=""><br class="">Hilton Dier III<br class="">Renewable Energy Design<br class="">Missisquoi River Hydro LLC<br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br class=""><br class="">List Address: <a href="mailto:RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org" class="">RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org</a><br class=""><br class="">Change listserver email address & settings:<br class=""><a href="http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org" class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org</a><br class=""><br class="">There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:<br class="">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/<br class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class="">List rules & etiquette:<br class="">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<br class=""><br class="">Check out or update participant bios:<br class="">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class=""><br class="">_______________________________________________<br class="">List sponsored by Redwood Alliance<br class=""><br class="">List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class="">Change listserver email address & settings:<br class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class="">There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other:<br class="">https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/<br class="">http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class="">List rules & etiquette:<br class="">http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm<br class=""><br class="">Check out or update participant bios:<br class="">http://www.members.re-wrenches.org<br class=""><br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></div></body></html>