So my day started with a bat inspection that ended pretty much as soon as I pulled up to the house. First thing I saw, a big ol' tarp covering the roof. Owner walks up to me and I ask what is under the tarp and he says a damaged roof. Asked when he was planning on getting that fixed and the response was "I am hopeful next year" at that I told him to call me when he has roofers hired and I will come back.

Then I headed to my bat exclusion and the customer decided from the time of the inspection until today that she is not convinced the bats can gain entry to the attic from the soffit and wanted me to remove the cedar fascia and soffits to show her it leads to the attic. She refused sealing of the gaps unless I removed the soffits and I decided to refund her deposit and let her hire another company.

Then later today I got a call for bats. I talk to the customer and schedule a inspection for tomorrow and when I told him the price for the inspection and they decided they wanted to know how much the exclusion would cost without me showing up. I asked a few questions and based on answers I said it shouldn't cost more than $xxx and they respond: "We think we are going to shop around" I ask shop around for what? And he said a better price. I asked how do you shop around for a better price if I haven't given you a price to compare too? Then told him to have a good night.

Today was definitely one of a kind.

Good calls...

Welcome to my world! People from up north
Must be moving south lol! That kind of stuff is
The norm around here, especially with critters
Other that bats!
I get this line all the time "your going to charge me
To tell me the price and a problem I already know
I have" that's when I say have a nice day call orkin

Don't you love them days wouldn't be so bad if you had a day off and didn't really need one

In the exclusion scenario, don't feel the need to refund anything if you have a signed contract. Anybody wants extra work, it's extra $$$.

Dave normally I would agree with you 100% but on this case it was better to part ways. She didn't want the area sealed so no way to keep bats out. Maybe I didn't explain the process to her in a way that she could understand or maybe someone (family/friends) voiced their opinions on how things worked and she went with it. Either way I just wanted to walk away from a bad situation.

Walking away is one thing; refunding $$ is essentially an admission of negligence or inability to perform as agreed. You did the inspection & bid and were paid for your time accordingly, as it should be.

Dave I charge an inspection, then if they agree to the bid I require half the bid up front before I will even put them on the calendar.

I only gave her back the deposit, not the inspection.

"refunding $$ is essentially an admission of negligence or inability to perform as agreed"

I disagree. That was me preventing two months of phone calls and countless other headaches from her.

Ah, I see. Well played, sir, and very wise of you to foresee the likelihood of endless hassles from a PITA.

Well played. I've learned that its best to pass those type of customers on to someone else. All though it took me a while to get to that point and once in a while I forget.
Now if I get a "know it all" or a PIA on the phone, I kindly tell them that "I feel that I can not provide the service that they deserve and that they should call someone else". I've had people get down right rude when I tell them that bats can get into other areas of the home other than the louvred vents. Then they ask how much to just do the one vent where the bats are. I tell them that either I do the whole house or nothing at all.
I used to be very competive and would loose money before turning down a job, but now my brain has gotten in synch with my pride.

I had a customer that was so bad that I couldn't think of anyone I hated enough to give her to.

Welcome back from vacation. When I stock pile jobs from vacation I consider half to be duds

Paul I have two dozen rodent tunnel traps sitting here with your name on them.

I know your busy with bats but are the flyers picking up down there?

I have tried twice to get to the island
Last week a brake caliper broke
Yesterday my alt

Nate, I don't think we have a single flyer job going right now. We have yet to catch a flyer in Ozaukee county but we've caught some in all the rest of our area.

2 DOZEN! lol. Yeah they are picking up. I'm only getting a couple flyers out of each house. The colony's havent come together yet I guess. Getting a few females still feeding young. I will order a few in a couple weeks not 2 dozen lol

I have a mom and five babies in the garage I am waiting to release. You want me to bring them to Mequon and release there?

That's already been done a few years ago. I figure they have ideal old and new woodlots so they don't need attics and crawl spaces just yet.