What are your pet peeves when it comes to working in other people’s houses?
Do you like to be offered a cup of tea when you arrive for a job? How do you feel about chatty customers and what about late payers? And what are the things that most annoy householders when a tradesperson comes round to fix an appliance?
Toolstation has just published the results of an interesting survey on etiquette. The survey took a 360 degree view, collecting the opinions of 2,000 UK citizens and 570 professional tradespeople.
The results showed that householders and tradespeople shared the same view on lots of ‘etiquette’ issues. All in all, it seems, everyone is fairly easy-going about things like engaging in general conversation and whether or not refreshments are offered. When they are, the survey found that tea was the beverage of choice, closely followed by coffee. No surprise there perhaps.
Questions about money showed stronger feelings. For example, a huge 92% of tradespeople said they wouldn’t expect a tip for the work they do – that the fees they charge cover the job. The results also revealed a hierarchy of tippers, the most generous being in Belfast and the least, in Newcastle. London and cities in the southeast fell somewhere in the middle, with just under half of householders sometimes tipping.
The main complaints from tradespeople
- 46% of tradespeople are peeved when customers are slow to pay.
- 35% when they try and reduce the agreed fee when the work’s been done.
- 33% get annoyed when they turn up for a job and find the area of the house they need to get to isn’t clear.
- 25% don’t like it when the customer asks them to do a bit more than was agreed as part of the original job.
- 21% aren’t keen on the customer hanging around when they’re trying to work.
And what annoys customers?
The chief annoyance comes when tradespeople leave a mess – 33% of customers don’t like it when the area isn’t left clean and tidy. 26% get irritated if the workers turn up late for a job and 23% don’t like it if the price of the job is increased after it’s already been agreed.
Most people don’t mind tradespeople using their loo, but 20% said they didn’t like if it wasn’t left clean and tidy.
You can find the survey in full here. It’s interesting to think about how you should treat your customers – and how they should treat you.
What customer habits do you find irritating?
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