Should I feel guilty?

My main supplier has never been very generous at sending leads my way. The previous lead they sent to me was a Taek Won Do guy wanting to buy tiles to break. But a week ago they gave my name to a reroof customer that was in their showroom selecting the tile he would go for a reroof of his existing tile roof. The customer had tile that has been out of production for about a decade with about 50 broken tiles. All his other issues were the kind of routine repairs I do on a daily basis.

The two other roofers he had bid his roof both told him that the tile was unavailable and convinced him reroofing was his only choice. I actively salvage tile and buy and stock obsolete tile and have enough in stock to do his roof as well as sell him 100 tiles for the future.

The customer has three reroof bids, $21,000, $21,500 and $23,100 (mine). And one bid for repairing his existing roof instead for $6500. He chose my repair bid.

I was in the supplier this morning hoping nobody would ask about the reroof, they didn't, but I sure felt guilty for some reason.

Vaa Fakaosifolau Said: I wouldnt feel guilty, but I doubt they will pass on any more leads if they find out. :blush: At least you can have a clear conscience about not selling the customer something they didnt need.

Agree........btw, never feel sorry for ANY supplier, they don't feel for you, believe me.

JET

I dont think so,they sent you there to do what was right.

I work with about 4 different suppliers, but mostly they all specialize in different things

No. Some of my suppliers send the job my way knowing I'm the best person for the job. They kow I'll be back for other things.

The way i see it,you both win,the H/O's going to say he got so&so roofer thru so&so supplier,AND saved him money... ;)

My consience says I did right by the customer, he saved money he didn't have to spend. But I wouldn't have gotten the job if the supplier hadn't sent it my way. And by doing so, instead of selling 8 or 9 thousand dollars worth af material, I'll buy about $300 from them. But I wouldn't have to think very hard to remember lots of reasons that they owe me, anyways.

The existing roof looks fine, I'll hide the new tiles and with the repairs, it should easily last another 25 years. The guy insisted that I not retire for at least 12 years, because he wants me to do maintanance on it twice a year.

P.S. My main supplier used to bring doughnuts to the office all the time until we got behind on the bill about a year ago. No more doughnuts. lol One of our other suppliers got so mean about it that i decided to never buy anything from them ever again. And i haven't since. By the way ALL suppliers have been paid although it took some time. They used to send me a Christmas ham every year also but we didn't get one last year. lol

Hmmmm!! Interesting scenario! SO they "expect" you to purchase the tiles from them but you already have what you need. There seems to be two parts to this. First if you buy a lot of supplies from them then i see no reason to feel guilty because they have already made tons of money from you. Since you said it was your main supplier then im assuming you do. So i wouldn't worry about that. Secondly, I am wondering how much longer this roof will last and will it have a quality appearance. As long as it will last many more years with your repair and look good as well then i dont see why you would feel guilty about not completely re-roofing either. Maybe you should just go to them and tell them that he chose not to reroof and you have the tiles to do the repair with instead of waiting for them to question you about it. Maybe give the guy who referred it to you some cash or a Christmas present. Maybe a gift card for a free dinner for him and his family at a nice restaurant. I don't have all the answers just a suggestion. lol

Johnny I had to go back and reread my post . I got it right . wywoody I know that you know what is right and what is wrong. Every halfway decent person knows what's fair and unfair . From inside.

egregious=flagrant- conspicuously bad or offensive Seems to me the competitors made the reccomendation based on the tools they had, You have more tools. The competitors seem morally correct, as do you, to me. I go by the motto, "If you feel you owe someone an apology you probabaly do"

Well, everybody has the opportunity to choose between taking the long view or the short one. If the material supplier sent you a referral and you turned around and bought from a different material supplier, they would understandably balk at giving you any more referrals. On the other hand, unless they are only interested in the quick dollar transaction, while making no immediate sale this time they have generated substantial good will from having well-served the needs of their customer. Let's put it another way... if they knew the job could be sitting up straight for under seven thousand and manipulated their customer into believing he needed to spend 22, wouldn't they be the candidate for guilt, and if they felt none, why would we put any faith in their opinion? I know, I know. We assume they're the bird-in-the-hand type. That's the supply side alright. I personally despise tradesmen or others who know better when they use a client's ignorance against them and wind-bag their way into fraudulent sales. These are the types who hold to the philosophy: "I want to get my money out of your pocket."

What your asking, can we assuage your conscious ??? To do that you have to accept a concept . That we are of the same level as your conscious. Even with in this forum there are different levels of culture ( I don't even want to start pointing a finger at the most egregious characters . One has already responded ) That concept of culture determine the meaning of words . I think for most it is literally untranslatable-incomprehensible to anyone outside their own personnel culture. Some have a mentality of Neanderthals that speak . The concepts of your question would be radically different from one to another. To ask others to make a comment on your conscious is is unavoidably cultural with radically different ideas from one person the next. It is to interpret our own lives using imagined values we ascribe to other humans . I wouldn't comment on this . Your conscious is saying something to you . It is good to listen.

You were straight up and did him a favour, and he knew it woody. I don't see why you feel guilty about anything. He'll probably be good on the referral side too.