Be careful when criticizing trades people on forums

[imogen]

Its worth reminding people that many trades people rely on forums like EDF for their livelihood. A negative comment can seriously affect somebodies income. It's great that we have forums like this for getting work and if someone has done a crap job or has been dishonest then people should know. But often it's the customer who is being unreasonable. I once erected 35m of high quality fencing for someone, I originally quoted for doing one side of the garden and half way through the job he asked me to do the other side. When it came to paying me he refused to pay me the full amount becuase he said that "I hadn't provided him with a written quote" and that it was my own fault for not being business like. He contacted me a while later to ask if I would do some more work for him and I refused. Some months later I found out that he had been bad mouthing me to his neighbours. It was him who was being mean and dishonest and I paid the price by losing money and getting a bad rep.I have come across some clients who have been an absolute nightmare to work for, mean and unreasonable. Also a word of advice for trades people, if a potential client comes across as being weird or neurotic, walk away. I posting this after seeing a negative comment about someone who I know to be a skilled honest tradesman.