"Customer From Hell" ...
- Trashton Porter
- May 14
- 3 min read
By the shear volume of calls we must deal with a "customer from hell" on a semi-regular basis. Our business model is quite simple. Give our customers the very best products and services possible and make it affordable. Honesty and delivering on all promises is the key to our longevity.
No matter how much good Karma we manifest we will always be cursed by the unstable,, time wasting, paranoid, demanding and lying "Karen's of Tampa Bay".. AKA " The Customer From Hell."
This is a story of "the customer from hell" ..It is mid-May of 2025. Our business and the world economy have been thrown into economic free fall caused by tariffs levied against our closest allies. As luck would have it almost all of our products come from Canada, and Mexico. So, every customer must be treated like they may be the last. Unfortunately, it seems as though every night there must be a full moon. Lunatics posing as customers abound!
4713 Serena Dr. - Tampa Fl. " Customer From Hell " June 2022 & May 2025 ...
This is the story of a lunatic that first contacted me in June , a few years ago. I was able to deduce at that time that she was a "whacko" and I brushed her off. I know that I had dealt with this lady a few hundred customers ago because she told me all about her initial call and said that I had cancelled her FREE in-home sales call. That is the only truthful tale that she chose to share with me. I have spoken to hundreds of customers since my first encounter with her but since business is slow I decided to attempt to help her fix her rotted out home.
A tiny voice in my head was telling me to hang up the phone and block her.
Unfortunately, I spent hours with her on 8 phone calls.
I sent my very best crew to her home to accurately assess exactly what work needed to be performed to make her home secure & beautiful. She texted me detailed breakdowns of materials quoted by "Morgan Exteriors". She told me the price that she was quoted by Morgan totaled over $45,000 ( according to her ).
I figured her job using "contractor pricing" that I would normally only offer to licensed general contractors, that give us the majority of our work. I had to source the materials, nail down pricing and generate her a written quote.
The price that I was able to offer her was just $15,800 to replace all of the siding, soffit & fascia on her home as well as replacing rotten fascia board and replace old rotten lap board siding with pressure treated wood & cover all of it with vapor barrier & new vinyl siding. This was by no means a money making project. It would supply my very best crew with a week' of work so they could feed their families. Most importantly, the job would turn this rotted out home into a beautiful showcase.
The customer made arrangements for us to meet her at her credit union Last Friday or Monday at 1:30 pm. We were prepared to show her our proof of insurance and collect a $7900 deposit which we would apply towards the materials cost. Monday came & she texted me stating there was a family emergency and she would need to meet us on Wednesday. She could have told me that she had changed her mind, etc. She assured me that on Wednesday we would move forward with the job so I put a deposit down on materials to hold them for her job...
At 4:00pm on Tuesday, she sent me an email backing out of the job. She stated her family talked her out of having her home repaired. Mind you, this lady told me she is 50 years old and lives alone. Of course, that is probably also not true. My supplier was kind enough to credit my account with the money I used for the materials deposit.
This lady is a "Karen" aka "customer from hell' located in Tampa, Florida. She is unstable and should be avoided at all costs.. You have been warned!!