In this short podcast episode, Bryan talks about some no-serve situations he’s encountered as a technician and HVAC business owner. He also talks about situations that may be unpleasant but aren’t quite no-serve situations.

Some common and obvious no-serve situations are when a client threatens a technician, especially with lawsuits, bad reviews, or even bodily harm. However, some clients are just naturally defensive, so we want to be careful and give people a chance if they’re angry and might just need to calm down.

Unrealistic expectations can also cause no-serve situations. Some complaints are tricky to deal with but can be solved, but other problems are impossible to solve. We have every right not to serve clients who have problems that don’t have realistic solutions (such as wanting a thermostat that doesn’t make a clicking noise at all). In those cases, Kalos usually gives some degree of a refund and agrees not to do business with the customer again.

Dirtiness of the living space can also be a no-serve situation. Unless a home is dangerously filthy (e.g., it can cause a respiratory disease) or the equipment is not accessible, we can serve them. Even if the home is filthy or the equipment is inaccessible, we can ask the owner to clean up and return to serve them. On the other side of the coin, hypochondriacs can be a challenge to deal with, but no-serve situations are rare; we can take precautions, including more thorough testing and hold-harmless agreements.

Other no-serve situations are people who don’t pay, people who regularly pay extremely late, customers who aren’t the owner (such as tenants or family members), and clients who try to drag you into drama with other contractors.

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