Hi everybody, I just need to rant about something that happened to me at work about a day ago. Some context: I work at a small, family-owned business, and I'm related to the boss; however, that does not mean I have any special privileges. I try to avoid him outside of work at all costs because we're not close. I work the night shift in an office, and I dispatch a singular mechanic who is with me during my shift. My boss will also dispatch him and quote customers off the top of his head. He'll then notify me right before I'm about to charge customers or after customers start spamming him with calls because I charged them a different amount, which he won't answer, but he'll text me the rates he gave them. One last thing, he had already told me before that if customers do not ask about rates, I shouldn't disclose them anyway, since once the mechanic is there and the customer signs the contract, they'll HAVE to pay.
Now, to what happened during my shift. Once I got to work, the mechanic on shift had let me know that my boss had quoted 540 for labour. The mechanic had to put some hinges on the trailer doors, and the customer was helping him because these doors are over 200 pounds. At some point, the mechanic let me know he couldn't do it on his own, and he had tried calling the boss so he could approve another mechanic to come out and help, but he had not been answering for over an hour.
My boss showed up after I called another one of our mechanics, and they called him to let him know they couldn't make it. But this wasn't till after 30 to 45 minutes after that. Once he got here, it took them a while, but they managed to get the door on, except for one pin that could not secure the hinge due to the hinge being bent. Once he noticed it was gonna be an issue, he left(went home), and the mechanic had to try to finish the repair on his own.
After he left, he texted me letting me know to charge 3 hours of labour and any parts. This job was started at 10 pm and finished at 2:45 am. At first, the customer was eager to pay, but after he saw his total and I gave him a physical copy of his invoice, he mentioned he had agreed to 530 for everything. At this point, I knew I was going to struggle. I let him know to call the boss, since he'd probably be awake, since he had texted me 30 minutes before. I was not surprised when he didn't answer. I called him twice, and once again no answer. At this point, it was a back and forth of what he had agreed to and what I was charging him. He was willing to pay 530, but not the full amount, which was about 120 more. He tried to convince me by saying he would fix the misunderstanding and vouch for me to my boss if I accepted the 530. Which I also let him know I couldn't blindly trust him, and that my job was on the line, or it would be taken out of my pay. When he threatened to leave, I let him know he had signed a contract and my boss would take it to court. He then blamed me and told me that I probably added that stuff to charge him more and keep the extra. His method of payment was going to be a bank transfer, which meant that none of it was going to come to me anyway. He then backed up his statement by saying that if I wasn't trying to keep the rest, then why wasn't I calling my boss, whom I had called another 4 times, and still no answer. At this point, I suspect that he knew I was going to struggle with this payment, and he turned off his ringer due to his not answering potential customer calls that came through to his number, which he rarely misses. I know this because these missed calls show up on our company's email.
At this point, I let the customer know he could leave with his unit if he agreed to let the mechanic remove the hinges. I texted the mechanic, let him know the issue, and he came to confirm with me that he was going to take off the hinges. As soon as the customer realized I was serious, he said he was going to leave, and I let him know that if he did, it could be considered theft since he is taking our parts without paying for them. He walked out anyway, and the mechanic went after him to try to convince him to pay. Which, once again, I called my boss a couple more times, hoping to get an answer, but still nothing.
At this point, I executed my last resort, which was calling the police station(not 911), and after getting information from me, they let me know they were sending someone just to have a report about this. The customer walked back in after talking with the mechanic, willing to pay, but once again, he backed out when I told him the full amount instead of the 530. He mentioned once again that he wouldn't pay, and I let him know that the police were on their way, and then the only way he was leaving now was if he gave a statement when they arrived. He didn't believe me at first till they called me back, since they wanted to know the amounts we were having issues over. Before they hung up on me, they reassured me someone was on their way. The customer waited another 10 minutes before he finally decided to pay the full amount. Once he paid the full amount, I let the police department know, and they recalled the officer who was on his way.
TLDR: I work the night shift at a family-owned repair shop. If my boss knows a customer will give him issues, he won't answer his phone and leave me to struggle. On this night, what was charged did not match what the customer stated he was quoted. The customer also accused me of charging more so I could keep the remainder, which he was going to transfer to the company's bank that I don't have access to. I offered the solution of reversing the work that was done, and he decided he was just going to leave. I called the police department, and once he confirmed I actually did call them, he paid the full amount. In total, I called my boss 10 times while this was happening to find a solution and received no response.
Please excuse the way I wrote everything/punctuation. I'm writing this from work, and there are cameras that can probably see my monitors, so the Reddit window is literally tiny in front of me, just in case.