What would you do?

[superman]

I have this client that has been coming to me for a few years now and is a SCH C person. We used to do his books for him but in order to save money he decided that his wife would do them for 06. Well as you can imagine it has become a nightmare this year and I have spent to much time on the return. I am thinking of just raising his rates so high that maybe hopefully he will not return next year. Any thought on this have you had any similiar experiences? How have you handled this sitution?


Thanks your advise is always greatly appriciated.

[OldJack]

I would leap over the tallest building around and raise his bill accordingly to the same height. Then sit down with him and explain why. If he leaves happy then you have done a good thing for both of you. If he leaves upset... tell him to go fly if he can.

[dsi]

Unquestionably, Old Jack provided the best advice available.

[veritas]

Wife does books?

Sounds like Kryptonite to me.

[Black Bart]

Cold chills

...his wife would do them...it has become a nightmare...

...any similiar experiences?

I always get them when a client tells me:

I bought a computer and my wife is doing my books now. Here's her printout instead of that single sheet of notebook paper I used to give you that listed all my income and expenses for the year. This is going to save you lots of time and you'll probably want to cut back on my fee.

"What? No, no; my income hasn't doubled; she just added all my loans and other money into the sales accounts until she figures out how to set up new accounts. No, she doesn't write receipts or invoices; what's the point? I'm running everything through the bank anyway. Yes, that's right; all my bank deposits are simply marked "List" -- it's lots of trouble to write out who the individual checks were on or what they were for. What are those checks she wrote to those guys? Well, they're self-explanatory. Smith and Smith Company is, of course, the horseshoe glue company in Kansas City and Funkelstalk Associates is, as I'm sure you know, the famous tomato-seed wholesaler. Filling in the "For" line on the checks would just be redundant, although she hasn't completely caught on to that part yet either."

Back to business: I'm with Jack. But also, decide first if you might want to keep him (if he'll give you the books back) or if you really want to run him off. If you give him the frank talk and a high (but tolerable) fee, it's possible he might actually understand, pay up, and stay. So, if you really want him to go away, then you'll have to price him out of the office with a fee so outrageous he can't possibly stay.

Whatever you do, it's probably going to be unpleasant. There's no really nice way to tell someone you don't want their business. Still, you don't have to dash across the finish line, you can just stumble across if it gets the job done.

[superman]

update

Well this morning I actually took the return over to the client and he then informed me that he was not getting enough back and wanted his cousin to do the return because the cousin said he could get him more money back. I guess it was not enough that I got him everything back plus his child tax credit. When I explained to him that his tax was $0 and that there is no way to get more back than what he paid it did not seem to register. How much lower can you get than $0? Maybe if he gets more back I will have him do my taxes for me also!!

I have learned my lesson though and if he does come back now the price just went up again. Some people just think we do this for fun and forget that this is also called making a living. What an idiot!!

[JoshinNC]

You still charged him, right?

I won't let a client have me do their return, then turn around and walk away. The owe me for my time.

[ChEAr$]

And

I won't let a client have me do their return, then turn around and walk away. The owe me for my time.

I wouldn't take him back next year for love nor money.

[OldJack]

>>I wouldn't take him back next year for love nor money.<<

Well maybe for love if his young wife is attractive enough.