Arcady Tractor Works and Arborculture

I had an interesting phone call the other day, and I thought I'd drop a note about it here. I recently put an estimate in on a tree removal. During the initial phone conversation the gentleman that he was a contractor and he understood that price isn't everything and that you get what you pay for. Well I didn't hear back on the job and happened to be by the site and saw that the tree was down and stumps were out. I guess the customer must have found a "better deal." A few days (this is where it gets interesting) after I saw the job was done, I received a phone call from this gentleman. As he started to to explain who he was, I broke in, and it went a little something like this:

Client: "Hello, this is John Doe, I have a house on such and such a road and you gave me an estimate on..."

I broke in " Yes, I remember the job, you had XYZ tree service do it."

Client, a little shocked paused and then continued "Hmm... yeah, how did you know that?"

I explained that he obviously must have thought he found a better deal (read cheaper) and that there was obviously a problem with the work, or we would not have been having the conversation we were having. With those two criterium that points to a specific local competitor, the one I named as the firm that did the job. (I honestly had no hidden information, just what I presented here) He chuckled sheepishly to himself and acknowledged that what I stated was exactly the situation he was in. I love the idea that after not giving me the work he thought that it would be okay to call me back and ask for free advice on how to best fix the situation created by his "better deal!" Now, personally I always considered a good deal as one in which I get what I want for a price that is fair and honest (to both sides), and in this situation he must have got a price he liked, but the work was far enough from what he was looking for that he needed to refer back to an outside industry professional. So what should I have done? Should I help him? Should I blow him off, I'd have to admit it crossed my mind. Maybe I should offer my advice at a dollar value. I don't know for sure, but I can tell you what I did...

I gave him the advice.

Hopefully I reinforced in his mind that price isn't everything, and maybe, just maybe I'll get a referral from him somewhere down the road...