Much of my time, throughout several areas of my professional life, is spent working on items that will only happen once. There’s no going back or doing it better the second time, only doing it right the first time or finding a way to rectify the situation as soon as possible. Therefore, you’ll have to excuse the fact that I cannot disable that way of thinking in my brain. What happens when you contract a vendor, outside of a work situation, and you’re disappointed by the result?
If I was at work, I would ordinarily know immediately how to repair the situation if a client was unhappy with the services rendered by a third party vendor. However, in my personal life I seem to be drawing a blank about what corrective course could be taken. I paid for a service to be performed and justifiably am not looking to get it for free. Leaving the vendor unpaid for their time, by asking for my money back, seems wrong when I know the type of hit they would take for that. Also, I don’t think getting the money back would make me feel better about the situation anyway.
At work I’ve always had an ability to take ownership over things that go wrong so that I can quickly move towards fixing the situation. That being said, I don’t believe I’ve ever faced this type of a blunder and don’t have a past experience to compare it to. What’s the socially acceptable way to handle this in the real world? When it’s more than a matter of sending back a plate of food or refusing to pay until a project is properly completed, how do you approach the subject with a vendor you’ve contracted? Until I find my answer, a little serenity can’t hurt to raise my spirits.
