Following up to a question I posed here last week, I was wondering what are the legal ramifications if any, of refusing to do business with a potential customer? Can I legally refuse to sell a rod to someone who wants it based on the fact that I'd just not rather do business with them? It hasn't come up yet but I was curious about this.

If you set your price point at a place where he does not want to do business with you, would make this a moot point. He would be the one walking away.

Other then that I can't see there be any legal ramifactions of you not doing business with a person.

Rolly Beenen
Rovic Custom Rods

Yes and no. It depends on the business at hand and how the law applies in a certain case. For instance, you couldn’t refuse to rent housing to someone based solely on race, sex, religion, etc. Same with several other aspects of business.

However, I can tell you that if you choose to deny someone a sale of one of your custom rods, for any number of reasons, you can legally do so. I have many friends in various businesses who commonly refuse to do business with certain people for any number of reasons - bad pay, slow pay, destruction of property, belligerence, etc., etc. In the years I’ve been producing and selling RodMaker Magazine I have sold tens of thousands of subscriptions. Although it would be a very, very tiny percentage, there have been instances where I refused to sell someone a subscription or even terminated a subscription because the person was being particularly troublesome or bothersome.

One of the nice things about being in business for yourself is that you get to choose your clientele. You do not have to do business with those who cause you trouble or grief. I always try to give folks the benefit of the doubt but at some point if they continue to harass, threaten, make trouble, cause me what I think is undue duress, etc., I have no qualms whatsoever about not selling to them or even dropping them. And I have every legal right to do so. So do you.

I remember your earlier post from last week and if the customer refuses to meet your price or selling conditions you can certainly refuse to sell him the rod or take his order. I once had a guy come in my shop and ask to buy a fly rod I had already made up. He wanted to know if it had an unlimited warranty and if I would replace it when he broke it. I spent a few minutes explaining how to use a rod and treat it in such a way that it would be unlikely that he’d have to worry about breaking it. He stopped me and said, “Oh no, you don’t understand. I’m going to break it. I break all my rods at some point. I’m not going to baby any of them and when I break them I expect a free replacement.” At that point I told him I thought it best we not do business. He came back an hour later and offered me 125% of the selling price but stipulated that he wanted a written unlimited no-fault warranty. I again refused to sell him the rod. He got angry and threatened to sue me. Of course, he didn’t and wouldn’t have been able to do so even if he had pursued it.

You can always consult an attorney if you’re overly concerned about this, but in your particular case I wouldn’t worry over it too much. One of the most important things you need do in such an instance, is make sure that you and each customer have a “meeting of the minds” over what you’re selling and how any future problems will be handled. I still think it’s a good thing for custom rod builders to have a written warranty policy to provide each customer with. But again, if you simply don’t want to do business with this person to begin with, that’s your choice and there's really not much he can do about it.

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This reminds me of the great car builder Ettore Bugatti. His cantankerous behavior seemed to infect his outstanding automobiles.There is a story about how a Saudi Sheik wanted to have a Bugatti Royale built for him.. the grandest motor car of the time. Ettore insisted that the Sheik pay him a visit before he would consider the commission. The day after this visit took place Bugatti refused to do the job. The Sheik's table manners so offended Bugatti that he deemed him unworthy for one of his fine autos.

If we were selling ready made rods we might have a problem turning away someone who wished to purchase one. Custom work requires cooperative interaction and this gives us the right to choose our "partners" carefully. You might not wish to flatly state your reason for rejecting a client but raising the price or naming an outrageous delivery date should do the trick. I'd probably say I'm too busy to take this assignment at this time; and make myself unavailable to this person in the future.

My goal is to keep rod building as pleasant an experience as possible. The personal connection is the single most problem prone of all.. so it is here that I pay closest attention.

Choose your clients as carefully as your blanks. Their assessment of you and your work will probably affect your reputation more than anything else.

I recommend you have a posted sign in your shop that stipulates your warranty specifications and policy.
I also recommend that you add in to your price a factor, a little extra, thathis extra would cover replacement parts and labor. Do this on every rod you build. This extra cost does not have to be a great sum. Reason being say if you sold 50 rods and one cam back. That little extra charge would cover every thing. As for breakage. Lets say that company XYZ had a life time warranty against factory defects, An a customer. Had purchased a rod and had it for 6 months and he brought it back broken and looked like it had been in a war. What do you think the warranty department would say? When I was in business I have returned rods back to a factory that were 10 years old and almost looked bran new. These rod were broken. The manufacture no longer made that series of rod. Guess what they did? They replaced the rods with a better one, and they had the newest components. The custermer was willing to pay a replacement cost. That company said no and charged nothing.
Good Wraps Bob

i dont really sell anything, but i believe it is your right not to sell if both parties cannot come to a conclusion on the service or goods that will be traded..

you fix the price on the item you want to sell .. if he doesnt agree, then no deal.. he cannot sue, nor force you to do something that you do not agree upon as the seller .. even if you mark up the price 5 times and will not compromise, i dont think he has any right to sue.. he has the option of walking away if he doesnt agree..

Like Bob said, a sign stating your 'warranty' etc will be good.. gives the other party nothing to argue about..

in a non related case, i have seen a customer complain about the freebie that Macdonalds was giving away.. on the slip, it showed the item, and below it, the clause was ' color of item shown may not be the one that you get' .. he kicked up a big fuss for 15mins abt false advertising and wanted to sue (nutcase!) all because he wanted that item in the particular color on the slip..

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Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day..
Teach a man to fish, he'll be broke!