I've built musical instruments for years. Many years ago, I was building custom banjos part time while I did my full time job as an IT guy. Realizing that my time building would be sporadic, depending on what was happening in my day job, I refused to take a deposit at all for instruments. These were all custom jobs that might or might not be something I could sell to anyone else, but I couldn't offer a definite or even semi-definite timeline for delivery. I had a very long waiting list, and never failed to sell an instrument when it was complete. And I usually got them done within a reasonable amount of time.
But, like with campers, there was a pretty good overhead on my part with expensive parts and materials. Having a day job, I could afford to take the chance. I was capitalized to a degree that allowed me to build without requiring deposits.
Under capitalization is probably the number one reason that small businesses fail. In the case of the $10K deposit, that was obviously the case. But I think that there are otherwise honest people doing business who take deposits but can't deliver the goods within a reasonable period of time. The ones who won't make it good in the end are dishonest, but there are others that might just be overwhelmed (as I was).
I ended up cancelling orders I had taken since I wouldn't be able to get them done within a reasonable amount of time. Ticked some folks off, and understandably so. But I hadn't taken any money from them.
It's frustrating, especially when you're dealing with one of the dishonest folks, but I do believe that there are those out there who simply overestimate their own capacity and end up disappointing their customers.
And then there are crooks...
Dave
|