What to do when a vendor you referred does a bad job
Call your client first. Listen, and say you're sorry it went badly, without blaming anyone yet. Get the facts, then call the vendor and ask them to make it right. Follow through until it's settled. Afterward, decide whether the vendor stays on your list, and write down what happened so you remember.
Why does a bad referral cost you more than the vendor?
The plumber who left a slow leak under the sink loses one customer. You lose more. Your client didn't search for that plumber. They called because you said to. In their mind, the leak is partly yours.
That matters because your business runs on the same clients coming back and sending their friends. A client who feels let down by your referral is less likely to call you when they sell, and much less likely to hand your name to a neighbor. Worse, you often don't hear about it. They just tell the story at a dinner party.
So treat a bad referral as your problem to help solve, even though you didn't do the work. Handled well, it can earn more trust than a referral that went fine.
What should you say to your client first?
Reach out the same day you hear about it, by phone if you can. A text is fine to set up the call. Then:
- Listen all the way through. Let them tell the whole story before you suggest anything. Take notes.
- Acknowledge it without excuses. "I'm sorry. I sent you to them, and this isn't what I expected for you." You can be sorry for the experience without admitting the vendor was wrong on every point.
- Get the specifics. What was promised, what was done, dates, the written estimate or contract, photos, and what they've already said to the vendor.
- Ask what a good outcome looks like. A return visit to fix it? A partial refund? Just someone to own the mistake? People want different things, and you can't help until you know which.
- Say what you'll do next, and when. "I'm going to call them this afternoon and get back to you by tomorrow." Then do it.
Don't promise money or a specific result. You don't control the vendor. You control how fast you show up and whether you follow through.
How do you talk to the vendor about a bad job?
Go in curious, not angry. Most vendors you'd put on a list want to keep getting your referrals, and that gives you real weight in the conversation.
- Call the owner or the person you know, not the front desk.
- Lead with the facts your client gave you, then ask for their side. Sometimes there's a scope misunderstanding, a change order nobody wrote down, or a delay on parts.
- Ask directly what they can do to make it right and by when.
- Connect them with your client if your client is willing, and keep yourself copied on the plan.
- Check back with both sides a few days after the fix to confirm it actually happened.
Stay out of the middle on money. Your role is to get the two of them talking and to keep things moving, not to negotiate a settlement or take sides on a dispute you didn't witness.
What if the vendor won't make it right?
If the vendor stops answering or refuses a fair fix, your client has options, and pointing them to those options is part of standing behind the referral.
- Licensed contractors usually answer to a state board. Many states run complaint processes, and some require contractors to carry a bond that can pay customers for poor work. In Oregon, for example, the Construction Contractors Board offers mediation between homeowners and licensed contractors. See how to check a contractor license in Oregon and Washington.
- Written records help. Encourage your client to keep the contract, invoices, photos and messages together.
- Talk to your broker if there's real money or a legal claim involved. This article isn't legal advice, and your brokerage may have its own policy on vendor disputes.
Should you keep the vendor on your list?
One bad job doesn't always mean removal. How the vendor responded tells you more than the mistake itself. Ask yourself:
- Did they own it and fix it quickly once you called?
- Is this the first complaint you've heard, or the second or third?
- Was it a skill problem, a communication problem, or a capacity problem (they took on too much)?
- Would you send your own family to them tomorrow?
- Is their license still active, and does it cover the kind of work your clients need?
A vendor who fixed the problem fast and apologized can be safer to send than one with no complaints you know of. A vendor who went quiet, or who blamed your client, should come off your list. You can't afford a second time.
If you keep them, consider a note to yourself: "Great on small repairs, slow on big jobs." That kind of detail is how you send the right person to the right client.
How do you prevent bad referrals in the first place?
You can't prevent every bad job. You can catch problems early and make better matches.
- Check in after every referral. A short "Did you end up hiring them? How did it go?" two weeks later surfaces problems while they're still fixable. More on that in how to follow up after referring a contractor.
- Keep a record of who you sent where. When a client calls upset, you want to know the date, the vendor and what you said about them, not reconstruct it from your texts.
- Give two or three names when you can. Your client chooses, and no single vendor carries your whole reputation.
- Check licenses before a vendor goes on your list and again from time to time. Licenses lapse.
- Set expectations. Tell clients what you know and what you don't: "I've sent five clients to her for roofing repairs. I haven't used her for a full replacement."
- Prune your list. Review it every few months. See what to put on a realtor vendor list for what to track.
How Proferral helps you catch it early
Proferral is a free app for agents that remembers every referral and finds out how it went. Two weeks after you log a referral, it reminds you to send your client a one-tap check-in from your own phone or email. Your client says whether they hired the provider. If something went wrong, the follow-up queue lets you send the provider a note about it, and your client decides how that note names them, if at all.
For providers licensed in Oregon and Washington, Proferral also checks licenses against the state roster. See how it works.