So why this guy contact me about fixing something of his. I gave him a price of how much it was going to be. And then he wanted a breakdown parts versus labor. I don’t like doing that because I know the customer is going to nickel and dime me. Sure enough he goes online and says why are you charging me x amount for this part. It only cost $30 on Amazon.
I explain why my parts cost more etc. And I don’t hear from him again. He sends me a text today asking when is the earliest I can do the job. I don’t want to do the work, I know this guy is going to be a pain in the ass. What are business appropriate reasons/ excuses I can give as to why I don’t want the business.
Obviously it is your choice if you don’t want this customer and others have already provided suggestions on how to frame your response politely.
But consider that some buyers are first time buyers of a service. May be had a sticker shock since they did not know what to expect, tried to understand why it costs what it costs by deconstructing the quote, you provided an explanation, they vetted it out by talking to few other vendors, and have come to trust your explanation, and therefore want you for the job.
By similarly educating some newbie customers, we have converted many of them into repeat customers.
Not sure if your business lends itself to repeat customers, but you can write this up to the cost of customer acquisition.