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T

Tidy Max

So got a call last Friday night. A customer had tried to change there own shaver socket and taken out all of the upstairs lights, they were having to use torches and they have a baby, not ideal.

Rearranged a job on Saturday morning so i could go straight around. Checked it out, managed to use a wago as they had broken a live conductor off in the back box. Lights back on, happy days.

Sent them the invoice, £75. Just got an email asking why its so expensive?!

Already done some work for them and they are a nice couple. But realistically, i rearranged a job, drove 40 minutes to the job fixed it, 40 minutes back. Is £75 really that much so you can use the top half of your house again!?

Customers are really making me doubt myself which i am sure i shouldn't be!
 
I'll be devils advocate here.
Answer this: You was doing some decorating and you put a nail through a gas pipe, so you has to turn your gas off. You phone a guy who bobs round and fixes it (the same amount of time you was at the house) then he send you a bill for £75. Would you be happy? If yes then don't worry about it. Some people are skint so question these things and some people are just tight fisted.
 
I think an email to the client telling them that because of their situation you rearranged a job and had a drive of over an hour then they'll be more receptive to the bill.
I wouldn't mention the charge out rate as all they'll see is £XX per hour, they won't have a clue about how you need to gross that to make the service available to them.
 
Yes, but they are rip off merchants and not liked a lot... You guys are better... or should be...
 
Yeah i replied and explained. Had i been paid to change the shaver socket in the first place it would of been next to nothing. Ah well.

Cheers for the replies!
 
I had similar years ago, and in the end told them to keep thier money, but not to bother worrying about the warranty they voided by altering my work after I'd finished, as even if the property was on fire I wouldn't be coming out to them again.

as in post 3 they wouldn't bat an eyelid at double that for thier boiler if it broke, but lights not working, too expensive. Electrics easy so should be cheap is all they think. It's probably him just getting arsey as you've shown him up coz he couldn't fix it.
 
realistically the first hour is £35-40 and the second £25 ish so work it out, your virtually spot on IMO.
 
I had a job last week where the customer was told my callout charge in advance and agreed to turn up at 18:30 at no extra charge because he worked only to find when I got their that his wife and kid were in the house all day (culture thing) Anyway my lights are not working ok lets check the CU Bingo light cable burnt due to it was put in the MCB but never tightened . Fine remade cable and then checked all the connections and found ALL of them slack so made them good all in 15 minutes and he questioned a charge of £50

Some people are never happy
 
I find as in any business try to give total cost before work commences can't go wrong then, I have two customers that never ask for quotes and it's always nerves at invoice time, if you can justify your bill then stick with it, it was weekend. Some call out men on horses charge 90-120 first hour! Plumbers charge top coin!
 
hmrc reckon it costs 45p/mile to run a vehicle, so at say, 50 miles round trip, that's £22.50 to start with, let alone travelling time.
 
Seriously?????

I did a callout about a year ago. For a friend of my mothers. Got the phonecall monday morning...spot on nine o'clock. Told the woman I was on holiday that day, that I wasnt working. Bit of chatting about the issue...she had a leaking roof and sockets had tripped and they couldnt reset mcb.
she had home response coming out that evening but they dont do electrics, the woman HAD to have an electrician present.

I felt bad for her and explained that I would be there but to do so I had to cancel a day out with my partner, drive 20miles home to get tools, drive 35miles to her house after.

So I drove 90miles in total, spent 3hours out of hours in evening locating fault and temporary fixing until leak was resolved. I charged £75.

Then ---- got evil and 2months later they paid me £40 out of goodwill. Didnt see point of going to court for £35.

It made me hate myself and electrics for a while and now I REFUSE to do callouts or work for friends.
 
Thing is I am probably cheaper because I stay within the city and my average milage for each job is 8 miles round trip and its the travelling costs plus wear and tear that puts me off doing jobs further afield .

Also remember the customer who quized the £75 charge will happily pay the same for a carryout meal and a bottle of wine
 
I had thoughts for months of going around and taking main fuse from the meter etc...but its a long drive!!!

I just treated the family to chinese takeaway...was worried £50 wasnt enough.
 
On the flip side...did a job for some OAPs yesterday. British gasp had told them they need fuseboard upgrade...they didnt.
Ended up just replacing one twin socket and one light. Charged them £50....they gave me £60. Told me I hadnt charged enough.
 

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