Last night I could have made £90!!

[HappyHippyDad]

I had a phone call last night (7pm) from a local resident who left a messsage saying all her electrics had gone off.

A pair of elderly sisters live there, one if them does get a bit worried about anything electrical (and the other one always gets cross with her ), for example I have been called out for a buzzing noise on a dimmer and a beeping noise from a flat battery indicator etc etc.

They live a 1min drive away so rather than the standard higher fee for the first hour I charge them less, usually less than even my hourly rate as its a beeping battery for heavens sake, plus they really are just a nice pair of elderly lady's, they always insist on paying even if I say no.

However..... 7pm on a saturday evening is another matter. I was settling down to The walking Dead series 8, a few biscuits and a cup of tea after a hard week. So, I check the net and decide I will be harder this time. £90 first hour then £50 thereafter!!! (Never done that before, but I thought fair).

I ring back, questioning my conscience but also a little excited at the prospect of a 'nice little earner'.

'Hello Stephen how are you', says the polite friendly voice. Im already down to £60 in my mind!!

'I pressed a button and all my electrics went off'.

10 mins later after very slowly going through every trip switch and making sure it was in the correct position.... as if by magic the electrics all come back on! (It was the RCD test button)

'How much do we owe you Stephen', says the polite, friendly, genuine voice!!

I hear the words coming out of my mouth... 'No honestly, dont worry about it', I say.

Back to my tea and biscuits with a wry smile.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

I reckon one of them old sisters has a thing for you and is looking for a reason to call you round, give it time and it will be a case of one of them being there on her own!

 

[Loki]

lol & if you had of charged them you could of ended up in the newspapers like these did.

Company charges elderly woman £108 for changing her lightbulb - http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/company-charges-elderly-woman-more-1058923

 

[rapparee]

In fairness you would have had a brass neck on you to charge for taking a phone call from two old dolls who are repeat customers

 

[Deleted member 26818]

lol & if you had of charged them you could of ended up in the newspapers like these did.

Company charges elderly woman £108 for changing her lightbulb - http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/local-news/company-charges-elderly-woman-more-1058923

I wonder just how much would have been considered fair to charge?

 

[South Spark]

I think we've all done a bit of over the phone free advice haven't we?

I think you've got to change out of your slippers to justify a call out fee!

 

[steunited]

I reckon one of them old sisters has a thing for you and is looking for a reason to call you round, give it time and it will be a case of one of them being there on her own!

like this

 

[ruston]

In fairness you would have had a brass neck on you to charge for taking a phone call from two old dolls who are repeat customers

I used to do my old people regulars on the way home - for a cup of tea.
Now I am one of them lol.

 

[buzzlightyear]

In fairness you would have had a brass neck on you to charge for taking a phone call from two old dolls who are repeat customers

yeah ,but in fairness he runs a business not a charity. just think repeat business or not ,I bet baby Jane &sister are thinking to them selves mug!

 

[Squid]

So HappyHippyDad has now gone the male sex chat line route to supplement his income...........

If they are elderly spinsters just think about the millions in inheritance you'll get ;o))))) If you want it sooner then we can cut a deal.

 

[buzzlightyear]

So HappyHippyDad has now gone the male sex chat line route to supplement his income...........

If they are elderly spinsters just think about the millions in inheritance you'll get ;o))))) If you want it sooner then we can cut a deal

and pimp you out!

 

[Squid]

and pimp me out!

Every £ is a prisoner.......... ;o))))

 

[HandySparks]

I wonder just how much would have been considered fair to charge?

I think that for an out of hours callout on Christmas Eve, £90 (plus vat) is pretty reasonable.

However, as in this case, if I was already working in the vicinity and it was an existing customer and it was a trivial job, I would have chopped the invoice price in half.

 

[rapparee]

yeah ,but in fairness he runs a business not a charity. just think repeat business or not ,I bet baby Jane &sister are thinking to them selves mug!

He'll be the first person they call when they need work doing. They'll also recommend him to the other old Biddy's, he has to appear friendly to the public.

If he doesn't want to take the call his work phone should be turned off.

 

[buzzlightyear]

He'll be the first person they call when they need work doing. They'll also recommend him to the other old Biddy's, he has to appear friendly to the public.

some times it is nice to do a freebie from time to time ,but we all have to run a business tax, van,, insurance etc..
I was called out to a job ,no heating form a faulty boiler rang the heating engineer that serviced the boiler, 2 weeks till he could come round .rang boxy boilers asked them ring them on behalf of the customer they could not get one of their engineers out , gave me a number and engineer was out the same day ,spent 3hrs on the same job and making calls

 

[Dave OCD]

Just had a call from an elderly lady who I've done numerous small jobs for over the years, worried because after her shower the handset is dripping, 8 minutes of reassuring. You can't charge for that !

 

[telectrix]

a favorite saying of my dad was "what goes around, comes around".

he said this to me when i was 9 and the roundabout smacked me in the head.

 

[Dave OCD]

You don't see that sort of playground stuff any more Tel, probably banned by HSE . I can remember some parks had really tall slides when I was a kid, great fun !

 

[Des 56]

The H+s fanatics would have their hearts attacked if they set eyes on the Rocking horse or the sand pit

Twas many a broken leg and teeth smothered in Dog ---- was to be the price of fun

 

[telectrix]

yeah and we didn't have chewed up scrap tyres to fall on to protect our delicate knees from getting scraped; nobody to wipe our snotty noses. we has sleeves on our jumpers for that; and if the local copper had smacked us round the earhole, we'd get another smack from parent for annoying the scuffers.