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parkesy_plumb

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Another rant from me ...

got a call yesterday from a guy to investigate water hammer noises when flushing his toilet. Said no problem but wanted me at his house at 6.30am as he was working all day. It was dead local to me so I obliged.

went round this morning and said straight away what was wrong (new inlet as it was a grubby torbeck). He asked am I hundred percent sure and how I'd go about doing it. I gave a quick run down and said I'll go out n grab one and come back in the eve to fit. He agreed and I was off.

Got a text an hour later said he wanted to cancel the appointment said he's having a go himself

the git obviously just wanted to know what was up for free info grrrr! Learned lesson now not to give anything away

anyone else have any similar stories?

parkesy
 
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Send him an invoice for your standard minimum charge for the original visit. You have still used your skill, knowledge and time to diagnose the problem and as such it is chargeable.
 
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parkesy_plumb said:
Another rant from me ...

got a call yesterday from a guy to investigate water hammer noises when flushing his toilet. Said no problem but wanted me at his house at 6.30am as he was working all day. It was dead local to me so I obliged.

went round this morning and said straight away what was wrong (new inlet as it was a grubby torbeck). He asked am I hundred percent sure and how I'd go about doing it. I gave a quick run down and said I'll go out n grab one and come back in the eve to fit. He agreed and I was off.

Got a text an hour later said he wanted to cancel the appointment said he's having a go himself

the git obviously just wanted to know what was up for free info grrrr! Learned lesson now not to give anything away

anyone else have any similar stories?

parkesy
Click to expand...
The skill is to work out who you talk to & those that you shouldn't give anything away to.
If you don't talk to customers & treat them all like they were this one, you will loose out.

We stand & fall on relationship we make on the first meeting, ask any good salesman.

I think that one will have to go down to experience but try an invoice anyway.
 
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WaterTight said:
i don't know why anybody bothers saying that, he'll never pay. just more wasted time.
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Well he certainly wont with that attitude. You have to at least try and get your money, you cant just let people walk all over you and do nothing about it. This world if full of chancers, and by letting them get away with it just encourages them to do it to someone else.
 
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You have to let people know there's a diagnosis charge before you go out, I'd invoice for time spent anyway.
 
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WaterTight said:
i don't know why anybody bothers saying that, he'll never pay. just more wasted time.
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I think I would invoice my call out charge. After all, he called you out. And I would follow it up through the small claims court, accepting, as watertight rightly says, that I would probably be wasting my time.

But then, I am in a bleddy minded mood today. :)
 
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All the time. The trick is to make it sound very scary and never investigate for free. I charge for diagnostic and if the customer accepts the job i wave it off as part the agreed total invoice. Anyway at 6.30 you should have an overcharge in place.
 
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I'll drop one through his door but he'll never pay. I am too trusting I think and have learned the lesson today. Luckily it was 5 mins down road. Hope he brings the ceiling down in his lounge
 
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chris watkins said:
The skill is to work out who you talk to & those that you shouldn't give anything away to.
If you don't talk to customers & treat them all like they were this one, you will loose out.

We stand & fall on relationship we make on the first meeting, ask any good salesman.

I think that one will have to go down to experience but try an invoice anyway.
Click to expand...

cheers Chris yeh I'll be very careful what I say from now on
 
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parkesy_plumb said:
I'll drop one through his door but he'll never pay. I am too trusting I think and have learned the lesson today. Luckily it was 5 mins down road. Hope he brings the ceiling down in his lounge
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Just make sure when he calls you to sort his mess out that you are well compensated for your time!
 
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Parksey, don't worry pal, when he has a bash cross threads the connection or knacks up the fibre washer or his service valve sprays him in the boat race and he can't stop the leak, he will know why we have plumbers LOL
 
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It's quite common for people to want free advice so that they can then save money by attempting the job themselves - or getting a cheap handyman in to do it.
I have stupidly answered someone on the phone in the past, for example, saying their rads aren't heating. When I say, their circulating pump has stopped, they thank me & I never hear from them again. Better to say, that sounds strange, I will have to look at it & fix it.
We probably all do it to some extent, - by getting advice from the internet or any tradesman that's willing to give info.
Difference here is you were asked out at a specific time to diagnose a fault. You deserve to be paid a call out. He is basically a thief & has stole some of your time & therefore money.
 
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Best said:
It's quite common for people to want free advice so that they can then save money by attempting the job themselves - or getting a cheap handyman in to do it.
I have stupidly answered someone on the phone in the past, for example, saying their rads aren't heating. When I say, their circulating pump has stopped, they thank me & I never hear from them again. Better to say, that sounds strange, I will have to look at it & fix it.
We probably all do it to some extent, - by getting advice from the internet or any tradesman that's willing to give info.
Difference here is you were asked out at a specific time to diagnose a fault. You deserve to be paid a call out. He is basically a thief & has stole some of your time & therefore money.
Click to expand...

I always want to give off a professional attitude but I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut. I gave advice over the phone while on treadmill at the gym other week and never heard back. Grrrr customers
 
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parkesy_plumb said:
I always want to give off a professional attitude but I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut. I gave advice over the phone while on treadmill at the gym other week and never heard back. Grrrr customers
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Just call it a trade secret
"yes I can fix it based on *yrs experiance and it will take me *hr @ £ *p/h and I`ll tell you what the problem was afterwards". Somehow I get away with it so guess it`s how you say it.
 
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parkesy_plumb said:
I always want to give off a professional attitude but I'll know next time to keep my mouth shut. I gave advice over the phone while on treadmill at the gym other week and never heard back. Grrrr customers
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No!

Its fine to learn from your mistakes, but its a mistake to treat all customers like they are robbing toe-rags.

The secret to great customer relationships is a very short memory. Its absolutely not your next customers fault that your last customer was a merchant banker, and if you behave as it "they are all the same" then its YOU that will suffer in the long run.

Customers are distributed across the bell-curve of reasonableness. All that has happened here is that you have experienced one to the far left of the curve.
 
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Ray Stafford said:
No!

Its fine to learn from your mistakes, but its a mistake to treat all customers like they are robbing toe-rags.

The secret to great customer relationships is a very short memory. Its absolutely not your next customers fault that your last customer was a merchant banker, and if you behave as it "they are all the same" then its YOU that will suffer in the long run.

Customers are distributed across the bell-curve of reasonableness. All that has happened here is that you have experienced one to the far left of the curve.
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Why not the far right of the curve then Ray ?? LOL
 
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Ray is correct, there is no point in going through life with a chip on your shoulder, just because you are unfortunate to meet a rogue customer.
BUT I think we all need to be very clever in what we say to others & also be assertive when we have to.
 
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chris watkins said:
Why not the far right of the curve then Ray ?? LOL
Click to expand...

It depends on whether you are graphing for "reasonableness" or "unreasonableness" assuming you use the standard assumption on a bell curve that the tested variable increases in frequency on the vertical axis and
intensity on the horizontal axis
 
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Ray Stafford said:
No!

Its fine to learn from your mistakes, but its a mistake to treat all customers like they are robbing toe-rags.

The secret to great customer relationships is a very short memory. Its absolutely not your next customers fault that your last customer was a merchant banker, and if you behave as it "they are all the same" then its YOU that will suffer in the long run.

Customers are distributed across the bell-curve of reasonableness. All that has happened here is that you have experienced one to the far left of the curve.
Click to expand...

Yeh well said Ray I didn't mean treat the next customer differently just not give away as much information.
 
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