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Just curious to see how you all get on with the perfect customer.
Had one today 60 miles away mobile phone in case she was out eng got there at 1.55 not in phoned her, she said she does not get in from teaching till 3.30 and for him to come back unfortuneatly no chance,she went ape shit phoned the office and got me, any way after 10 mins of getting called all the names that a polite teacher can find, I resolved the problem of it being am 8/1 or pm 12/6, guess I won’t be going back.
Kirk.bIME, usually teachers say they won’t be home ’til 4pm (earliest) and we work accordingly.
You’re not still doing AM/PM are you?
Anyway, if you’ve really got a nasty peice of work – tell the rest of the local lads. Then the customer’s got to pay for manufacturer service…………
Me? Devious? Never…………… 😈
Penguin.
Customers are very seldom right, you just can’t tell them that. 😉
I don’t do, or avoid like the plague, any timed calls at all because when you employ engineers it’s just not feasable to do it especially when you have a large geographical area to cover. You can’t guarantee the time for each call, the traffic conditions or any of the many other variables that affect our work. Quite simply the business can’t run to a schedule like that.
I will often take the time to explain this to customers and most do actually understand what I’m saying in that we either allocate a time per call and leave whether the repair is complete or not to make the next appointment or we spend the time required and repair or make as good as we can. Most customers prefer the latter idea.
I often get the dentists/doctors argument slapped back at me and I love that one. If they can offer appointments by time then why is it when you go to the doctor etc you have to wait 45 minutes or so? And dentists etc know in advance what they are going to be doing as they inspect first (which they charge for BTW) then you go back to have the work done (which they charge for again) and then you stump up for it all.
As for plumbers etc., does the expression, “we’ll be there on Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday” ring any bells? 😉
K.
kwatt wrote:Customers are very seldom right, you just can’t tell them that. 😉
I don’t do, or avoid like the plague, any timed calls at all because when you employ engineers it’s just not feasable to do it especially when you have a large geographical area to cover. You can’t guarantee the time for each call, the traffic conditions or any of the many other variables that affect our work. Quite simply the business can’t run to a schedule like that.
I will often take the time to explain this to customers and most do actually understand what I’m saying in that we either allocate a time per call and leave whether the repair is complete or not to make the next appointment or we spend the time required and repair or make as good as we can. Most customers prefer the latter idea.
I often get the dentists/doctors argument slapped back at me and I love that one. If they can offer appointments by time then why is it when you go to the doctor etc you have to wait 45 minutes or so? And dentists etc know in advance what they are going to be doing as they inspect first (which they charge for BTW) then you go back to have the work done (which they charge for again) and then you stump up for it all.
As for plumbers etc., does the expression, “we’ll be there on Tuesday, or maybe Wednesday” ring any bells? 😉
K.
When we get the comparison with Doctors or Dentist timed appointments
we respond; “we can give a time for you to bring it here and put it in our workshop and remove it when it’s completeed”. I am not aware of any GPs or Dentists carrying their patients hither or thither, or doing extractions in the kitchen.
shane.Re: The Customer is allways right!
🙂
Im sorry but you have to understand how hard some oeople work to scrape trogether a living !Some of these teachers etc are at their desks at 9am and apart from a lunch break (1 hour) and two tea breaks (30 mins each) they dont get to leave work till 3pm.
So we have to fit in around that time frame, or go in the meagre 16 weeks of holidays they get.
We dont know how lucky we are being allowed to work 60 hours a week.(but would i swap? no thanks, ive seen some of the kids!!)
Re: The Customer is allways right!
I only posted this as a topic after a very unreasonable encounter, thought there might be some hair raising accounts well if I had any hair.
KirkRe: The Customer is allways right!
we had one today, booking for tomorrow afternoon, offerred her a “after 2pm” appointment. “oh fine”, she said “but I have a baby who I have to take for a walk at 4 so you will have to be done by then” Am I stupid in not understanding that or what, I am sure I never walked a baby at a precise time each day.
Well I’ve actually started telling customers that we won’t accept the “avoid the school runs” nonsense, if we did we’d stop work for at least three hours a day these days! It’s seems every other customer ferries kids around the country and it takes them an hour to do it as well. 😕
K.
Re: The Customer is allways right!
How many of us turn ourselves inside out to try to satisfy customer time requirements then sit meekly at home twiddling thumbs when we need gas,water, electricity repairs ourselves after being told when booking the call that someone will be with you between 8an and 5.30pm ❓ and they either never turn up or ring you at 4.30pm to say they will not be there today and ask to book another all day appointment weeks later ❗
Re: The Customer is allways right!
I Have an Indesit dishwasher on D&G extended warranty ,Which means mr GDA has to call and fix 🙁 (so far door seal,soapdispenser ,Filter assy and an element ~but I digress) Just before christmas the disp failed not only did it take us two days to get through to them ,But then they couldnt call for two weeks after that 😯 ! you were allowed one not school time slot and it was an allday call as well ,So now if a customer /work provider tries to beat us up over service levels I refer to our experience of one of the biggest manufacturers .
Lawrence
Re: The Customer is allways right!
Nice one Lawrence 😆 , we had one today to book in for Monday an urgent washing machine. She is taking the kids to school, taking the car in for service, taking the dogs out, shopping with her mum, picking the kids up, and collecting the car. Want me to call after six to repair. Er I think not, it’s so urgent the machine that she cannot be bothered to put her self out, so neither can I. 🙄 🙄 🙄
OT
Re: The Customer is allways right!
I had one last night, not awkward but funny.
An old dear phoned at 18.45 and asked me when I could get out to her fridge freezer, tomorrow between 9 and 12 said I.
She rang again at 22.50 and left a message asking if I was still going to arrive before 12 as it seemed an unusual time to be working, she hadn’t heard the word ‘tomorrow’. We had a good laugh about it when I turned up this morning.Re: The Customer is allways right!
Its amazing how going self employed makes you work Saturdays Albert
😯 😕 😈
Re: The Customer is allways right!
LOL Ted, I didn’t realise it would be so difficult.
I now only get minutes to wake up in before I arrive at my first job, instead of having that lovely drive down the motorway.
And I really miss all the 5* Hotels & Michelin guide Restaurants @ your expense. 😀Re: The Customer is allways right!
This is going to be VERY controversial, and I’m getting my tin hat out as I write but………………..
Isn’t it always teachers who always expect the engineer to fit in with their early finishes.Teachers seem to feel that the service industry shoul work around their finish time. I often get PM after 4 jobs given to me, and of course it is usually a teacher!
I know I will get some flak, and no doubt some of the forum members will have partners as teachers.
I’m not saying its all of them, but teachers are like that!
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