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So… callout booked to noisy wm, we were recommended by her friend, because her friebns machine (also hp) was noisey. Friends job was because spring had snapped. This ladies issue was usual hp story, with bearing failure and sealed tank, went thru usual spiel of new machine = no call out. oh theres a callout? she queried, yeh obviously! I said we were expecting to repair your wm cos she said that her “drum had dropped” as per reported fault. yeh but my friend who recommended you said you sorted her machine for £85 i cant afford £200!!!! (i had guesstimated £200 inc labour for a uk-built sealed tank hp wmf740p – not realising tank assbly is now £123+del on its own) I said how much were you told the callout was when you booked us? her response was i dunno i cant remember. anyway i reminded her it was 57.60 inc vat. she goes oh thats a lot of money. I explain callouts written off if she gets a new machine (i didnt kill the hp its def not my fault!) oh thats a lot of money for bad news. me now quite angry inside, goes, yes but it sounded fixable over the phone, we did advise all repair quotes were only advisory until we could see a machine and a maximum charge of £57.60 was due if you felt it was uneconomical to repair, so she goes yeh but i didnt think it would be so expensive, so yeh but thats a lot of money we only paid £220 for it off comets ebay site. anyways i say look you say you cant afford a new machine so a repairs your only option, is that right? she goes yeh pretty much, so I go we will do your drum for no more than 190 but that is as cheap as i can do the job ok?. she agrees the next day to go ahead so i order drum. amyway go to do job today and after fitting tank then about to fit door seal i notice theres a nice 50p sized slit in upper edge by soap disp. i mentioned it to her and shes now refusing to pay for any of the work as its now over what shed of spent on machine, so apparently i should have noticed it before ordering other part, even though there wasnt even any sign of leaking so hows best way to word things (already offered to fit seal for free & @ cost price to her but even £18 is too much more than she wants it for free. GRRR I HATE HELPING PEOPLE!!!!!
Re: a… "how would you word things" quiz…
think you need to take this one on the chin mate – learn and move on
alarm bells ringing from the start – re to expensive didnt realize call out etc …
better of sitting in the house than running around these types ..
my guess you will have done at least 3 visits now –
you would have been cheaper thrown £5,s out you van window
ally
Re: a… "how would you word things" quiz…
I know it’s a pain at times but I ALWAYS state my labour charge and ALWAYS state that even if the appliance is BER, what my minimum fee will be. It’s worked for me for years now and had a lot less hastle. Lost a few calls doing it but not bothered because I’ve get a lot less hastle. Big parts like drums or special order – take a non-refundable deposit 🙂 Been there, had my fingers burnt, and learnt a lot on here as well.
As funkyboogy said, count to 10, move on and have a beer or two tonight.
Re: a… "how would you word things" quiz…
I do feel for you gandh1. To answer your question, I guess one lesson is never to quote a fixed price for a repair. Always make it clear it’s an estimate. If the customer tries to pin you down on a precise figure, tell her the cost could be higher if unforeseen problems come to light.
Re: a… “how would you word things” quiz…
Hotpoint WMF740 with a drum problems should have rung alarm bells from the outset.
It’s all well and good quoting prices to your customer in the attempt to secure payment but you also need to explain that, from the symptoms given over the phone, it may be BER? Arguing the toss with your foot in the door can so easily be avoided with a little advice over the phone. She will love you for it and come again. But what you have instead is one very angry former customer who will share her experience with friends and neighbours
Re: a… “how would you word things” quiz…
Doing work via customer’s friend’s recommendation can add a little pressure as you would want to do it well, looks like you discovered that drum replacement job was more hassle than it worth.
I’d put it down to experience. I had one job that costed me a fortune which in hindsight it would have been cheaper to replace the machine.
These days I don’t bother do sealed drum replacement regardless of age of the machine. I tell them get a new machine and brand loyalty does not do them favours.
I’ve been always upfront with costs including callout charge and the minimum charge I expects to be paid.
There’s a danger on ordering parts without seeing the appliance and you learnt this one.
Re: a… "how would you word things" quiz…
It is complicated, but to be honest £57.60 is more than 25{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the full repair for what appears to the client as doing nothing and to be honest did it take more than 10 seconds to diagnose.
If your not able to be flexible on the call of charge maybe you should take payment before calling.
Is is not better to have charged less. I understand your business has overheads and calling to clients has its costs, but sometimes charging people for those costs when they are not receiving anything for it is always going to be difficult.
You wouldn’t be happy calling to Curry’s, not buy anything and then be charged for the advice with a bill that included their costs for the fancy building, staff etc etc etc.
Re: a… "how would you word things" quiz…
as i had a few moments spare I thought id let you know how it unfolded. firstly we agreed to a split payment over 2 months, £100 then £90. And the door seal issue was sorted a few weeks later with a gasket that was ordered in error, so instead of sending that back we wrote it off and i fitted for free and she was all very happy and handed me 100 in notes anyway.
also thanks for your feedback and advice (taken aboard) and dedicated responses,
lee – you can ask service force to do the same thing for £79, and bosch £89, serviceforce wont give you anything back, bosch will give you half of that off a new bosch. we give the whole callout off a new machine from us. thats our business model that has worked well for many years, and in the past was our guarantee customers could trust us – i.e we had nothing to gain by writing a machine off. Also at the end of the day its not fair on all your other customers to do that for one dozy (i dont think her attitude was deliberately thick), when the others have the dignity to pay your fees. Not only that, shes clearly a “chatter” so what happens when she tells her friend who we charged a full fee for replacing a drum spring which took maximum 15 mins to do, and then i potentially lose the friend who recommended us as a customer?
twicknix – i did tell her new was her best option but she just didnt have the finances available to go that way, hence trying to help her out. and the tank was ordered after seeing applaince, although in hindsight I shouldnt have done that until the call out had been paid.
Martin – she said “its dropped just like my friends one you fixed the other month” normally it would have but as i remembered her friends one quite vividly, it didnt jingle 😛
And ally you were right, 3 visits 🙂 In reality no one lost out, shes got the best she could afford, i didnt make a loss, and I now watch my words a lot closer. Even gotten into the hang of starting to ask: “has this call-out has been settled prior to my visit, or will I need to take payment from you today?” straight after greeting them before stepping in, only had one person so far go “oh theres a callout charge? oh ok i guess that will have to do”
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