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I have a slightly tricky situation brewing and I’d be most interested to hear your views on this scenario.
Had a call from a customer this morning with an integrated Siemens washer dryer complaining of burning smell and clicking noises noises when he rotates the drum by hand :cry:. “99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} certain raised segment on commutator and new motor required” but he goes on to tell me that I replaced the motor end cap 5 months ago and charged him £95 total.
I said I would call him back tonight with a price but he got in the remark “is this under guarantee as it was the motor you worked on previously”. “Well not really” I replied and told him that I’d give him as decent a price as I can.
Motor is part no. 140867 and it retails at about £185 and it’s going to cost me £129:99 + vat so I was looking at quoting a price of £200 all in which seems reasonable to me :).
I honestly don’t encounter this particular situation very often and I just know he’s an awkward customer who’s going to bring up the fact that I repaired the same motor a few months ago.With it being a built in appliance I think he will look to get the repair done.
I do feel slightly aggrieved for him but at the same time I can’t really be held responsible for this repair.I have occasionally done repairs for cost price of the part and in all honesty I’m only charging him £15 on top of the retail price of the motor.Please tell me I’m being as fair as can be expected and if he’s out for an argument I have no cause to be concerned.
Bryan
Re: Awkward Situation
i would just tell him that this new fault has no relation to previous work,
quote him for parts at cost , but charge full labour, and tell him thats as fair as you can be…….if he doesn’t like….
well lets not go their…ultimately you want to retain customers but if hes a funny burger who wants to argue and hassle over payment…quite frankly you just dont need his kind of custom..
after all your in buis to make money..not to run around pushy customers
ally
Re: Awkward Situation
bryan ..a tricky situation as you say, re previous repair replacing the end cap…did you leave him a receipt for the job itemising the part/s used. as we know the end cap replacement is not related to the armature. funkyboogie has it right an unreasonable customer is an unwanted one. fortunately as you observe they are few but they are always a hazard and a pain and will be a nagging pain every time you get a call from them.
be honest and firm as to how you see your responsibilites. don’t let him wind you up. best of luck
richardRe: Awkward Situation
I had a job where i replaced the carbon brushes on a motor, one month later the armature burnt out. The customer rang back saying it was the same fault as before “to do with the motor” when I explained the difference, he wasn’t interested just wanted me to sort it out for nothing.
I was polite, professional but firm. I explained that the motor belong to “HIM” and if he wanted me to repair “HIS” motor I was quite willing to do so at a cost of X number of pounds. Once he realised I meant what I said he rang off and i never heard another word from him.The point being – you must be polite but firm pointing out it’s his problem not yours & if he require your services it will cost him. Keep repeating the message over and over until he gets its – because 99{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of the time their just trying it on.
Brian.Re: Awkward Situation
Personally Bryan I’d not get into a fight over it.
What I’d do is state quite clearly that, the fault was unrelated and could not have been foreseen but, given the reasonably close proximity to the previous repair and the fact that it is another part of the motor that has failed that you will make a concession on this occasion. The concession would be that you supply and fit the motor without a labour charge.
The fact that he doesn’t know you are making £50 on the motor is not at issue, the price he’ll get is £185.
Or, even if he shops about and manages to somehow get one cheaper then tell him you’ll fit free but will not obviously warranty the repair as you can’t vouch for the integrity of the part.
So in effect he either buys the motor from you and you get a bit out the deal or, he risks buying something without warranty totally. But, in any event, you’re the good guy trying to do the right thing and by not charging an additional labour fee you cannot be accused of being unreasonable by any stretch.
Only my opinion of course but it’s how I’d deal with it as sometimes discretion is truly the better part of valour.
K.
Re: Awkward Situation
kwatt wrote:The concession would be that you supply and fit the motor without a labour charge.
Quite! That is what we would do….. The motor would be sold @ RRP but we would fit it FOC. We would then give 1Yr warranty on that repair. That way, any half tidy customer would see that you are acting fairly. 🙂
Re: Awkward Situation
Thanks for the comments guys 😀
I couldn’t bring myself to quote no labour charge as I’d only be clearing £32 on supplying the motor at £185.This is a built in appliance and a PITA to remove and install.Quoted him £185 plus a nominal £15 labour charge and after discussing his bad luck , cursing the cost of the motor and keeping me on his mobile for 4 mins. , he’s chewing it over and will get back to me soon.
“Probably don’t have any effing choice” was his closing line and those type of remarks always irk me but I just said to myself grin and bear it.To be fair he did accept the fact that a new motor is not my responsibility and seemed to appreciate I was doing my best without robbing myself 🙂
Bryan
Re: Awkward Situation
try this. you go to a garage and get your water pump fixed then soon after your rad springs a leak. would a garage stand for any discount there both under your bonnet ther both cooling parts ………they were both working fine when you drove down the road. would the motor trade offer discount? dream on. your being very fair, its what most of us would do. now look at it this way what if you fitted a motor on your first visit and the customer then found that he could have got away with just an end frame at much cheaper price he might well have had course to complain heads he wins tails you loose.
playing it straight is always best and dont forget if you do you play it straight trading standards are there to advise and help YOU as well as the customer
wilf
Re: Awkward Situation
Just to update this one , the guy gave me the go ahead to replace the motor and he seemed fairly reasonable after his initial onslaught :).
Now where can i get that motor a wee bit cheaper :lol:.
Cheers for all replies.
Bryan
Re: Awkward Situation
senseib wrote:In stock at Qualtex – £118.50 + vat.
That’s curious, as on my Qualtex ‘Spareslink’ system it comes out at being NIL STOCK and £158 (plus Vodka And Tonic) 😯
Re: Awkward Situation
Martin wrote:
senseib wrote:
In stock at Qualtex – £118.50 + vat.That’s curious, as on my Qualtex ‘Spareslink’ system it comes out at being NIL STOCK and £158 (plus Vodka And Tonic) 😯
Yep! just checked order availability on this motor – definately in stock at that price. Do you retrieve regular updates Martin?
Brian.Re: Awkward Situation
Thats proof that Spareslink is FUBAR’d 😉
140867 is showing as £46.32 inc vat on my screen, it is still however showing the Hotpoint WMA drum rear half 1603409 at £141.00 😯
I have reported the drum price error to my dealer, DS Supplies but three or four updates later it is still there.
Jim.
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