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Re: tight customers
The “Duty of Care” section makes for interesting reading 😉
http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/law_supply.shtmlRe: tight customers
That page wrote:…that any price or standard you agree must be honoured, and that, if not agreed in advance, the work must be done to a reasonable standard, at a reasonable cost.
Sounds reasonable, even in the engineers (I’m an engineer me) favour.
Of course, proving something is a completely different matter.
Re: tight customers
so to sum up if i say that repair x will cost y and i do repair x then they have to pay me y
but if i do repair x then afterwards i say it will cost you y and they dont find it agreeabvle i have to prove that the price is reasonable and if it is not then they will pay an average of local prices
this is ok to me as i always quote first
the ones that get me though are the ones who agree to the quote but had no intention of paying me anyway just wanted someone to come out and unblock pump or whatever then invite cousin melvin into the room who is 7 ft tall and built like a brick poohouse to say i wont get paidRe: tight customers
I once took a part back because someone refused to pay the full amount. The agreed price was something like £20.89. I fitted the part (a valve I think) and she wrote a cheque out for £20.00. When I pointed out the invoice was for £20.89 she refused to pay the .89p as she “always rounded amounts. Of course my suggestion that she rounded it up to £21.00 was rejected.
After a 5 minute argument, where I explained that if she didn’t pay the 89 pence then I would have to put the money in out of my own pocket when I paid it in, she completely refused to budge. I remember it was a posh house, with posh car etc. As I removed the valve she asked me to “be reasonable” :rotl:
The important thing is to ensure you leave the machine in the same condition you found it in. You can’t leave wires off etc. No one could have a claim if you left it as found.
Some might argue I was cutting me nose off to spite me face or something like that. But sometimes, principles need upholding. 🙂
Re: tight customers
andy_art_trigg wrote: The agreed price was something like £20.89. I fitted the part (a valve I think)
’twas a long time ago 🙂
Re: tight customers
I allways Give a Price Before I start
But they can agree and still not pay if its a women in a poor ethnic group they expect their husbond to handle all the money,
Had a customer who was a drug addict who said yes he would pay me no problem
but after persistent questioning he didnt have it at the moment but it was c
oming, well i was going
A friend had a traveller who got called urgently to the hospital and no one else could pay him well he didnt get paid
I wont remove parts but i have said theirs something still wrong and pulled a block connecter off and made sure its not obvious
We have a set labour charge so we dont get much about the priceRe: tight customers
pmb wrote:
I wont remove parts but i have said theirs something still wrong and pulled a block connecter off and made sure its not obviousThat is highly unethical and not a practise I would advise for anyone who purports to work to a high standard. :rolls: how would you explain it if the local trading standards had a peek?
There used to be a local ‘native American opponent’ who used to do something similar to that and worse. If a customer refused his work or estimate, he would swap wires on the module etc. One customer actually walked in on him forcing his screwdriver through the door seal because she had said his price was to high.
If ever I got a call to a machine and was informed that T*S had been to it the first thing I did was check all over for his booby traps.
He went out of business more than 15 years ago, married a nurse and set up an old peoples home. 😥 Didn’t last long there but I dread to think of what it was like when he was in charge.
Jim.
Re: tight customers
The ones worth avoiding are the landlord tenant calls.
How many times have you been called to a house agreed a price and after the work is done, they say I’m not paying you must bill the landlord :rolls: Or the landlord phones and books a call expecting it to be billed to him. We always tell them payment on the day or no call.The other thing I do if a customer moans about a price or tries to barter, is say soryy I only work for this company I don’t fix the prices, that normaly kills it without any further argument. I never tell them I’m the owner.
Re: tight customers
I once did a repair and she offered to pay me in kind 😯 being the ethical type :rolls: I took her up on it, she dropped her dressing gown and I could’nt believe what I saw, she was black from head to foot, and commented that she had just payed the coal man 😆 😆 😆
Re: tight customers
A customer dropped of a pretty new Dyson upright at the shop yesterday. It needed a new on/off switch and it was pretty blocked up. So, I rings the phone number left with me…
“I can sort it all out for £35?”
“Fantastic, get it done!”
So this morning the other half came back to pick it up, pays me by switch, I load the vac in her car for her, then I get…
“Well, I’m affraid this episode has left a rather bad taste in the mouth! £35 is far too expensive for just fitting a new switch and giving the machine a service.”
:bang:
I nearly slapped the bad taste out of her mouth 👿
Re: tight customers
Goatboy wrote:
“Well, I’m affraid this episode has left a rather bad taste in the mouth! £35 is far too expensive for just fitting a new switch and giving the machine a service.”:bang:
Obviously expected you to pay her £35 for the privilege goatboy 😉
Reminds me of the last vac I received, chap brought it out to the workshop and left it. I rang him up 10 minutes later suggesting that he came back for it before I chucked it out onto the road 👿
When I opened it up it was full of dried vomit!!! and stunk to high heaven, as I said the last vac I repaired, several years ago. OK I lost a customer but who needs one like that. ❓ I think your £35 was reasonable and you probably don’t need a customer like that 😉
Re: tight customers
When i worked for hoover I was in a rather rough area of Hull. Customer complained machine would not empty. Noticed there was a cheque already written out but just missing who to make it out to.
I emptied the pump of various objects you know nails, screws, coins etc.
tested machine and all worked fine. Told bloke it was fixed and how much it was. He refused to pay saying it hadnt taken me long to fix. After pointing out the stuff I removed should not be in there in the 1st place he stil refused. Fair enough says me and put the objects back into the machine. he thought they were just in the drum and looked surprised when he could not find them. I pointed out I had put them back where they came from and pointed to the gap between between inner and outer drum and walked out.Re: tight customers
maltheviking wrote: I rang him up 10 minutes later suggesting that he came back for it before I chucked it out onto the road
You too huh?
I remember a few years back now I went on a social call to a mate that runs a repair shop in Reading. I parked the van a few yards away and as I approach the shop my mate (the shop owner) flung a vacuum cleaner onto the pavement closely followed by its owner!!
My friend spotted me and said “…just another happy customer!” :rotl:
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