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Re: wasted callouts
Never give a time.
I only book AM or PM.
Usually the ones wanting an exact time are hassle.
Re: wasted callouts
I agree, if they want an exact time or an after hours call I explain it can be done, but will cost more. They always accept an AM or PM in the end 🙂
Re: wasted callouts
I’m hopeless at getting anywhere on time. I used to say “approx. 10 ish” and I’d get there at 10.30 ish. Not often found people not home though. Now I say, “between 9 and 11” and usually get there by five past eleven. They very seldom show any annoyance, usually the contrary. Don’t get more than one “customer absent” in 3 months on average.
Mike.Re: wasted callouts
i dont normally give a time but as it was the first call of the day i new i would be there for eight after that its anybody s guess what time il arrive 😆 cras
Re: wasted callouts
WE book 2 hour gaps, And sometimes run late if the job before takes to long,
But we allways ring,Its a job booking some jobs they are never in but they wont an appointment, another problem is payment, They dont allways say they are tenants or somebody else is there and havent left any money.
We do a lot of “phone and meets”. we give them a 2 hour slot and phone the mobile half hour before going.They then rush Home. Not many stay at home housewifes round here.Re: wasted callouts
I had one on Wednesday.
AM call booked, I get a phone call from office, client wants to no what time your arriving.
I`m 20 seconds away.
Only problem client left for work at 9am, I`m outside at 9.15am, client was on mobile so he could go to work and hope I would be willing to wait outside his home, as I have nothing to do and he has a shed load of work far more important than mine.
I rang him to inform him I`m outside his home and nobody is answering, he explained the above, to which he said I’ll be home in 5 minutes.
I pointed out that it had taken him at least 15 minutes to reach the point his is now from when he left home.
Therefore I explained I will be leaving his home in 5 minutes.
He got all girlie and stroppy.
I still left after 5 minutes. 😆
He now has to wait and has been instructed a recall will be £25.00 or we are not returning.
Harsh, yes but I find clients who are good to you are always good to you, therefore the ones that day who bothered to stay home and pay for my service had excellent service.
The ones who take the pi888 tend to not have the same ethic and I find my business is far better without them than with them.
Today I had a call from some guy, didn’t sound too clever, he asks do you sell spares, no I reply we don`t, we only supply and fit them.
But your web site states repairs and spares.
I say no it does not, he said again it does.
Too which I reply “If my site stated I sell spares, why did you ring and ask if we sell spares ?”
After a small silence I get, “well your site isn’t very clear”
Too which I reply “Which part of the sentence We supply a repair solution to both the domestic and commercial clients imply we Sell spares only to customers.
He hung up.
I`m just glad I never had to explain my repair rates, the concept of paying me for call to his home, spending time to diagnose and supplying my service would just have gone well over his head.
Makes you wounder how some manage to get out of bed.
Re: wasted callouts
I always give a precise time for my first call, 7.30 AM on the dot. The next two or three morning calls will be told I will call between 8.00 AM & 10.30 AM.
Next exact call is 12.00 noon and then the following ones are promised 1.00PM to 3.00PM and last one is promised at 4.00PM or 4.30PM ( depending on wether or not it is a squash night, Wed & Fri ) 8)
Saturday six to seven AM calls starting at 7.30AM.
I do have a fairly compact area and as I started my 31st year on my own last week and have done over 42 years in total I know my way around my plot better than any taxi driver. 😉
Jim.
Re: wasted callouts
I try to give a two hour slot, but always say it is a guide time and if I go over I ring them. The ones that make my p88s boil are the people who ring at 10.04 when the call is booked for 10.00 – 12.00 and say you said ten o’clock and I have to go to work at half past, can you call after 7.30 tonight since you can’t keep the appointment. I had one last week do this to me, when I said my last call was after 4 she went into one, and told me Hotpoint would give her an exact time, after I stopped laughing I asked her what she had been drinking, she hung up. Customers like that I just don’t need. The great british public, the’re not that great.
Re: wasted callouts
I had a call at 2.10pm today.
She starts “Am i talking to El**********”, yes you are.
“Oh good can you call today to fix a cooker” I replied it depends where you are and the problem etc”.
“I’m not in the area, its my tenant in **********, can you ring him and arrange it as I have no idea of the make. model or the problem”.
“OK, my callout is £***** and we can call tomorrow AM and fix it”.
“I need somebody out now, today”.
“I’m sorry but all our call slots for today are full, we can just about fit you around a call tom”
She hung up by the time I stated tomorrow.
Cheeky cow.
I`d love to see the hassle the guy she got out had.
Re: wasted callouts
🙂
Lost count of the times I’ve rang back some ignorant get who hung up on me.
When they answer I just say ‘Hiya it’s Tony you were just speaking to , you hung up before I had time to say goodbye’ They nearly all apologise and say……..Oh I thought you had finished 😳 .TC
😉Re: wasted callouts
the ones that get me the best are the ones who agree to:
call out + parts repair. go out to it, heaters duff but rest of its shot *lack of info on customers part*
so its irrepairable and you say i wont charge u for the call out as long as u purchase a replacement of your choice from us. i would recommend xyz appliance at xyz price.
ok ill think about it
2 days later you check if they want to go ahead with your suggestion because any later than wed and u cant get it in before the end of the week for them, and they say oh ive ordered xyz appliance from elsewhere because it was £35 cheaper fitted online. i was only expecting to pay (half of quoted price for new machine). i dint know there were that expensive…
ok so ill send you the call out invoice for £55 then…
“what? sorry! but u didnt fix it. im not paying for a repair you couldnt fix?!”
and so so. blah blah argument…
the annoying thing is now at this time they reckon they can get an appliance from a net only shop in before xmas…. snd fitted – without a surcharge. if comet and currys wont guarantee it i doubt anyone else can…
what bugs me mroe are the customers who refuse to pay for the call out and then claim to refuse replacing the machine as they can do without… that REALLY gets me
oh and it just bugs me because theyve used our advice to make a call on an old machine and now havent even bothered to consult us before ordering a new machine. i really dont want to go down the route of trusting a customer to be honourable, but its getting to breaking point where if i dont charge a call out fee on booking i will get shat on more and more… 😈
PS sorry for sounding off…Re: wasted callouts
I always charge and always explain it when bookin and that the charge is levied once a repair price is agreed.
I don’t know anybody who works for free, I’m certainly not, I’ve learn`t that any client unwilling to pay a call out is unlikely to accept my repair charge.
Re: wasted callouts
gandh1 wrote:so its irrepairable and you say i wont charge u for the call out as long as u purchase a replacement of your choice from us. i would recommend xyz appliance at xyz price.
As lee8 has just mentioned “always charge” and make that your ‘Plan A’ OK?
If it is your way then by all means offer a suitable replacement machine. Quote the delivery and installation price and offer a xx{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} discount to them should they wish to proceed? You then walk away with your money and wait for them to phone you back to place an order. Ultimately then you have gained and not lost anything.
Come to my house (please do!:wink:) and find my machine is BER. Walk out my front door without asking for the money? What incentive would I later have if I received your invoice for £55 in the post? Did I sign anything on your way out? What company? £55 what for? Never heard of you or your company?? ….you catch my drift…human nature and all that! 😉
gandh1 wrote:oh and it just bugs me because theyve used our advice to make a call on an old machine and now havent even bothered to consult us before ordering a new machine. i really dont want to go down the route of trusting a customer to be honourable, but its getting to breaking point where if i dont charge a call out fee on booking i will get shat on more and more… Twisted Evil
If you play it straight, charge a reasonable rate for your services and perhaps even offer acceptable alternatives in resolving their appliance problem. No-one is likey to “shat” on you! Offering a service in this day and age brings you into contact with all sorts that’s for sure. If they, shall we say, pick you from the Yellow Pages then they don’t know you from adam and you don’t know them either. All they know is that you are offering to repair their machine at a price they can afford. When you turn round and say it can’t be fixed because it’s BER their attitude changes in an instant. At that point you either bring in ‘Plan B’ or ask nicely for the money they owe you (Plan A) and be done. 😀
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