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Re: More work than i can handle now!!
timdowning wrote:Bryan wrote:
God Knows what ive done then
I’m wondering if it may be the chaps that just do private jobs that are quiet?
What percentage of your work are private jobs Bryan?
All my work is private, I have been on to D&G they say they are only looking for gas engineers, that’s no good to me, I’m a multi skilled ex Hotpoint man system trained do everything except gas cookers, been on my own for 9 years, been ok up till now.
I moved to Bedfordshire in October and found getting work in a new area hard going.Re: More work than i can handle now!!
Works gone dead here, two calls last week and one so far this week, is it just me? or are we all very quiet.
Re: Grim News From Sony
I was a TV engineer for long before I got into white goods, the trade has been tailing off for sometime as the technology has improved, I got out in 1985 after 15 years in it.
The credit crunch is the last straw for a lot of the smaller outfits, many have sadly gone to the wall, it’s now the turn of the bigger stores.I don’t think Gordon has a clue what to do to stem the decline.
Re: Dealing With “Call Backs”
Had a call near to there this morning, only across the road, that customer told me she saw my van and got my number from it, so I got a good call out of it after all. 😉
She told me it was a problem family, police always calling to domestics etc bailiffs there a month ago took their car away after calling for police back up. I did not mention my misfortune with them until after she had told me they were trouble.
I’ve not heard any thing from them, and if trading standards call me I’ll resolve it with them, I doubt I’ll hear any more from them to be honest.
I don’t normally hang up on customers, but she was abusive for some time before I’d had enough and put the phone down.
Re: Dealing With “Call Backs”
I’ve had a problem with a ranting customer this week.
I had a call last week to replace a fridge stat, it was freezing everything.
Changed the stat and in the process the bulb failed, I did not have one on the van and told the customer I would return when in the area and fit a new bulb. (the call is 17 miles from my home)That evening just before 6 she phoned demanding I go back as the fridge is silent and it is now defrosting and all her food is going off :rolls:
I said I would call back and check it but first open the fridge door and wait to see if the motor comes back on, if it does then phone me back and let me know.She did not call me back so just before I left home to go back, I phoned her, she said it’s working now but I want you to call and check it tonight anyway.
I said there is no need for me to call tonight as it’s working, I will call in and change the bulb as soon as I’m in your area, sometime next week.Every day since she has phoned sometimes twice in a day and moaned about me breaking her fridge light. Yesterday I called and fitted a new bulb free of charge.
Last night just before 6 she phoned to say it was not running…ARGHHHHH!
I asked if she could hear the motor, she said yes but the light is not coming on, and I want you to call now or else blah blah blah I’m going to report you to trading standards etc etc, then she started swearing at me, I hung up on her. I’m waiting to see what happens next.Re: Neff half turn elements
A while ago I had 3 fail in a month, all non gen, then had another one not getting hot enough, when I tested it was reading 250 Ohms, how did that get past quality control, 😯 no problems since.
Re: D&G sign up
Yep, bloody silly questions, I’m a sole trader so it means very little, but you still get all the forms :rolls:
A lot of work in London if you want to work free, but getting them to pay is the problem.
Had a call this morning from a Newsagents with a broken drinks chiller, did not want to know as soon as I said we would charge £20 if he only wanted an estimate, and did not have a repair.
He had already told me he’s been given an estimate by some other engineers who said it needed a compressor. I asked him how much he expected to pay for the a compressor job parts and labour, he said not more than £80 :rotfl:
You can see what I’m up against with people like him. :rolls:Re: Outrageous parts prices!
I was called out to a Neff oven, the clock blown on an all electronic model, they want over £220 for the module, the customer went potty when I quoted her the price for the part, she phoned Neff herself soon after I left, then phoned me back to say sorry for disputing the price I’d quoted.
Re: How to beat the recession
Madmac wrote:I call it a ‘weed out the wasters & wa*nkers’ charge, as i find it useful in that regard.. they wouldnt let me put that in my yellow pages ad though..shame 😯
At one time I did free call outs and estimates, looking back I must have been mad, about 2 out of 10 calls were looking for a £10 repair or had no money to pay for the work and wanted you to go back after payday.
I totally agree, making a charge for estimates sure gets rid of the customers from hell, who want to pay bugger all for a repair and expect a lifetime guarantee on the machine.
On my adverts it still says no call out charge, but no longer says free estimates.
A lot of the time wasters start by saying I want a quote for a repair, there is no call out charge is there?I say that’s right our engineer will call and give you a price, if you have it repaired we don’t charge for callout, just for the parts and labour required for the repair.
we charge £20.00 for an estimate if you don’t have the work done.Amazing how many hang up or say they will call back ,but never do.
I lose nothing by making an estimate charge of £20.00 but gain hours of time saved and my fuel bills are lower too, after all if they want my time they must pay for it now.Re: NO CALL OUT CHARGE… (So how exactly does that work???)
Used to do a free call out, not anymore.
We only repair fridges now, we gave up doing washing machines over two years ago, to many diy repairers and time wasters wanting free estimates and bugger all else in London.Now our advert no longer says no callout charge we still get them asking if call out is free. You know the time wasters by the start of the call.
The call always starts with “Do you have a call out charge?” I tell them, we only charge for calling if you don’t have a repair done, they then say.
“What if it’s too expensive”
Then you pay us for our time we only charge £20.00, that is not a lot when you think how much petrol costs, nobody can work for free. they say something, well if you don’t fix it you are not working are you! 😕
I’ll think about it and then they hang up.Don’t you just love the British public…come to think of it :innocent: most of the calls wanting a freebee are from non British sounding callers.
Having some kind of charge for a non repair, filters out the rubbish calls and saves us loads of time.
Re: Masterpart
Not long ago I had an email from MP telling me of a change of password for my account, now I know why. Nice of them to inform me of their cockup :rolls:
Re: Power surge chaos!
Back in the early 70s when I was a T.V engineer I was called to a council block in London that had been connected to the 11,000 volt supply by the electricity board engineers, after a mix up with the cables in the substation, they were connecting a new block with power when the mix up happened, there was not a single bulb or fitting left intact by the blast.
Everything pluged in was damaged as the high voltage jumped the switches, the T.V I went to check was just a black burnt mess, not a single component inside was left working the mains lead had melted, and the tube had cracked, I have never seen anything like it, cost the local electricity board a fortune to rewire and replace everything, it was a block of 18 flats, bloody luck nobody was killed.Re: FUEL PRICES AROUND THE UK.
Try this web site for the best local prices.
http://www.petrolprices.com just type in your post code and then join the mailing list, you will get a weekly email with the latest local prices sent to your mail box.
