How Rude!!!!!

[Tarzan]

This is more of a rant to be honest

Last august I fitted a customers down lights which he supplied.

He told me his wife had seen the perfect ones at B&Q.

I told him I could supply and fit somthing just as nice (and ten times better) but NO as his wife wanted the B&Q ones.

Ok says me so i quote him labour and arrange a day.

lights fitted, no problem, happy days, money in bank.

Fast forward to last week at the chaps wife phones me, apparantly one of the lamps was flickering and hubby tried to fix this and messed it up.

I turn up and reconnect the lamp, b&q fittings are ****e!

Hes happy and so is she, no mention of money.

I drive away and send them a bill for a callout that I discounted as i was only there 15 minutes for

 

[steptoe]

make an issue of it,

I would,

but maybe Im just a twisted pratt.

you went out and fixed one of HIS faulty lights,

charge him twice the price, never mind discount.!

 

[Lurch]

This is why I hate fitting stuff that customers supply. I make it clear that if anything goes wrong with it at any point in the future then it is chargeable.

I'd have told him to bin the bill and I'll send him the full invoice out for being a PITA.

 

[batty]

I had one asked me to go out and fix immersion heater told her will come to test but probably needs replacing. Gets there immersion is in cylinder with red jacket so thinking this could be a nightmare to get out. Explains this to her and as they have oil to heat water its not a major problem. So left that she will get plumber out to replace immersion and if tank goes he can replace it. Have done work for woman before and she always pays there and then but did not offer to pay me. So sent bill for

 

[green-hornet]

I am the worlds worst at letting small bills go unpaid.

My wife says I am mad, and she may be correct.

I suppose in the last year alone I have lost about

 

[Revved Up Sparky]

I'm not self-employed but what I have noticed in nearly 20 years of being a spark (and doing the occasional foreigner) is that it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

 

[SteveH37]

I'm not self-employed but what I have noticed in nearly 20 years of being a spark (and doing the occasional foreigner) is that it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

So true, and you usually feel the worst taking money from those with very little, BUT, you are in business to make a living and so long as the charges reflect the work done and you are happy then I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Tools, training, vehicle, fuel, experience....... All costs money.

 

[Bez]

I'm not self-employed but what I have noticed in nearly 20 years of being a spark (and doing the occasional foreigner) is that it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

I would go along with that, most of the older generation won't let you leave the house untill they've paid you.

Most of my bill chasing is to people with serious money, guess that's part of the reason they're rich in the first place. Hang on to a big bill for an extra month, extra months interest.

 

[PBC_1966]

it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

My experience as well, both when I was doing general electrical work and still with my telecoms work. I remember a job at an expensive house some years ago - Big place, large lot, waterside access to The Broads, triple-car garage, fancy everything, the owner obviously pretty well off. It took me months of chasing the bill to get paid, and as I recall it was only about

 

[Megaohm7]

I agree with Steptoe . You have a living to earn , even after you suggested better quality fittings , they still went with the inferior ones and got the result you expected .I have had bad experiences with their 12v transformer lighting with reports of them going bang ! and finding a burnt out transformer . In one particular case I measured the supply voltage and got 241 v so nothing unusual there . Stick to yer guns mate . Guinness

 

[a1]

This is why I hate fitting stuff that customers supply. I make it clear that if anything goes wrong with it at any point in the future then it is chargeable. I'd have told him to bin the bill and I'll send him the full invoice out for being a PITA.

There is a garage that I used to use, to get my car repaired.

His terms were: If he supplied and fitted, then I was covered for any future faults ect (subject to timescale)

BUT

If I supplied and He fitted, then he offered no warrenty and any problems would be chargable.

 

[Theorysparky]

The issue is to agree money before you put the phone down.

I will always say

 

[steptoe]

I'm not self-employed but what I have noticed in nearly 20 years of being a spark (and doing the occasional foreigner) is that it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

deffo agree with that 100%

wired a new self build for a working couple a few years back,

they insisted on paying

 

[bengie]

same as everyone else here and get the same arguement with tenants when their own fixtures and fittings don't work, they expect us to fix it for free with the exclamation of "ITS YOUR HOUSE, YOU SHOULD FIX IT!", they hate it when you say it might be our house but its your light, that you fitted(badly) that now doesn't work so its not our problem and if we do fix it we're gonna charge you.

along with a mate i have done a fair bit of work for a very wealthy couple(some might know the iwfe as she's on't telly, its Amanda Stretton(she's done a bit car racing, tv presenting that sort of thing)) and its amazing how bloody tight they can be!! they had an extension on their house with an oak frame and being tight thye had the cheapest door furniture/lights/swithes etc they could get away with(refusing to have a couple of lights as they were

 

[ProDave]

I had one asked me to go out and fix immersion heater told her will come to test but probably needs replacing. Gets there immersion is in cylinder with red jacket so thinking this could be a nightmare to get out. Explains this to her and as they have oil to heat water its not a major problem. So left that she will get plumber out to replace immersion and if tank goes he can replace it. Have done work for woman before and she always pays there and then but did not offer to pay me. So sent bill for

 

[batty]

I disagree with you on this one.She called you to look at a job, which you said you couldn't do. What gives you the right to charge her for not doing the job? I certainly wouldn't.

If someone asks you to come round and give a price for fitting an extra socket, and you don't get the job, you don't then send them a bill for preparing an estimate do you?

It's part of being self employed that you have to accept the time spent looking at jobs is not paid. Hopefully you will get enough jobs to make it worthwhile, and the ones you don't get are just overheads.

Hang on I told her before I went that it probably was the immersion that had gone and explained that I may not be able to do it before going but she agreed that I would look at it. So I get in my van drive about four miles to her house. Have to take all the washing out of airing cupboard take the slats out test immersion heater which is failed. Put washing back in airing cupboard refix slats then explain to her as cylinder is about 40 years old that its better for her to get plumber to change immersion as if cylinder goes she will not have any hot water at all and I should do all this for nothing.

 

[steptoe]

I disagree with you on this one.She called you to look at a job, which you said you couldn't do. What gives you the right to charge her for not doing the job? I certainly wouldn't.

If someone asks you to come round and give a price for fitting an extra socket, and you don't get the job, you don't then send them a bill for preparing an estimate do you?

It's part of being self employed that you have to accept the time spent looking at jobs is not paid. Hopefully you will get enough jobs to make it worthwhile, and the ones you don't get are just overheads.

sorry, but Im with batty on this,

she rang an electrician to come fix a plumbers job......

I would deffo charge.

Hang on I told her before I went that it probably was the immersion that had gone and explained that I may not be able to do it before going but she agreed that I would look at it. So I get in my van drive about four miles to her house. Have to take all the washing out of airing cupboard take the slats out test immersion heater which is failed. Put washing back in airing cupboard refix slats then explain to her as cylinder is about 40 years old that its better for her to get plumber to change immersion as if cylinder goes she will not have any hot water at all and I should do all this for nothing.

 

[Pyro]

I'm not self-employed but what I have noticed in nearly 20 years of being a spark (and doing the occasional foreigner) is that it's usually the 'poorer' or should I say 'normal working classes' who appear the most generous with their money and the richer people are the least likely to give you a tip or pay their bill promptly. Does anyone agree or is it just me?.

Absolutely right.

My wife has a saying "Much wants more" - apply it to customers and the answer is along the lines of your observations.

By hanging on to the money it grows and grows.

I also noted that with commercial customers, prior to me being VAT registered, many of them assumed that the

 

[ProDave]

Hang on I told her before I went that it probably was the immersion that had gone and explained that I may not be able to do it before going but she agreed that I would look at it. So I get in my van drive about four miles to her house. Have to take all the washing out of airing cupboard take the slats out test immersion heater which is failed. Put washing back in airing cupboard refix slats then explain to her as cylinder is about 40 years old that its better for her to get plumber to change immersion as if cylinder goes she will not have any hot water at all and I should do all this for nothing.

I'm not going to tell anyone how to run their business, so if you can get away with charging for that, then fair game to you.

All i'm saying is I personally treat that like looking at a job. If I decline do do the job for any reason, I don't charge, unless I've had to travel a long way to look at it (I don't consider 4 miles a long way) in which case I would have agreed a call out rate before travelling to the job.

More likely if I was called to look at an immersion some distance away I would have declined it. They are a right PITA requiring at least 2 visits with a trip to the merchants in between (first visit to test and find out the size of the immersion, second visit to fit it) and the round trip to the merchant to get the new heater can be a very long way up here.

You say you have done work for this customer before. My guess is that if she has been charged for you to "have a look" she is less likely to call you next time, and less likely to recommend you to someone else.

I know I work in a very different market up here in the far north to most of you down in the deep south, so customer expectations vary considerably, so what's right up here may not be so where you are.

 

[batty]

I'm not going to tell anyone how to run their business, so if you can get away with charging for that, then fair game to you.All i'm saying is I personally treat that like looking at a job. If I decline do do the job for any reason, I don't charge, unless I've had to travel a long way to look at it (I don't consider 4 miles a long way) in which case I would have agreed a call out rate before travelling to the job.

More likely if I was called to look at an immersion some distance away I would have declined it. They are a right PITA requiring at least 2 visits with a trip to the merchants in between (first visit to test and find out the size of the immersion, second visit to fit it) and the round trip to the merchant to get the new heater can be a very long way up here.

You say you have done work for this customer before. My guess is that if she has been charged for you to "have a look" she is less likely to call you next time, and less likely to recommend you to someone else.

I know I work in a very different market up here in the far north to most of you down in the deep south, so customer expectations vary considerably, so what's right up here may not be so where you are.

She has not paid the bill any way and I am not giong to chase her for it. Problem with immersions they have not always gone and sometimes its timers or burnt out spurs and most of the plumbers I work with do not have the equipment to test electrics so would not be able to diagnose the problem anyway. Generely I probably would not charge but this woman lives in a big house asked me to look at immersion heater. I explained that if it had gone she would need a plumber to replace it and expected me to clear here airing cupboard out to look at heater. I do not charge a great deal an hour so time spent looking at things is lost work time. But I understand were you are coming from.