Just Someone Who Will Have A Go.

[headscratcher]

I don't know whether I am driven by cost [thinking....yes I am] but possibly also because so many

trade people have ripped me off.....you know the saying "if the job is worth doing - do it yourself".

but I do know what is too dangerous to do!

 

[headscratcher]

I don't know whether I am driven by cost [thinking....yes I am] but possibly also because so many

trade people have ripped me off.....you know the saying "if the job is worth doing - do it yourself".

but I do know what is too dangerous to do!

 

[apprentice87]

or at least you think you do..

We will all try to help though, so you have come to the right place!! What you thinking of doing??

john..

 

[kerching]

Just remember that there are many ways to do a job,,there are many ways to make it work. You cannot ay if an 'electrical job' is safe without testing it with the correct equipment. Same as you cannot tell,if a circuit or supply is dead just by looking at it.

Eg turn a light off, lamp,goes out, ....does this mean that it is dead?

Just saying

 

[ProDave]

It's a shame you think so many trades people have ripped you off.

Many of us on here are self employed electricians, and I'm sure we all feel we do a good job for a fair price. (we usually charge less per hour than plumbers)

Almost all of the jobs I get now are word of mouth recommendations from satisfied customers. I hardly advertise at all.  that is by far the best way to find a tradesman from a satisfied customer so you know you have a reasonable chance of getting a good job done for a fair price.

I don't know if you use the likes of face book etc (I don't personally) but a lot of my new customers tell me they use social media like that to find good tradesmen.  Just post on there "anyone know a good electrician?" and apparently I am often recommended by satisfied customers. 

 

[Essex1]

Define 'ripped off'. It seems as if people want you to work for nothing sometimes. One man's ripped off is another man's feeding his family.

 

[Murdoch]

I find these threads broadly amusing...

You take your car to the garage and get it fixed, if you don't like their charges, you find a different garage

or

you find people you trust!

how can anyone say they have been ripped off??

Just earlier this week I got a call from a client, about 8 miles away saying some of their sockets were off, and they claimed that all the MCB's and RCD's were "on" - I tried to check over the phone, but was about to go out.

Later they called me back to say they had got an "emergency" electrician out and he had reset 1 RCD - they didn't say how much they had paid but it was "expensive" - now if I had gone I may not have even charged them, or done my minimum charge as a gesture.

Were they ripped off? This was about 6.30pm

 

[Essex1]

I do not do 'favours' if you like. I do not do domestic either. Once there was a football mum and she asked me to go round and change her bathroom light. This would of course be on the side of my day job and on a Saturday morning. I said that would be £50. She could not hide her disguise at the 'quote' I had just given her. She felt as if she was being 'ripped off'. I felt as if I was loosing my Saturday morning, time, fuel etc....

What annoys me is these people that think because they know you are a tradesmen and they know you you must do these jobs for nothing. Incidentally they tend to work in insurance or the like in which they can never offer anything back as a freebie in return.

 

[ProDave]

It's true as a tradesman doing domestic work you have to be a bit of a diplomat as well.

Some customer you would just love to be able to tell them to sod off.  Like the old lady I visited yesterday to a "light not working". That turns out to be the light in a cooker hood, which is in a disgusting state (as is the whole kitchen) minging with grease.  It's the switch that has gone and there's no way I would attempt to repair something as old and disgusting. So I'll give her a price for fitting a new hood but suspect (hope?) I don't get the job.  That's an hour of my time wasted and 15 miles of fuel.

If someone can tell me how to predict what a customer expects to pay I would love to know.  I charge the same hourly rate so you would think all my jobs are fairly priced, but some you can tell think they are being over charged, and others say "are you sure? here have a bit more"

Anyway we are still waiting for an example from the OP of how he was "ripped off"

 

[kerching]

If someone can tell me how to predict what a customer expects to pay I would love to know.

The normal reponse is. HOW FECKING MUCH?

So for calculation values a rule of thumb is.............Simples......it is your normal hourly rate /3. Oh, and can you loses the VAT as well,please?

By this time they are usually talking to the back of my head

 

[Doc Hudson]

I don't know whether I am driven by cost [thinking....yes I am] but possibly also because so many

trade people have ripped me off.....you know the saying "if the job is worth doing - do it yourself".

but I do know what is too dangerous to do!

Welcome to the forum. I find it almost unbelievable that anybody purchasing defective goods doesn't return them to their supplier for a refund or replacement. And after purchasing previous defective goods or services fails to take preventive action to ensure it doesn't happen again. There are numerous laws and legal rights that consumers can use and implement to get refunds if they consider they have been mis sold a product. (also known as being ripped off). Of course some consumers fail to shop around, consider different suppliers, get multiple quotes for the product they are interested in. Or get written quotes and or agree incremental payment terms for larger purchases. Cheapest may not be the best, the saying "if it sounds to good to be true it probably is'  very often applies to the cost cutting option. Most reputable tradesmen will be happy to provide a written contract agreement for some work and would look favorably at a reasonable stage payment plan. It is not that difficult to avoid been repeatedly ripped off providing you do a bit of research, shop around for at least three quotes and ask for references and recommendations from previous customers. 

Doc H.

 

[Essex1]

Welcome to the forum. I find it almost unbelievable that anybody purchasing defective goods doesn't return them to their supplier for a refund or replacement. And after purchasing previous defective goods or services fails to take preventive action to ensure it doesn't happen again. There are numerous laws and legal rights that consumers can use and implement to get refunds if they consider they have been mis sold a product. (also known as being ripped off). Of course some consumers fail to shop around, consider different suppliers, get multiple quotes for the product they are interested in. Or get written quotes and or agree incremental payment terms for larger purchases. Cheapest may not be the best, the saying "if it sounds to good to be true it probably is'  very often applies to the cost cutting option. Most reputable tradesmen will be happy to provide a written contract agreement for some work and would look favorably at a reasonable stage payment plan. It is not that difficult to avoid been repeatedly ripped off providing you do a bit of research, shop around for at least three quotes and ask for references and recommendations from previous customers. 

Doc H.

As I said earlier. The op needs to define 'ripped off' first. 9/10 it is simply the guy charged me more than I think it is worth.

 

[Andy™]

probably expected it to be a lot less. well its only a few wires afterall

 

[headscratcher]

Thank you all. 

My earliest lesson in being self sufficient was when I was young and our Dynatron TV [now you know how long ago this was]. broke down.

My Uncle suggested his friend who was a TV engineer. I can still remember the sweat on the engineer's brow as he wrestled to get the steel chassis

out of its cabinet and the even greater struggle he had replacing it once he had replaced a fuse.   The TV soon stopped working again but my Mother with a little help

from her daughter retraced the engineers steps removing the huge chassis but with care instead of brute  force - no prob.  Yes we did know about removing the plug!

Consulting the wiring diagram we found he had not used the correct fuse, bought the correct fuse and hey presto TV back working all for 6d [2.5p in decimal]  - darned

sight cheaper than the £6 charged for the wrong fuse.

 

[Murdoch]

Thank you all. 

My earliest lesson in being self sufficient was when I was young and our Dynatron TV [now you know how long ago this was]. broke down.

My Uncle suggested his friend who was a TV engineer. I can still remember the sweat on the engineer's brow as he wrestled to get the steel chassis

out of its cabinet and the even greater struggle he had replacing it once he had replaced a fuse.   The TV soon stopped working again but my Mother with a little help

from her daughter retraced the engineers steps removing the huge chassis but with care instead of brute  force - no prob.  Yes we did know about removing the plug!

Consulting the wiring diagram we found he had not used the correct fuse, bought the correct fuse and hey presto TV back working all for 6d [2.5p in decimal]  - darned

sight cheaper than the £6 charged for the wrong fuse.

So no recent examples of you be "ripped off" then?