2 Irritating Prospects, Same Week

[electricguy61]

At least I don't feel alone after reading these postings. I guess many of us in the electrical service industry are facing these same pressures.

I'm at the point that if I get any indication the caller has already gotten a bid from someone else, I won't waste my time & gas (@$4 a gallon, and 12mpg, it's not a trivial expense any longer). I'm never the cheapest, and don't want to be.

I stopped giving detailed material quotes many years ago, and am trying to limit the details I give in quotes because I realized I was just giving away my time to individuals that had no intention of giving me the work.

I also will no longer quote for realtors (unless I have a previous business them) on home repairs. My quotes were just being used as negotiating tools.

On a positive note: My daughters getting married to a great guy next weekend.

 

[LarryFine]

On a positive note: My daughters getting married to a great guy next weekend.

Congrats!!! :grin:

 

[mtfallsmikey]

At least I don't feel alone after reading these postings. I guess many of us in the electrical service industry are facing these same pressures.

I'm at the point that if I get any indication the caller has already gotten a bid from someone else, I won't waste my time & gas (@$4 a gallon, and 12mpg, it's not a trivial expense any longer). I'm never the cheapest, and don't want to be.

I stopped giving detailed material quotes many years ago, and am trying to limit the details I give in quotes because I realized I was just giving away my time to individuals that had no intention of giving me the work.

I also will no longer quote for realtors (unless I have a previous business them) on home repairs. My quotes were just being used as negotiating tools.

On a positive note: My daughters getting married to a great guy next weekend.

He must be an electrician or a plumber (I'm trying to be fair, Larry...)

 

[jmellc]

No way! Providing that kind of info is work, and requires me being paid.

Until this customer used it to get over on us, it was helpful to us. We wrote up quote, gave customer a copy & kept a copy. If he called later to do the job, we just pulled the quote & called in the material list. Helped us a lot. But after that, we kept lists in notebooks.

 

[jmellc]

At least I don't feel alone after reading these postings. I guess many of us in the electrical service industry are facing these same pressures.

I'm at the point that if I get any indication the caller has already gotten a bid from someone else, I won't waste my time & gas (@$4 a gallon, and 12mpg, it's not a trivial expense any longer). I'm never the cheapest, and don't want to be.

I stopped giving detailed material quotes many years ago, and am trying to limit the details I give in quotes because I realized I was just giving away my time to individuals that had no intention of giving me the work.

I also will no longer quote for realtors (unless I have a previous business them) on home repairs. My quotes were just being used as negotiating tools.

On a positive note: My daughters getting married to a great guy next weekend.

Yea some realtors can be a pain. I've worked for a few that were OK. Worked with one that wanted me to go out, troubleshoot & call with diagnoses for problems,1 at a time & how much to fix it, could it be done today, etc.; wanted it in a hurry at little or no cost.

 

[jmellc]

At least I don't feel alone after reading these postings. I guess many of us in the electrical service industry are facing these same pressures.

I'm at the point that if I get any indication the caller has already gotten a bid from someone else, I won't waste my time & gas (@$4 a gallon, and 12mpg, it's not a trivial expense any longer). I'm never the cheapest, and don't want to be.

I stopped giving detailed material quotes many years ago, and am trying to limit the details I give in quotes because I realized I was just giving away my time to individuals that had no intention of giving me the work.

I also will no longer quote for realtors (unless I have a previous business them) on home repairs. My quotes were just being used as negotiating tools.

On a positive note: My daughters getting married to a great guy next weekend.

Yes, we all have to realize we can't burn gas, money & time just to keep others happy. Most of them don't spend several hours a day working for free & we shouldn't either. The out of town landlord really ticked me. I don't usually hang up on a customer, but I sure did with him. I was recommended to him by a mutual friend, a carpenter. I usually go to extra lengths for referred people like that. But it became obvious that my time was the least of his concerns. I should have already had a policy on such service calls & told him when he called that it would be at least a 1 hour charge.