Customer complaining about price.

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Re: Customer complaining about price.

Originally posted by j_erickson:
Possibly offer to share your troubleshooting with the next electrician.
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I agree and would certainly do that.

If I got so stumped that I had to give up I would be very embarrassed, I would certainly offer any further help I could to the next guy.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

This may be obvious but customers suck. I just spent a half hour on the phone with some half in the bag lady. I installed undercabinet lighting for her. Turns out she is upset because you can see the lights as you walk in the room. I suggested she have a carpenter install a light valance around the bottom of the cabinet. I also offered to remove the lights and refund her money because I was sick of listening to her say "It just isn't right" in her drunken voice. The kicker here is the fact that I reduced the bill by $227.00 because I didn't make it to her house the day we had planned and the job went very quickly. So to summarize, customers suck, I am an idiot, and no good deed goes unpunished.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

Originally posted by flyboy:
You cannot run a profitable electrical contracting business charging by the hour
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Thought I was going to let this one go by without a comment did you?

This is a level 3 load of crap. Maybe even pushing level 4. :roll:

Now if you said you can't run a profitable business by giving customers a break on the fees I might agree.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

Originally posted by haskindm:
There
has to be a way to fix the problem even if it means re-feeding that part of the circuit that is not working.
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I hope the person they call doesn't just re feed it, because that is NOT fixing the problem just masking it. You could be leaving a hot possibly burnt up wire who knows where.

The reason I gave up is I was frustrated. It was supposed to be an office day, but I went out to what I thought over the phone was a tripped breaker to make a quick buck. I had no extra time over the next few weeks. Who cares if they call someone else. People call someone else almost daily cause I cant get to it soon enough anyhow.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

Originally posted by flyboy:
... Then we let them know that we have a "Level 1 Diagnostic Fee" of $129. This will allow you up to one hour to troubleshoot the problem. If after one hour

You cannot run a profitable electrical contracting business charging by the hour.
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That looks hourly to me...keep adding your "Level # Diagnostic" and it's still hourly.


*************
Originally posted by tshea:
Originally posted by jes25:
What would you guys have done?
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I would have called for reinforcements from my own company.
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LOL.
That is EXACTLY what I did.
I yanked 2 guys from another job AND dropped the question/problem here (in my referenced thread).

Asking the Q here helped get me out of there faster thus saving the customer money (costing me money?) - but got a satisfied customer and a referral from the new HO's.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

I think I would have to agree that if you give up you shouldn't ask to be paid.

I've never given up on a job but there have been times where I spent maybe a half hour troubleshooting and it became obvious that something like walls had to be opened or new cable run. If the customer was reluctant to proceed I usually didn't charge them and chalked it up to a free estimate.

As for discussing rates before you begin a T&M job, I think a lot of us including myself are guilty of not doing that though I agree it is the proper thing to do.

My problem with it, around here at least is it can turn some people off. Kind of you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I find that discussing how much you want from some customers before you even walk in the door gives the impression that all you are interested in is the money and you don't trust them to pay you. So, you lose some credibility right there.

I guess these are the people who go to those fancy restaurants that don't put the prices on their menues.

99% of the customers I get aren't stupid and know pretty well what things cost so my charges aren't a surprise and they have no problem with payment. If they do ask what I charge I tell them. Otherwise I won't make sure they understand the charges beforehand unless it is obvious that the customer has no idea or I get the feeling they are going to nickel and dime or pull something else.

Any time I've ever had a problem with a customer over this it was just used as an excuse to try to wiggle out of paying. One time it was an established customer who had been paying the same charges for years then all of a sudden couldn't understand our rates in an effort to dispute a bill.

Recently we printed up a Billing Policy that gives our T&M labor rates as well as our payment terms. A copy is attached to all estimates and otherwise given to all new customers.

If a new customer seems like a bad risk we have a copy of that Billing Policy that requires a signiture by an owner or authorized representitive. It must be signed, dated then returned to us before any work is done.

We'll see how this works.

-Hal
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

I hope the person they call doesn't just re feed it, because that is NOT fixing the problem just masking it. You could be leaving a hot possibly burnt up wire who knows where.
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Obviously you would need to do enough diagnostics to know that the existing circuit was de-energized prior to re-feeding the circuit.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

Originally posted by electricmanscott:
This may be obvious but customers suck. I just spent a half hour on the phone with some half in the bag lady. I installed undercabinet lighting for her. Turns out she is upset because you can see the lights as you walk in the room. I suggested she have a carpenter install a light valance around the bottom of the cabinet. I also offered to remove the lights and refund her money because I was sick of listening to her say "It just isn't right" in her drunken voice. The kicker here is the fact that I reduced the bill by $227.00 because I didn't make it to her house the day we had planned and the job went very quickly. So to summarize, customers suck, I am an idiot, and no good deed goes unpunished.
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I hear ya. Some customers will never be happy. Reducing the bill was above and beyond what was necessary. Appointments get cancelled all the time. Sounds like you run your business partly based on emotion. I do the same thing. It can sometimes be an asset, and sometimes not. That's a topic for another time.

John
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

John I ususally don't run based on emotion for the reasons above. One of my contractors always quotes me by sayaing "Someones got to pay" which is what I say whenever he has an idea or a change. I was somewhat beaten down by this womans husband as he kept syaing "This is taking alot less time than you thought". This was actually true so I gave them a break. BIG mistake.
 
Re: Customer complaining about price.

"This is taking alot less time than you thought". This was actually true so I gave them a break.

Our Billing Policy mentioned above actually includes the clause "actual time and materials used will supersede any verbal or written estimate". This is meant to protect us if there are unforseen circumstances or the customer drags their feet doing something like getting us access. This is T&M and the customer must realize that the clock is ticking.

Of course this works both ways. If it take us less time the actual bill will be less than the estimate. That's only fair.

-Hal
 
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