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A1cbr

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Ok I have a question pertaining to customers.
Last year I did a job for a lady and well she was happy with everything that was done. Well 13 months later I received a phone call about a GFI was not working. I went out there and the replaced the GFI and checked another circuit that they said was not working. Well there was nothing wrong with the other cirecuit just needed to GFI to be reset.
I send her a bill for only $55 over month ago. I called a couple of times and left messages with her to find out what was going on.
Well today I received a letter saying that I was way off for charging and that I have alot to learn. She sayed that spoke with other proffessionals in the same trade and none of them would have charged her.
So I thought I would ask you all what you think.
Thanks.
 
A1cbr said:
Ok I have a question pertaining to customers.
Last year I did a job for a lady and well she was happy with everything that was done. Well 13 months later I received a phone call about a GFI was not working. I went out there and the replaced the GFI and checked another circuit that they said was not working. Well there was nothing wrong with the other cirecuit just needed to GFI to be reset.
I send her a bill for only $55 over month ago. I called a couple of times and left messages with her to find out what was going on.
Well today I received a letter saying that I was way off for charging and that I have alot to learn. She sayed that spoke with other proffessionals in the same trade and none of them would have charged her.
So I thought I would ask you all what you think.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Was the GFCI that failed one you installed?

That makes a pretty big difference.
 
the only thing you need to learn is to collect the bill at the end of residential service calls, once the work is done and you are gone, they have all the time in the world to convince themselves your a crook for charging them money to come to thier house, supply materials, labor, and knowledge to fix their problem. Im sure whoever she talked to (if thats true) would have happily came over and done it for free.....
 
K8MHZ said:
Was the GFCI that failed one you installed?

That makes a pretty big difference.
Click to expand...

13 months is out of warrenty for most companys, It may have gone bad because they had a fault condition and the device was doing its job.
 
Well she works at one of the HD and I am sure those are the professional she spoke to. Yes it was an GFCI that I installed, but it had been over a year later and most if not all warranties expire within a year.
 
She is the first customer in my 2.5 years of working on my own to give me problems. I try really hard to make sure that they are completely satisfied.
I thought since it had been over a year since I had done the work that it was fair.
 
Devices like GFCI's have electronic components and can fail any time, no free replacement on these devices.

"She sayed that spoke with other proffessionals"

Yes, professional hacks or, some side job low ballers, any of the professional EC's in the business have to charge to stay in business.

We have them put the $149 service call on the credit card before we respond, to avoid the jokers, that play the i don't want to pay game. then we add the marked up cost of the replacement GFCI or nay other material used, to that amount.

We might wave the GFCI cost but we want our service fee.

Everytime there is a storm, or power dip that takes out a GFCI are you going to replace them no charge, good luck.
 
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like anyone who she is helping at HD or wherever she works would really say " yeah lady I would charge you". They were just being the good guy hoping to get the next call she may have. I mean come on.
 
A1cbr said:
Well she works at one of the HD and I am sure those are the professional she spoke to. Yes it was an GFCI that I installed, but it had been over a year later and most if not all warranties expire within a year.
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Is a copy of the warranty included with the original invoice stating clearly that the warranty is for 1 year from date of completion.

When does you warranty expire? You need to state that clearly.

You really should let the homeowner know when they call that the warranty has expired and not just send a bill later. The problem is not that you charged them it's the fact that they received a bill they were not expecting.

I would have charged full price for the service call if they had requested one after knowing the warranty had expired. Not only that but I would have blamed it on those cheap parts from HD ( salt in the wound).:D
 
My question is what did you say to the customer at the first phone call ?

Did she ask your rate? Did you state your rate?

Did she realize that her stuff was out of warrenty?

How many people does she have drop by and check her stuff, and then cross check with-others?
If she's so orange, why didn't she go to the free shows...

Will this change how you might answer yet another phone call - new, old or future customer ?

I applaud you on your totally satified customer idea, its just that they might not have that total response for you.
 
cadpoint said:
I applaud you on your totally satified customer idea, its just that they might not have that total response for you.
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when you are dealing with the public, you will find people that you cannot satisfy no matter how hard you try, some will even talk bad about you when you go the extra mile and jump through hoops for them.
 
Sometimes you just can't make folks happy....

Some folks are just selfish IMO...I had a call the other day, customer said they had a pole light in their back yard and the wires were hanging out. Then she said that their son said that he got shocked on it.

So she asked how much to come and check it out...I told her $65....So hesitated a moment, then she asked if I gave free estimates....I said yes....So then she wanted a estimate of extending the wiring from the pole light to their new above ground pool. So I said sure, THEN she said then you can check the wires while your here? So now Im getting a little frustrated, so I said Mam, if it turns into a service call its $65. So she said well I'd better talk to my husband first and they never called back.

Some folks are just looking for a "free ride" or its like they are dealing for car at a dealership....
 
I had a call one time after a storm form a lady saying that she didn't have any power. I told her that it was probably the power companys problem. She asked if I would come and check it anyway. I told her that there would be a service call charge. She asked if it was a utility problem would she have to pay my service call. I said yes and she declined to have me come.
 
If this was a repeat customer who had spent thousands of dollars with me I'ld probably let it slide. If not, like others have said,collect before you leave.
 
In Contrast, I read a article a while back in reguard to customer satisfaction in contractors. In the article it stated that customers want the contractor to share in the risk, meaning that what ever risk that is present by them hiring a contractor they want you to share in that risk, then price, being timely, trust, and they also want a warranty. So we all know this raises the price of the service.

We all want to make a purchase and for it to last. So in this ladies mind she paid for that GFI and now a year later it doesnt work. Her cash outlay was for something that now doesnt work. It doesnt matter to her that only a small portion was for the GFI that was purchased at Lowes or wherever. She doenst understand that the reliability of the GFI is out of your control.

So in our efforts to please our customers we should consider warranties, and communicate clear and concise information about what's covered and what's not. I've told customers for quite some time that we do not supply ceiling fans, or motion lights just for this very reason.....and I always tell customers up front that GFI's are mass produced protection devices and are notorious for failure and nuisance tripping, but they are required by code and they do save lives. By this I've pre-warned them that at some time this GFI will fail.

I believe that good communication about a products vulnerability of failuret is really a cheapier alternative to a written warranty....but that's me.
 
ultramegabob said:
the only thing you need to learn is to collect the bill at the end of residential service calls, once the work is done and you are gone, they have all the time in the world to convince themselves your a crook for charging them money to come to thier house, supply materials, labor, and knowledge to fix their problem. Im sure whoever she talked to (if thats true) would have happily came over and done it for free.....
Click to expand...

Always COD if the customer is one of the "4Rs":
-Residential
-Restaurant
-Real estate
-Rug people
 
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