Emergency Service

Status
Not open for further replies.
brian john

brian john

Senior Member
Location
Leesburg, VA
Had a customer this week wanted me to sign a time sheet. He wrote the time I arrived and time I left.

I was there a total of 15 minutes and determined the issue and temporarily resolved the problem, Main switch was tripped and it could not be re-closed, defective phase relay. He explained his company would only pay for time on site, no travel and no extras. I said fine I refused to sign and left. I will bill and if they refuse payment, well one less customer I do not need.

On hind sight maybe I should have signed it and billed at $1,440.00 and hour, $360 for 15 minutes. Normal minimum charge for straight time emergency call, $360.00.
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
brian john said:
Had a customer this week wanted me to sign a time sheet. He wrote the time I arrived and time I left.
Click to expand...

I have had a few ( very few) of those and I tell them I get paid for two hours if I do anything or not, Now do you want me to work on the problem or not. For an emergency call I would have no problem with billing for 4 hours.

This is total BS as I don't know of any contractor that's willing to bill for 15 minutes. Just doesn't happen.

I really think that a 2 hour minimum is pretty much an industry standard, at least that's what I tell customers and hope I'm right.
 
S

Sparky555

Senior Member
It might work better if your had the client sign for the repair in advance. One of the basics of contracting is quoting a price, getting a contract signed, THEN completing the repair. If they don't sign the contract and agree to the price, they don't get the repair.

Once the contract is agreed to and signed, the time it takes to complete the repair is a non-issue. It's a $360 repair if it takes 15 minutes or 15 hours. The value of a completed repair diminishes rapidly. Payment at time of service is MUCH better than invoicing from the office.

Without a client signature for this repair collection could be difficult.

Dave
 
O

ohm

Senior Member
Location
Birmingham, AL
The key word is "Contractor" if you're an EC agree on the terms and have the customer sign contract before anything else is started. A judge hates "he said" "she said" cases.
 
mdshunk

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
Every time I've signed one of those, I've never really had any trouble getting the bill paid anyhow. I think it's more of a "tough guy" tactic on their end. They want you to know they're watching.
 
mxslick

mxslick

Senior Member
Location
SE Idaho
How badly do you want this fixed?

How badly do you want this fixed?

I have always charged a two-hour minimum, which had to be paid up front in cash or certified company check before I started any repairs. This policy was made very clear in the conversations prior to my arrival on site.

And if the customer failed to pay or presented a non-certified check or tried to pay with a personal check, I gave them one chance only to get cash or I left.

I only had to actually leave once. :D

Why so hard-nosed? Because movie theatres are notorious for not paying bills, especially for repairs. Ironically, the theatres that had the most neon in the lobby were the worst ones to pay. :confused:

They always acted like people came to their cinema only to admire the decor and eat the overpriced snacks. :mad:

As for the cash policy, remember cinemas are a cash-heavy business, They would always have well more than my minimum on hand even before opening.

And I still stayed very busy.

I should also add that repeat customers who didn't argue with the up-front requirement got discounts or were allowed to pay after the job, as much as Net 15. And there were no problems there.
 
H

hillbilly

Senior Member
tonyou812 said:
I charged an older lady 425 for two hours on Memorial Day weekend.
Click to expand...


And I have problems sleeping sometimes:roll:.

Well, maybe not if I pulled into the circular drive past the Limos only to reset a breaker so that the "garden" party could continue, or the fridge had quit working and the champagne was getting warm.:D

steve
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top