five minute service call for $XXX

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Coppersmith

Coppersmith

Senior Member
Location
Tampa, FL, USA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
A past client called me up to say the power was out in four bathrooms all controlled by one GFCI. She said the reset button was hard and could not be pushed in. (She made it sound like the button would not move, i.e. frozen.) I asked her if she had checked for a tripped breaker and she said yes. It stopped working when she ran the vacuum she had plugged into the GFCI. She said the GFCI was bad and needed replacing. Based on our conversation I agreed and made a service call.

I press the reset button and it's not frozen, it just won't lock-on meaning there is no power to device. I go to the garage which is literally 5 paces away and check the breaker panels. (There are two side-by-side. A big one and a much smaller one.) There I see a tripped breaker which I reset and then verify that the GFCI is again functional. "Uh-oh" I think. "This is not good. I've been here two minutes but I have to charge for an hour. She's probably not going to be happy."

I make a show of checking the other bathrooms with a tester and then check the kitchen receptacles. "Unfortunately", everything is wired correctly and working. Now comes the moment I was dreading. "I fixed the problem. It was a tripped breaker." She wants to see where this tripped breaker is located and I show her a spot in the small panel. "I checked the big one" she says. "I didn't know there were circuit breakers in there" pointing at the small one. I just nod my head.

I charge her for a minimum service call (one hour plus travel charge). "That will be $XXX. Sorry" I say. She doesn't say a thing while she writes the check, but I can see she is annoyed. I'm not sure if she is annoyed at me or herself. Guess I'll find out if she ever calls for my services again.

I've been advised in the past to change the breaker or GFCI in these kinds of situations just to make the client feel better. Maybe I should have, but it feels dishonest to me since I would have to charge even more to cover the material. Thoughts?
 
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Would she have been happier if the problem had been serious and you spent four hours fixing it? That should be the way this situation is framed.
 
You get paid sometimes for what you know not what you do. You already went through the extra step of trying to troubleshoot over the phone and save her the service call, that didn't work so I would not feel bad at all billing an hour for 5 minutes work. Besides, calls like this pay for all of those free estimates and other things you do and don't ever get paid for.

Eta: the only times I have blatantly lied to a client to make them feel good as when I find lights are out and it's simply a burnout bulb. I'll tell them a power surge took them out even though I seriously doubt that was the case... I don't have proof that a power surge didn't take them out so I suppose it's not a complete lie.

Commercial customers seem to be much less annoyed with you spending as little time there to fix the problem as possible. They don't see it as it only took you 5 minutes to fix the issue and you're billing them for an hour, they usually see it that their equipment is working again within five minutes of your arrival. Residential customers don't always see it that way.
 
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In a situation like this, if I had a previous relationship with the customer, how much money they spent and the travel time wasn't excessive I just would have reset the breaker, showed the customer where and how to do it and be inclined to let it slide.

But otherwise I wouldn't feel guilty about charging your usual service call rate. Your time is money and you could have taken that time to service another paying customer.

-Hal
 
Coppersmith said:
A past client called me up to say the power was out in four bathrooms all controlled by one GFCI. She said the reset button was hard and could not be pushed in. (She made it sound like the button would not move, i.e. frozen.) I asked her if she had checked for a tripped breaker and she said yes. It stopped working when she ran the vacuum she had plugged into the GFCI. She said the GFCI was bad and needed replacing. Based on our conversation I agreed and made a service call.

I press the reset button and it's not frozen, it just won't lock-on meaning there is no power to device. I go to the garage which is literally 5 paces away and check the breaker panels. (There are two side-by-side. A big one and a much smaller one.) There I see a tripped breaker which I reset and then verify that the GFCI is again functional. "Uh-oh" I think. "This is not good. I've been here two minutes but I have to charge for an hour. She's probably not going to be happy."

I make a show of checking the other bathrooms with a tester and then check the kitchen receptacles. "Unfortunately", everything is wired correctly and working. Now comes the moment I was dreading. "I fixed the problem. It was a tripped breaker." She wants to see where this tripped breaker is located and I show her a spot in the small panel. "I checked the big one" she says. "I didn't know there were circuit breakers in there" pointing at the small one. I just nod my head.

I charge her for a minimum service call (one hour plus travel charge). "That will be $XXX. Sorry" I say. She doesn't say a thing while she writes the check, but I can see she is annoyed. I'm not sure if she is annoyed at me or herself. Guess I'll find out if she ever calls for my services again.

I've been advised in the past to change the breaker or GFCI in these kinds of situations just to make the client feel better. Maybe I should have, but it feels dishonest to me since I would have to charge even more to cover the material. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Wouldn't she have known there was a minimum call out charge? Wouldn't you have advised her up front?
 
Coppersmith said:
I charge her for a minimum service call (one hour plus travel charge). "That will be $XXX. Sorry" I say. She doesn't say a thing while she writes the check, but I can see she is annoyed. I'm not sure if she is annoyed at me or herself. Guess I'll find out if she ever calls for my services again.

I've been advised in the past to change the breaker or GFCI in these kinds of situations just to make the client feel better. Maybe I should have, but it feels dishonest to me since I would have to charge even more to cover the material. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

she's annoyed. not to worry, she will probably blame you.

now, how long has it been since you did anything for her?
how much money is at stake here?

i've got a customer who calls infrequently. like once a year.
they called seven months ago, needing a lighting cert.
finally, they get around to fixing it, so they can get the job
certified.

they say, "it's missing only one switch. is that a problem?"
turns out, the "switch" was a lutron graphic eye.

so, seven months later, they need the cert. i'd forgotten about
them, and moved on.

i'll go next week, and do the cert. i have doubts if it will pass.
why? my customer sounds just like your customer.
they don't actually know if it works or not. i am suspecting
they got someone else to look at it, and couldn't get that
person to sign off on it either.

i couldn't get straight answers on who was going to meet me
there.

if it doesn't pass, the charge is the same. if they want to get
someone else to do it, fine. toodleooo, and go with god.

i've lost a couple customers lately. they found someone cheaper,
or someone who fakes the certs, or whatever.

how much has it cost me off my gross? 15%. how much time
has it saved me? about a third of the time spent. they were some
of the least desirable customers i had.

fair trade.

your problem, as i see it, is the same as mine. you need to go out
and get better customers. it's a PITA to do that.

what is interesting tho, is that customers i've done stuff for two years
ago, have resurfaced. guess they didn't like someone else, and dumped
them after a while.
 
If it is a past client and it isn't far out of my way I will usually not charge... I know that's stupid but IMO that is good will.
 
Had a customer a few years ago that would call about once a month for outlets not working, lights out, etc.

I went out to one of her calls, and found she had a light bulb out. I told her up front about the service call fee. I changed like 4-5 bad light bulbs and handed her a bill. She then said she shouldn’t have to pay it since it was just bad light bulbs. Come to find out, the tech that had been servicing her never charged her for changing light bulbs or resetting breakers, and she was really PO’d about paying this time. Anyway, point is, always charge; if you work for free, they’ll expect you to always work for free.

She paid the bill and never called again.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
My rule is, if it's close or on the way home and my tools don't come out of the truck and it's just a couple minute deal, I don't charge for it.

If my tools have to come off the truck for any reason for any length of time, I charge the minimum.

Works for me. I haven't had anyone abuse it yet.
 
Coppersmith said:
I make a show of checking the other bathrooms with a tester and then check the kitchen receptacles. "Unfortunately", everything is wired correctly and working. Now comes the moment I was dreading. "I fixed the problem. It was a tripped breaker." She wants to see where this tripped breaker is located and I show her a spot in the small panel. "I checked the big one" she says. "I didn't know there were circuit breakers in there" pointing at the small one. I just nod my head.

"That will be $XXX. Sorry" I say.
Click to expand...

no no no

"Oh! it's a tripped breaker after all! I better check that circuit"

(Often bring in Tasco Inspector circuit analyzer, won't usually tell me anything but impressive to customer with all the little lights)

"Well, everything is safe, but it's good that you called me, better safe than sorry when it comes to electricity! Just the service charge today, only $XXX"

And absolutely no "Sorry"
 
Coppersmith said:
I've been advised in the past to change the breaker or GFCI in these kinds of situations just to make the client feel better.
Click to expand...

I have done that a few times but usually don't. One reason is that there might be an intermittent problem, once I change the breaker or GFCI it tends to be perceived as my fault if it happens again.

So usually I check breaker and neutral and ground screws for tight, stuff like that
 
readydave8 said:
. . . once I change the breaker or GFCI it tends to be perceived as my fault if it happens again.
Click to expand...
Or at least, "What you charged me for last time obviously didn't fix the problem!" Then you're compelled to do the second investigation free.

So usually I check breaker and neutral and ground screws for tight, stuff like that
Click to expand...
To that I add the explanation that, "Either the breaker tripped because is should have, or it tripped with less current that it should have."

If needed, I explain how the thermal breaker works, and that there is more than one way to heat up the internal parts of a breaker (terminals, stabs). Finding a warm breaker in their panel helps make the point.
 
People don't realize the expenses we have. All they think is hey he / she is an electrician they can afford not to charge me. There have been instances when I've been to a house for a little old lady and have changed a lightbulb for free. But that's only when I know they are living on SS. Plus the way I look at it is I can always make that up on the next job.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 
Besoeker said:
Wouldn't she have known there was a minimum call out charge? Wouldn't you have advised her up front?
Click to expand...
If we were attorneys, there would have been charges for the phone conversation as well:happyyes:

Dennis Alwon said:
If it is a past client and it isn't far out of my way I will usually not charge... I know that's stupid but IMO that is good will.
Click to expand...
I may do that at times as well. Use your own discretion, some of those same clients maybe do similar favors for me at times. Special trip and especially if on weekend or holiday, they better expect to pay minimum service charge regardless of how simple the problem may be.
 
Coppersmith said:
asked her if she had checked for a tripped breaker and she said yes. It stopped working when she ran the vacuum she had plugged into the GFCI.

There I see a tripped breaker which I reset and then verify that the GFCI is again functional. "Uh-oh" I think. "This is not good. I've been here two minutes but I have to charge for an hour. She's probably not going to be happy."
Click to expand...

OK, why did the breaker trip? Was the circuit overloaded? Normally the bath circuit is 20 amp which should run a vacuum cleaner without tripping. Where there people useing hair dryers at the same time?

If only the vacuum cleaner was being ran at the time I would turn it on and meter the current draw at the panel to see if the breaker is bad ( could be a weak breaker or a bad vacuum motor).

When a breaker is tripped I always wonder why and until I have the answer I assume there could be a problem.
 
growler said:
OK, why did the breaker trip?
Click to expand...
Good question, but 99.99% of time you will never have enough information to re-enact exactly what happened, and client will not know what kind of things they should be trying to recall in the first place. Things that seem irrelevant to them they will overlook, you only get that information if you know what questions to ask, and sometimes knowing how to ask them.

Those that think they know anything about electrical can be worst at providing information, they will exclude things they don't think is important, but if they don't understand GFCI's (like in OP's case) they really don't know what details are important either.
 
IMO - they knew the cost of a service trip. You made the effort to drive there and effect a repair. I would charge them whatever the normal rate is. You do not make money by working for free.
 
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