I declined this job. Would you have done the same?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Fred B said:
This type of job would never pay for the lead charge, they charge based on how customer words what they are interested in, not on what they actually need done.
And like @James L said too many tire kickers using those lead services. My experience has been 70% or more are "I was wondering how much to do X" but no real interest in having it done, and everyone of them costs me money. I get more bang for the buck from a website presence and good Google placement. I would consider helping if got this type of call as a result of my web, but not worth it from a lead service.
Click to expand...
The OP said to "pretend" there was no lead service, so that's what I was responding to. I don't use lead services and never will. I've turned down a crap load of offers from them. I figure if there is so many requests for "panel changes" in my area, that at least some of them will call an electrician rather than a lead service.
 
When I worked for a garage door company they signed up for one for these services. All that come across from there were from 2 hours away and a lot of them had nothing to do with garage doors.


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
 
Little Bill said:
I figure if there is so many requests for "panel changes" in my area, that at least some of them will call an electrician rather than a lead service.
Click to expand...
😅😅😅 true story, where I lived previously...

Him: We've had 70 requests for panel changes in your city in the past 30 days

Me: Wow. Really? Just in my city?

Him: yup. Just in your city.

Me: Dang. There are only 430 people in this town. You're telling me that 1 in 6 people here wanted a new panel all in the same month? 🙄

Him: Well, not necessarily just in your city
 
McLintock said:
When I worked for a garage door company they signed up for one for these services. All that come across from there were from 2 hours away and a lot of them had nothing to do with garage doors.


“ shoot low boys their riding shetland ponies”
Click to expand...
I found out how one of them got prospective leads.

They ran google ads soliciting people to come to their site - Got a project? Need a price? Come enter your details and you're automatically entered into a drawing for a brand new entertainment system with 70 inch t.v., Bose surround system, a year of Netflix, yada yada. And we'll get you hooked up with at least 3 professionals to get a competitive price for you.

It's no wonder they attract so many busted leads
 
I would turn it down because I don’t have time.

That said, I would at least talk to them over the phone and offer some tips before referring them elsewhere.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Coppersmith said:
Today I received a lead from one of my lead services. It said "customer has six AFCI circuit breakers. None of them work when pressing the test button. They want them all replaced." I declined this job. Before I tell you why, tell me if you would have accepted or declined and why.
Click to expand...
I’m curious to hear why you declined the job...?

Was it due to the issue of troubleshooting AFCI breakers/circuits?
Was it due to that type of job coming through a lead service?
Or was it a combination of the two (lack of reasonable/specific information from the lead service)?
 
I was waiting until everybody chimed in, but okay.

First of all, I'm basing my decision just on the description of the job. I told you I got this job thru a lead service just for context. Yes, lead services are iffy. You have to be picky about which services you use and you have to be prepared to do some work to get refunds for bad leads. You have to be careful about not giving them control of your phone number, website, or reputation. If you do that, you can get some good jobs.

This job seemed like a disaster waiting to happen for several reasons.

Scenario one: If, in fact, all six AFCI are bad, it will be a very short job (30 minutes?) that is very expensive (labor + travel + (six AFCI breakers x markup)). This will be upsetting to the client. I don't like dealing with pissed clients. And since it's a very short job, there's not much profit in it.

Scenario two: The AFCI breakers are wired incorrectly in the panel. (But why did they work until now? Did pressing the test button make the problem known?) Correcting the wiring would be easy, but questions would remain. Again, this will be a very short job with little profit, but a great number of unknowns. I hate unknowns. There is not enough profit here for the amount of knowns. Unknowns make me nervous.

Scenario three: There are problems with neutrals throughout the house. I hate the idea of opening every j-box (including crawling through the attic) looking for these problems. This would be a very long troubleshooting job that is a PITA.

And finally if I contact the HO and say "If it's as simple as replacing the AFCI breakers it going to be <very high price>. But I'm not convinced that's the problem. I think there is a wiring issue and it might take significant time to find it and I would charge you hourly (my rate) until I do" I believe the HO would be scared about the cost and decline. The entire call would be a waste of time.

I spent 15 minutes writing this out for you, but it took only 15 seconds to run this through my brain and hit the decline button. Some jobs just throw up so many red flags. I've learned to trust my gut on red flags.
 
Last edited:
If that's the case and all I have to do is reset them, the client will be upset that they are paying my minimum service charge and I'm done in one minute. Another situation I would avoid. I would probably walk them through resetting the breakers on the phone, but that would mean I would have to call them already knowing I probably don't want the job. Lots of effort, zero profit. And some of the leads services track if you call the client. This makes it harder to get a refund.
 
Coppersmith said:
If that's the case and all I have to do is reset them, the client will be upset that they are paying my minimum service charge and I'm done in one minute. Another situation I would avoid. I would probably walk them through resetting the breakers on the phone, but that would mean I would have to call them already knowing I probably don't want the job. Lots of effort, zero profit. And some of the leads services track if you call the client. This makes it harder to get a refund.
Click to expand...

Ummm.... you can have the HO reset the breakers over the phone. That should take about a minute.

Even so, if they're tripped, there's a reason they're tripped. Odds are, if they actually reset, they'll eventually trip again. But all 6 at the same time? Something more sinister is at work.
 
electrofelon said:
I would not accept. I would not want to "own" tripping AFCI issues the rest of my life. They could be having problems and want to pin it on you.
Click to expand...
I've got a job like this right now. 2 separate circuits tripping their afci breakers. Ive changed the breakers, and moved them to wide open spots in the panel. On one circuit I have pulled all of the receptacles and pigtailed the joints. Megged the circuit and everything was fine. Reinstalled and 4 days later it appears to be holding. On the other circuit I found the other day that if I turned on all of the lights and fans in the master bath/closet the breaker would trip when I turned a 4 gang switch bank off all at once. Isolated this to two bathroom fans. Replaced the motors Friday and I could no longer make it trip. Thought it was fixed but the customer called me this am and said they turned on the closet light (strip fluorescent) and it tripped the breaker. Looks like Ill be converting that to LED bypass tubes to eliminate the ballast. Also probably going to have to disconnect everything on the circuit and meg like I did the other on. But it's 12 switches with 2 ceiling fans and a bunch of other assorted crap plus 2 bedrooms full of receptacles so that's hours of work. Wish I never took the call. And I hate an afci. Stupidest thing I have ever dealt with.
 
All I can say is I'm glad Michigan doesn't use those confounded things! They did at one time, but they got wise and eliminated them from the Code requirements a number of years ago. I have half a mind to retire from the trade if they ever reinstate the requirement in the future.
 
Years ago I was trying to get some insulation work done for a club I was the treasurer of.

I called several places on the web not realizing they were lead services. I have several contractors called me back agreeing to come out and give me a price. Not a single one ever showed up.
 
I'd have declined. Could be a simple problem, but it could be like last time I tried to trouble-shoot an AFCI. The homeowner had added the AFCI and it had NEVER worked. When I opened the panel, I discovered that the neutral wire for the circuit was also functioning as the neutral for another circuit on a subpanel that the previous GC had added about 40 feet (and many finished walls) away... good luck fixing that problem in a jiffy.
 
Any problems involving an AFCI would be a very easy fix in Michigan -- Get rid of the stupid thing! Since they are not required here, I would simply ask why they are using one in the first place if they're not required here. The lack of AFCI requirement is pretty much the only thing that's compelling me to stay here in this state. As soon as I retire, I'm outta here!
 
jeff48356 said:
Any problems involving an AFCI would be a very easy fix in Michigan -- Get rid of the stupid thing! Since they are not required here, I would simply ask why they are using one in the first place if they're not required here. The lack of AFCI requirement is pretty much the only thing that's compelling me to stay here in this state. As soon as I retire, I'm outta here!
Click to expand...
And if the state you move to requires the AFCI, you will change them out to a standard breaker too? :)
I guess if you ever had a fire, that could be an issue though.
 
oldsparky52 said:
And if the state you move to requires the AFCI, you will change them out to a standard breaker too? :)
I guess if you ever had a fire, that could be an issue though.
Click to expand...
Yeah they got us bent over a barrel. If it burns down and they find out you took an afci out it’s your but whether the afci would’ve prevented the fire or not.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top