The anatomy of a service call.

[jmsbrush]

This topic sorta ties into the other thats being talked about right now.

Lets say the phone rings and you get a call to go change out a receptacle.
Lets say my company charges a $59.00 dispatch fee to send a certified electrician to your house to investigate the problem and give you an upfront price to fix the receptacle, ( because maybe there's more to it than just a bad receptacle).
You arrive on site and determine that its just the receptacle, you tell them ,it will be $35.00 to change out the receptacle.
You do the job collect $94.00

Company B gets the call as well and they say, we come out for free.
They see the problem and tell the customer " you need a new receptacle." Well how much the customer says?
You tell them $94.00.
Now both contractors are selling the same service at the same price,

As far as the psychology goes, which one is better?
What is a better perceived value?
In my opinion. I think the customer will think having the recep changed for the lower price is a better perceived value versus the higher price with no service charge.
Now these are fictions numbers, Use your numbers and compare.

What do you guys think?

 

[charlie b]

Perception manifests itself as though it were reality (famous saying by some famous guy).

A charge for the visit seems reasonable to me, especially when the cost is taken off the bill, if I agree to have the work done.

 

[growler]

Lets say my company charges a $59.00 dispatch fee to send a certified electrician to your house to investigate the problem and give you an upfront price to fix the receptacle, ( because maybe there's more to it than just a bad receptacle).
You arrive on site and determine that its just the receptacle, you tell them ,it will be $35.00 to change out the receptacle.
You do the job collect $94.00

Company B gets the call as well and they say, we come out for free.
They see the problem and tell the customer " you need a new receptacle." Well how much the customer says?
You tell them $94.00.
Now both contractors are selling the same service at the same price,

You really want me to pay you $94 dollars to change out that one receptacle, I saw those at Home Depot for less then 50 cents each.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do, since you are here I'll give you $25 dollars to change out that receptacle and that should cover your fuel for comming out otherwise you get nothing and I'll just call the next guy to see what his price is. The guy down the street knows someone that will change out a receptacle for $20.

Thanks for comming out, have a nice day sucker. :smile::smile:

 

[stickboy1375]

You really want me to pay you $94 dollars to change out that one receptacle, I saw those at Home Depot for less then 50 cents each.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do, since you are here I'll give you $25 dollars to change out that receptacle and that should cover your fuel for comming out otherwise you get nothing and I'll just call the next guy to see what his price is. The guy down the street knows someone that will change out a receptacle for $20.

Thanks for comming out, have a nice day sucker. :smile::smile:

That may be with some, but if its a house wife or a suit, I doubt the responses will be the same.

 

[Rewire]

Some customers will complain regaurdless of price.

 

[Minuteman]

Thanks for comming out, have a nice day sucker. :smile::smile:

So, how do you do it? Growler, do you charge the dispatch rate thing first, and then give the repair quote? We do it the other way, but I think it's time to reconsider our billing structure.

 

[Mule]

This topic sorta ties into the other thats being talked about right now.

Lets say the phone rings and you get a call to go change out a receptacle.
Lets say my company charges a $59.00 dispatch fee to send a certified electrician to your house to investigate the problem and give you an upfront price to fix the receptacle, ( because maybe there's more to it than just a bad receptacle).
You arrive on site and determine that its just the receptacle, you tell them ,it will be $35.00 to change out the receptacle.
You do the job collect $94.00

Company B gets the call as well and they say, we come out for free.
They see the problem and tell the customer " you need a new receptacle." Well how much the customer says?
You tell them $94.00.
Now both contractors are selling the same service at the same price,

As far as the psychology goes, which one is better?
What is a better perceived value?
In my opinion. I think the customer will think having the recep changed for the lower price is a better perceived value versus the higher price with no service charge.
Now these are fictions numbers, Use your numbers and compare.

What do you guys think?

This is a repair job, and the sooner that they accept the cost the better IMO. So I say your first contractor is the better way to go.

The second contractor, will draw the type customers that either wont pay, or are not repeat customers.

In truth I like your term "dispatch fee" and then a flat rate for the repair. If I was to hire a jman that would be a easy way to pay the jman by unit cost, and dispatch pay, and also bill the customer as well. This way everyone is a winner....

 

[growler]

So, how do you do it? Growler, do you charge the dispatch rate thing first, and then give the repair quote? We do it the other way, but I think it's time to reconsider our billing structure.

First of all I don't go out to change out receptacles I go out on service calls.

Customer calls and says they have one or more receptacles not working and I ask if they would like to have an electrician check out the problem. I explain that there is a minimum charge for an electrician to perform such task and that's normally a two hour minimum plus mileage if over 10 miles out.

I have actually seen very few calls where a bad receptacle is just a bad recptacle. If there is one loose connection on a circuit there is normally more problems just waiting to happen. When I go out for a problem like this I don't just run in and change out a bad receptacle and run back out the door. I check the circuit out all the way from the panel to make sure it's safe and make sure it has proper breaker size and ground connection. I make sure that there is not an unusually high voltage drop that would indicate another loose connection.

While on the service call it's important to ask if there are other problems that you can take a look at. Check out the panel and the service to make sure that things are safe. I may even change out a few missing or broken receptacle covers for free and point out other areas of concern for the future.

A customer can get any goon to change out a receptacle but to check out the electrical system is another thing. A customer doesn't want to pay $200 to have someone change out a receptacle but if they think they are getting some value for the money that's different. On a service call the tech. should act like they know what they are doing and act like they are doing something.

If a customer calls up and says that they have a bad receptacle just how do they know what the problem is? Did it catch fire, is it just loose, is there arcing, not working? Do they really want a receptacle changed out or do they want the problem checked out?

 

[charlietuna]

When i run into a simple five minute job knowing i'm gonna charge them for an hour, i try to give the customer some type of additional service--what caused the receptacle to fail--might check a few surrounding receptacles, or as suggested many times on here--check the smoke detectors. I had a call like this and found the house was wired with aluminum romex and half the kitchen receptacles were dead. The installer had backwired the receptacles and the number ten aluminum wire was disconnected at the blade's pressure point. Ended up pigtailing copper wire to the aluminum and reterminating all the appliance receptacles. The home owner was telling here neighbors about it and i had four other calls in this neighborhood to do the same job..

 

[480sparky]

..........I have actually seen very few calls where a bad receptacle is just a bad recptacle. If there is one loose connection on a circuit there is normally more problems just waiting to happen. When I go out for a problem like this I don't just run in and change out a bad receptacle and run back out the door. I check the circuit out all the way from the panel to make sure it's safe and make sure it has proper breaker size and ground connection. I make sure that there is not an unusually high voltage drop that would indicate another loose connection......

Why stop there? If one circuit has a problem, and you believe there may be more in that circuit, wouldn't it stand to reason that all the circuits have the same potential? Odds are, the circuit you're called about was wired by the same person who wired the rest of the house.

You'd better start opening every box in the whole house. Crawl around through the insulation in the attic.... there might be a box up there, too. Possibly buried boxes or splices? Get out your IR camera, megger and TDR....

"OK, Mr. & Mrs. Jones. I fixed the bad splice in the living room. That was $55. I took the time to give your home a total and complete check-up. That will be $4,500, please.... check or charge?"..........

 

[bradleyelectric]

When i run into a simple five minute job knowing i'm gonna charge them for an hour, i try to give the customer some type of additional service--what caused the receptacle to fail--might check a few surrounding receptacles, or as suggested many times on here--check the smoke detectors. I had a call like this and found the house was wired with aluminum romex and half the kitchen receptacles were dead. The installer had backwired the receptacles and the number ten aluminum wire was disconnected at the blade's pressure point. Ended up pigtailing copper wire to the aluminum and reterminating all the appliance receptacles. The home owner was telling here neighbors about it and i had four other calls in this neighborhood to do the same job..

What did you use to pigtail the copper to the aluminium? Did you reinstall the original outlets?

 

[tonyou812]

You really want me to pay you $94 dollars to change out that one receptacle, I saw those at Home Depot for less then 50 cents each.

I'll tell you what I'm going to do, since you are here I'll give you $25 dollars to change out that receptacle and that should cover your fuel for comming out otherwise you get nothing and I'll just call the next guy to see what his price is. The guy down the street knows someone that will change out a receptacle for $20.

Thanks for comming out, have a nice day sucker. :smile::smile:

Ahhh forget it Im over it I dont know why I bother anymore

 

[growler]

Why stop there? If one circuit has a problem, and you believe there may be more in that circuit, wouldn't it stand to reason that all the circuits have the same potential? Odds are, the circuit you're called about was wired by the same person who wired the rest of the house.

It's not quite the big deal that you make it out to be. You install a recetpacle and discover that the ground is missing and it's a grounded circuit. Do you just leave it because it was like that when I got here? Most of the time if you check the other receptacles on that circuit you will find the missing ground in a matter of minutes.

You need to find the panel to turn off the circuit that you are working on and to put a sticker on the panel, maybe even mark the circuit, you also wish to check out the panel because every service call is actually a sales call.

I do look at as much of the rest of the house as I can. I do look for problems that just jump out at you and make recommendations for the future. The bill for this sevice is not $4500 dollars but it's not $55 dollars either it the two hour minimum that was agreed to at the beginning.

I don't know how much the repairs would cost but I'm more than happy to give an estimated job cost for free while I'm there. They are made aware of any problems and what they decide to do about them is their choice.

If you take your car in for a new battery and they notice that your belts and hoses are shot they should tell you about them. You may not buy from them but it would be crazy for them to miss the opportunity to sell these items to you. If they even notice that your tires are worn they may point this out because you are going to purchase all these items sooner or later. May as well be from the guy selling you the battery.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

It's not quite the big deal that you make it out to be. You install a recetpacle and discover that the ground is missing and it's a grounded circuit. Do you just leave it because it was like that when I got here? Most of the time if you check the other receptacles on that circuit you will find the missing ground in a matter of minutes.

You need to find the panel to turn off the circuit that you are working on and to put a sticker on the panel, maybe even mark the circuit, you also wish to check out the panel because every service call is actually a sales call.

I do look at as much of the rest of the house as I can. I do look for problems that just jump out at you and make recommendations for the future. The bill for this sevice is not $4500 dollars but it's not $55 dollars either it the two hour minimum that was agreed to at the beginning.

I don't know how much the repairs would cost but I'm more than happy to give an estimated job cost for free while I'm there. They are made aware of any problems and what they decide to do about them is their choice.

If you take your car in for a new battery and they notice that your belts and hoses are shot they should tell you about them. You may not buy from them but it would be crazy for them to miss the opportunity to sell these items to you. If they even notice that your tires are worn they may point this out because you are going to purchase all these items sooner or later. May as well be from the guy selling you the battery.

And not to mention if you're the guy telling the HO there are additional problems, you might just be the guy they pay to fix it. That doesn't mean I'm going to hang out at their home all day on my time just to verify each and every circuit in the house is good. What it does mean is in the course of troubleshooting if I find additional problems, I'll let them know.

 

[jmsbrush]

Guys as far as my questions go from the original post. Which one do you think is better?

 

[zbang]

When you have a hour minimum billing, and assuming that the customer knows about it, will you try to fill up the entire two hours or do an hour of checking & fixing small stuff and head to the next call?

 

[Mr. Wizard]

Guys as far as my questions go from the original post. Which one do you think is better?

We kind of all got off track with this one. I think Company A would be the one I would choose if I were the HO.

 

[aline]

This topic sorta ties into the other thats being talked about right now.

Lets say the phone rings and you get a call to go change out a receptacle.
Lets say my company charges a $59.00 dispatch fee to send a certified electrician to your house to investigate the problem and give you an upfront price to fix the receptacle, ( because maybe there's more to it than just a bad receptacle).
You arrive on site and determine that its just the receptacle, you tell them ,it will be $35.00 to change out the receptacle.
You do the job collect $94.00

Company B gets the call as well and they say, we come out for free.
They see the problem and tell the customer " you need a new receptacle." Well how much the customer says?
You tell them $94.00.
Now both contractors are selling the same service at the same price,

As far as the psychology goes, which one is better?
What is a better perceived value?
In my opinion. I think the customer will think having the recep changed for the lower price is a better perceived value versus the higher price with no service charge.
Now these are fictions numbers, Use your numbers and compare.

What do you guys think?

I believe most customers would perceive Company A as the a better value. It reminds them that they're not just paying to have the receptacle replaced but also paying for your time and expense to come out and look at it as well.

It also means that they already have $59 invested so they would be less likely to tell you to pack sand and they'll just replace the receptacle themselves or have their brother in-law do it.

The problem would be getting them to agree to have you come out in the first place since you're charging them $59 just to come out and look at it but the other guy is going to do it for free along with 5 other contractors willing to come out for free.

I've been told this very thing. Why should I pay you $59 just to come out and look at it when I can get 5 other contractors to come out for free?

 

[jmsbrush]

As a home owner, IF a contractor told me there was a 2 hour minimum charge to come out, I do not think I would be to happy!
When you say 2 hour minimum, that means your time and material. If you charge $100.00 an hour. Then I was just charged $200.00 for a 10 minute repair? That's if, its just a simple receptacle change. That means your labor rate is $1200.00 an hour.

 

[Mule]

As a home owner, IF a contractor told me there was a 2 hour minimum charge to come out, I do not think I would be to happy!
When you say 2 hour minimum, that means your time and material. If you charge $100.00 an hour. Then I was just charged $200.00 for a 10 minute repair? That's if, its just a simple receptacle change. That means your labor rate is $1200.00 an hour.

I can understand someone that doesnt do service, and saying that they have a two hour minumum, but I agree for service, that would be stiff for me to pay, and I wouldnt...