Advice before gas man/plumber comes round !

[royston]

See alot of threads asking for advice before we come round. Now is it because they just dont trust us and want to know whats wrong before we turn up, and can confront us thinking they already know what it is, looking up price etc,etc. Now what if they have been given wrong advice and we turn up explaining its not that its something else it just gets uncomfortable.
Or are they useing that as an excuse to try to get the ideas from us to do it them selves ??
Wondered what your guys/girls thought.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i think it's a mixture of all that. you see them come on here questioning the price they've been quoted for a certain job because they think it's too dear then going away sometimes with the proverbial flea in their ear from regulars on here. then there are others who "can do it themselves" being told in no uncertain terms to get someone in as they're not allowed to touch whatever it is that they have touched!

 

[anz]

I've noticed that as well. I think there is no gas man coming and they are trying to see if they can repair the problem themselves before actually calling someone out.

 

[markfxy]

I think they've all been watching too many cowboy builder, Watchdog type programs they must think we're all like that.

 

[quality]

Folk judge folk by their own morales. I have found in my experience that the person who trusts you will respect you and the same should be returned

 

[mfgs]

It annoys me when people give out prices on here for boiler changes etc where there are soo many variables that you cant possibly deem whether a price is fair or not without seeing the job. It would anger me if I quoted a job, then they came on here only for people to say it should cost x amount less. Stuff like boiler services, changing taps etc etc you can give a rough price for. As for people asking for advice before the engineer comes round, I take that with a pinch of salt and treat it as if they are intending on doing the work themself. No engineer I know what pay any attention to a customer trying to "point them in the right direction".

 

[tweakyboy]

I think its that we live in a internet self diagnosis society, its the same with people diagnosing health problems on medical forums etc.

However there is always some DIY'er wanting to do it themselves instead of getting a engineer in or that they like to think they know the problem before a engineer even looks at the job.

 

[secret squirrel]

My good friend had this, was told by the customer that it was the pcb that was knackered,

'are you sure'
'yes, just get the pcb and fit it for me.'
£250 later one pcb, boiler not working.

My friend had a bit of an argument about the money, then I explained that it was you (the customer) who insisted on the pcb being changed so shut up and pay. I also explained that there is only a small charge for coming out to diagnose the problem and this is deducted from the final bill. Otherwise unscrupulous customers take advantage, get the problem correctly diagnosed and pop out get the part do it themselves and the gas engineer (a friend in this case) earns nothing.

People are so frustrating.