is it just me or does everyone feel bad doing this?

[obseen16]

as the title says,
go out to a boiler breakdown, replace the parts, get the boiler up n running in time for xmas, the customer is oh so happy, then you have to give them the bill which usually makes the smile on their faces vanish quicker than a jippo with your copper stash, then try explaining that the parts make up most of the bill.

i feel like the merchant of doom sometimes. is this just me or are we all like this?

think ill have to become emotionally stagnant or something.

 

[Puddle]

No its you obseen16,you are turning into a wimp,whats the matter with you,pull yourself togeather,are you a man or a mouse,if it was the other way round,they would not give a dam and probably rip your right hand off
Get in there and rip their heart out,leave them warm but in tears,kick the tree over on the way out,if you want to give a little charity,leave the old parts under the tree
Its a dog eat dog world ,were only the strongest servive,take no prisoners or you will be stompled to death
And next time make sure most of the bill is labour not parts

Hopefully seeing how mean and nasty I am ,it will make you feel a little better

 

[Aquarius]

I know where ure comin from m8.

 

[peteheat]

Hi,

Yep went through that phase and had the office send out the bills, then got a call from the bank one day, you have reached your overdraft limit cash needs to be lodged Today !

Went to the office picked up the list of 80 + unpaid accounts and guess what ?

It was easier to get a second mortgage than collect from the people who had that warm home for the winter using my parts and labour, now the call out charge is collected before entering the home !

 

[Aquarius]

were you hands on ?

 

[REDSAW]

just done one today,
old couple in their late 70's, baxi solo.
i.d fault- fan not kicking in, circuit board sparking and burnt out, of for replacement £158inc. back to fit then fan grinding so back to fetch new fan £125 plus labour + call out £383.

phone in hand with 99 pre-dialed when we invoiced them just incase!.
you know what.. £12 tip.
premium time of year.

 

[newbie1]

no its not you my son raplaced the fan for someone in our road 140 inclusive but boiler needs service but man is on min wage so i tolde him to give him a freebie on the service as it christmas i am way to soft but am learning fast you cant adopt this if you are a self trader
my son works for a company so not reliant
if you are a sole trader you have to adopt a dog eat dog mentality and switch off there is no other way
puddle that was a cracking post

 

[pauls]

this is a lesson im learning fast and need to take the dog eat dog approach

 

[helpsy]

Had a woman I did a load of work for and a lovely job.The bill was £676 in total and she said well I'm only paying £550 take it or leave it. So now I'm going to learn quickly.

 

[newbie1]

you allways start out like me a big softy but gradually you adopt the screw them approach and you know what its their own fault as they all want to get a quick good job but hate dibbing into their pocket as they think we are all millionaires working 2 days a week and earning 75,999.99

 

[quality]

you allways start out like me a big softy but gradually you adopt the screw them approach and you know what its their own fault as they all want to get a quick good job but hate dibbing into their pocket as they think we are all millionaires working 2 days a week and earning 75,999.99

good point folk always think you earn a fortune and that they are your only customer - I work a lot more than 2 days a week and earn a lot less than 75.999.99 but then were not all millionaires

 

[dontknowitall]

Funny how we feel this pain with a customer but take a car (or your van) to a main dealer to be serviced and you're expecting to pay at least £250 just for starters to change the oil and filter and spark plugs.

Then they say you need new brakes (which always seem to need new discs and not just pads this days) and you're into the realms of £500, then a radiator pipe or some other "small part", another £50 plus £150 fitting and you're on your way to £800.

And what niggles me most is no matter how full it is, they still charge £3.50 or similar for some screen wash.

And our maximum labour for a boiler with repairs is probably around £150 because we feel guilty at charging more.

Must pull myself together too!

 

[obseen16]

that was a well funny post puddle, i dont think i would go as far as kicking over their tree though, thats just uncalled for hehe, great to know its not just me, think ill have to be a bit more brutal in my approach. hehe,

 

[peteheat]

were you hands on ?

Hi Aquarious,

Yes hands on, chief cook and bottle washer

Not as severe as my earlier post appeard however I remind my customers at every oppotunity how way back in the late 70's when central heating was a luxury the company I worked for had the call out charge set at £15-00.

That was about equal to my take home pay for a flat week, office rules were if you arrived back without the cash or cheque pay was docked because the secretary always told the customer about the call out charge.

Different times now, I can understand why some of the big advertisers ask for credit card details before sending out a service man.

Do Not Kick the Christmas Tree, older legs can't take all the kicks from the 2 > 4 year olds

 

[buffy27]

i have recently questioned the morals of the masses.hungry dirty dyin most clients.i am just going through a sh--tty shoal of fish at the moment i think.really frustrating,doing sog me very competitive prices at the minute and even at that this week i have been interrogated by a teenager [while mom an dad watched on] and haggled over by a farmer!!!! the young lad was about 17 and a right know all .it would be more than his lieing to be down the park drinking cider or something.

the farmer ... he had a jumper on him with no left sleeve so to compensate he wore another jumper over the first one and even the second one wasn t enough cos there was a big tear down the v-neck so he wore another jumper ,which had no http://www.youtubee ..hungry dirty dying

 

[peteheat]

Well Buffy we are in the Rip Off Republic !

Appearances can be deceiving, my Dad kept a roof (widows / doors) over an old mans head for years, he was living in squalor, when the man died relatives arrived to find ten bob and pound notes between the pages of the thousands of newspapers and books in the house.

One of my charity cases made wills of the week in the 80's

 

[Hugh]

as the title says,
go out to a boiler breakdown, replace the parts, get the boiler up n running in time for xmas, the customer is oh so happy, then you have to give them the bill which usually makes the smile on their faces vanish quicker than a jippo with your copper stash, then try explaining that the parts make up most of the bill.

i feel like the merchant of doom sometimes. is this just me or are we all like this?

think ill have to become emotionally stagnant or something.

Class act!! dont take no ****!

 

[Renewable M]

he he he fit heat pumps, they dont break down. (go on, I'm waiting!)

 

[nally]

on their faces vanish quicker than a jippo with your copper stash, then try explaining that the parts make up most of the bill.












[DLMURL="http://www.dvdcollectionsale.com/Star-Trek-Voyager-Seasons-1-7-DVD-Boxset-DVD-1296.html"]star trek voyager dvd for sale[/DLMURL]

 

[Steve_P]

It's all too easy to avoid the conflict. Ok so I'm not in this trade (yet) but having been self emoployed for more years than a lot, know what it's like. Fortunately the small claims court make things quite easy these days and the threat to put someones bank account on hold and charging interest on outstanding money while the claim settles usually does the job

 

[Jimbob]

No its you obseen16,you are turning into a wimp,whats the matter with you,pull yourself togeather,are you a man or a mouse,if it was the other way round,they would not give a dam and probably rip your right hand off
Get in there and rip their heart out,leave them warm but in tears,kick the tree over on the way out,if you want to give a little charity,leave the old parts under the tree
Its a dog eat dog world ,were only the strongest servive,take no prisoners or you will be stompled to death
And next time make sure most of the bill is labour not parts

Hopefully seeing how mean and nasty I am ,it will make you feel a little better

hahaha

well its semi true, got to think of yourself. Its always a bad feeling when youve done something, billed them, but there only back where they started. But such is life.

Im get less guilty by the day though, as had been metioned, when you take you vehicle into a garage... you then need a small morgage to get it back, or you get charged £30 for 8 mins of the dentists time.

Il put my prices down when everyone else does

 

[secret squirrel]

Part of the problem is with people its how they choose to spend their money,
people don't like spending money on repairs, whether its a boiler, toilet or tap.

How many of us have been to someones house its a big house and on the drive they've got a BMW M3 or M5 yet when you give them the bill theres a sharp intake of breath and they pay but reluctantly,

But, take that precious BM to get serviced they give that same intake of breath but paying £XXXXX amount for it in the first place doesn't even cause a glitch.

Another example is a customer who has just spent £300 on a phone £35PM on the contract and doesn't moan at all but moans at spending £35 at the NHS dentist for a check up.

People just moan about everything when spending money they don't want to.

Also, most people get paid monthly so for eg. take home is £1500 you give them a bill for £500 they equate that to a third of there months income, so, you earn a fortune, people don't realise that you don't earn that amount and don't care that the parts may be £350 and you started at 8 and finished at 6 without a break so your hourly rate is about £14 ph.

I'm slowly getting it into my head you'll never please everyone.

 

[Winston]

Nope just had one this afternoon fitted inlet valve to wc and a syphon to another wc in a pub prior to xmas said he wasnt paying. Its easy you aint paying out they come Get someone else to deal with your punters syringes

The look on his face I am all for customer care but if they dont pay they aint a customer in my book.

 

[Steve_P]

Spot on there Winston.

I find it's the ones who want you to think that they're something rather than those who are. Had some dealings a while ago with a couple claiming to be Lord and Lady whoever. Gave us loads of grief. Turns out that they'd bought the title and it meant nothing. Strangely, when I mentioned about talking to the peerage people at the house of lords, they backed down straight away.