To charge or not to charge...

[bellman]

Couldn't agree more Jef, ALWAYS invoice.

As wise men have said before me, "Only a fool works for nothing" and as for the people who moan because we have corrected the fault in mins, they seem to forget that they are paying us for what we know, NOT what we do.

I spent 3 days fiddling with the tv when the picture turned a funny colour, finaly gave up and rang the TV guy, he was here 15 mins and gone. TV works and I was £60 poorer.

Turns out the fault was a common one with that Chassis so he knew exactly what to change and whereabouts on the board the faulty part was. (Duff positron)

I didn't bitch at him over the cost and how little time he'd been here because I respect his knowledge of his trade.

Regards

Bellman

[Zak]

Couldn't agree more Jef, ALWAYS invoice.

As wise men have said before me, "Only a fool works for nothing" and as for the people who moan because we have corrected the fault in mins, they seem to forget that they are paying us for what we know, NOT what we do.

I spent 3 days fiddling with the tv when the picture turned a funny colour, finaly gave up and rang the TV guy, he was here 15 mins and gone. TV works and I was £60 poorer. 

Turns out the fault was a common one with that Chassis so he knew exactly what to change and whereabouts on the board the faulty part was.  (Duff positron)

I didn't bitch at him over the cost and how little time he'd been here because I respect his knowledge of his trade.

Regards

Bellman

70248[/snapback]

Also when life-critical ( ) items go faulty, such your TV, you are more inclined to pay for its repair than an alarm system that can save your life or your valuables.

With alarms though, especially with contract customers, they always expect everything for free. How many calls have we had "I want to change alarm companies because my current co has charged me for a call-out". Don't even bother talking to them anymore - when they find out it will cost them more money to change companies they soon shut up. But everybody wants something for free and is prepared to for it. Hail Jeff's signature.

[Service Engineer]

So the question is, do I send him a bill for this binbag noise abating service?

The fact your wondering whether to bill him implies that you might not. Perhaps because he was only up the road and you'd traced the cause of his Alarm Noise fairly quickly.

Did he offer you anything for your troubles..? If he did and you accepted it then consider yourself paid, even if it was only equivalent to a few pint's at the local.

If not send him the bill for your time on-site.

[Simon_B]

Read this with interest - I am not in the Alarm business, but experience similar events - You have to charge Andy.

Whether he is under contract to you or not. Have some standard charges laid out in your T&Cs for contracted customers, that a call-out fee applies for issues such as this which would come under "user error".

If not contracted, then quote them your minimum call-out charge and hourly rate before you visit so they are in no doubts.

If you think you are going to get repeat business or referrals from a client, no danger in giving a discount or a little extra time but still charge as "nothing is for nothing" in this world and like all the other posters mention, you do not get a plumber, electrician, computer repair man or any other trade saying "don't worry about, it's on the house".

Regards

Simon

[Guest MSI New York]

My computer-nerd friends refer to this kind of thing as an "eye dee ten tee" error.

ID10T

Thank you, I'll be here all week.

[hastings]

The decision is that I will charge him, thats my gut feeling and seems to be the consensus on here.

70185[/snapback]

One of the companies I used to work for had a good way of dealing with non-contract customers, they would give 2 quotes for the callout on the phone.

first quote was standard non contract rate

second quote was for first years maint contract and the callout charged as a contract customer.

The funny thing was, they had a knack of making sure that the 2nd quote was only a fraction more than the 1st. They got alot of domestic maint contracts that way !

[Zak]

One of the companies I used to work for had a good way of dealing with non-contract customers, they would give 2 quotes for the callout on the phone.

first quote was standard non contract rate

second quote was for first years maint contract and the callout charged as a contract customer.

The funny thing was, they had a knack of making sure that the 2nd quote was only a fraction more than the 1st. They got alot of domestic maint contracts that way  !

70285[/snapback]

My only comment on that is: what on earth are you doing on the internet at 5:53am??

[Rich]

Why you not call me?

Would have done it cheaper for you

Couldn't agree more Jef, ALWAYS invoice.

As wise men have said before me, "Only a fool works for nothing" and as for the people who moan because we have corrected the fault in mins, they seem to forget that they are paying us for what we know, NOT what we do.

I spent 3 days fiddling with the tv when the picture turned a funny colour, finaly gave up and rang the TV guy, he was here 15 mins and gone. TV works and I was £60 poorer. 

Turns out the fault was a common one with that Chassis so he knew exactly what to change and whereabouts on the board the faulty part was.  (Duff positron)

I didn't bitch at him over the cost and how little time he'd been here because I respect his knowledge of his trade.

Regards

Bellman

70248[/snapback]

[hastings]

My only comment on that is: what on earth are you doing on the internet at 5:53am??

70322[/snapback]

the joys of being on call !!!!!!!

[Simon_D]

once got called to a house where all the sockets and shower had gone off. owner said she had looked at the MCBs and they were all on, and has tried turnin them off an on but still nothin. got over there (turned out to be just round the corner. was quicker walkin). got there, and noticed the fault immediatly. RCD had tripped and was off.