Customer arguing over £5.....

[kevyn]

Hi all

Slightly ****** off about this.

PAT tested the guy's caravan 15 items in all. £2.50 per item which is an absolute steal if you ask me, anyway I put a £5 mileage charge on top to cover the diesel etc. Total Bill: £42.50.

Guy calls me up and says ''I think you have sent me the wrong bill you have charged me too much''. I explained about the small charge and he tried to get me to knock it off the bill.

I told him my van does not run on air so I wont be taking it off the bill. He has now agreed to pay up.

What is it with these chancing numpties? He was getting it done for next to nothing in the first place.

 

[Electricalserv]

Tbh mate I think it was fair dooo's from him. He expected to be paying a set amount them gets a £5 FEE Ontop. You should have hidden it in the pricing of each item!

 

[Adam W]

You should have got him to bring his caravan to you instead.
Doubt he could have done that for under a fiver.

 

[RWJ]

Unless you agreed the £5 when you accepted the job, or when you agreed on £2.50 Per item. I think he's right and so would trading standards or a court.

As electricalserv says you should has added it on each item... Although despite what you claim £2.50 per item is already pushing the top end. The standard seems to be £1.00 and no minimum!!

 

[kevyn]

The onsite spark is charging £5 per item +vat.

 

[Electricalserv]

The onsite spark is charging £5 per item +vat.

Is he a gippo?

 

[RWJ]

The onsite spark is charging £5 per item +vat.

OK then you were cheap!! lolol
I expect he's got a bit of a captive market.. I've not seen anyone charging anywhere near £5 for yonks

 

[RWJ]

Reckon you should go round the rest of the caravans!!!!

 

[Octopus]

To be honest I would recommend that you need to have a minimum charge of £50.00 and have that stated so people know what they are getting.

Saying you charge £2.50 per item and then adding fuel without warning the customer isn't going to endear you to the client.

 

[pennywise]

£5! think he could have got the other chap to do an extra Item.

 

[SirKit Breaker]

To be honest I would recommend that you need to have a minimum charge of £50.00 and have that stated so people know what they are getting.

Saying you charge £2.50 per item and then adding fuel without warning the customer isn't going to endear you to the client.

Thats what i charge minimum £50 for 1 to 25 appliances, then down to £1.50 25 to 50 then down to a quid. But I am gonna take myself off to Bridlington, there are several very large caravan sites over there, so maybe i can become a millionaire, and be the first Pat Tester to do his rounds in a Ferrari, £5 an item.........I'll have some of that please.

 

[mattmoo1974]

You did it cheap, But you can see the guys point.
Its only the same as when you book a flight now and you get aload of added stuff at the end bill.
Its really annoying just build the fuel cost in mate.

 

[1shortcircuit]

It would be a shame to think that future work and referrals may have been lost over a fiver

"Extras" never go down well regardless of what they are for and regardless of what trade it is. It just makes the customer believe that you're trying to screw them over... sad that it's all over a fiver.

 

[robsparky1975]

Should as others say build it into a minimum charge,what money are you going to earn charging £42.50,less taxes,van,fuel,insurance etc ,not much,unless your already there doing other electrical bits,the way some people can be out there they begrudge paying £40 for replacing a couple of lights including travel time,well let them do it themselves,none of us are charity cases are we,huh,sorry back to your post,make it worth your while,i did some pat testing for a firm a few years back,the client made me a tea,i had that,and when she got invoice phoned up and complained that i took 10 mins to drink it and wanted money off lol what a cowbag,some people want us to work for free.

 

[72-van]

I love pat testing

but ........£$%$^%%$%£.......

When you consider that you probably wasted more than half a day on this job then its gotta be worth half a days wages Or its just not worth doing ...

43 quid probably cost you a tenner in fuel ,labels fuses leads plugs etc
my tax man will want a cut of the 33 thats left ,so youve probably got 25 for your half day 4 hours into 25 is less than min wage

said the pat guy whos currently not doing pat ..but when i get back into it I Will be offering it only at a higher than average price ,.to make it worth my while ..

probably based on day rates rather than per item.
and the item count will likely be a fraction of what the sticker slappers can do .

Fed up of being taken advantage off !

72 van