Would You Charge For This?

[Paul.M]

Did a little job last week, a shower in a 30A 3036 Wylex board. Fuse blown, 15A fuse wire had lasted 4 years before slowly burning itself out. Change the fuse wire only and quoted for a board change and off I went. Got a call from him this evening saying that after tonights shower his wife could smell burning coming from the c/u! "I'm on my way" jumped in the bat mobile and there in ten mins. Just as the man said it was starting to burn the plastic finger guard for the shower fuse. The guard was a little bit loose (i didn't touch it last week) and the brass was making contact with it. Also the kitchen was very humid after they did a couple of loads of washing and there was a bit of condensation on the fuse case which would not have helped. Anyway its sorted now and I had the shower running on full temperature for a while and no heat or burning so job done until he can afford a c/u change (he's getting married next month). Gave him the option of a 2 way rcd c/u for the shower and cooker as a temporary measure, giving him a price for that tomorrow. Question is would you have charged for this call out? If it was anything to do with my work previously of course there would be no charge but nothing I did would start burning out the fuse? Your thoughts please ladies and gentleman.

 

[Octopus]

Probably not, especially seeing as you have an outstanding quote. As you say its a case of judgement, and a 10 minute FOC PR job could bring you work through word of mouth which could save you £££££'s of advertising.

 

[mayfair]

If it was family charge the gits if not I would go with the good will version

 

[Paul.M]

Oldtimer I must have read the same page in the book as you, or you wrote it? Sound advice that everyone should take.

 

[alarm man]

i wouldnt charge,even tho it could just be coincidence you'd get the blame as you were the last to touch it,plus its a feather in the cap for you reputation can only help for the extra works

 

[telectrix]

i'd be inclined to say " the problem doesn't seem to be related to the job i did, but as it's the same circuit, i'll give you the benefit of doubt and not chaage for this once"

 

[Paul.M]

i'd be inclined to say " the problem doesn't seem to be related to the job i did, but as it's the same circuit, i'll give you the benefit of doubt and not chaage for this once"

Those words was said by me but what would you charge? Your all getting closer. I'll give you a hint, my call out charge for something like this on an evening at this time for less than an hour there and back to my house is £40 (more if further but this was a ten min drive away).

 

[telectrix]

ok. " give us a tenner for a gallon of diesel and a pint."

 

[Paul.M]

ok. " give us a tenner for a gallon of diesel and a pint."

Not far off bud.

 

[Octopus]

This is a bit like playing electronic "pin a tail on a donkey"!

 

[alarm man]

a night with his future wife..:smartass:

 

[oldtimer]

Guys I hear what you say about goodwill but I got called out by a guy (during the bad weather last year) for a storage heater I said well I can reset your high limit switch but if it trips again then you will need a new module if it works ok then it looks like you have been putting clothes on it so you can pay me a call out charge of £45 for reseting it and getting it working for you. Two weeks past and I called to enquire and the reply was yes its working ok well can you put the callout charge into my bank account AYE THAT WILL BE RIGHT he shouted I am not paying you that for 10 minutes work and when I explained running costs ect he said my A%^$£ Now there we have it screwed by a customer so next time I will charge £45 to come out and reset it and if it trips again I will give a fixed price to change the module less the £45.

On a lighter note most of my customers say £45 is that all!!!!!!!!! christ I called a couple of companies and they quoted £90 call out plus VAT

 

[Octopus]

Guys I hear what you say about goodwill but I got called out by a guy (during the bad weather last year) for a storage heater I said well I can reset your high limit switch but if it trips again then you will need a new module if it works ok then it looks like you have been putting clothes on it so you can pay me a call out charge of £45 for reseting it and getting it working for you. Two weeks past and I called to enquire and the reply was yes its working ok well can you put the callout charge into my bank account AYE THAT WILL BE RIGHT he shouted I am not paying you that for 10 minutes work and when I explained running costs ect he said my A%^$£ Now there we have it screwed by a customer so next time I will charge £45 to come out and reset it and if it trips again I will give a fixed price to change the module less the £45.

On a lighter note most of my customers say £45 is that all!!!!!!!!! christ I called a couple of companies and they quoted £90 call out plus VAT

Where are you based?

 

[alarm man]

you will always get chancers ot,you can usually tell what type of customer they are when you turn out to site..seems dodgy charge before work,seem nice see how it goes depending on what work involved..

 

[Goody]

I will do it all for love, so No Charge, LOL

 

[Paul.M]

Oldtimer gets the prize. I didn't want to do a call out FOC if its not my fault but because of the forth coming c/u change I charged him £20 and I will deduct £20 from the quote I've already given him last week, everyone is happy. The way I see it is this, if I did this FOC he would think the fault is mine and his confidence in my work would be lost. If I charged the full amount he would think I'm a chancer and ripping him off and NI chance of me getting any work from him or recommendations. So 20 quid refundable from a set price if future work is carried out is a good move I think?