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.

 

[Paul.M]

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

Bless.

 

[Des 56]

I will do it all for love, so <font size="3"><strong><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3g_P3clEf8" target="_blank"><font color="#ff0000">No Charge</font></a></strong></font>, LOL

Then when your Mrs finds out there would be a change of tune,she would want a YouTube - ‪D.I.V.O.R.C.E tammy wynette‬&rlm;

 

[oldtimer]

Where are you based?

Edinburgh

 

[telectrix]

prefer billy connoly's version.

 

[Dunc]

A regular customer of mine once called me out for a TV that wasn't working. Because he's an old boy he is usually very vague with his descriptions and having installed a TV outlet and socket for said TV only a month prior i assumed something had gone wrong. Got to the house and head up stairs, turn on the TV and find it set on analogue TV. One button press and we're on digital and The Weakest Link is on just as he makes it up stairs. Amazed and delighted at how quick i've sorted the problem he asks me to explain what i've done so quickly go through it with him. I'm there for all of 10mins and the job was literally on the way home so when he asks what he owes i tell him not to worry as i'm sure there'll be more work for me there in the future. Anyway, he insists that he should pay me something so i tell him a couple of pints would do. I left with £6.40!

 

[oldtimer]

Yep Dunc Common sense in play here

 

[robsparky1975]

exactly the wording that would be needed,tel your just too good.

 

[alarm man]

A regular customer of mine once called me out for a TV that wasn't working. Because he's an old boy he is usually very vague with his descriptions and having installed a TV outlet and socket for said TV only a month prior i assumed something had gone wrong. Got to the house and head up stairs, turn on the TV and find it set on analogue TV. One button press and we're on digital and The Weakest Link is on just as he makes it up stairs. Amazed and delighted at how quick i've sorted the problem he asks me to explain what i've done so quickly go through it with him. I'm there for all of 10mins and the job was literally on the way home so when he asks what he owes i tell him not to worry as i'm sure there'll be more work for me there in the future. Anyway, he insists that he should pay me something so i tell him a couple of pints would do. I left with £6.40!

:lol:something similar for me a few months ago,old customer says get ya sel a pint youngin,give me £1.20...thought best not to tell him of real price..

 

[pennywise]

:lol:something similar for me a few months ago,old customer says get ya sel a pint youngin,give me £1.20...thought best not to tell him of real price..

I can't get a pint of lemonade for that lol right not to say anything

 

[Dunc]

:lol:something similar for me a few months ago,old customer says get ya sel a pint youngin,give me £1.20...thought best not to tell him of real price..

His first question was 'how much is a pint theses days' which was amusing since i heard recently he's in the pub every Friday! :rofl: I like this guy a lot anyway so don't mind spending a bit of time doing work for him and since i haven't ripped him off in the last 3 years he's happy to have me round to do most things without quoting.

 

[alarm man]

His first question was 'how much is a pint theses days' which was amusing since i heard recently he's in the pub every Friday! :rofl: I like this guy a lot anyway so don't mind spending a bit of time doing work for him and since i haven't ripped him off in the last 3 years he's happy to have me round to do most things without quoting.

london prices??

 

[Dunc]

Get on the A1 and head 100miles north of London and you'd be about right. I paid £4.50 for a pint of Guiness in one of the 'posh' establishments in my town 6 months ago. It was a lovely pint but i think i'd have needed a mortgage to continue drinking there! My local sells me a pint of ale for anything from £2.70 to £2.90 and another place i drink in (though not at the moment as he hasn't paid his bill yet ) charge £3.20 for a Wherry (Norfolk ale).

 

[alarm man]

no wonder pubs are closing down,i can get a pint for £1.80 locally,saying that its ok if you dont mind sitting next to tramps and ------...nice pint tho..

 

[nickblake]

Ive not read all the thread but I wouldnt have charge but push for a CDU upgrade if the fuse was starting to over heat this could happen again its a magor problem with these old boards they loose there elasticity and eventully burn out if its the wooden framed one could catch fire , its just a pointer , I had a call out to an elederly couple lost the power due to a DNO fault they had no power over night next morning i popped in a flask for them and called in again later that day to see if they were ok , i didnt charge but ended up with 6 jobs from it so word and mouth gets around , it was also a reason i was voted runner up in screwfix britains top tradesman so it pays

 

[electromonkey]

I'm a bit late to add to this but have you tried putting the onus on the customer as to what should be charged? I've lost count of the number of call outs I've done where I've flicked a fuse, changed a light bulb, tightened a screw etc so now when I have these call outs when I spend more time getting my tools off the van than doing the job, when they ask me how much, I ask them how much they want to pay. I've yet to have someone not pay me. I think the least amount I've had was a tenner but it's normally 20-30, I've even had a bottle of wine! It's almost always cash too so that's always a bonus.