Electronics > Repair
Charging by the hour is unfair!
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coromonadalix:
NO  some of them  will charge a displacement trip fee "normally 1 hour minimum",   here in my country   ...  even if a repair has not been made nor being contracted,

even for a 10-15 min  eye check ...


master electrician, construction workers in some domains
tow trucking
car / truck garages,   electric appliances technicians ... and many others, 

they wont come if you don't agree to pay the "displacement"

SteveThackery:

--- Quote from: Gyro on July 07, 2024, 04:35:53 pm ---I get fed up with people thinking my (or other peoples') skills have no value.....

--- End quote ---

This is what is known as "argument by non sequiteur"! 😄

Nobody, ever, anywhere in this thread has said your (or other's) skills have no value.


--- Quote from: Gyro on July 07, 2024, 04:35:53 pm ---
As long as the repairer makes clear to the customer their terms of business, and the customer agrees to them, I can't see why there can be any problem. They form a binding contract to that effect. It doesn't matter what the repairer's charging model is as long as the customer agrees. Whether that charging model includes a fixed hourly charge, free first hour, no repair - no fee, or some other model is totally irrelevant.

Until a contract is formed. The customer has the option of deciding that the cost and conditions are not worth their while and walk away. The repairer also has the option of declining to accept an item for repair.


--- End quote ---

Totally agree.  It is remarkable how few contributors to this thread embraced that at the beginning, or expressed it so clearly.

However there is still the issue with the whole "charging by the hour" model, which has a fundamental shortcoming. I'll quote what I wrote earlier:

"The problem with charging by the hour is that it looks to the customer like an open-ended money-making racket. The key issue here is that the risk is all on the customer, not shared between the two of you. You can sit back and take your time, or you can work quickly, secure in the knowledge that you will take home $200 for every hour spent.  Even hours spent reading the newspaper. The customer has no such security - they know you can charge whatever you like (they have no idea how long it really took you).

That's why, from the customer's point of view, a firm quotation with no fix/no fee is the only fair billing model."

I am serious about this.  If you cannot give the customer a pretty solid indication of how much they'll be charged at the end, then they are entering a pretty scary situation, one in which you have all the power (because you decide how many hours it took) and they have none (because you've got their product in your possession).

That's why I favour quoting the customer a "price plus caveats".  By that I mean:

1/ "The charge will be between these two values, and if I can't fix it there'll be no charge."

2/ "The charge will be between these two values whether or not I fix it."

3/ "I charge $50 to evaluate the problem, which you must pay up front and is non-refundable. I will then give you a quote which you can accept or not.  If you choose to proceed and it turns out I cannot do the repair, there will be no further charge. If I discover that more work is required than I quoted for, I will contact you, and you can decide either to proceed or have the product back unrepaired, at no further charge beyond the initial evaluation fee."

.....blah blah, and endless variants on that theme.  To be honest, I don't think option 2/ would be acceptable to many customers because it is an open-ended money-maker, but I fear it is often all they are offered.  Certainly by car workshops!

There are endless detailed variants on 3/, but I like the basic idea because the repairer never takes on a job unevaluated; and the customer never has to enter an open-ended, unlimited cost contract. Obviously it isn't possible to eliminate risk entirely for the reasons we have explored in detail in this thread.
SteveThackery:

--- Quote from: coromonadalix on July 07, 2024, 04:44:25 pm ---NO  some of them  will charge a displacement trip fee "normally 1 hour minimum",   here in my country   ...  even if a repair has not been made nor being contracted,

even for a 10-15 min  eye check ...

--- End quote ---

And that is totally unacceptable.  Morally, they MUST make it clear up front what they will do and what they will charge.
coromonadalix:
oh but they do  here  ....

morally   :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD :-DD   man  .....   as my last comment here 

they don't give a damn,  why, because clients,  where not sure, tried many people at the same time trying to get a better deal or prices etc ...

at some point they had enough being trolled too ... and began to charge,  client(s) are not perfect too BTW 

IM 53   i have seen so much things change over the years, things where reliable in the past, you could get 15years out of service

now 5 years  pfffffffffff   dont make me laugh, some reputable brands after 1 year   dump their parts

and some even use covid as pretext IE:  no more parts, bad parts availability  the list goes on and on ....  buy new   buy new    ....   consume mooooore  that's the keyword here in Canada


much has to be learn  here  ....  even in some usa countries too
SteveThackery:
Totally agree that clients aren't perfect by any means. In the world of clock and watch repairs it is quite common for a repair to cost more than the commercial value of the product, because many clocks and watches have a strong sentimental value. One thing that sometimes happens is that the customer realises they don't miss their clock very much after all, so they just never come back and pay.  The repairer is left with a clock they've just spent four hours on and which might fetch a hundred bucks on eBay if they are lucky.

Perhaps you could campaign to introduce better business practices in your country.😄
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