Electronics > Repair
Charging by the hour is unfair!
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SteveThackery:

--- Quote from: SmallCog on July 08, 2024, 02:49:40 am ---I certainly wouldn't take on a job involving complex diagnostics on a fixed price basis.

--- End quote ---

No, neither would I. In this situation, there needs to be some way of giving the customer an estimate so they can decide whether to proceed or not.
David_AVD:

--- Quote from: SteveThackery on July 08, 2024, 06:28:46 am ---
--- Quote from: SmallCog on July 08, 2024, 02:49:40 am ---I certainly wouldn't take on a job involving complex diagnostics on a fixed price basis.

--- End quote ---

No, neither would I. In this situation, there needs to be some way of giving the customer an estimate so they can decide whether to proceed or not.

--- End quote ---

And that way already exists. The customer pays for the diagnosis and an estimate based on the facts. Without looking at most items, any estimate you give is more like a guess instead of a close estimate or a firm quote.

I had a customer ring today about his favourite radio / cassette from the 80s'. He wanted to know how much to fix the cassette section. I advised that it was not possible to know or even give a close estimate without starting the job which would have seen him pay an upfront fee. He did not want to pay anything for an unknown outcome, so I gave him a pure wild guess to the likely cost and chance of success. Suddenly the favourite item from his youth was not worth spending anything on and he declined to bring it in. I don't want to be spending all day on the phone dishing out guesses, so I try and keep the calls short and to the point and will err on the high side for those guesses. I'd rather less customers who are already on the fence about a repair.
Gyro:

--- Quote from: SteveThackery on July 08, 2024, 06:24:08 am ---
--- Quote from: all_repair on July 08, 2024, 02:45:38 am ---Agreed.  Is it a business or a charity?  The proposed formula is neither a busniess nor a charity. 

--- End quote ---

No fix / no fee doesn't turn a business into a charity.  The proposed formula is - according to our contributors - already used by some successful businesses.

--- End quote ---

I can't see how that is different from providing your skills for nothing (my previous point). However it is a positive disincentive from doing any more that taking the back off, looking for easy fix bulged electrolytics and then slapping it back on again if you don't see any. Detailed fault-finding takes time, and if you're eventually going to find something not economically repairable then you get paid nothing. No incentive to start, which is bad for repairer and customer.
PlainName:

--- Quote ---Suddenly the favourite item from his youth was not worth spending anything on and he declined to bring it in.
--- End quote ---

Consider the alternative where he'd either paid up-front or agreed to whatever it costs in the end, and then discovering the actual cost. He may well have thought that had he known beforehand how much it would be, he'd never have considered it. So that's a customer out of pocket an unhappy.

Perhaps a midway solution would be to agree an upfront (not necessarily paid upfront) cost to investigate (and potentially fix), and if it's looking to go over then the customer is advised and they can either accept a new estimate or not.

ISTM that paying per hour is effectively making the repairer an employee in all but name, and yet not having any say on the matter. Paying an agreed fee (even if that turns out to require adjustment) is paying for the result rather than the journey getting there.
SteveThackery:

--- Quote from: Gyro on July 08, 2024, 08:50:54 am ---
I can't see how that is different from providing your skills for nothing (my previous point).

--- End quote ---

You obviously haven't read the thread.  We've done this to death already. The customer doesn't want to buy your skills, they want to buy a repair.  That dichotomy - you want to sell your labour, the customer wants to buy the fruits of your labour, is what this entire thread is about.


--- Quote from: Gyro on July 08, 2024, 08:50:54 am ---However it is a positive disincentive from doing any more that taking the back off, looking for easy fix bulged electrolytics and then slapping it back on again if you don't see any. Detailed fault-finding takes time, and if you're eventually going to find something not economically repairable then you get paid nothing. No incentive to start, which is bad for repairer and customer.

--- End quote ---

Again, we've done this already. There should never be an open-ended money tree whereby the customer faces an extortionate bill because it took you two days to fix the item. The customer takes all the risk, you take none. Following your business model, it is actually in your interest to take as long as possible over the job, and that isn't fair on the customer.  Also, what if it takes two days because you're not as smart as you think you are?  The less competent you are, the more the customer pays!

The whole point of this lengthy debate is to find a model which is fair to the repairer and the customer.  And that means sharing the risk equally, as well as the reward.

Anyway, done to death.  Every detail has been forensically dissected and examined in the previous messages.  See above.
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