| Electronics > Repair |
| Charging by the hour is unfair! |
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| SteveThackery:
--- Quote from: PlainName on July 08, 2024, 12:28:44 pm --- --- 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. --- End quote --- Exactly. --- Quote from: PlainName on July 08, 2024, 12:28:44 pm ---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. --- End quote --- Exactly. |
| Runco990:
Well, Steve.... I would never want you as a customer, as it sounds like you'd never be happy with my work. Having said that: I take a one hour minimum diagnostic. Period. I pre-qualify all my customers on the phone, and even talked some out of fixing their unit, as it was just not worth it for either of us. If I don't work on something, like for example Nakamichi Decks, I refer the customer to someone who DOES. I don't stock NAK parts and feel a specialist is better for those jobs. Then an estimate. Which is exactly that. An ESTIMATE. If work is approved and performed and I am successful, I expect to be paid. If I fail, I do not charge for the "work", but my 1 hour minimum stands. I very, very rarely fail. Yes, I am good at what I do, but sometimes things don't work out due to some part no longer available. Anywhere. SOME jobs get out of hand, but in my case I love restoring reel to reel decks, so at some point I just flat rate the job. I want to fix the machine and the customer to be happy AND come back with other work. I NEVER advertise. I work from home. So my reputation on the internet was truly earned and I am grateful to have it. It's ALL word of mouth, so there is ZERO incentive for me to cheat anyone. In fact, I don't need to do this at ALL, so you can go piss up a rope for all I care.... I do this because I like it, and in the end it pays for the food... which sure is expensive these days. ::) In the end, if you don't like it, learn to do it yourself. We are all retiring soon and you can complain to someone else. 2 years for me. :-+ |
| fzabkar:
--- Quote from: Runco990 on July 08, 2024, 06:57:37 pm ---If work is approved and performed and I am successful, I expect to be paid. If I fail, I do not charge for the "work", but my 1 hour minimum stands. I very, very rarely fail. --- End quote --- Then you are in the enviable position of being able to afford not to accept a minimum payment for that tiny fraction of jobs that you don't manage to complete. |
| Runco990:
I am. But I pick what I work on. I do not work on just anything. |
| SteveThackery:
--- Quote from: Runco990 on July 08, 2024, 06:57:37 pm ---Well, Steve.... I would never want you as a customer, as it sounds like you'd never be happy with my work. Having said that: I take a one hour minimum diagnostic. Period. [...] Then an estimate. Which is exactly that. An ESTIMATE. If work is approved and performed and I am successful, I expect to be paid. If I fail, I do not charge for the "work", but my 1 hour minimum stands. I very, very rarely fail. Yes, I am good at what I do, but sometimes things don't work out due to some part no longer available. Anywhere. SOME jobs get out of hand, but in my case I love restoring reel to reel decks, so at some point I just flat rate the job. I want to fix the machine and the customer to be happy AND come back with other work. --- End quote --- Why on earth would you not want me for a customer? Perhaps you haven't read the thread, but what you describe is pretty much exactly what I've been advocating! 😀 |
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