When Customer Says You're Too Expensive

[Niallmat]

Farmers ar the worst for haggling! never had one not doing it yet , or they say "how much for cash then" after you name your price, to which i reply with a smile "that price was for cash" , that usually ends it!

Farmers are terrible like! They claim poverty! You always see them in nice machinery an that! I was with a heating firm and did a big job for a farmer, he agreed a price and we did the work, I found out a few week later they where refusing to pay the full amount!

 

[Plumb08]

I was always told that If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

 

[lame plumber]

on any bigger job I do an estimate and get customer to sign agreement for work to go ahead and cancellation procedure if less than 7 days cooling off period and work is starting. Its a door to door salesman type agreement as required now for all of us under trading standards requirements and if the blighters then refuse payment etc youve got a simple contract with their signature to use in court process and your ahead of the game already.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

and when I gave a rough price she said "your the same price as British Gas" I was so shocked I didn't know what to say, ..

We get similar on the phone...They've called Heateam, WB , BG or who ever and then they call us and tell me on the phone that that other company are too expensive. That i why they are calling us. I reassure them that we will almost certainly charge a similar price and might charge more!
Why assume we will be cheaper? Our materials may well cost more than those big firms.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

This is a difficult point because I hate having to haggle but depending on what it is I will haggle, this is very hypocritical.

I will haggle over the price of a car or if I am in a shop, buying a new tv, I will haggle over luxury items..........
I think for me its the way the conversation/haggle is conducted, in an aggressive manner "your ripping me off" or "Mate, help me out a bit,"....

I think you make some good points.
Actually we do "help out" customers who seem like they will be nice to work for but can't afford the higher prices.

No-one wants to spend money on new heating - that would just be just strange!

Most of our work is bathrooms and general house renovations - these are luxuries to some extent -
I think some if the "your too expensive" comments come because people don't realise just How expensive these things are and then are not comparing like with like when they get a cheaper quote.

For the most part I don't think we can just slice off a chunk off the profit when we send out a quote for £10,000 bathroom - as other have said we would have to change the quality of the materials - which can easily be achieved but customers rarely do that - if anything they usually end up spending more.

Perhaps we price things too low! 🙂

 

[Centralheatking]

The most important part of what you are posting about is really - THE DEPOSIT !

For new domestic customers and small commercials I always write a contract and
have a deposit up front - boilers can cost £1000 - I dont leave them in peoples
homes without some commitment from them.

Its the best way - a deposit is a legal agreement for my outfit to complete
and the customer to pay the final - it also gets them into the idea that
we are working together - and real money has to change hands

Its just our way - under £300 no but above ALWAYS

centralheatking

 

[Centralheatking]

I have been known to drop £500 over a £7500 luxury bathroom ONCE then I got home and KICKED THE CAT and had a think and got it all back in spades on extras

More often than not though a little wheeling and dealing like that leads to more work in the future which more than pay's back that £70

 

[CXR100]

if the house isnt that nice, old tv, old clothes ect ect and you can see they are struggling i usually go a bit cheaper, because they are allways repairs , bursts leaks ect, i just cut £20 off for example, then the next huge house i get a bathroom job and a nice bmw outside and a huge plasma in the living room i just charge them a bit more!

 

[lame plumber]

if the house isnt that nice, old tv, old clothes ect ect and you can see they are struggling i usually go a bit cheaper, because they are allways repairs , bursts leaks ect, i just cut £20 off for example, then the next huge house i get a bathroom job and a nice bmw outside and a huge plasma in the living room i just charge them a bit more!

and guess which one will pay up immediately or before the jobs finished, not the beemer owner but those that are struggling along, so I dont mind doing a deal for people like that🙂

 

[Wet dream]

We but this on are adds

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten

Says it all and filters out the divs you never wanted to work for anyway

 

[AndyJ]

WOW! Appreciate and understand the views expressed here about not dropping your prices or being asked to haggle in order to get the work but I'm shocked at the general attitude revealed in these posts towards your customers. Not all of us are tight devils looking for someone to work for slave wages .... but it seems, judging from this thread, that there exists in the plumbing world a widely held pre-conceived notion that the customer is in some way mentally deficient, naturally deceitful and an overall thoroughly bad lot. Heart warming!
Thanks for the 'heads up', I'll now treat all future contacts with the plumbing fraternity with a great deal more suspicion than has been my practice up to now.

 

[Dotty]

WOW! Appreciate and understand the views expressed here about not dropping your prices or being asked to haggle in order to get the work but I'm shocked at the general attitude revealed in these posts towards your customers. Not all of us are tight devils looking for someone to work for slave wages .... but it seems, judging from this thread, that there exists in the plumbing world a widely held pre-conceived notion that the customer is in some way mentally deficient, naturally deceitful and an overall thoroughly bad lot. Heart warming!
Thanks for the 'heads up', I'll now treat all future contacts with the plumbing fraternity with a great deal more suspicion than has been my practice up to now.

Are you reading the same thread? Where did a terrible attitude towards customers arise? You seem to labour under the impression we work for the love of the job.

We don't. There's insurances, trade registrations, tool upkeep, van upkeep, ongoing training, fuel, tax, registration body fees and so on. That's before we can consider our wages.

Please post up where you live as you actually drop into the small bracket of customers you describe us as viewing all customers.

And your first post too, digging up an old thread. Hmmmm.......

 

[kay-jay]

should have been in the arms croppie

 

[hammers4spanner]

i dropped my price for my girlfriends mate other daymoved some rads for here so drained system and refilled checked all rads and off i went ,

later that eve she phoned said i missed a rad and it was cold and she didnt know what to do so tried to explain and got no where .

so today i go back a 35 mile trip to do this no extra charge and price was cheap in first instance ,if i charged full rate i'd be happier but hey ho it happens no complaining to much

 

[cr0ft]

and guess which one will pay up immediately or before the jobs finished, not the beemer owner but those that are struggling along, so I dont mind doing a deal for people like that🙂

Just finished my 2nd job for a really nice lady who lives in an estate in Lincoln that is known for being rather deprived to say the least. The lady is riddled with arthritis but couldn't be nicer. She has tipped me more in tips than all my other customers in the last year combined.

I am starting to agree that those with money are the least generous tbh.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

There's a lot of truly nice people out there that are grateful for our help and assistance and for us it's extremely rewarding to help these folk, there are a fair amount of snakes though unfortunately...

 

[Dotty]

should have been in the arms croppie

Probably originally yeah. But then no prices have been mentioned.

 

[kirkgas]

When someone tells me I'm not the cheapest quote I say "good because I plan to do it properly using good equipment and if there are any problems I will resolve them right away, if I was too cheap you wouldn't be getting good service would you, here's my card feel free to give me a call if you go for the cheap option and need it fixed if the original person can't come back"

 

[kirkgas]

The reality is "how much for cash" should be £20 more as banks now charge you to put cash in

 

[kirkgas]

I suppose it is a bit hypocritical to moan about them haggling as I'm sure we all so when buying cars etc, same with comparing quotes for flights and car hire etc, however when I'm getting work done I never haggle, but that is because I have used the same people for years, I tell them what I want ask for advice on the options if appropriate they get me price A and price B I decide and pay them, I wouldn't embarrass my self by asking if the could do anything with the price because I know their work and trust them to do a good job for me
If anyone asks me " can you do anything with the price" I say "yes I can add £50 to it no problem"