Hi guys, Had a phone call today from a customer who said his macerator is blocked, I popped round there about an hour ago. First thing he asked me on the phone was do I charge a call out rate, I said no - will lose the job straight away probably. Anyway I get there and he flushes the toilet and it starts backing up immediately. So a blockage is obvious, I said I wont start messing with it tonight as it was already gone 6 (and I'm not 100% sure how long it was going to take). I said £35 p/h. That is more than reasonable seeing as it's going to be evening time, he said that is too much, he said the most he will pay is £50 in total "but it has to be working". I said I will happily come back tomorrow night but I can't guarantee how long it will take, the blockage might not be in the macerator itself it could be further along. He started telling me how it should only take an hour (so he is hoping to have it done for £35 obviously). When I was going out on weekends to get experience we had a similar job, turns out it needed new waste pipe re-routed as no amount of unblocking and trying to flush through would clear it. We ended up back there for half a day doing it and I also seem to remember that the guy I was going out with told me he ended up changing the macerator a few months later anyway!. I'm probably not going to go back, I am trying to build up my own customer base and I'm not exactly rolling in it but this could turn in to a nightmare of a job and I know he will not pay more than £50. I might get lucky and it could be the macerator just needs clearing and it works straight away but if not and it needs more work I doubt I will get a penny due to the "it must be working" comment. How do I go about this? I would like to do the job but where do I draw the line?
- Thread starter armyash
- Start date
Welcome to the forum. Although you can post in any forum, the USA forum is here in case of local regs or laws
Hi Army,
As soon as he said its too much , i wouldve said see ya, You havent charged a call out and folks like that are the bone in our arses,
You cant put a price on a fix like that as you rightly said you dont know how long it will take and your probably better off away from grippit people like that
As soon as he said its too much , i wouldve said see ya, You havent charged a call out and folks like that are the bone in our arses,
You cant put a price on a fix like that as you rightly said you dont know how long it will take and your probably better off away from grippit people like that
I told him I would be allowing 2 hours for the same reasons you suggested so I said looking at approximately £70 which is where his £50 max came from.
lol said the same thing to my girlfriend, told her i'll take the lid off and offer him £35 to mess with it.
I will send him a message in the morning to say that I will come and have a look and clear the macerator for £50 but if the blockage is further or that doesn't solve it then more will need to be done at extra cost. If he agrees to that then ok but if he says no then it's his loss.
L
lambchop
respect to to you ash, you seem willing to take it on. Tbh is it the sort of "experience" you want, over 12 years I have turned down 3 jobs involving a macerator, one of which was a new install. It took time but I'm still earning without being a skilled macerator cleaner outer.
i will pay £5 for the DVD of this custard solving his macerator problem within 60 minutes, hopefully the rest of the lads will do the same and the custard will be rolling in it
D
Dotty
Whilst I respect your enthusiasm to learn I would just like to add sometimes we all need to learn to say no and popping along in the evening to tackle a job like this that may turn into a can of worms leaves a lot to be desired but most of all being dictated to as to how much he is prepared to pay ...tread carefully Ash best of luck whatever you decide ...regards Turnpin:smile5:
Thanks for all the replies so far. I will contact him in the morning and let him know what's what, the more I read these replies the more i'm thinking about telling him to go else where. I'll inform him that it's not likely to be a straight forward job that can be done in an hour or less so he needs to pay me my £35 p/h or go else where. Will update tomorrow night.
D
Dotty
I recently fixed an under sink one! full of grease and other stuff! just needed a service to get it back working!! have had some float switches and stuff going in some! worst thing was I did the kitchen one for free, I keep my boat and fishing gear in the lads yard , and he doesn't charge me anything! deals like hat re good sometimes!!!!
in the future you'll be turning down blocked loo's. get experience of stuff you'll do when the phone is ringing.
E
Ermintrude
Ash don't call him back and DO NOT be bullied. He called you because he couldn't do it or didn't want to either way he called you. Your in demand not him. Don't do it he will slag u off when after 4 hours it's not working and it leaks and stains ceilings. Frankly I would tell him you will pay £100 to watch him fix it in 59 minuets ! But you want to record it. I'm sending my £5 towards the "best ukpf vid 2015 right now"
had one of these a couple of weeks ago had to take out everything even the the blade as it was jammed up with mop strings good customer though they baled the s**t out of the bowl ha ha, cos i walked in then straight out after seeing the bowl full to the top
, as said before, took a couple of hours, just leave it and let him get someone else if he calls you back he is desperate or tell him to call saniflo
, as said before, took a couple of hours, just leave it and let him get someone else if he calls you back he is desperate or tell him to call saniflo
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Walk away, I've learned the hard way and now charge £35 call out if I sniff a time waster.
If he wants it done for £50 tell him to do it,
Also, tell him not to tell you how long jobs take. If he's such an expert tell him to get his hands dirty,
Your worth more than that mate. Your a professional.
Sorry, fed up today with custards.
If he wants it done for £50 tell him to do it,
Also, tell him not to tell you how long jobs take. If he's such an expert tell him to get his hands dirty,
Your worth more than that mate. Your a professional.
Sorry, fed up today with custards.
Nice one guys. actually finished work on time today, had to get my daughter from after school club because the gf is working late so updating this earlier than I expected to. I did text him this afternoon and told him I think he is better off going to someone else, haven't heard back. Not too bothered now, dealing with customers like this is all part of the learning.
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