Lost a regular customer!

[gazzamikes]

I was asked by a regular customer how
Much to carry out eicr on one I her properties, 3 bed two storey. I've been there in the past to do couple of light fitting changes and it's bodged throughout, more jb's than a wholesaler cu been wired in the dark by a blind
Man etc. i told her £150 minimum knowing what was coming up. She then text me saying I was well over priced! Apparently she can get somebody to do it £80, i said to her if he can do a 100% test etc on it and willing to put his name on the paper I'd pay him myself. She then said im too expensive and expecting too much so she will be using him in future!!! How can we survive against prices like that?

 

[sedgy34]

Let her have the bad experience she will then call you back

 

[Paul.M]

Ask her to note how long he is there "testing" this 3 bed house, i bet 2 hours or less. You would be there most of the day.

Other spark 2 hours at £80 or yo 8 hours at £150, do the maths, who's the most expensive?

Love to see his none conformance list and his price to fix it all???

 

[kingeri]

£150 sounds cheap to me if it's as bad as you say!

 

[mayfair]

Had a similar thing just a couple of weeks ago told not to finish the job, we were taking to long....same old story (Big Arrgument etc). Long standing commercial clients. Drove past last week all finished. bit pi**ed off TBH.
Anyway had a call on Friday could we sort out a job at another one of their nightclubs and take a look at one or two things that were not quite right at the place where were chucked of the job, something to do with the lights!!!
BTW we had'nt got to do the lighting when we were asked to leave. Expained this and all i got was whatever it costs or however long it takes please put it right...........................Dont ya just love it !

 

[Amp David]

For EICRs my minimum charge is 30 quid per circuit.

Its about 50/50 regards some say to expensive and other who say go ahead.

But at least everything gets tested.

Did have one customer who moaned about a load of C3 and C2 code. So I said to him, if you don't want any issues identifying and pulling up, why are you wanting an EICR done in the first place?

 

[Swicade]

There's a guy around here doing EICR's for a local estate agent for £70 (for people selling thier houses).....one of my customers asked me to test the house thier selling mentioning the £70...explained the length of time required and how £70 was too cheap and luckily they kept with me and was more than happy to pay the extra cash seeing how long it took to do properly, problem was only ended up getting £120 for the test instead of the usual £150 thanks to this nugget undercutting (charged £120 to keep the customer as they've alot of work to do in thier new house)

 

[DurhamSparky]

i lost a decent customer recently....

currently instructing solicitors to recover money he owes me!!

 

[baldelectrician]

It's hard out there.

I underprice EICR's, although I have software and do the cert there and then so it doesn't take as long.

The reason for the lower price is
1. Competition
2. 95% of the time I get the remedial works, at normal prices so this pays for the loss on the EICR

 

[oldtimer]

I have mentioned this before I stood in for a friend who had to go into hospital and did his work for a letting agent who basically messed be about trying to screw me down (as my friend was doing work for beer money) on money anyway my friend came back but realized that his small business was not making money so he chucked it so he said no doubt they will get back to you. Well dont hold your breathe I said and sure enough they did not but to make things worse the letting agent I do work for just stopped sending me work so I was just getting by when they started sending me work used to be 3 jobs a week it went to 1 job a fortnight. My friend also said maybe your costs are too high and I said well I make a living on it but if I was cheaper I would be better off working for Tesco.

So 7 months pass and my regular letting agent starts increasing their work to me and then the other LA (my friends) also stated to send me work so whats my thinking well both have tried somebody else and it has not worked out as I manage the work and the tenant plus if the job needs done at 5 pm then I do it and it gets done within 1-2 days plus customer focus is what it is all about as the tenants are grateful that they get promt attention and the letting agent gets a good service so my advice is not to get ratty or bitter or slag off the opposition

 

[Geordie Spark]

Had a similar thing just a couple of weeks ago told not to finish the job, we were taking to long....same old story (Big Arrgument etc). Long standing commercial clients. Drove past last week all finished. bit pi**ed off TBH.
Anyway had a call on Friday could we sort out a job at another one of their nightclubs and take a look at one or two things that were not quite right at the place where were chucked of the job, something to do with the lights!!!
BTW we had'nt got to do the lighting when we were asked to leave. Expained this and all i got was whatever it costs or however long it takes please put it right...........................Dont ya just love it !

Karma !!

 

[alarm man]

just goes to show customer loyalty and paying more for a better service is a myth,shes the one that will lose out,id up your prices when she comes crawling back..boils my .... when you bend over backwards for customers over the years and they cast you off to save pennies.loyalty works both ways imo

 

[sedgy34]

Let her have the bad experience she will then call you back

whats with the adverts on the main posts mods?????????????????????????

 

[Guest55]

theres no such thing as loyalty in business , the bottom line always counts , even more so in a ressesion.
the sooner you get to grips with this fact of life the easier it will be in dealing with disappointment from losing work to a cheaper competitor.
moaning on here about how you do a better job than your rivals doesnt achieve squat.

 

[gazzamikes]

I can't see anybody moaning, just can't beleive how little money people are will to work for, especially on something which potentially could come back with a kick up the --- if all goes wrong, would you sign in for that?

 

[oldtimer]

We are getting battered from all sides you have guys breaking into the business so are doing it cheap and not realizing they are making a rod for their own back then there is the semi retired guy who does it as a hobby for holiday money and then the customer who wants to drive a good bargain but will spend £900 on a big telly and that situation will always be around as thats the way it is. So the way I approuch it is just to give good service and be honest with the customer now you could get cynical but I would prefer to do 1 job for £100 than 3 jobs for £40 each.

 

[alarm man]

theres no such thing as loyalty in business , the bottom line always counts , even more so in a ressesion.
the sooner you get to grips with this fact of life the easier it will be in dealing with disappointment from losing work to a cheaper competitor.
moaning on here about how you do a better job than your rivals doesnt achieve squat.

sometimes tho a customer can cut his nose etc,the amount of goodwill jobs ive done for some as they had been customers for 20 yrs plus ive lost count,they change supplier to save £200 a year then get charged for all those little jobs i done in the name of customer service,but they think they have saved £200..cheapest isnt always best

 

[Guest55]

the underlying issue thats driving down the price of electrical work is the sheer number of new Electrical Trainee's flooding the domestic market.
its been the nail in coffin for traditionally trained sparks.
i'm much happier being an agency / subby on commercial projects even though i can spend weeks without work , house bashing is a dire area to rely on as your main source of income.
dont see things changing anytime soon either.

 

[imago]

dont see things changing anytime soon either.

Maybe, but I'm not so sure myself. There are a lot of people working for cash, and a lot of people working for little or no proffit. The HMRC will take care of one, and basic business economics the other. Over time the number of chances and fools will be reduced, natural selection if you will, and the only ones left will be those who weather the storm.

 

[Rampage]

Maybe, but I'm not so sure myself. There are a lot of people working for cash, and a lot of people working for little or no proffit. The HMRC will take care of one, and basic business economics the other. Over time the number of chances and fools will be reduced, natural selection if you will, and the only ones left will be those who weather the storm.

They will be replaced by the next load of people doing the same thing.

 

[imago]

For a while, but soon enough all the training companies will find a new trade/occupation which they can flog to death. It always runs that way, predators, prey, trades, training companies etc etc etc. Once saturation point has been reached and maintained for a while everyone will chase another 'dream job'. Then the number of sparkies will be too few for the demand, then the training companies will start pushing the golden career. Then .......

 

[alarm man]

For a while, but soon enough all the training companies will find a new trade/occupation which they can flog to death. It always runs that way, predators, prey, trades, training companies etc etc etc. Once saturation point has been reached and maintained for a while everyone will chase another 'dream job'. Then the number of sparkies will be too few for the demand, then the training companies will start pushing the golden career. Then .......

this game will never recover from the mess its been left in,give it 5 years and the word apprentice electrician will be removed from the dictionary

 

[Guest55]

For a while, but soon enough all the training companies will find a new trade/occupation which they can flog to death. It always runs that way, predators, prey, trades, training companies etc etc etc. Once saturation point has been reached and maintained for a while everyone will chase another 'dream job'. Then the number of sparkies will be too few for the demand, then the training companies will start pushing the golden career. Then .......

yeah , just like the solar panel installers market then. :-/
i think by the time the industry goes through this cycle the damage wil be irreparable.

 

[BillyH]

Sometimes i wish i did'nt bother reading this forum, its all doom and gloom. I only want a fair days pay for a fair days work, it seems far to much to ask for these days

 

[alarm man]

Sometimes i wish i did'nt bother reading this forum, its all doom and gloom. I only want a fair days pay for a fair days work, it seems far to much to ask for these days

i come here to get away from the doom and gloom,what we need is a massive job to come off and all the members are on it,that would be a site and a half,e54 would be foreman for sure..

 

[oldtimer]

Well on a brighter note I started a small business 2 years ago due to a dead end stressful job with shiftwork that was kicking the hell out of me so I seen a gap in the market and went for it and yes I came on this forum as we are always learning but one thing that i have been taught is not to dive in with regards to the posts that say i want to be an electrician in 3 months. I am happy with my lot and but realize it can be a jungle at times but would i trade it to go back to "job security" hell no we may complain but there are just as bad employers out there who cannot do anything else but screw it up I put all this down to the current economical climate and lets face it when a customer in my view tries it on I am polite and wish them well as it is no use getting bitter

 

[Des 56]

i come here to get away from the doom and gloom,what we need is a massive job to come off and all the members are on it,that would be a site and a half,e54 would be foreman for sure..

I volunteer to run the pub :26: