Sorry have to vent!!! Friends and family!!!

[timo1]

Ok I know I know, never help friends or family!! Things are a bit slow at the moment so I agreed to fit a friends cooker. Easy enough....when I get there its an old house they have just bought no cooker circuit. The previous cooker was gas so I ended up running a new circuit - cue the next 3 hours fishing under floorboards, having to establish a decent route as the house is a strange set up (loads of woodchip plasterboard walls arrghh!!!)

Finish the job, surface mounted under the cupboards at their request, hate doing surface but looked pretty good....all tests fine, go to get paid and mates rate of £90 all in (including about 15 metres of 6mm) they were chuffed with the work, so off I go.

Get home text message quibbling the price from him (I'm friends of his partner) trying to get a tenner back as he thinks I overpriced on the cable!! (bearing in mind I supplied the cooker switch and backbox)

I mean a tenner FFS!!! I can understand that it cost more then they thought as originally they thought the cooker just needs connecting, but it's just an insult.

That really is it for me, no favours any more - would it be childish to send the certificate by post that they would have to pay the postage on delivery?

Thanks for listening !!

 

[Des 56]

freinds and family
We are always warned but never heed the advise
Instead of being the good summaritan we become the rip off king

We start out doing the favour and end up as the ex friend with their trust gone out the window
When it happens we can be so frustrated thinking "what if they had the job done by an incompetent stranger"what then,then they would understand

 

[Gravid]

Jesus, sounds like a right tight *******. Typical friends n family job.

 

[timo1]

Should have done plumbing every one is happy to see you when they are cold cause heating has broken or sewage is in the garden!

gradually what with the callibrations, regs updates, scheme costs, paperwork, copper prices the responsibility is outweighing the rewards and what people want to pay. Think its just how it is at the moment.

Nice little rewire will change the mood im sure!!

 

[rocker]

I'd send them an invoice with your full amount labour-wise, and the exact amount for the materials, and include a cover note saying that as we are keeping everything at it's correct price, please ensure the balance is recieved within 14 days. What a cheeky -----! Cooker circuit for £90?! Want to do some sub work for me?

 

[timo1]

I'd send them an invoice with your full amount labour-wise, and the exact amount for the materials, and include a cover note saying that as we are keeping everything at it's correct price, please ensure the balance is recieved within 14 days. What a cheeky -----! Cooker circuit for £90?! Want to do some sub work for me?

Ha ha yeah I should. What's worse is this has happened before with friends of friends you think i'd learn but I always think its going to be different. its ok though my faith in humanity is slowly being sucked out from me!! Cheers Tim

 

[Paul.M]

You should have told them to buy the materials themselves and you will install it for a discounted rate of £15 ph + fuel. See what that bill turns out to be? More than the £90 you've charged.

 

[telectrix]

just been to the local DIY shop for a tin of paint. they are selling 6mm cable at £2.80/m, thats £42 at retail for your 15m. should have charged him that!.

 

[Phil]

tight fisted sods. wants a tenner back?? more neck than a giraffe some of them.
break down the parts
£42 for the twin
£2 sleeving
£5.98 trunking
£3 surface back box
£5.98 cooker outlet
£8
=£66.96
so that leaves £23 for you installing it. send him that through the post with no stamp on he will have to go to the post office to pick the letter up and pay £1.50 for no stamp as well.
tight sods get on my nerves. my inlaws don`t get any work done by my because they would think I was overcharging them just on the price of the bits so I just don`t bother with them at all.

 

[telectrix]

and not to mention that after you've done them a job for peanuts, the gas boiler breaks down ( was ok before you fitted that extra socket ), the roof leaks ( was ok before you fitted the aerial booster in the loft ), the cat's turned psycho ( he was ok before he sneaked under the floorboard that you left up while you had the only brew i made you in the 3 days you were here ) . grrrrr

 

[Adam W]

I reckon they would have quibbled over the price if you'd only charged them a tenner, which is why 'mates rates' should be at least 1.5 times what you would charge anyone else. If you'd done it for free you'd have had to have gone back and changed it because it 'wasn't what they wanted'.

Those kind of friendships only seem to work one way, like lending people money - you give someone an interest-free loan and they get all stroppy when you have the 'cheek' to ask for it back!

Personally I "don't do that kind of work".

 

[Ponty Massive]

You should have told them to buy the materials themselves and you will install it for a discounted rate of £15 ph + fuel. See what that bill turns out to be? More than the £90 you've charged.

That's exactly what I do. Tell them exactly what they need, down to the last screw and tell them to either get it or price it for themselves.

 

[Paul.M]

I always cringe when I hear the words "ive just got a light fitting from Ikea". People think that you will drive miles to their house, take down the old, put up the badly designed new fitting without making a mess, doing basic tests to make sure all is well and then expect to pay you a tenner because its a friend/relative that you only see at weddings, funerals and Christmas.

 

[Adam W]

It's not quite as simple as just replacing the light fitting though; any fly-by-night cowboy can do a direct replacement, but I like to do things properly so you'd need to get the ceiling checked for asbestos, get all the furniture out of the room and the carpets covered with non-slip protective plastic, hire in a scaffold tower, then I'd need to turn off the power to the whole house for a couple of hours.
I'll have to get you to sign a disclaimer absolving any liability for me ruining all your wallpaper, just standard stuff really.
I work during the week so I could only do it on a Sunday afternoon when you'd otherwise want to sit back and relax, and you'll have to hire the scaffold for the whole weekend.
What's that? You'll get the local handyman to do it instead? Well if you're sure...

 

[Paul.M]

Novus you forgot to mention the H&S check list

 

[Adam W]

Oh yeah it'll need a full risk assessment. 10 pages at least. That'll take half a day. You can't be too careful.

 

[Paul.M]

Just say your busy and let uncle Albert change it by standing on a chair using a butter knife for the screws, what possibly could go wrong

 

[Marvo]

Working for friends and family is always problematic, no good deed goes unpunished.

I still have a policy that I won't touch a job for friends or family unless they get an independent quotation first so they know they're not getting ripped when I give them a bill to cover my costs.

 

[telectrix]

Working for friends and family is always problematic, no good deed goes unpunished.

I still have a policy that I won't touch a job for friends or family unless they get an independent quotation first so they know they're not getting ripped when I give them a bill to cover my costs.

that sounds like an excellent idea. unfortunately, because my forum is still screwed up ( stuck in mobile mode or summat ) i can't post a like or a thanks.

 

[millwall ken]

Ok I know I know, never help friends or family!! Things are a bit slow at the moment so I agreed to fit a friends cooker. Easy enough....when I get there its an old house they have just bought no cooker circuit. The previous cooker was gas so I ended up running a new circuit - cue the next 3 hours fishing under floorboards, having to establish a decent route as the house is a strange set up (loads of woodchip plasterboard walls arrghh!!!)

Finish the job, surface mounted under the cupboards at their request, hate doing surface but looked pretty good....all tests fine, go to get paid and mates rate of £90 all in (including about 15 metres of 6mm) they were chuffed with the work, so off I go.

Get home text message quibbling the price from him (I'm friends of his partner) trying to get a tenner back as he thinks I overpriced on the cable!! (bearing in mind I supplied the cooker switch and backbox)

I mean a tenner FFS!!! I can understand that it cost more then they thought as originally they thought the cooker just needs connecting, but it's just an insult.

That really is it for me, no favours any more - would it be childish to send the certificate by post that they would have to pay the postage on delivery?

Thanks for listening !!

Unfortunately Timo, we've all got a story like this; where you try to do something nice for someone. Its sometimes just not worth it mate.
PS: Love your signature by the way, its probably Doyle's most famous quotation. However in real life the 'suspect' is usually the most obvious one.