Problem getting quotes for small amounts of gas work.

[Agile]

Namsag is quite right Paul !

I am, like you, too keen on pleasing customers and I answer my phone for 14 hours a day. Many asking for free advice which I give them to enable them to cure their problem.

Your own private customers who are known to pay should be given priority over warrantee calls which are are hardly at subsistance rates.

Set yourself reasonable working hours and charge a little extra for calls you cannot manage within those times or otherwise make them wait.

I am rather lucky because I have excess energy and can repair boilers after midnight if necessary but I dont start too early for anyone. Today was an exception as I had to be at Kempton Park for an electronics show by 0930.

Tony

 

[namsag]

One of the hardest things in this business is to say NO especially in middle of winter when its freezing.
Your already fully booked and someone phones you tears in there voice and pleading, most breakdowns are going to take half hour to an hour and you think yeah i will fit it in before you know it you have said yes to 3/4 people and running about like a blue arsed fly when you initially thought yeah this week is all in place... Thats why i let majority of calls go to answer machine.

 

[Paul Barker]

Namsag is quite right Paul !

warrantee calls which are are hardly at subsistance rates.

Tony

You tried warning me a year back, but I didn't listen.

Am glad to have done it from the point of view of experience and building up intelectual capital but now realise it's a loss leader in a relatively rural area like mine.

Might bring it to an end.

as for answerphone Namsag, things have got so bad with respect to me not meeting existing commitments that I have had to go a step further to no answer at all.

My problem with answerphone is that people consider when they have left you a message you have an obligation to react to that message.

 

[chrishutt]

My problem with answerphone is that people consider when they have left you a message you have an obligation to react to that message.

Mine too. I hate getting answering machine messages - last thing you want when you get home after a hard days work is too listen to a load more problems coming your way.

I much prefer emails which I encourage people to use instead. Then I can deal with it at whatever time suits me - midnight or 7 am for example, when you can't really make phone calls. It also gives me a clear record of what was said and agreed.

I really need administrative support to deal with customer enquiries and free me to get on with the income generating activities, but where do you find someone who'd have the right qualities, attitude and commitment? Perhaps the answer is for a number of one-man-band plumbers to club together to share an admin support service.

 

[Agile]

I really need administrative support to deal with customer enquiries and free me to get on with the income generating activities, but where do you find someone who'd have the right qualities, attitude and commitment? Perhaps the answer is for a number of one-man-band plumbers to club together to share an admin support service.

It really does not work well Chris. They dont want to talk to a woman who just makes bookings.

Callers want to talk to the man himself to ask what might be the problem and how much is it likely to cost. The admin person can do little of that.

What we want is a retired person who can answer a few calls a day but talk boiler speak to the callers. But they are not interested because they mostly carried on working too long anyway and just want a quiet life.

Tony

 

[mbuckhurst]

Moving a cooker point on the same wall would probably add another £60-£80. We cannot see your job.

This is the type of job I would do 'after leaving off and on my way home'

That's what I would expect, if it was water I'd do it myself and allocate a couple of hours to do it. The cooker point is around 6m away from the existing point, but in a straight line, there are no carpets/flooring to remove, just bare boards with enough cutouts for hatches that it shouldn't even require crawling under the house. The 2 gas fires simply need the pipework cutting, below floor level and a seal putting on the end.

It's so infuriating not being able to get anyone reasonable to do it, when it really should be a simple and quick task.

It's not exclusive to gas people though, I'm having as much trouble getting electricians in to do the electrical work, but at least any semi-competent person can move a few sockets and light fittings, so I will end up doing this myself.

mike

 

[namsag]

As you have found out the trouble is catching the right person at the right time,
If it is as straight forward as you say and IF you find someone reasonable price should be between 100/150 providing existing cooker flex /bayonet etc are all still ok.