Customers: Sometimes I wonder why I bother.
Discussion
Had a call from a woman in the week about her roof. I arranged to go up on Sunday and have a look. She called later and said could I make it today, so I did.
Took the 10 mile journey there, put the ladder up and had a look. I said to her I could do that now if the merchants a mile away had the materials and "do you want me to do it" Water is pissing in, mind you.
Anyway another 20 minutes to the merchants and back to get the tiles and batten. She says how much, I say £50 + VAT. While the woman is paying her mother (old biddy) start giving me the third degree..."how much do you charge per hour?" I said for the two blokes £25. She said I thought people only charged by the hour. I f
king have you stupid bint, (I didn't say that) a 20 mile journey, pissing about in the merchants...etc, 2 hours. I really haven't charged you enough.
Now, when you take my overheads into account, insurances, fuel...etc I make nothing on this, I just do it because the more people that know you're about the better.
It really grates me to me questioned by some biddy as though I'm ripping them off.
s.
She only wanted me to come back Saturday so she could pay cash and for me to knock off the VAT.
Took the 10 mile journey there, put the ladder up and had a look. I said to her I could do that now if the merchants a mile away had the materials and "do you want me to do it" Water is pissing in, mind you.
Anyway another 20 minutes to the merchants and back to get the tiles and batten. She says how much, I say £50 + VAT. While the woman is paying her mother (old biddy) start giving me the third degree..."how much do you charge per hour?" I said for the two blokes £25. She said I thought people only charged by the hour. I f
king have you stupid bint, (I didn't say that) a 20 mile journey, pissing about in the merchants...etc, 2 hours. I really haven't charged you enough.Now, when you take my overheads into account, insurances, fuel...etc I make nothing on this, I just do it because the more people that know you're about the better.
It really grates me to me questioned by some biddy as though I'm ripping them off.
s.She only wanted me to come back Saturday so she could pay cash and for me to knock off the VAT.
Edited by groucho on Thursday 1st October 16:27
I know how you feel
Some bloke rang me up and got me round to fix his internet.
After spending some time unable to make either a wired connection or the built in wireless work despite going through all the settings of the PC and the router, I popped home to get my laptop make sure it wasn't the computer but the router at fault.
My laptop wouldn't connect either, so clearly a problem with the router.
I didn't charge the bloke for my time as per the no fix no fee policy, he still had the cheek to give me a hard time and insist his computer was broken. Even though I told him my laptop wouldn't work and that I also has a BT home hub(like his) that decided to break for no particular reason.
Cock
Some bloke rang me up and got me round to fix his internet.
After spending some time unable to make either a wired connection or the built in wireless work despite going through all the settings of the PC and the router, I popped home to get my laptop make sure it wasn't the computer but the router at fault.
My laptop wouldn't connect either, so clearly a problem with the router.
I didn't charge the bloke for my time as per the no fix no fee policy, he still had the cheek to give me a hard time and insist his computer was broken. Even though I told him my laptop wouldn't work and that I also has a BT home hub(like his) that decided to break for no particular reason.
Cock
NiceCupOfTea said:
I hate this "cash and forget the VAT" bks. You will end up paying it through extra income tax or whatever anyway.
What a tight arse, if I've got water pissing through my roof 50+vat doesn't seem much to make it stop!
I gave a polite no. Why should I travel another 20 miles and spend another hour of my time so they can save £7.50?ks. You will end up paying it through extra income tax or whatever anyway.What a tight arse, if I've got water pissing through my roof 50+vat doesn't seem much to make it stop!
Pvapour said:
Bloody booooormuff, bet she was from C. Cliffes!
Shame I didn't know of you when I was developing there Groucho sounds like your a pretty fair chap to me.
hang on a minute... will be buying in ferndown again shortly, gizzya number
Just click me name. Shame I didn't know of you when I was developing there Groucho sounds like your a pretty fair chap to me.
hang on a minute... will be buying in ferndown again shortly, gizzya number
What gets me is the accusation of thievery that she was implying.
Edited by groucho on Thursday 1st October 18:18
groucho said:
Pvapour said:
Bloody booooormuff, bet she was from C. Cliffes!
Shame I didn't know of you when I was developing there Groucho sounds like your a pretty fair chap to me.
hang on a minute... will be buying in ferndown again shortly, gizzya number
Just click me name. Shame I didn't know of you when I was developing there Groucho sounds like your a pretty fair chap to me.
hang on a minute... will be buying in ferndown again shortly, gizzya number
What gets me is the accusation of thievery that she was implying.
ps - do you know Mike Vaxi?
Edited by Pvapour on Thursday 1st October 18:36
I phoned a local fencing company, to get a quote for sticking up 60 feet of concrete and wood panel fencing, removing a large hedge etc etc. I was happy to pay a reasonable fee, the guy said he'd be round in an hour to quote, took my address, took my phone number......and never showed up or phoned up.
Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
Today,
Plane departs at 15:10, was a bit late in. It's an A321 jam packed and I've a missing passenger from a group of 27 who all managed to get on board in time. I've called her by name three times and due to the late incoming it's 15:20, pilot has his loadsheet, doors shut, and her bag offloaded in a timely fashion. 15:22 and aircraft is being pushed back.
Guess who waddles up to the gate chunnering into her mobile and bksing me for ruining her day ?
Plane departs at 15:10, was a bit late in. It's an A321 jam packed and I've a missing passenger from a group of 27 who all managed to get on board in time. I've called her by name three times and due to the late incoming it's 15:20, pilot has his loadsheet, doors shut, and her bag offloaded in a timely fashion. 15:22 and aircraft is being pushed back.
Guess who waddles up to the gate chunnering into her mobile and b
ksing me for ruining her day ?craste said:
You should of said "we'll forget the vat if the old biddy sucks me off without her teeth in".
Seems fair.
Nothing wrong with a bit of velveteen "O".....but in response, we had a roofing contractor pop round,spent an hour or so up ladders etc drawing up plans or what ever, gave a written quote, we agreed a start date and he didn't turn up (at all...ever...). I should point out noshing was not part of the contract. Cheers.Seems fair.
Edited by craste on Thursday 1st October 18:57
groucho said:
Had a call from a woman in the week about her roof. I arranged to go up on Sunday and have a look. She called later and said could I make it today, so I did.
Took the 10 mile journey there, put the ladder up and had a look. I said to her I could do that now if the merchants a mile away had the materials and "do you want me to do it" Water is pissing in, mind you.
Anyway another 20 minutes to the merchants and back to get the tiles and batten. She says how much, I say £50 + VAT. While the woman is paying her mother (old biddy) start giving me the third degree..."how much do you charge per hour?" I said for the two blokes £25. She said I thought people only charged by the hour. I fking have you stupid bint, (I didn't say that) a 20 mile journey, pissing about in the merchants...etc, 2 hours. I really haven't charged you enough.
Now, when you take my overheads into account, insurances, fuel...etc I make nothing on this, I just do it because the more people that know you're about the better.
It really grates me to me questioned by some biddy as though I'm ripping them off.
s.
She only wanted me to come back Saturday so she could pay cash and for me to knock off the VAT.
This is why I have vowed only do work that allows business-to-business dealings. This way, you can be assured that the people you talk to each are at least worthy of employment. Hopefully.Took the 10 mile journey there, put the ladder up and had a look. I said to her I could do that now if the merchants a mile away had the materials and "do you want me to do it" Water is pissing in, mind you.
Anyway another 20 minutes to the merchants and back to get the tiles and batten. She says how much, I say £50 + VAT. While the woman is paying her mother (old biddy) start giving me the third degree..."how much do you charge per hour?" I said for the two blokes £25. She said I thought people only charged by the hour. I f
king have you stupid bint, (I didn't say that) a 20 mile journey, pissing about in the merchants...etc, 2 hours. I really haven't charged you enough.Now, when you take my overheads into account, insurances, fuel...etc I make nothing on this, I just do it because the more people that know you're about the better.
It really grates me to me questioned by some biddy as though I'm ripping them off.
s.She only wanted me to come back Saturday so she could pay cash and for me to knock off the VAT.
Edited by groucho on Thursday 1st October 16:27
King Herald said:
I phoned a local fencing company, to get a quote for sticking up 60 feet of concrete and wood panel fencing, removing a large hedge etc etc. I was happy to pay a reasonable fee, the guy said he'd be round in an hour to quote, took my address, took my phone number......and never showed up or phoned up.
Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
Don't get me started on this. When we were getting quotes for our garage one guy just didn't turn up twice to quote after arranging times. Another guy turned up but even after several phone calls never gave us a quote - we are still waiting after a year or so! Guess who got the job? That's right, the guy who was polite, came straight over, quoted a fair price, and gave as a detailed written quote within a couple of days. Job is nearly finished and he's been utterly professional all the way.Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
And then there's the local guy who we asked to have a look at our leaking roof 2 years ago. They said they were quite busy but would put us on the waiting list. I rang them again a year ago and asked how far we were down their waiting list - he assured me we were still on their list and they would given us a call
. If they don't want the job why the funk don't they just say so?NiceCupOfTea said:
King Herald said:
I phoned a local fencing company, to get a quote for sticking up 60 feet of concrete and wood panel fencing, removing a large hedge etc etc. I was happy to pay a reasonable fee, the guy said he'd be round in an hour to quote, took my address, took my phone number......and never showed up or phoned up.
Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
Don't get me started on this. When we were getting quotes for our garage one guy just didn't turn up twice to quote after arranging times. Another guy turned up but even after several phone calls never gave us a quote - we are still waiting after a year or so! Guess who got the job? That's right, the guy who was polite, came straight over, quoted a fair price, and gave as a detailed written quote within a couple of days. Job is nearly finished and he's been utterly professional all the way.Glad to see some builders are too snowed under with work to give quotes.
And then there's the local guy who we asked to have a look at our leaking roof 2 years ago. They said they were quite busy but would put us on the waiting list. I rang them again a year ago and asked how far we were down their waiting list - he assured me we were still on their list and they would given us a call
. If they don't want the job why the funk don't they just say so?I thought we were in a credit crunch, but clearly all of our local builders/odd job guys are flat out judging by the responses we've had recently. I wish we had someone straightforward like the OP to deal with.
We need a new toilet and sink fitting in the downstairs cloakroom. nothing special but the toilet needs moving over about 1 ft and the plumbing for the sink needs to be moved to the corner of the room (about 2 ft move). Plasterboard studwork so easy to open up and move pipes.
In addition to the above we need a full bathroom fitting upstairs. New bath, show, toilet sink and all of these to be reloacted a bit from where they are now. Decent chunk of work I'd have thought.
Called 6 local companies or independant traders to come and quote for the work. Out of 6:
5 were interested enough to arrange an appointment
3 actually turned up, measured up etc.
only 1 actually provided a quote. If was £900 to supply and fit a sink and toilet. (£200 supply £700 to fit). This is just for the cloakroom.
We are talking about maybe a days work for 1 guy, possibly 2 days if hes slow and a bit lazy.
So now I will just have to do it myself.
We need a new toilet and sink fitting in the downstairs cloakroom. nothing special but the toilet needs moving over about 1 ft and the plumbing for the sink needs to be moved to the corner of the room (about 2 ft move). Plasterboard studwork so easy to open up and move pipes.
In addition to the above we need a full bathroom fitting upstairs. New bath, show, toilet sink and all of these to be reloacted a bit from where they are now. Decent chunk of work I'd have thought.
Called 6 local companies or independant traders to come and quote for the work. Out of 6:
5 were interested enough to arrange an appointment
3 actually turned up, measured up etc.
only 1 actually provided a quote. If was £900 to supply and fit a sink and toilet. (£200 supply £700 to fit). This is just for the cloakroom.
We are talking about maybe a days work for 1 guy, possibly 2 days if hes slow and a bit lazy.
So now I will just have to do it myself.
Edited by bigdods on Friday 2nd October 09:52
Gassing Station | The Lounge | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff