emergency service calls?

Timco

Yeah, I know about the no price thing, but what formula do you use for weekend / emergency service calls? I have a current method, but feel weekends & afterhours should be worth a bit more...

Tim

Maine Ken

Trip charge, time and one half after hours and saturday, double time after 10:00pm and all day Sunday and Holidays.

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Stephanie Custis (yes, Mark's wife)

We have VERY few

and we don't advertise in the phone book. If we did, we wouldn't offer 24 hour service to new customers. For our regular, tried and true customers, we don't charge anything more than our regular service charge. And, boy, does that keep the customers loyal!!

Stephanie

"Opportunities are never lost, someone will take the ones you miss."

Norm Harvey

I have my normal hours rate, and then nights and weekends are essentially 50% higher

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[Deleted User]

depends on contract or non-contract customer

but, trk charge, $65-$75/hr, 24/7/365 @ hourly + 50%

ttekushan_3

Must be something

in cleveland's water. I do the same things with the same results.

-Terry

Mad Dog_2

Like Kenl's too ,but do the same as Steph for loyals

Mad Dog

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joel_19

$$$

For customers with a service contract the diagnostic is a little higher but our book rates are the same including their discount. We will rarely go on any calls that do not already have the preventative maintenance agreemant,if we do then additional charges app.

Done right you do not have to charge allot more and yes it keeps them loyal.If you have allocated your overhead properly the majority of your costs have already been covered by straight time calls.

Having a good PM system really cuts the night weekend calls way down.

We found that those without a PMA are many times the hardest to collect from as they are basically cheap to begin with and allot of the time the repair would have been caught on a PMA. So we'd rather let them be somebody elses problem.

Sounds harsh but HO's like that have brought it upon themselves. I got up at 3AM 1 too many times without getting paid to deal with them any longer

Dan C.

depends

Depends who it is but I charge double after 5:30 weekday. 1 1/2 for sat. Double for Sunday and Holidays. If it is a homeowner that is a regular/loyal customer sometimes I charge regular rate. Management companies I always charge the emergency rate or they think it's ok to call you at any hour of the day.

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Woodman

Emergency calls

I like Steph's take on it as well. Remember, loyalty works both ways. When I'm a customer, it's hard to justify remaining loyal if the business isn't, just as we all know the reverse is true. I understand we all need to stay in business, make a profit, etc. But, there is room for reasonableness if that's a word when it's a loyal/long term customer who calls at 6 pm. On the other hand, I think everyone would expect to pay a premium at 10pm on Christmas Eve.

I just had a similar situation with a truck dealer I've been using for 15 years. Purchased 3 new trucks and 1 used during that time. In the past they have been very acccomodating with scheduled service, warranty, emergency fixes etc. Called Fri. after having one truck towed to their lot after hours with a huge oil leak (the truck is no longer on warranty). Called Fri. morning to tell them the details and get an estimated timeline. New service advisor said they can't touch it until next Wed. I asked to speak with the guy I usually work with, and guess what, it was ready by 3pm. That shows me that my loyalty is well placed. Maybe I'm paying a little more than the corner garage would charge, but how can you complain about the service. To me the time was worth more than the charges.