Which customer gets the break?

John R. Hall

I've been reading some of the posts here lately that involve dealing with dissatisfied customers. It got my mind thinking along a different tangent.

I recently went on a service call with a friend who was doing some routine maintenance on a boiler in the home of a 99-year-old woman. The previous week she had her hot water heater burst, doing some slight damage in the basement. The plumber replaced it and did a good job. Out of curiosity I asked to see the invoice. I was a little surprised at the total (not important here) and discussed it with my contractor friend. He said it appeared to be a normal mark-up on the equipment and labor and I let it go at that. He said maybe the plumber could have given her a break because of her fixed income, etc. -- but it wasn't an obligation to do so.

My question is this -- how do you know which customers to discount your price to -- if at all? Is it those on a fixed income, elderly, handicapped? Is it the customer who is the sweetest person in the world? Or the one who gave you a nice referral? I'm just curious about the criteria for a discount.

Thanks.

Bill Nye_2

Hallie?

Who gets a free News Paper? Or does everyone pay the same Price? Why can't we get a free look at the extra when there is an article like dan foleys? You could post a link?

Some contractors are in business to make money, some others give away the store. No criteria needed.

Al Letellier

discounts

We give all first time customers a 10% discount on the first call only(limited to first $500) but it has to be COD. After that, I may give a discount to good reliable customer that I KNOW needs some help......all others pay the going rate.

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Murph'_5

Look At thier shoes

Usually the best way to tell if they are needy.

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hr

You'll know, alright

it's a sense that plumber/ HVAC mechanic develop over time

hot rod

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Geo_2

discounts

85% of the wealth in this country is in the hands of those over 65, my discounts have nothing to do with age and have more to do with payment history and are they a steady customer ect.

Unknown

John as a former manager

of a service company with over 100 service men on the road giving discounts can get you into trouble.

I always taught my techs to treat everyone equally as far as pricing and conduct. It may seem insensitive but it can backfire on you when differnt customers get different treatment. Advertised discounts are a different thing, dicounts to new customers also okay as they are set as company policy.

Those who are needy have access to many different heating assistance and other programs to help them out. Say how about a discount to the poor middle class working slob who can barely make ends meet and is working three jobs to keep his head above water.

A quick story about one of my servicemen who was very generous and known for helping people out. One night working with him on a two man crew (before I got into management) he noticed a young mother with two small children was without food in the house. The gas had been shut off for non-payment and we had just turned it back on. He decided to help her out and paid the reconnect fee out of his own pocket. End of story she called up the next day and said he had made a pass at her. Good intentions can get you into trouble. Why did she lie, answer the husband came home and wanted to know why she still had the reconnect money, he assused her of giving favors to the gas man. To protect herself she called up and lied. The fact that two of us did the job was what helped him to beat the rap. I was able to testify as to this not happening.

Pinball

Just remember ..."no good deed goes unpunished"
personally I don't worry about it. I treat people with my heart. and sleep with a clean conscience. Also remember the "golden rule".do unto others.....
for example: Last night a friend of mine called me to ask a favor. It seems her 86y.o. neighbor had no heat.The Fuel Co. had been there twice the day before and the "tech." took one look at the old Thatcher steam boiler and spent the next hour trying to sell the man a new boiler.He pushed the reset, it fired and went off in 30 secs. made a few attempt to convince the man that the unit was shot. and left the man with no heat! That night the guy built a small fire in his old fireplace until he ran out of wood. and went to my friend's house to thaw out and discuss what he was gonna do with no money to replace and no heat. BTW it was -15* that night! I got there at about 10:00pm and pulled the drawassembly and found the retention head carboned up due to a partially plugged nozzle.(A carlin 100FRD) The customer even had a new nozzle and oil filter sitting right next to the boiler, but was unable to change them himself do to arthritis.
15 mins later the boiler was running like a champ, within a 1/2 hour was making steam.
Even though I traveled more than 30 miles to his house and had already worked 11hours I COULD NOT take his money.
Did I forget to mention, The other "tech" charged him a total of $200.00?
Well today when I got home from work, I found a note on my door saying thank you along with a bottle of wine.He had found out where I lived during our conversation. and took a cab to my house!
that was more payment than any money I could have got!

Al

Weezbo

i often think in my mind about how the person would feel...

if they are elderly i figure that they dont have long on the world and i have plenty of time to make money, i might not have a chance to help them ever again,....older plumbers i tell the counter guy "Wait on This gentelman first"i am sorta a sap for people witha need too.i'd rather not go into ithere, too much ,as i dont want the entire world ringing my phone off the hook *~/:)

Rick Kelly_3

Good men...

There's nothing wrong with helping those truely in need. When a situation moves me enough, I respond. I do it more for myself than the person in need. Every now and then I need to do something to validate myself as a human being.

JohnWood1

Why give favors to strangers????????

I could never understand why we give discounts to NEW customers! If anything, we should give discounts (rewards) to our STEADY AND RELIABLE customers. Retain that which we have built! Use some other strategy to get new customers. (if you need them)

In this area there is a shortage of installers and repairman and the last thing needed is an unknown quantity (new customer) at a discount.

But, to each his own..........

JohnWood1

Why give favors to strangers????????

I could never understand why we give discounts to NEW customers! If anything, we should give discounts (rewards) to our STEADY AND RELIABLE customers. Retain that which we have built! Use some other strategy to get new customers. (if you need them)

In this area there is a shortage of installers and repairman and the last thing needed is an unknown quantity (new customer) at a discount.

Charity is another matter entirely and is strictly subjective... As the Lord moves you.

But, to each his own..........

John R. Hall

Bill

You make a good point. I am happy to be the conduit to News' info. All articles can be e-mailed, faxed, or mailed. All you need to do is ask.

Constantin

That's a great story...

... and my hat off to you and the others that so generously have helped out others in times of need. I'm a firm believer that good karma comes around... I'm sure that man will be your best salesman, just as I was recently when I was called as a reference for my GC (he got the job).

Bruce M.

You are a hero

Thank you for a great story and thank you for a good deed. Now you need to have your elderly friend get his $200 back from the first tech.

Carl PE

Huh?

85% of the wealth in this country is in the hands of those over 65

I don't know where you heard that, but it's not true

Geo_2

carl pe

I heard it on the Bob Brinker radio show Carl and I don't think anyone's talking about screwing the elderly, we all must do what we can for people that appear to be in a fix. I just don't hand out discounts to people for reaching a certain age. I have customers that dress as it they were homeless but I know there worth millons.... and there always the one's looking for the discount.

Paul Rohrs_2

Be very careful in the words you use.

As a wholesale company that sells ONLY to liscenced contractors I can only state that everyone gets the same price. Anything else would be grounds for discrimination.

We can then go on and state that discounts off of that stated price are based on volume, quoted job, etc.

Regards,

PR

Mad Dog

Fixed income doesn't automatically mean low income..............

We discount when it is obvious that the folks are going through hard times and are on the balls of their hiny. I've seen too many oldtimers that push for their "senior discount" whilst the two new caddies are in the driveway and they forgot how they bragged last time about their home in Florida. They still get a senior discount, but not what I would knock off for an poor old widow or gent living in a spartan little cape. VETS and widows of VEts get huge discount from us. Some folks who are really hard up, get charged parts only for a simple fast service call...and a real healthy discount for larger jobs. We take them on a case by case basis. Mad Dog

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Mad Dog

exactly...thats what we do

if you are a regular and loyal customer, you get a nice break vis a vis a stranger. mad dog

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Chuckles_3

This is an interesting thread. I'm a homeowner, and a colleague is always surprised by how high the quotes I get are compared to his for similiar work. (I don't mean just for hydronics services.)

I don't think it's the shoes. It's much simpler than that; my neighborhood is fancier than his. Of course, as a result I have no disposable income and he does, but I get quoted higher prices.

What I do now is get more quotes than I used to. There's always someone who doesn't use the "charge by gut feeling" rule, it just takes a while to find him sometimes.

JC-TRX250R

I do not give discounts on parts to anyone whether I feel they are rich or poor. Where I make my changes is in the time that I have spent at the place. It is alot easier if neighbors or friends discuss or show each other there bills to hide discounts in the hrs needed to perform a certain job. All bills are itemized for parts and from one bill to the next the parts are all the same as far as cost goes. I used to have a hard time billing people because I knew that they could not afford it. But after recently going to a no heat call in which a competitor charged an elder couple $207 for 2 hrs labor for installing 2 nozzles and left blaming our fuel oil company for bad fuel (outside tank with the Fill and vent under the eves and water dripping from the roof on it, coincidently installed by our competitor) and they told the HO to call us. I went and accessed the situation, found the line had ice chunks in it, treated the tank, used my push pull pump to clean out the lines, took the time install a shuttoff on each line and cut out 2 bad kinks in the copper tubing because someone didn't know how to use a pipe bender, hooked everything back up and bingo they had heat and hotwater again. After seeing the competitors bill I felt guilty for having to bill them on my end to actually fix the problem but I had to. Only billed them for an hr plus the shutoffs while I was there for over 2 hrs making sure everything was running right.

Make no mistake about it, I am not Gods gift to Service Techs and do make mistakes, but I have a conscience about things as well.

Just last week, went to a no heat call, was a rental with a elder lady living there. Burner motor was bad and we couldn't get a hold of the landlord to authorize the replacing of it. It was below freezing and this elder lady lived in the country with no neighbors or family to go to. She needed heat. After thinking about it for a short time I decided to put a new burner motor on so she would have heat and if the owner didn't want to pay for it at a later date I would go up and take it back off. To keep the cost down in hopes of making sure the owner would have no objections and hopefully pay the bill, I charged only a half hr labor, and didn't even put in the cost of a new coupling. A couple of days later the landlord called and said that he had no problem with us changing the motor and gave a pre approval to replace anything on the furnace when needed just short of putting in a whole new furnace with his OK.

john_27

we call it the driveway premium...I have a half mile drive into my place...the bid goes up as the contractor comes up the drive..ine guy wanted to do three days painting for 25,000.......another fine fellow wanted to do a days worth of grouting for three thousand...but couldn't turn off his truck during the course of the bid because it wouldn't restart.....so...our rule is a flat 100 per hour...2 hour minimum...and everything on the clock.

Sweet_2

You gotta

admit it feels pretty good being able to say "my neighborhood is fancier than his". Theres always a price to be paid for the choices we make. We are amongst the people everyday, Gut feeling is simply a tool of the trade not always right , but definetly an ally.