What to charge customer for changing their mind?

Author	All Replies
icex Premium join:2004-05-22 USA Reviews: ·Frontier Communi..	What to charge customer for changing their mind? ..Now before you say "What?" let me explain. Had a call about a computer that would stay on for 15-20 minutes then freeze. I travel 10 minutes to meet the customer and pickup the computer. I take it apart and determine the motherboard is bad and a replacement would cost $120 from china (HP pegatron board). I then proceed to explain to them I can upgrade the computer with a new motherboard, ram, processor and power supply. The parts are $280 and the labor is $185. She agrees and says first of the month (November first) she will have the money. So I have the computer apart (motherboard still in the case) and it sits on my desk since last month. Yesterday she calls and says she'll have my money today, $240. I said thats just parts, and I will have to make sure thats the price because I wasent at my computer during the day. Today she comes here and asks me if its $240 or more, I go look and its $280 for the parts. I proceed to tell her and she says thats too much she'll send it to Florida and get it fixed alot cheaper and it'll last alot longer. I offer to knock $30 off the labor and she refused. I said I'll have it assembled tommorow. I already did a virus & spyware removal on the hard drive, obviously their not going to pay that. I plan to do a system restore to restore the virus's (if possible) and take my anti virus off the machine. My question is, what should I charge for a diagnostic? I say "free estimate if I repair the machine, $25 if I don't." but obviously I done alot more and the customer screwed me over by changing their mind at the last second when I have everything took apart and ready to order new parts. Comments? -- The Gun News Blog, the latest information on the firearm industry.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 15:40:00 ·
Johkal Cool Cat Premium,MVM join:2002-11-13 Happy Valley kudos:5	You are only entitled to the declared $25.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 15:56:01 ·
CylonRed Premium,MVM join:2000-07-06 Bloom County	said by Johkal: You are only entitled to the declared $25. +1
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:00:10 ·

John Galt Forward, March Premium join:2004-09-30 Happy Camp kudos:5	+2
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:09:20 ·
bionicRod Funkier than a mohair disco ball. Premium join:2009-07-06 united state kudos:1	reply to icex said by icex: ..She agrees and says first of the month (November first) she will have the money. "I will have your money on such and such date" is usually a bad sign. I think I would have put her computer back together, charged her the $25 for the estimate, and said "Come back on November 1st".
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:14:31 ·
icex Premium join:2004-05-22 USA Reviews: ·Frontier Communi..	reply to icex You all are right, but I did do a spyware / virus removal like she requested after she said she would give me the money first of the month. She agreed to pay for this when we discussed ordering everything. -- The Gun News Blog, the latest information on the firearm industry.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:27:08 ·
bionicRod Funkier than a mohair disco ball. Premium join:2009-07-06 united state kudos:1	said by icex: You all are right, but I did do a spyware / virus removal like she requested after she said she would give me the money first of the month. She agreed to pay for this when we discussed ordering everything. What do you normally charge for that? Labor by the hour? Add that to the $25 and you're good!
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:28:50 ·
icex Premium join:2004-05-22 USA	$75 for virus removal.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:29:15 ·
bionicRod Funkier than a mohair disco ball. Premium join:2009-07-06 united state kudos:1	Man I'm in the wrong bidness
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:33:31 ·
icex Premium join:2004-05-22 USA	Haha, why?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:35:52 ·
medbuyer join:2003-11-20 kudos:4	reply to icex was there a written estimate that she signed? out of curiosity, what software did you use for virus removal?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:39:03 ·
icex Premium join:2004-05-22 USA	I use an assortment of tools for removal of virus's and spyware. There was no written estimate, it was verbal.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:44:54 ·
Johkal Cool Cat Premium,MVM join:2002-11-13 Happy Valley kudos:5 Reviews: ·Comcast	reply to icex Verbal agreements are always dicey. That being said, the only leverage you have is to refuse to return the PC unless she pays you for the additional service. This sucks all the way around in the end. You just have to decide which is more important: the money with a possible bad review from her or cut your losses and suffer no negative review.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:51:02 ·
bionicRod Funkier than a mohair disco ball. Premium join:2009-07-06 united state kudos:1	reply to icex If you had a written list of prices and it clearly says $75 for virus removal, and she was aware of this list and approved the work, she wouldn't have cause not to pay you. If she either didn't know about the price or assumed the work was to be included in the $185 labor you originally quoted and she ultimately declined that labor...I don't know man. I feel for you but I could see her side too. You might try waiving the $25 estimate fee and go for just the $75. I think whatever you have documentation on is what it's going to have to be. Either way good luck to you. EDIT: Why do I suddenly have The People's Court theme going through my head?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 16:58:18 ·
Snakeoil Ignore Button. The coward's feature. Premium join:2000-08-05 Mentor, OH kudos:1 Reviews: ·RoadRunner Cable ·magicjack.com	reply to icex said by icex: I use an assortment of tools for removal of virus's and spyware. There was no written estimate, it was verbal. Always, always put everything in writing. hat was the lesson drummed into my head from the owner of a TV repair shop I used to work at. Then both parties sign it in agreement. Then each get a copy. They you'd be able to charge for what services were given. Is it normal to charge for a diagnostic, if the customer agrees to the repairs? Reason I ask is that at the TV repair shop we charged 25 bucks to take a TV/electronic consumer device's cover off and see what was going on. If the customer agreed to the price of the estimated cost repairs, then we'd wave the diagnostic fee. Also we'd give them the option of new or used parts. Both carried the same 90 warranty with us. Just that the used parts were typically lower in price/free. For example a new cap could cost a customer a couple of bucks, where as a recycled cap would be free. The TVs/devices where tested with a 24/48 hour burn before we released them back to the customer. Meaning we put them in a closet and let them run for that amount of time to see if there were any issues. Also, when the customer signed the bill of repair, they were also agreeing that they ad 30 days to pay for the repairs. At the end of 30 days the device was our and we could sell it to recover the repair costs. -- Is a person a failure for doing nothing? Or is he a failure for trying, and not succeeding at what he is attempting to do? What did you fail at today?.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 17:10:09 ·
medbuyer join:2003-11-20 kudos:4	reply to icex said by icex: I use an assortment of tools for removal of virus's and spyware. There was no written estimate, it was verbal. I would just put back all the parts back inside, remove anti virus software from hdd and put it back too. don't fuss over connecting wires, cables and all that. tell her, since i took apart the machine to give you a parts estimate and I did a virus removal, here's your machine back with all the defective parts inside with cables not connected. tell her, since she backed out and presumed won't pay anything, I just put it back together but caution her that it won't run since nothing is connected inside, not even the power supply. I may not even put back the parts inside. I'll just put them in a box and label whats defective.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 17:40:51 ·
thegeek Premium join:2008-02-21 right here kudos:2	reply to icex Is this your day job or something you do on the side for cash only? If it is your day job then you should no better to never do any work without first having something in writing defining the terms of the service.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 19:08:35 ·
beck Premium,MVM join:2002-01-29 On The Road kudos:1 Reviews: ·Stablehost.com	reply to icex Now you have learned. Always a travel charge and always a bench charge. Then at least you have something. So, you get $25 for it. Oh well. You should have an agreement written for them to sign that they authorize you to do any work. You still get screwed sometimes, but not as many.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 19:09:40 ·
Bob Account deleted join:2012-07-22 New Jersey	reply to icex You should only get the $25. I don't see anywhere in your post where she authorized the spyware/virus removal.
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 20:02:14 ·
David Now accepting new patients Premium,VIP join:2002-05-30 Granite City, IL kudos:78	reply to icex Who on earth is she sending to in Florida that can do it cheaper? I am guessing Florida has very cheap labor?
	to forum · permalink · 2012-11-14 20:05:23 ·

Broadband Tech > General Questions > What to charge customer for changing their mind?