Cheap cooker fitting jobs

[kasser]

Am I the only one who keeps getting asked to fit cookers for pennies?

I get the impression they think it's just sticking the rubber hose into the bayonet and you're done.
One of these days, sooner rather than later, I'll run out of patience and will end up telling them to do it themselves if they're not prepared to pay right.

 

[KingDoey]

How much is pennies?

Find a lot of people these days want a champagne job on lemonade prices...

 

[kasser]

Low enough to be insulting to a GSR, high enough for a DIY guy who'll probably connect the rubber hose and f* off.

 

[Stu-B]

I get the old “I’ve had a cheaper quote so if you can do it for the same then I’ll use you”

My reply is along the lines of “well best advice there is go with the cheaper quote then... bye”

 

[Allgoode]

I don't know your pricing but as above if they want to pay peanuts then they can get some other monkey to do it for them or do it themselves.

I've had it with servicing boiler & fires along with CP12 certification.

I try to have a fair price for a good safe job & unless there is a very compelling reason to go "cheap" then sorry, find someone else.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[kasser]

I get the old “I’ve had a cheaper quote so if you can do it for the same then I’ll use you”

My reply is along the lines of “well best advice there is go with the cheaper quote then... bye”

That's what I say as well. I don't want this sort of customer.

My price was once £5 cheaper than another but it was an estimate as I hadn't seen the job. The guy told me if I can confirm my price he'll go with me. I told him to go with the other.

Another had not even heard of Gas Safe. I started explaining to him why my price was so much higher than the cheap quote he's had (and he was still ringing around for a cheaper one) then decided it wasn't worth all this.

 

[Scott_D]

People think £20 cash in your pocket is a good payment.
They don’t realise you would struggle to earn £80 a day at that rate and then have to deduct fuel, materials and overheads

 

[AMGasServices]

The problem I see is people want a job doing cheap it necessarily may not be right or safe.

For example a chap installed a hob on a flexible hose it did the job until a year down the line there was a gas leak from the hose the customer was capped off by NGN. They had to pay for an uncapped, test and trace the leak. Also sort the hob out too. Not to mention all the grief too (time of work etc..)

 

[Burger]

Why is it customers want engineers to undercut each other? I know the norm is to obtain 3 quotes, but saying someone is £5 cheaper or whatever I see no logic in. If they want to dice around with gas or incompetence, maybe that’s the message we should be sending. Funny how engineers get a bad write up, but very rarely get “use him, knows what he’s talking about”.

 

[kasser]

I forgot to mention as well that these people want the job done asap the same day.
Got a call once on a Sat at 7pm in winter to find a gas leak 10 miles away. They had spotted the leak early in the day but only called me later!

Another was a Sunday afternoon, boiler didn't work when he came back from holiday that morning. So waited all day to call me. I told him to wait even more till Tuesday, Monday being bank holiday!

The prices for LL certs really bother me. This is where it's compulsory, so why are we driving down the price?

People are prepared to pay hundreds of pounds to solicitors and barristers, on pet insurance, pets, thousands for spanking new kitchens, but when it comes to fitting/servicing a gas appliance safely so as to keep them safe, they're prepared to cut corners. I could even feel the disgust in a guy's voice on the phone when I told him my price.

Let them dice around with gas indeed.