pawirenut

I had to go and check out a washer receptacle not working. I checked the voltage at the recep and read 90v h to n so i then took the panel cover off to check loose neutrals.

Turned out to be a loose neutral so bad that the screw turned 5 times. I'm suprised the recep worked at all. Rechecked voltage at recep and got 122v.

So anyway took me about 45 mins and i said that will be $135. He grumped and groaned and asked cash or check. I said all new customers are cash under a certain amount. So he pretty much threw the money at me He complained that i only fixed one simple wire in the panel.

Easy money for me but i'm sure i'll never hear from him again and who cares.

I'm not racist or anything but the guy was Indian and every Indian that i did work for crys about the price. I never have as much trouble with anyone else as I do with Indian people with prices why is that?

mcclary's electrical

I can't say the same, I have quite a few good indian customers. The majority are very tight, but not all. I just did an ethiopian restaurant for one and lots of work at his house.

sparky105

i wonder if he might have been happier if you tightened every screw in the pnl. You would have been there another 15 minutes but he would have thought he got more for his money just my opinion

pawirenut

I checked and tightened them all. He was holding the flashlight while i was working in the panel.

ceb58

It is part of their culture. It is ingrained into them to complain,argue and beat each other down on price. Then they come here and do it the same way. Where we are use to paying what is ask for most things with out question.
I have found that when dealing with them you can get what you want and make them happy at the same time. In your case you should have told him the charge was $175.00 but since he was a new customer and if he could pay cash you could cut him some slack and do it for $135.00. Chances are he would have been happy

pawirenut

Yeah you have good luck then. I'm not saying all Indians are that way just the ones i have worked with so far.

Elec-Tech

I am with you on that...my work is not free. Pay me for my skills and let me get on my way.

electricmanscott

Yes you are. Just because you say I'm not [whatever] doesn't give you a free pass to proceed with being what you said you are not. Of course you are free to feel however you want.

Anyway, I bet the guy has not trouble dropping hundreds of dollars on an iphone or having his car diagnosed (not even repaired) for at least a hundred bucks.

The reality is people have zero respect for tradespeople. And for that I say **** them early, often, and hard and with no regret.

pawirenut

$135 to come out on a Saturday and a half hour away is definitley a good price. If he had called a bigger company not a 1 man it would have been double.

480sparky

My response would be, "And it's taken me 18 years to learn how to quickly and accurately find that one loose screw."

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In winter, why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

pawirenut

I don't know all about 18 years but i know what your sayin

BobBob

When I'm in and out like that and they start to complain.

I tell them this

It was $10 to turn the screw. It was $125 to know which screw to turn.

Dnkldorf

pawirenut, welcome to your market.

Don't think that will be last time that happens.

BTW, it has nothing to do with ones nationality. White crack heads, and even well to do rich people are the same way.

Edrick

I've started to change my tune after doing stuff for people on the cheap for thoughts of wanting future work or because I felt bad for their situation. Now it's all about doing the job right and getting paid the $$$ behind it. I paid $110,000 for my college education and invested god knows how much in tools that I use for the low volt / media work I install.

So they sit there and say you're a godsend cause you know what all those little wires go to and that they'd never be able to figure it out. That my friend is why you're paying me the price in the end. Because simply put you could not do it your self and I paid the cost (personal time and money wise) to do this.

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ES Productions - Entertainment Solutions
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lefleuron

My doctor told me anyone could remove an appendix, he could teach me to do it in about 15 minutes. It took him eight hard years of school to know what to do if things went wrong.

He charges people for the "knowing", not the doing.

This is the same thing in my mind as that service call.

InPhase277

It's not a race issue, it is a country-of-origin issue. All the Indians I have dealt with are so damned tight, I'm surprised they have anything at all. You know that they don't haggle the clerk when they buy a Coke. They don't haggle their cell provider when they get a phone. But when YOU go fix something, they need it for a little less. My dad worked for alot of Indian folks and told me that if I wanted to get my price out of them, I'd have to double it, so they could knock it down and feel better.

It works.

sfeyelectric

I think it is in a lot of the water in Pa. I am a one man shop, they complain about price, i tell them call one of the bigger shops next time and see how you like their prices! They for some reason always call back the next time.

jwjrw

Well then I see why he was mad. You didn't even offer him a discount for playing helper and holding the light.

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The more I learn the less I seem to know......

sparky105

They complain even if they aren't the ones paying the bill to. I do a lot of work for a big oil company and the guys that sign my work orders complain all the time about the material costs and the labor rates such is our exsistance

480sparky

Then start bitching about the price of gas!

__________________
In winter, why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?