Charging for quotes
Discussion
I have some damproofing work needs doing, perhaps £1k worth of work. Rang three local trademen, all within 3 miles. Two quite happy to come out at a time tio suit them ( I work from home). The third wanted £25 ('refundable if we get the work') to come out.
I can understand that there is a time committment on their part but surely quoting is part and parcel of being a tradesman? As it is, the stroppy woman on the phone couldn't be bother to justify the charge and hung u on me when I wanted to know why they charged and others didn't. Great customer service. They must be rushed off their feet with work.
There was a thread similar to this a while ago!
Pesonally, I think it's a bit of a s
t thing to do, probably just to put more pressure on you to get them to do the work!
There it is!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Pesonally, I think it's a bit of a s
t thing to do, probably just to put more pressure on you to get them to do the work!There it is!
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Edited by Slagathore on Friday 17th April 19:35
Edited by Slagathore on Friday 17th April 19:35
In industry I think everybody should be charging for quotes, we are getting so many enquiries where all the perspective customer is doing is benchmarking his current supplier, if they get a better price they then go and beat their incumbent supplier down with it, Most quotes cost in excess of £1000 to do. And of course you have to quote in case it is a real enquiry.
mas99 said:
And just to open it up, do you *really* need damproofing work doing?
There is a large body of opinion which says that dpc injection is a waste of time in many cases. Indeed it can cause more problems.
Yes, it's reckoned most damp is due to bridged DPC's or leaking gutters/downpipes rather than a problem with the fabric. Get a builder in first. There is a large body of opinion which says that dpc injection is a waste of time in many cases. Indeed it can cause more problems.
Adrian W said:
In industry I think everybody should be charging for quotes, we are getting so many enquiries where all the perspective customer is doing is benchmarking his current supplier, if they get a better price they then go and beat their incumbent supplier down with it, Most quotes cost in excess of £1000 to do. And of course you have to quote in case it is a real enquiry.
The only wonder of cpitalism tho, surely?(just sent off 8 e-mails for some work on the garden!)
Adrian W said:
In industry I think everybody should be charging for quotes, we are getting so many enquiries where all the perspective customer is doing is benchmarking his current supplier, if they get a better price they then go and beat their incumbent supplier down with it, Most quotes cost in excess of £1000 to do. And of course you have to quote in case it is a real enquiry.
There are two ways you can look at that:1) People are asking us for quotes and they just use it to get their current supplier to do a pricematch... ho hum....
2) A customer is bothered enough about the price/service they get at the moment to call us without prompting, and we still can't close down the sale - lets do something about it!
If you want to fight to get business you need to offer something their current supplier does not or can not so they have no reason to go back to their old supplier with your quote.
I put in a pond a few years ago. I had several quotes, one from a landscaper who had a good look, made a pretty drawing and came back and quoted me £10k. I decided to use someone else (at considerably less than £10k) and upon informing the landscaper that he hadn't got the job he presented me with a bill for £200! My response was short and to the point. Hopefully he will have removed his invoice from where I suggested he stick it by now.
Brown and Boris said:
I have some damproofing work needs doing, perhaps £1k worth of work. Rang three local trademen, all within 3 miles. Two quite happy to come out at a time tio suit them ( I work from home). The third wanted £25 ('refundable if we get the work') to come out.
I can understand that there is a time committment on their part but surely quoting is part and parcel of being a tradesman? As it is, the stroppy woman on the phone couldn't be bother to justify the charge and hung u on me when I wanted to know why they charged and others didn't. Great customer service. They must be rushed off their feet with work.
You don't seem to have much luck getting free quotes. I notice from the previous thread that you were getting charged £50 for a parquet flooring quote. Are you doing something wrong? Perhaps it's your neck of the woodsI can understand that there is a time committment on their part but surely quoting is part and parcel of being a tradesman? As it is, the stroppy woman on the phone couldn't be bother to justify the charge and hung u on me when I wanted to know why they charged and others didn't. Great customer service. They must be rushed off their feet with work.
maser_spyder said:
What sort of damp-proofing?
Some underground tanking across 2 and a bit walls, and replastering. It has been done before (not tanking though) but was giving problems within 18 months. The damproof companty did not admit their system had failed but did re-do it was a 'gesture of goodwill'. By the time we moved in 12 or 15 years later it was showing signs of being breached again, so we knew we had work to do. Then the 2007 floods came and the damp company walked away from the gurantee (which really a fool would have issued given it was below ground and hadn't been tanked).This current damp is artially due to the floods in 2007, but it has taken this long to do the final room as we have had to move around the house as work has been done. It is an old stone coarse rumbled house and DPC just doesn't work, especially in the bit below ground, although we found that they had tried injecting the stone every 8 inches is a sort of matric pattern over the wall then laying polythene over it before puting up battens, boarding and skilling. It had worked quite well for 20 years until the battens got wet at the bottom in the floods, warped and split the joints between the boards.
I think the bigger companies and those who have to travel (like parquet flooring man) are less willing to opo out knowing they ae one of a number of quotes.
Edited by Brown and Boris on Monday 20th April 07:50
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