In article , Pecanfan
URL:mailto
Please will you trim to context?

So, when a customer phones you up, do you honestly expect them to call you
and ONLY you?

Possibly not, but that's irrelevant.

Do you not think it's *quite a good idea* to phone around for
at least 2-3 quotes, given the number of rip-off merchants and cowboys out
there?

Sadly, usenet is heavily populated with those who equate the cheapest price
with the best value for money. When I'm looking for goods or a service, I go
for recommendation or membership of a trade body. I don't phone every entry
in Yellow Pages to see who quotes cheapest.

I don't care what the job is.

Obviously, but then you have no grasp of business.

The quotation should be provided for FREE.

Why? It costs money to send an engineer out, both time and travelling
expenses. Why should we throw that money away, when there are plenty of
customers who don't mess about pitting one company against another.

Generally the time taken to quote will be proportional to the value of the
job anyway so your valuable time will be rewarded accordingly.

Only if the job is booked. Otherwise it is a waste of time and money,
neither of which you feel you are liable to refund.

To expect
customer to shell out 2-3 callout fees just to get a quote is utterly
ridiculous

No-one is suggesting that at all. A realistic estimate of the cost will be
given over the phone, so that way it costs nothing.

and the fact that the industry takes your point of view as 'the
norm' only goes to highlight the sorry state of affairs we're in.

But in general, the industry (any service organisation) doesn't want the
type of customer who wants everything cheap. They are ALWAYS trouble,
expecting champagne for beer money. I would rather they went elsewhere.

I had a phone call earlier from a woman who already rang me a couple of days
ago for a price. She is obviously trawling round everyone in the book trying
to shave off the last penny. What she doesn't want to be educated about is
the quality of the equipment to be installed. Now we could do a typical
"cheap" job, with contractor equipment etc, but then she will be back on the
phone complaining about it. Why bother, let the cowboys have the hassle,
they come and go, we have been around since 1986 and intend to be around for
a long time to come. Makes you think the business must be running correctly?

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