Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that cost?
TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about right, but
I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must be able
to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous! That's £37.50 per hour! I don't earn
anything like that per hour!
TMH; Neither do I sir, I have overheads. But that's very competitive
compared to the national flat pack assembly companies.
Bloke; You can't possibly charge that much per hour! You will never get any
work at those prices!
TMH; Its quite competitive sir, otherwise I wouldn't be booked two weeks
ahead.
Bloke; But the wardrobe only cost me £99.99.
TMH; Things are cheap these days, labour is expensive.
Bloke; I'll have to think about it.

TMH; ............... Opens bottle of wine..................Retreats to
darkened room.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

In message , The Medway
Handyman writes
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that cost?
TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
TMH; Its quite competitive sir, otherwise I wouldn't be booked two weeks
ahead.
Bloke; But the wardrobe only cost me £99.99.
TMH; Things are cheap these days, labour is expensive.
Bloke; I'll have to think about it.


you should have pointed him here

http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/pop/bobajob.htm

--
geoff

"The Medway Handyman" wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that cost?
TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about right,
but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must be
able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous! That's £37.50 per hour! I don't
earn anything like that per hour!
TMH; Neither do I sir, I have overheads. But that's very competitive
compared to the national flat pack assembly companies.
Bloke; You can't possibly charge that much per hour! You will never get
any work at those prices!
TMH; Its quite competitive sir, otherwise I wouldn't be booked two weeks
ahead.
Bloke; But the wardrobe only cost me £99.99.
TMH; Things are cheap these days, labour is expensive.
Bloke; I'll have to think about it.

TMH; ............... Opens bottle of wine..................Retreats to
darkened room.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

Perhaps he should try the B & Q Handyman service

1 hour - £60
2 hours - £95
4 hours - £170
8 hours - £280

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 06:14:22 -0000, DIY wrote:
"The Medway Handyman" wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

...

Bloke; How much? That's outrageous! That's £37.50 per hour! I don't
earn anything like that per hour!
TMH; Neither do I sir, I have overheads. But that's very competitive
compared to the national flat pack assembly companies.

...

Perhaps he should try the B & Q Handyman service

1 hour - £60
2 hours - £95
4 hours - £170
8 hours - £280

Looking at the B&Q prices, the difference between the cost for 1 hour
and 2 hours is £35. For more hours the rate goes down even mo the
3 hours difference from 1 to 4 costs £90 (i.e. £30 p.h. ) )

--
.................................................. .........................
.. never trust a man who, when left alone ...... Pete Lynch .
.. in a room with a tea cosy ...... Marlow, England .
.. doesn't try it on (Billy Connolly) .....................................

On the whole, he's probably a customer you can do without. He's
unlikely to ever turn into a happy chappy that says "You've done a
great job, here's your cash".

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 GMT
"The Medway Handyman" wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
snip
Bloke; I'll have to think about it.

TMH; ............... Opens bottle of wine..................Retreats to
darkened room.



Poor Bloke, he's just woken up and realised why we do DIY in the 21st
Century. He could have asked one of those slave-labour asians if
they wanted a foreign holiday :-)

R.

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes trying
to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he only
needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP printer, for
which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and didn't want to pay for
the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made for an HP cartridge might
not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He felt that £12 was far too much
to pay to get the bit he wanted and seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him
the bits from the kit for the difference between the retail price of the
full kit and that of the replacement inks, which would have just about
covered what I pay for the product and the cost to me of packing and posting
it.

Colin Bignell
www.inktecshop.co.uk

nightjar cpb@ wrote:
I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes trying
to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he only

Colin Bignell
www.inktecshop.co.uk

You seem to be a guy with a finger in many pies?! ;-)

David

In article , Lobster
writes
nightjar cpb@ wrote:
I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes trying
to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he only

Colin Bignell
www.inktecshop.co.uk

You seem to be a guy with a finger in many pies?! ;-)

Are you saying he's fat :-?
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla

"fred" wrote in message ...
In article , Lobster
writes
nightjar cpb@ wrote:
I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying
to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he only

Colin Bignell
www.inktecshop.co.uk

You seem to be a guy with a finger in many pies?! ;-)

Are you saying he's fat :-?

I prefer the phrase large boned.

Colin Bignell

"Lobster" wrote in message
...
nightjar cpb@ wrote:
I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he
only Colin Bignell
www.inktecshop.co.uk

You seem to be a guy with a finger in many pies?! ;-)

David

I am not in favour of having all my eggs in one basket. However, since I
gave up making medical devices, there are only two - printer supplies and
specialist plumbing and heating supplies.

Colin Bignell

On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:22:52 +0000, "nightjar" cpb@ wrote:

I am not in favour of having all my eggs in one basket. However, since I
gave up making medical devices, there are only two - printer supplies
and specialist plumbing and heating supplies.

So what are the specialist P&H stuff? (Cue URI:... :-))


--
John Stumbles

Time flies like an arrow
Fruit flies like a banana
Tits like coconuts

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
news
On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 12:22:52 +0000, "nightjar" cpb@ wrote:

I am not in favour of having all my eggs in one basket. However, since I
gave up making medical devices, there are only two - printer supplies
and specialist plumbing and heating supplies.

So what are the specialist P&H stuff? (Cue URI:... :-))

Low surface temperature radiator covers for hospitals and care homes and
insect screens for air inlets and overflows on water storage cisterns. In
the domestic sizes, the latter are known as water byelaw kits, but our
screens are for commercial systems and stock sizes cover overflow pipes up
to 4" diameter;6" and 8" overflows are not unknown and we have been asked to
supply screens for overflows up to 600mm diameter. Being known by people
like NHS Estates Departments, HM Prisons Service and Local Authority
Education Departments is more important than having a web site, but we
inherited a rather poor one from the previous owner at
www.norscreenfilters.co.uk that shows the radiator covers. If I can ever get
Norman to reply to the emails that Nominet keep sending him, when I have
told them they need to write to him, I might even get control of the domain
and be able to put up a decent one.

Colin Bignell

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes trying
to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because he only
needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP printer, for
which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and didn't want to pay for
the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made for an HP cartridge might
not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He felt that £12 was far too much
to pay to get the bit he wanted and seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him
the bits from the kit for the difference between the retail price of the
full kit and that of the replacement inks, which would have just about
covered what I pay for the product and the cost to me of packing and posting
it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

--
geoff

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

In message , Ed Sirett
writes
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?

There certainly is, as people find out when they can't get the impeller
off and then distort it so badly it can't be balanced again

.... then they ask me for an exchange one

No, on a Solo 2 they are ball races, and you really need high speed
quiet bearings which can take the heat as well. Cheap bearings which are
suitable for e.g. a photocopier don't fare so well in such an
environment

I buy phosphor-bronze bearings already impregnated, and leave them in an
oil bath until required




--
geoff

geoff wrote:
In message , Ed Sirett
writes
On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 19:58:25 +0000, geoff wrote:

In message , nightjar
writes

I had a customer on the phone yesterday, who spent a good ten minutes
trying to persuade me to break up an ink cartridge refill kit, because
he only needed the clip that held the cartridge. He had replaced his HP
printer, for which he had bought bulk ink, with a Dell printer and
didn't want to pay for the ink, even after I pointed out that ink made
for an HP cartridge might not be suitable for a Lexmark cartridge. He
felt that £12 was far too much to pay to get the bit he wanted and
seemed amazed that I couldn't sell him the bits from the kit for the
difference between the retail price of the full kit and that of the
replacement inks, which would have just about covered what I pay for
the
product and the cost to me of packing and posting it.

I had a customer a couple of weeks ago who got all ****ty when I
wouldn't sell him the bearings ("sorry, we sell fans, not bearings") for
his baxi fan. He's now going to measure them and compete with me by
measuring the bearings and selling them as repair kits on ebay

I suspect that there is rather more to repairing a fan than fitting new
bearings. Aren't the bearings sintered bronze and need soaking in oil and
other inconvenient tricks?

There certainly is, as people find out when they can't get the impeller
off and then distort it so badly it can't be balanced again

... then they ask me for an exchange one

No, on a Solo 2 they are ball races, and you really need high speed
quiet bearings which can take the heat as well. Cheap bearings which are
suitable for e.g. a photocopier don't fare so well in such an environment

I buy phosphor-bronze bearings already impregnated, and leave them in an
oil bath until required




So sell some to that ****ty customer and he can put them on EBay.

On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you will
never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you were booked
solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.

--
John Stumbles

Ohnosecond
Instant in time when you realise that you've just made a BIG mistake.

John Stumbles wrote:

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.

A friend of mine went to quote on a minor roofing job...

Custard: How much will it cost?
Friend: £150
Custard: How about £110
Friend: £160
Custard: ok £120
Friend: £180
Custard: No mate you don't understand, you are supposed to be coming
down in price!
Friend: No, *you* don't understand, I have told you the price, your the
one who wants to mess about.
Custard: Oh, ok then you can have £150
Friend: But the price is £180 now
Custard: But the price was only £150 a minute ago!
Friend: You are the one who wanted to haggle...


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

John Rumm wrote:
John Stumbles wrote:

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job
might
take or tries to haggle on a price.

A friend of mine went to quote on a minor roofing job...

Custard: How much will it cost?
Friend: £150
Custard: How about £110
Friend: £160
Custard: ok £120
Friend: £180
Custard: No mate you don't understand, you are supposed to be coming
down in price!
Friend: No, *you* don't understand, I have told you the price, your the
one who wants to mess about.
Custard: Oh, ok then you can have £150
Friend: But the price is £180 now
Custard: But the price was only £150 a minute ago!
Friend: You are the one who wanted to haggle...



So he didn't get the job. Very smart.

On Fri, 30 Nov 2007 15:29:39 +0000, Stuart Noble wrote:

So he didn't get the job. Very smart.

I assume you said that sarcastically but it probably was very smart: that
sort of customer is more trouble than the job's worth.


--
John Stumbles

Procrastinate now!

On 30 Nov, 15:29, Stuart Noble
wrote:

So he didn't get the job. Very smart.

That's rather the point. It's winter, any half-competent roofer
already has more work than there are literally hours in the day
(daylight hours at least). The last thing he needs is to find himself
working for someone like this.

Andy Dingley wrote:
On 30 Nov, 15:29, Stuart Noble
wrote:

So he didn't get the job. Very smart.

That's rather the point. It's winter, any half-competent roofer
already has more work than there are literally hours in the day
(daylight hours at least). The last thing he needs is to find himself
working for someone like this.

Then you just tell the customer the price is not negotiable. No need to
go into a smart arse comedy routine.

On 2007-11-30 14:52:59 +0000, John Rumm said:

John Stumbles wrote:

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.

A friend of mine went to quote on a minor roofing job...

Custard: How much will it cost?
Friend: £150
Custard: How about £110
Friend: £160
Custard: ok £120
Friend: £180
Custard: No mate you don't understand, you are supposed to be coming
down in price!
Friend: No, *you* don't understand, I have told you the price, your the
one who wants to mess about.
Custard: Oh, ok then you can have £150
Friend: But the price is £180 now
Custard: But the price was only £150 a minute ago!
Friend: You are the one who wanted to haggle...

All of which demonstrates very well the principle of never selling on price.

In message , John Rumm
writes
John Stumbles wrote:

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.

A friend of mine went to quote on a minor roofing job...

Custard: How much will it cost?
Friend: £150
Custard: How about £110
Friend: £160
Custard: ok £120
Friend: £180
Custard: No mate you don't understand, you are supposed to be coming
down in price!
Friend: No, *you* don't understand, I have told you the price, your the
one who wants to mess about.
Custard: Oh, ok then you can have £150
Friend: But the price is £180 now
Custard: But the price was only £150 a minute ago!
Friend: You are the one who wanted to haggle...


Yes, I do that occasionally

--
geoff

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you will
never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you were booked
solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me after
you have swapped it?

The mind boggles.

Adam

In article ,
ARWadsworth writes

"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you will
never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you were booked
solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job might
take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me after
you have swapped it?

"About £1.35/kg"
--
fred
Plusnet - I hope you like vanilla

ARWadsworth wrote:
"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you
will never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you
were booked solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job
might take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me
after you have swapped it?

Well, that'd depend on the specific model & performance spec of the Female
Customer, presumably

ARWadsworth wrote:
"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you
will never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you
were booked solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job
might take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me
after you have swapped it?

The mind boggles.

Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the 'Confessions of
a Handyman' film.

Mind you, I have given up sex for religious reasons - God made me ugly.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

On 2007-11-30 22:17:22 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the 'Confessions of
a Handyman' film.

Mind you, I have given up sex for religious reasons - God made me ugly.

Maybe you should take up doing DIY shows on the TV - being ugly is a
pre-requisite for that.

Production costs could be saved as well - some sleight of hand and
here's one I made earlier.....

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-11-30 22:17:22 +0000, "The Medway Handyman"
said:

Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the
'Confessions of a Handyman' film.

Mind you, I have given up sex for religious reasons - God made me
ugly.

Maybe you should take up doing DIY shows on the TV - being ugly is a
pre-requisite for that.

Production costs could be saved as well - some sleight of hand and
here's one I made earlier.....

I'd love to! Wanna be my manager?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:
ARWadsworth wrote:

snip

Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me
after you have swapped it?

The mind boggles.


Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the 'Confessions of
a Handyman' film.

Mind you, I have given up sex for religious reasons - God made me ugly.


Did not seem to stop the last Deputy PM.

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
k...
ARWadsworth wrote:
"John Stumbles" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:41:27 +0000, The Medway Handyman wrote:

Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;
---8---
TMH Retreats to darkened room.

You couldn't make it up, could you?! I particularly liked the "you
will never get any work at those prices" AFTER you'd told him you
were booked solid for weeks ahead.

I get alarm bells ringing whenever a punter opines on how long a job
might take or tries to haggle on a price.


Female Customer: How much to change an electric shower?
Me: Approx £85 if you supply the shower
Female Customer: And how much if I let you get in the shower with me
after you have swapped it?

The mind boggles.

Alas, in 18 months I've never come across anything like the 'Confessions
of a Handyman' film.


You must be doing something wrong then.


Adam

The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that
cost? TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about
right, but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must
be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous!

Hang up here - no point in wasting time on skinflints who are going to argue
the toss.

Steve Walker wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that
cost? TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about
right, but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must
be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous!

Hang up here - no point in wasting time on skinflints who are going to argue
the toss.



We all argue the toss, it's part of our hard nosed commercial culture.
It's called shopping around. If builders think they're immune, they're
kidding themselves. Let's see what happens next year when the money
supply dries up further.

On 1 Dec, 08:38, Stuart Noble wrote:
Steve Walker wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that
cost? TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about
right, but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must
be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous!

Hang up here - no point in wasting time on skinflints who are going to argue
the toss.

We all argue the toss, it's part of our hard nosed commercial culture.
It's called shopping around. If builders think they're immune, they're
kidding themselves. Let's see what happens next year when the money
supply dries up further.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


The idiot builder who took two of our decorative lamps and used them
as lead lights and covered them in plaster and seemed genuinely
perplexed as to why I was annoyed just before a huge influx of
cheaper polish builders came to our area may have ended up wishing
that he had looked after his existing customers a little better.

HTH Phil

On 2007-12-01 08:38:46 +0000, Stuart Noble
said:

Steve Walker wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
Had a call from a bloke tonight, conversation went as follows;

Bloke; I need a flatpack wardrobe assembled. How much would that
cost? TMH; Is it two or three door & does it have any drawers?
Bloke; Two doors with three drawers.
TMH; That would take around one & a half to two hours.
Bloke; No, it wouldn't take anything like that long.
TMH; I assemble lots of flat pack, in my experience that's about
right, but I only charge for the time taken.
Bloke; OK, could you come tomorrow morning?
TMH; Sorry, I couldn't do it until the second week in December.
Bloke; But its blocking up the hall & I need the wardrobe. You must
be able to do it quicker than that.
TMH; Sorry, I'm fully booked until then.
Bloke; Well, how much would two hours be?
TMH; £75 including the travel time.
Bloke; How much? That's outrageous!

Hang up here - no point in wasting time on skinflints who are going to
argue the toss.


We all argue the toss, it's part of our hard nosed commercial culture.

You're kidding. British people who have not traveled much beyond our
shores or Beni generally have little concept of negotiation. Most
will pay the asking price in a shop for example.

Travel the relatively short distance to Holland and the culture is
quite different. There is considerable sensitivity not only to price
but also to discount - hence often high starting prices with plenty of
room to come down. The game is not so much about the price paid but
the extent to which the customer feels he beat down the supplier.
The term Dutch auction is well applied.

Go further afield to parts of the middle east and it's far more so.
Even after the price is agreed, the customer may well continue to ask
for more things or a lower price, so saying no and being prepared to
walk away is certainly necessary.


It's called shopping around.

That's not shopping around. Shopping around is simply following the
prices bid by the suppliers. It has nothing to do with being hard
nosed. Picking the lowst price is really easy


If builders think they're immune, they're kidding themselves. Let's
see what happens next year when the money supply dries up further.

This is simply market dynamics at work - supply/demand

"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:47513032@qaanaaq...
On 2007-12-01 08:38:46 +0000, Stuart Noble
said:


Go further afield to parts of the middle east and it's far more so.
Even after the price is agreed, the customer may well continue to ask
for more things or a lower price, so saying no and being prepared to
walk away is certainly necessary.


They have gypsies in the middle east?

Adam

On 2007-12-01 12:08:26 +0000, "ARWadsworth"
said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message news:47513032@qaanaaq...
On 2007-12-01 08:38:46 +0000, Stuart Noble
said:


Go further afield to parts of the middle east and it's far more so.
Even after the price is agreed, the customer may well continue to ask
for more things or a lower price, so saying no and being prepared to
walk away is certainly necessary.


They have gypsies in the middle east?

Adam

Definitely

In article k ARWadsworth
wrote:

They have gypsies in the middle east?

Didn't they originate from Egypt?

--
Mike Clarke