Question for installers

[memory]

Just curious on how many guys catch grief over custom labor?? I goto so many houses that when I get there the customer is like I want this in the wall here and here and here and so on and when I explain of custom labor charges its like I just kicked there dog or something!! The rates we have arent really that bad compared to a electrician, I mean 41 bucks for a wall fish and so on thats really cheap in my mind when electricians get up around 80 bucks or so!! Then I get the deal to where they say I have been with directv for 10 years and so on and I mean there are alot of people who have been wiht them for many years but that doesnt make a difference on what I get paid!!

Soo I was just wondering

 

[iwc5893]

I catch grief every time (of course, our custom labor is $75/hr). I had one customer call me a liar, even after I showed her on the work order where our custom labor rates are listed, and where what she was asking me to do (wall fish) was listed.

 

[grydlok]

Just curious on how many guys catch grief over custom labor?? I goto so many houses that when I get there the customer is like I want this in the wall here and here and here and so on and when I explain of custom labor charges its like I just kicked there dog or something!! The rates we have arent really that bad compared to a electrician, I mean 41 bucks for a wall fish and so on thats really cheap in my mind when electricians get up around 80 bucks or so!! Then I get the deal to where they say I have been with directv for 10 years and so on and I mean there are alot of people who have been wiht them for many years but that doesnt make a difference on what I get paid!!

Soo I was just wondering

I don't catch grief anymore. Pay it or find somebody else. Call D* they going to tell you to pay it.

 

[Teronzhul]

Yeah, I have upset customers. Our custom work rates are even lower than yours, but it doesn't matter the exact costs since it still isn't "free." If it is a job I don't feel like doing or the customer is particularly ugly I just tell them to reschedule with an HSP tech and that they may not get charged.

 

[shmeff]

Yeah, I have upset customers. Our custom work rates are even lower than yours, but it doesn't matter the exact costs since it still isn't "free." If it is a job I don't feel like doing or the customer is particularly ugly I just tell them to reschedule with an HSP tech and that they may not get charged.

hsp tech here... thats just great. i can hear it now "the last guy said it would be free"

 

[shmeff]

teronzhol grow some nuts and tell the cust. how it is instead of passing the buck!

 

[Joe Diamond]

Try calling a recent installation cx and asking him to come help you wash your truck for free. OR Get a copy of what is in the basic installation and read it to them. You will be the first to give this knowledge. Go slow. Prepare to drive away but try to be fair.

First day, huh?

Joe

 

[grydlok]

teronzhol grow some nuts and tell the cust. how it is instead of passing the buck!

I hate that sh@ too. Still not free.

 

[Teronzhul]

Sigh, the local HSP doesn't have POV techs, only COV techs and they are all hourly. They are not allowed to charge for custom work. I know this first hand. I was one of them briefly, and I know guys still working for them. I'm not just shoving it off on someone else who is going to charge the customer as well. Note, I did not say in my previous post that "it would be free," I said that they "may not get charged." I learned long ago not to deal in absolutes in this business. "May" is the key word and I stress it hard. There is a big difference between will not and may not. Hell, there is a good chance due to the disorganization of the system that the customer will just get another sub.

This is an accepted practice, and often times I've called to explicitly cancel a job due to custom work disputes and they've immediately offered to send someone else out to do it all for free. I stopped telling them to cancel when they started this practice. If you don't like it, then send your complaints up the HSP ladder. They've pretty much stopped letting me cancel jobs due to custom charge disputes.

Try not to twist my words into absurd absolutes. Thanks.

 

[shmeff]

Sigh, the local HSP doesn't have POV techs, only COV techs and they are all hourly. They are not allowed to charge for custom work. I know this first hand. I was one of them briefly, and I know guys still working for them. I'm not just shoving it off on someone else who is going to charge the customer as well. Note, I did not say in my previous post that "it would be free," I said that they "may not get charged." I learned long ago not to deal in absolutes in this business. "May" is the key word and I stress it hard. There is a big difference between will not and may not. Hell, there is a good chance due to the disorganization of the system that the customer will just get another sub.

This is an accepted practice, and often times I've called to explicitly cancel a job due to custom work disputes and they've immediately offered to send someone else out to do it all for free. I stopped telling them to cancel when they started this practice. If you don't like it, then send your complaints up the HSP ladder. They've pretty much stopped letting me cancel jobs due to custom charge disputes.

Try not to twist my words into absurd absolutes. Thanks.

Well then, I suppose if you’re following the protocol for your area I was a bit harsh. It just seemed to me that you were bragging about being a slacker in your OP

 

[iwc5893]

And not all HSP's operate that way. I work for an HSP in a COV and am paid piece rate, not hourly.

 

[memory]

Sigh, the local HSP doesn't have POV techs, only COV techs and they are all hourly. They are not allowed to charge for custom work. I know this first hand. I was one of them briefly, and I know guys still working for them. I'm not just shoving it off on someone else who is going to charge the customer as well. Note, I did not say in my previous post that "it would be free," I said that they "may not get charged." I learned long ago not to deal in absolutes in this business. "May" is the key word and I stress it hard. There is a big difference between will not and may not. Hell, there is a good chance due to the disorganization of the system that the customer will just get another sub.

This is an accepted practice, and often times I've called to explicitly cancel a job due to custom work disputes and they've immediately offered to send someone else out to do it all for free. I stopped telling them to cancel when they started this practice. If you don't like it, then send your complaints up the HSP ladder. They've pretty much stopped letting me cancel jobs due to custom charge disputes.

Try not to twist my words into absurd absolutes. Thanks.

I work for a HSP and i am a POV i will never ever take a company vehicle

 

[shmeff]

I work for a HSP and i am a POV i will never ever take a company vehicle

aah..the hit-the-bar-on-the-way-home option.

 

[hillbillydeluxe]

I tell them what it is going to cost, their jaws hit the floor, then i tell them that atleast their phone lines that i just installed were free, and then they cop an attitude and tell me that I had to install that because it's part of the basic install, and i tell them yes the "BASIC" install, however you call your phone company and tell them you want a phone jack installed here where the box is and they'll send you a bill for about $100 FOR ONE JACK! i just did 4 that you can put a splitter on and enjoy using the home phone out of it! so don't gripe at me about $50 for a little wall fish!! after that they either pay up or my van backs out the driveway...

straight to the point, polite, honest, and calm, they will respect you for that weather they tell you to step or not, it will get you further in the long run.

 

[Zynergi]

I don't usually have any problems with getting the customer to not be upset about custom charges. I do try and give them an informed choice, and explain the details as clear as possible. I explain to them that I am not personally taking any money from them, that my HSP will be processing the charges. (which helps with thinking "Oh he is trying to make an extra buck on this or that") I also keep actual quotes from Electricians, the cable company and phone company as to what they charge for similar work, so they can see its considerably cheaper, and make a decision if they want me to do it or someone else in another trade.

I always offer my Cell phone number for future questions and other non-billing type of issues. Its really about the presentation. I had a guy once with 3 HR20's, and 4 D10's have no problem paying me $55 for a fish for each line, and I was the 3rd tech to quote him the same price, because of the approach I used to explain to him why it wasnt covered in "Basic" install. The fishing didn't take much time at all, and after everything was said and done, agreed to, when I called in charges, I didn't charge the $110ea for the DVR lines, since he didnt have any firebreaks where they were going to be placed. After everything was said and done I saved him $165 over the $550 originally agreed to. While closing out with him our conversation lead to him to saying that eventually he wanted to put a LCD in his detached Workshop/Garage, and found that the electrician left an open/unused 3/4" conduit from the meterbox to the garage, so I offered to fish him a future line for free before I left, took all of 10 minutes to do. Long story short, I ended up getting a $100 tip and some coupons for free oil changes at his business, and he personally met with the president of my HSP to commend me, which I ended up getting further bonuses for. All this and I did nothing more or less than I do for anyone else.

Boils down to being confident, professional, educated and courteous to every customer whether they live in a $40,000 home or a $5,000,000 home.

 

[JNEUBY]

I have to agree with Jef C. It is the way you present yourself. I deal with public all day long. If you do the site evauluation and then sit with the customer and explain all that needs to be done and give any options if available then break down the costs involved. Quote the price and stop talking. Let the customer think and ask the first question. Then you can answer their questions. At this point do not blame someone else for the fees. Do not try to justify the fees after you presented the quote. (This makes it look like your not sure of yourself and the customer picks up on this and starts down the reluctance path and pushes you into the corner.) If you show up with an attitude or rushed to get out of there, don't be surprised with the customers response. I understand you are there to install not negotiate and sell the job. Unfortunatly that should all have been done before the install was set up. Maybe I'm out of sorts here but if I'm having a rough day, the customers pick this up right away and react just as I am. As what I think Jef was trying to inply is your wearing two hats when you walk into a customers home, The installer and the salesman. You need to be good at both.

 

[Joe Diamond]

Yeah,

I might have missed something too. If you are paid by the hour just do it. But having said that, I have another contract for phone repair that has always paid every penny on time. If they authorize a custom extra I know I will be paid. But you gotta ask. Sometimes they amend the customer request to something everybody can live with.

I don't like the expectation that everything is free either.

Joe

 

[Joe Diamond]

Free phone lines

I tell them what it is going to cost, their jaws hit the floor, then i tell them that atleast their phone lines that i just installed were free, and then they cop an attitude and tell me that I had to install that because it's part of the basic install, and i tell them yes the "BASIC" install, however you call your phone company and tell them you want a phone jack installed here where the box is and they'll send you a bill for about $100 FOR ONE JACK! i just did 4 that you can put a splitter on and enjoy using the home phone out of it! so don't gripe at me about $50 for a little wall fish!! after that they either pay up or my van backs out the driveway...

straight to the point, polite, honest, and calm, they will respect you for that weather they tell you to step or not, it will get you further in the long run.

Hillbilly,

Do us all a large one. Charge for the phone lines. The basic installations calls for connecting the receivers to phone jacks that can be reached with the free 25 ft phone cord supplied with the IRD. Give them a splitter if you must. Install the IRD near the phone line..

Know that when they unplug the phone line after you leave you will still get a charge back from the HSP anyhow. Unless you can identify each phone number in the NID you will end up running free phones to other apartments or computer dedicated phone numbers. When the whole house looses phone service because of a short you caused you will understand.

Joe

 

[shmeff]

Hillbilly,

Do us all a large one. Charge for the phone lines. The basic installations calls for connecting the receivers to phone jacks that can be reached with the free 25 ft phone cord supplied with the IRD. Give them a splitter if you must. Install the IRD near the phone line..

Know that when they unplug the phone line after you leave you will still get a charge back from the HSP anyhow. Unless you can identify each phone number in the NID you will end up running free phones to other apartments or computer dedicated phone numbers. When the whole house looses phone service because of a short you caused you will understand.

Joe

my hsp is on a "phone lines are not optional, they are mandatory” kick. they have also strongly hinted that if there is no phone jack to just go ahead and run one and tell the sub they must have it.

 

[Joe Diamond]

You would think they had learned after the Florida story; "DTV techs forced to lie about phone lines."

Joe