Call out fee valid?

folks, what do you think?

im not totally against it, but I think its a tad unfair

TLDR
I call plumber out for a blocked pipe, same plumber went out a few months ago for the same issue

we agree on a price for the use of the eel (or whatever its called)

plumber gets there, "Oh I cant use the eel, pipe has collapsed, that will be $88 call out fee"

I know its not his fault, I also think its part of the job, that this sort of stuff happens and you have to suck it up

no different to bad weather

 

If he doesn't charge the call out fee and you end up using another plumber for the job would that be fair on him?

 

I think the call out fee is fair, you asked him to come use his eel and he did that. He could have been seeing other customers with this time.

If you told him the pipe had collapsed, he could have saved you call out fee by letting you know he wouldn't be able to bring his eel. But you didn't, why? Because its not your area of expertise. It's his.

So, if the pipes collapsed, then surely he's fixed that instead, or at least quoted on it?

 

He should have
put the eel
Charged you for eel insertion
Then told you about the collapsed pipe
$$$$$

Don't worry about the $88. You'll have a larger bill on the way most likely for pipe repair

 

thats life, and thats business

so if you want a quote for a landscape job, and the quote is too high, will you pay a call out fee for attending to quote?

 

at this stage nothing has been done, as when he let me know, he had already left the site

 

Landscape gigs generally run into the thousands, so they expect to not win every job.

Imagine if you are Plumber A and Joe Blogs is Plumber B and my agency sends you out to 10 jobs, all under $200. You quote $99 and he quotes $88 and so I choose B for all of them.

What are you going to say?

You're going to say either 1) Stop sending me to jobs unless its to actually do them, and/or 2) I charge $x for quotes/callouts now, or 3) Thanks Dave, i really enjoy driving around to houses all day for free

 

I think the callout fee is justifiable... the job was specifically to go and use the eel, and nothing else.

Less justifiable if the job was more general ("fix the problem") and the eel was just one of his tools that wasn't effective.

 

I would simply say "oh I must be too expensive for the market" or "I can justify the extra cost because of my (INSERT competitive advantage)"

I either need to drop my prices, or choose a market that appreciates my competitive advantage,

I see it absolutely no different to saying, here is my call out fee for a job interview that I didnt get,
its how the free market works in my mind

look, im not just trying to be a unappreciateive and a tight twat

put it bluntly, a call out fee is encouraging tradies to give stupid overpriced quotes, if their time was valuable, they'd give their best quote without wasting the buyers time

I know not many people are going to agree with me on this one but im a big boy

 

Quite often they will waive the callout fee if you give them the job to replace to collapsed section .
Did he not give you that option ??.

 

If he did nothing how did he know the pipe had collapsed?

 

Just wondering how he determined the pipe was collapsed? Would also be very interested to hear if you are willing to share what his quote was to repair the collapsed pipe?

 

I didnt say he had to had not done any work,

but that comment has made me more likely to pay the fee now

 

end of the day if you didnt know the pipe is collapsed you do now , and you wouldnt have known by getting a plumber out so either way the cost is justified

 

You're right, this stuff happens, so you should pay the call out fee. I imagine you've got a much bigger fee coming up anyway to fix the pipe/s.

 

By the way $88 is cheap for a call out. Should start at $120

 

Would you go to work for an hour for free? And waste your time and petrol each way to get there and not expect to get paid?

 

Since you feel tradies are overpriced and you don't value their work perhaps do everything they do yourself? Just because they don't push pens doesn't mean they are stupid and their expertise and time isn't of as much value as a university qualified professional. Obviously their value is determined by the market so I feel they are charging what they are worth. Yes there are overpriced tradies, and dodgey tradies, however its the same in every industry. Look at Amaysim Energy for example-Charging double the rates of other retailers and getting away with it.

 

No. I wouldn't work for free. Unless I deemed it part of the job.

Would you charge for quotes if you are a tradie?

Do you expect job interviews to be paid if you don't get it?

 

But the plumber wasn’t attending a job interview - he was engaged to unblock the pipes and, presumably, figure out and solve any issues that couldn’t be predicted over the phone.

Has he quoted for replacing the pipes?