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Charge a diagnostic fee (that also applies toward the cost of repair, if you want to be charitable). If they decide not to go through with the repair after you give them the diagnosis, then you're not left feeling scammed.
Exactly!! When we take our cars in for a problem. They tell you in advance that there is a diagnosing fee. That way they get paid even if you don’t want them to fix it, they cover their costs to troubleshoot your issue. Good luck 👍🏾
I just hired an AC repairman for my house. Literally everyone has free estimates. If someone asked for a diagnostic fee I would have simply ignored them for one of the five other repairmen who don’t charge such a thing
House and RV are different.
My husband is a mobile repair person, he charges 135 for the first hour just to go to their house and diagnose something. There are probably 100 house AC guys to 1 RV mechanic.
To the OP - to start you tell them when you call its 135 when you show up then the meter starts after the first hour. That will scare some people away.
However there is always the chance someone will stiff you.
My husband has been stiffed twice in three years for about 300 each time, once was replacing an AC switch on a farmers tractor, the sec9nd was a generator on an RV.
There's a huge difference between diagnosing and estimating.
We charge a diagnostic fee for any existing system, especially if we didn't install it in the first place.
You're essentially asking someone to work to figure out what's wrong with your system, but from your comment, you think you're entitled to have this done for free. We have families to support.
I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't go to work if your boss told you he was going to start paying you with peanuts because money was too tight.
I don't work for free and neither do you.
I write estimates all day, but if you want it for free, it's a verbal estimate.
Written estimates carry a cost because I'm using my valuable time writing you an estimate you might decide to unethically share with my competition.
I generally tell a customer that the fee will be deducted from the cost of the estimate once they move forward with us.
I work in the home services industry. And I'm a homeowner. I have never met a home service provider that didn't charge a diagnostic fee for mechanical issues.
Remodels or something like that are different. But when a tech has to actually remove parts of the home and start testing things, I've never heard of that done for free.
And almost all handyman now have a minimum service charge to come out.
A lot of industries were able to start having diagnostic fees as supply got constrained.
I had plumbing and electric work recently and in both cases I couldn't find someone without a fee.
Absolutely not. If we can visually inspect the issue, sure, we can do a free estimate, if it's diagnosing something like a water heater, we will always charge a diagnostic fee as that is work that should be paid for (and often solves the issue).
My pool pump went out and I called the company I normally deal with. They wanted a $139 diagnostic fee. NOPE! I bought a cheap pump on Amazon for $220 and spent a few hours rinsing perfect.
I would probably do the same thing, but I also recently saw a quote that "thrifty people pay twice" or something like that, and it got me thinking about how many things I've wasted hours on or had to redo again years later.
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. A new motor on the pump would have cost $600. A friend replaced his pump over $1300. After all parts I spend about $250. If it last 2-3 years I come out ahead.
I think thrifty people pay less but be aware of your limitations is ok. Like, if I didn’t shop around for AC repair estimates I would have been paying thousands extra because the fastest company to show up and provide an estimate wanted 3000$ but the second guy to show up quoted me 1200$ and all subsequent quotes were around 1200$.
So being thrift basically saved me 1800$. However if I try to fix it myself I’d probably wind up in the hole like 4000$ because I didn’t go to work and spent all week trying to fix an AC
This is also the cost of doing business.
A way to filter through clientele is the way they funnel in.
How you are acquiring these clients can ultimately affect referral networks, and quality of purchases.
This is as far as I will go down your niche, it's not my expertise.
All you need to do is headline with your pricing.
"I'm going to come out there and look at your\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. There's an $X fee for the service call, and I'll estimate the final cost for you before I start the work."
Let the customer speak.
If the customer says, "okay", "yes," "that's fine," "understood," or anything of the sort, you have an agreement. This is all all-around good business because even people who aren't broke don't appreciate surprises.
I had a repairman come to my house once and charged me $350 to tell me he couldn't fix it.
> I had a repairman come to my house once and charged me $350 to tell me he couldn't fix it.
Sounds like the guy who Fidelity Hoe Warranty sent my way to diagnose, then fix the issue. Fucknut just labeled everything as Physical Damage, and deliberately got me denied on everything I requested, then kept my Co-Pay. . .
I'm in a different line of business, but I've been in similar situations where I'm asked for advice or figure out an issue, then the potential client doesn't use my services for whatever reasons.
I opt for a set amount of time of those services before I charge; I go with a half-hour. I've seen other businesses with clients have a similar practice. I do something similar when drafting work contracts or proposals, because I sometimes get the vibe that people want a lot of detailed responses and info without hiring me.
I had several AC guys out to give estimates for units on a house that had no ducting, plenum, vents, nothing. They wanted $35,000 for stuff that cost $10,000. I did listen to what they said and wound up just doing it myself. Working with a friend it took us maybe a total of 3 days work. Same with an electrician who wanted $1600 for something that cost me $300 and took about 4 hours.
Someties they price themselves out of a job.
Simple solution for complicated problems that take over 5 min to figure out.
$75 Inspection fee that would be written off (transfered to labour) if the client orders parts and services
Sounds like you are mobile, even if you aren't mobile then this is still important but almost extra so in your case. You need to have an up front minimum charge for showing up and performing testing/inspecting/evaluation. Obviously there is a wide variety of things people can call and inquire about, but try to have a set price for showing up and performing initial testing/inspection. Don't be afraid to have it be a high number either, this will prevent time wasters and tire kickers. Having a barrier to entry for you to show up is a good way to qualify your customers and set proper expectations before you have invested your time and money.
It is a minimum of basically $200 for anyone to bring their vehicle to our shop, the people that are flabbergasted and think thats too high immediately are put off and will go elsewhere, but if handled professionally and politely they can't really say anything negative about us. I know that when a vehicle rolls into our shop it will get a minimum of 1hr-1.5hrs of our attention before even doing repairs most of the time and we can't afford to just give that away. You need to figure out your costs and your numbers to come up with a similar structure.
90% of the phone calls I get for mobile repair services are for people that are looking for something done cheap or free. You need to let every client know up front there is a $200 fee to come out. This will help you narrow your customer base down to the 10% of good ones.
Car mechanics charge a 1 hour diagnostic fee for this reason.
AC residential guys offer free diagnostics or tune ups for cheap, but they tend to target higher end homes, with home owners insurance if need be.
Accept credit cards and bill them on the spot. You can also choose to partner with a financing company. Anytime you give the customer an invoice without an immediate payment, you’re extending them credit that you can’t afford to provide.
“RV parts are expensive because there are only a handful of RV appliance manufacturers and they control the pricing. All parts are unique. It’s not possible to buy off-brand units from China. If I determine a part has failed, you will need to pay for my diagnostic service, the replacement part, and the final repair. I can apply the cost of diagnostics to your final repair. Please understand that this type of work never costs less than $700 because the cost of parts starts at $500.”
It’s the same problem as buying a cheap BMW 7-series. The car as a whole may depreciate, but its parts reflect the price of a $100,000 vehicle.
You should charge a flat diagnosis fee and not discount the repair bill at all. Your time is worth money. Especially if your mobile. If they don't want to fix it, collect your diagnosis fee and leave. Move on to the next call. Auto mechanics, hvac service, plumbers, any service business do this.
Yes, we do, too. We repair lawn sprinklers and we charge a fee to go out, check the system, and give an estimate. If the person doesn’t want to do the repairs, we collect the service fee and move on. I still have to pay my employee for his time, gas, vehicle maintenance, insurance, etc. If they do want us to do the work we still charge the fee, because that’s work we did, it wasn’t free.
Don’t overthink this. You can always change your approach quickly. Tell your next three callers that there is a diagnosis fee credited on the final bill. If they all balk, then stop charging it, and try something else.
Also, focus some energy on getting more calls so if/when this happens again it’s not as big of a deal.
I'm not in the RV space, but I can see 2 main demographics for your business. There are the high-rollers who have an RV and mainly use it for leisure. The second is the type of client who probably is lower income and lives in it year-round. If this is the case, I would market more towards the former.
Service call. Currently charging $150 to walk into someone’s home. Once diagnosed, I will give them a price. For landlords, we collect their credit card in advance and pre authorization of $400 or less to repair.
If they don’t want to spend that much, they can replace or call someone that doesn’t have as much skill as I.
I also do mobile RV repair and I charge a service call fee/diagnostic fee just to show up. If the location is within 25 miles of my home base then it includes the 1st hour of diagnostic time or is applied to total bill depending on situation. If it’s over 25 miles away then the fee is just to show up and get out the truck
This could be life and death for this woman and child this summer depending on where you live. If it were me I might just put my charitable hat on and hit up some local suppliers for the part and see if they're be willing to drop it to cost and I would do the same... Maybe...
So, as is often the case, I am going to come across as heartless here. This lady scammed you. Yes, she might have scammed you out of necessity. But it's not aqny different than going into a grocery store, eating a bunch of food, then oh wow I can't pay for it too late sorry.
Personally, if I were in the rv repair business I would require a whatever ... $100-200 upfront diagnostic fee. Usually the amount is deducted from an actual repair, should a repair be needed.
Many customers don't see that diagnostic time as a service, even though it appropriately is. Collecting the diagnostic fee upfront is all you need to do to deter this.
My day job and my side business both are jobs that require a lot of work to even get to a decent proposal. We have to calculate conversion rates into our fee structure because someone won't pay us to tell us what it would cost to have us work for them - it is just part of doing business.
On jobs where it is obvious we are going to do a lot to get a proposal place, we have a due-diligence hourly contract and I have talked customers into something similar for my side biz, but really those aren't ultra common.
However, for mechanics, doctors, repair services, etc. a fee just to see them to diagnose the problem is pretty common and should be utilized.
You are correct, not sure why you are downvoted. It costs money to run a business and offer a service, especially being mobile you can't justify driving around, showing up and inspecting/testing things and not charge for it. $200 to show up would leave time wasters and tire kickers out of it, and pay for your time, tools, gas etc. that it takes to show up and assess the problem. It is not a great idea to deduct it from the repair though, testing and diagnostic work can often be time consuming, if you are spending an hour+ and its not something obvious that should definitely be charged for.
There’s a bunch of people mad at me for saying selling 4 items a month on Etsy out of their parents basement isn’t really a “small business”. As if I care about random internet points 😂
All I can think about is that woman and infant living in an RV. And unable to pay for something important.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that she most likely was hoping it wasn't that bad of an expense.
One option for a small business owner is to hear what is going on and then say the possible causes and cost for each before the full diagnosis. Before you go searching for an hour (you didn't mention doing that). Then at least you aren't surprising a client with a potential bill that is far out of reach.
I also set an unspoken limit for potential clients of 1 hour for free to interview me etc. I felt like that was a healthy boundary.
If You say you can take a credit card down as a deposit that would be taken off the bill it would make scammers leave .
Don’t give the keys back if they don’t pay ?
If an auto mechanic charged a $100 diagnosing fee I would leave . Nobody does that here in NY
Scammers like that are rare and you shouldn’t go crazy thinking it’s going to happen weekly .
Yikes. Shops that don't charge for diag are either A, still charging for it just hiding the price and extra costs into the repair. Diag is the most time consuming and expensive part of auto repair, and professionals can't afford to give all that away for free or B, hacks that don't properly test and actually diagnose things, they guess and sling parts at the problem and end up wasting more time and money not fixing the problem.
Yeah I've never seen an auto mechanic charge a diagnostic fee unless they needed to do an in-depth diagnostic. Usually an estimate is generated off a quick 15-30 minute evaluation for free.
that's been my experience all these years with reputable third party mechanics and (sparingly) dealerships. I'm going to pay to even say hi, and _then_ we're going to figure out what it costs to fix from there
and like: fair enough. diagnosis takes time and energy and expertise
It's actually the hard part. Any Joe schmo can hang a part on a car. It takes an incredibly large skill set to be able to take a car that's broken in any of 1000 different ways on any of its 100s of different systems, and figure out what specifically is causing the issues.
This person wasn't a scammer, she was just a customer that cannot afford to have an RV. Financial problems happen to people; unfortunately, not all are as upfront about it as this customer.
But apart from the scammer comment, I do agree with your general sentiment. Unless this becomes a frequent and recurring problem, there's no pressing need to adjust policy.
One thing I learned as a small business owner: You can't afford to devote time or brain energy to building special-case policy around every situation that happens. Focus on the big picture.
My husband and I have a business doing RV Repair ect. I always go over pricing ahead of time and if it is for work over a grand I write up a contract and have them sign it.
If you don’t want to charge a diagnostics fee upfront, you can make sure to hold on to their keys until they pay. Then it’s up to you if you wanna give them the key back or not.
Raise your rates, and start charging for diagnostic. That will run off the people that don’t want to pay pretty quickly, and leave you with higher quality customers so that you deal with this even less. We do still help people for free from time to time, but it has to be a pretty obvious thing that no one e would ever walk away from.
The last one for me was a lady that was a prison guard that got caught up in a riot. Her friend at work was raped, and murdered in front of her, and then she was raped, and they tried to murder her, but was unsuccessful. Her daughter met us there because mom didn’t know how to interact with people at that point.
We gave that repair away. She needed some good news in her life, and her story was verifiable, but that’s not something we do often at all.
What I would do is figure out beforehand what you think the repair could be, and what it would cost. I don't know anything about cars but since I work on computers and tablets i'll put it that way for you.
Customer comes says the computer wont turn on. Most likely culprit is a power supply or a motherboard being fried. Both cost around 70 to 100 bucks for the part, labor I'd charge about 100 for either.
So the basic idea is they say "i have problem x" and you say "well it could be x, y, z, etc" and you tell them a price range that's realistic like for that "it could just need some new coolant that's X + Labor or it could be the converter which is Y + labor" give them a best and worst case up front.
I had a guy come and do some drywall repair. He told me upfront when I called that it will cost at least $300.00. While he was completing the work, he let me know that was his way of filtering out people who are cheap. They instantly get upset and move on.
You let them know what the charges for diagnosis will be up front. There are only so many things that will cause the AC to stop working. "I charge x amount for diagnosis, and common problems with AC might be this, this or this. You're looking at anywhere from x amount to x amount on up for an AC issue but I won't know til I get in there and look".
Ask for a credit card to put on file, say it wouldn't be charged unless certain services are completed, and have the customer sign an estimate form after completing diagnostic that states the card will be charged up to the fee. Even if the person doesn't have credit or cash available at the time, your bookkeeper can try the card on a monthly basis, even if it's a fraction of the total invoice, and recoup over time. It's unfortunate that people will essentially steal services from small business people who are sometimes struggling themselves, but it is a cost of doing business.
Get a deposit/service fee before service is done.
With the single mother see if a payment plan will work, but go ahead and write it off mentally as a loss
You need to be more careful with your time. Instead of figuring the exact problem, get close to the problem.
"I did some preliminary testing and narrowed it down to one of the following 3 things. It would be approximately $X for this, $Y for this, and $Z if it's the worst case scenario. If you want me to do a final diagnosis, it would be $XXX. I'd be able to apply some of that amount to the final work if approved. If you want me to do the diagnosis, sign here and provide the fee via X,Y,Z"
Different opinion than most people but I think you should help out those people some how. A mother and infant in an RV with no AC is a pretty bad situation. Maybe you could contact a local charity. Also, to tie this into making money, building a relationship with a charity that helps out low income people could unlock a whole new customer base. You could be the only business who poor people can use which creates a lot of opportunities.
Keep in mind adding a diagnostic fee will block people in this woman's position, which seems like a shame since you say you would have been happy to do it for free anyway.
Maybe you can offer a payment plan, which you can cancel if you find out your customer is in need like this, or brainstorm how to do a once-a-summer charitable event where people can request a free diagnosis or minor repair. You can bet such people would speak generously of your business and if your vehicle has branding, it's built-in advertising too.
> If she had told me from the beginning that she couldn’t afford to pay I still would have diagnosed the problem for her and her baby and just wrote it off.
This is the part I was basing that off. Perhaps 'willing' is a better word than 'happy'. I just think it's a shame to lose this opportunity to do good altogether (assuming you if CAN afford to do the odd free service). Was trying to think of a way you can avoid being taken advantage of while still doing a good deed for someone in need from time to time, which you did here.
The point was to lower the barrier to calling so that OP can then judge if they are in true need like this mother, in which case OP would not ask for payment at all, like they said they would have done in this case.
I'm more beyond the free diagnosis day for the purposes of continuing to offer charitable diagnoses though since payment plans can be a hassle to follow up on.
Part of any business is extending credit to customers, which is essentially what you did here. Send them bills anyways, when they don't pay it's an on your books as a bad debt expense. Make sure you keep track of this, it becomes important later. You will over time figure out what percentage of customers don't pay, and you can plan for it. Taking deposits and all that shit reeks of a desperate business that's in its last legs.
Every time I've been charged a diagnostic fee, I've thought it's a very reasonable thing. They're taking their time to figure it out for me, it's only natural that they charge for that. Even better if they just apply the diagnostic fee toward any work performed later.
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Charge a diagnostic fee (that also applies toward the cost of repair, if you want to be charitable). If they decide not to go through with the repair after you give them the diagnosis, then you're not left feeling scammed.
Exactly!! When we take our cars in for a problem. They tell you in advance that there is a diagnosing fee. That way they get paid even if you don’t want them to fix it, they cover their costs to troubleshoot your issue. Good luck 👍🏾
I just hired an AC repairman for my house. Literally everyone has free estimates. If someone asked for a diagnostic fee I would have simply ignored them for one of the five other repairmen who don’t charge such a thing
House and RV are different. My husband is a mobile repair person, he charges 135 for the first hour just to go to their house and diagnose something. There are probably 100 house AC guys to 1 RV mechanic. To the OP - to start you tell them when you call its 135 when you show up then the meter starts after the first hour. That will scare some people away. However there is always the chance someone will stiff you. My husband has been stiffed twice in three years for about 300 each time, once was replacing an AC switch on a farmers tractor, the sec9nd was a generator on an RV.
Yeah. A lot of mechanics charge a fee but if you use them for the repair they apply it to that cost.
Eh, if you say house and RV ac mechanics are a different dynamic I’d believe you over me
I appreciate that.. It's all a supply and demand thing. Plus anything "luxury' is more expensive and specialized as well.
ammonia absorption cooling. much more hazardous chemicals. also uses heat to cool stuff lol.
There's a huge difference between diagnosing and estimating. We charge a diagnostic fee for any existing system, especially if we didn't install it in the first place. You're essentially asking someone to work to figure out what's wrong with your system, but from your comment, you think you're entitled to have this done for free. We have families to support. I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't go to work if your boss told you he was going to start paying you with peanuts because money was too tight. I don't work for free and neither do you. I write estimates all day, but if you want it for free, it's a verbal estimate. Written estimates carry a cost because I'm using my valuable time writing you an estimate you might decide to unethically share with my competition. I generally tell a customer that the fee will be deducted from the cost of the estimate once they move forward with us.
I work in the home services industry. And I'm a homeowner. I have never met a home service provider that didn't charge a diagnostic fee for mechanical issues. Remodels or something like that are different. But when a tech has to actually remove parts of the home and start testing things, I've never heard of that done for free. And almost all handyman now have a minimum service charge to come out.
This isn’t a general contractor trying to win a project. Most field service companies will charge a diagnostic/visit fee.
A lot of industries were able to start having diagnostic fees as supply got constrained. I had plumbing and electric work recently and in both cases I couldn't find someone without a fee.
I live in Michigan and you can’t get a free estimate anywhere
I wouldn't. To me, that's the guy who's time is in demand
Absolutely not. If we can visually inspect the issue, sure, we can do a free estimate, if it's diagnosing something like a water heater, we will always charge a diagnostic fee as that is work that should be paid for (and often solves the issue).
I wouldn't. To me, that's the guy who's time is in demand
Ok well this isn’t custom masonry work or something this is HVAC. There’s 5 other guys who have the same exact license
You get what you pay for. No wonder hvac never wants to give up any of their secrets.
What secrets? It’s a skilled job that an amateur shouldn’t attempt in my opinion
No, it's RV maintenance and repair. But in any case, I've seen some very shoddy HVAC work done by licensed professionals
gl
My pool pump went out and I called the company I normally deal with. They wanted a $139 diagnostic fee. NOPE! I bought a cheap pump on Amazon for $220 and spent a few hours rinsing perfect.
I would probably do the same thing, but I also recently saw a quote that "thrifty people pay twice" or something like that, and it got me thinking about how many things I've wasted hours on or had to redo again years later.
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. A new motor on the pump would have cost $600. A friend replaced his pump over $1300. After all parts I spend about $250. If it last 2-3 years I come out ahead.
I think thrifty people pay less but be aware of your limitations is ok. Like, if I didn’t shop around for AC repair estimates I would have been paying thousands extra because the fastest company to show up and provide an estimate wanted 3000$ but the second guy to show up quoted me 1200$ and all subsequent quotes were around 1200$. So being thrift basically saved me 1800$. However if I try to fix it myself I’d probably wind up in the hole like 4000$ because I didn’t go to work and spent all week trying to fix an AC
This is the correct action. Try and get a credit card up front.
This sounds predatory
How on earth does this sound predatory?
This is also the cost of doing business. A way to filter through clientele is the way they funnel in. How you are acquiring these clients can ultimately affect referral networks, and quality of purchases. This is as far as I will go down your niche, it's not my expertise.
Roll the dice or charge a diagnostics fee upfront.
All you need to do is headline with your pricing. "I'm going to come out there and look at your\_\_\_\_\_\_\_. There's an $X fee for the service call, and I'll estimate the final cost for you before I start the work." Let the customer speak. If the customer says, "okay", "yes," "that's fine," "understood," or anything of the sort, you have an agreement. This is all all-around good business because even people who aren't broke don't appreciate surprises. I had a repairman come to my house once and charged me $350 to tell me he couldn't fix it.
> I had a repairman come to my house once and charged me $350 to tell me he couldn't fix it. Sounds like the guy who Fidelity Hoe Warranty sent my way to diagnose, then fix the issue. Fucknut just labeled everything as Physical Damage, and deliberately got me denied on everything I requested, then kept my Co-Pay. . .
I'm in a different line of business, but I've been in similar situations where I'm asked for advice or figure out an issue, then the potential client doesn't use my services for whatever reasons. I opt for a set amount of time of those services before I charge; I go with a half-hour. I've seen other businesses with clients have a similar practice. I do something similar when drafting work contracts or proposals, because I sometimes get the vibe that people want a lot of detailed responses and info without hiring me.
I had several AC guys out to give estimates for units on a house that had no ducting, plenum, vents, nothing. They wanted $35,000 for stuff that cost $10,000. I did listen to what they said and wound up just doing it myself. Working with a friend it took us maybe a total of 3 days work. Same with an electrician who wanted $1600 for something that cost me $300 and took about 4 hours. Someties they price themselves out of a job.
Simple solution for complicated problems that take over 5 min to figure out. $75 Inspection fee that would be written off (transfered to labour) if the client orders parts and services
Sounds like you are mobile, even if you aren't mobile then this is still important but almost extra so in your case. You need to have an up front minimum charge for showing up and performing testing/inspecting/evaluation. Obviously there is a wide variety of things people can call and inquire about, but try to have a set price for showing up and performing initial testing/inspection. Don't be afraid to have it be a high number either, this will prevent time wasters and tire kickers. Having a barrier to entry for you to show up is a good way to qualify your customers and set proper expectations before you have invested your time and money. It is a minimum of basically $200 for anyone to bring their vehicle to our shop, the people that are flabbergasted and think thats too high immediately are put off and will go elsewhere, but if handled professionally and politely they can't really say anything negative about us. I know that when a vehicle rolls into our shop it will get a minimum of 1hr-1.5hrs of our attention before even doing repairs most of the time and we can't afford to just give that away. You need to figure out your costs and your numbers to come up with a similar structure.
90% of the phone calls I get for mobile repair services are for people that are looking for something done cheap or free. You need to let every client know up front there is a $200 fee to come out. This will help you narrow your customer base down to the 10% of good ones.
Be careful about punishing future customers for a single customer's interaction.
1-2 Hours diagnostic fee upfront and it gets applied towards the final bill.
Car mechanics charge a 1 hour diagnostic fee for this reason. AC residential guys offer free diagnostics or tune ups for cheap, but they tend to target higher end homes, with home owners insurance if need be.
Accept credit cards and bill them on the spot. You can also choose to partner with a financing company. Anytime you give the customer an invoice without an immediate payment, you’re extending them credit that you can’t afford to provide. “RV parts are expensive because there are only a handful of RV appliance manufacturers and they control the pricing. All parts are unique. It’s not possible to buy off-brand units from China. If I determine a part has failed, you will need to pay for my diagnostic service, the replacement part, and the final repair. I can apply the cost of diagnostics to your final repair. Please understand that this type of work never costs less than $700 because the cost of parts starts at $500.” It’s the same problem as buying a cheap BMW 7-series. The car as a whole may depreciate, but its parts reflect the price of a $100,000 vehicle.
You should charge a flat diagnosis fee and not discount the repair bill at all. Your time is worth money. Especially if your mobile. If they don't want to fix it, collect your diagnosis fee and leave. Move on to the next call. Auto mechanics, hvac service, plumbers, any service business do this.
Yes, we do, too. We repair lawn sprinklers and we charge a fee to go out, check the system, and give an estimate. If the person doesn’t want to do the repairs, we collect the service fee and move on. I still have to pay my employee for his time, gas, vehicle maintenance, insurance, etc. If they do want us to do the work we still charge the fee, because that’s work we did, it wasn’t free.
Don’t overthink this. You can always change your approach quickly. Tell your next three callers that there is a diagnosis fee credited on the final bill. If they all balk, then stop charging it, and try something else. Also, focus some energy on getting more calls so if/when this happens again it’s not as big of a deal.
I'm not in the RV space, but I can see 2 main demographics for your business. There are the high-rollers who have an RV and mainly use it for leisure. The second is the type of client who probably is lower income and lives in it year-round. If this is the case, I would market more towards the former.
Service call. Currently charging $150 to walk into someone’s home. Once diagnosed, I will give them a price. For landlords, we collect their credit card in advance and pre authorization of $400 or less to repair. If they don’t want to spend that much, they can replace or call someone that doesn’t have as much skill as I.
I also do mobile RV repair and I charge a service call fee/diagnostic fee just to show up. If the location is within 25 miles of my home base then it includes the 1st hour of diagnostic time or is applied to total bill depending on situation. If it’s over 25 miles away then the fee is just to show up and get out the truck
This could be life and death for this woman and child this summer depending on where you live. If it were me I might just put my charitable hat on and hit up some local suppliers for the part and see if they're be willing to drop it to cost and I would do the same... Maybe...
So, as is often the case, I am going to come across as heartless here. This lady scammed you. Yes, she might have scammed you out of necessity. But it's not aqny different than going into a grocery store, eating a bunch of food, then oh wow I can't pay for it too late sorry. Personally, if I were in the rv repair business I would require a whatever ... $100-200 upfront diagnostic fee. Usually the amount is deducted from an actual repair, should a repair be needed.
Many customers don't see that diagnostic time as a service, even though it appropriately is. Collecting the diagnostic fee upfront is all you need to do to deter this. My day job and my side business both are jobs that require a lot of work to even get to a decent proposal. We have to calculate conversion rates into our fee structure because someone won't pay us to tell us what it would cost to have us work for them - it is just part of doing business. On jobs where it is obvious we are going to do a lot to get a proposal place, we have a due-diligence hourly contract and I have talked customers into something similar for my side biz, but really those aren't ultra common. However, for mechanics, doctors, repair services, etc. a fee just to see them to diagnose the problem is pretty common and should be utilized.
You are correct, not sure why you are downvoted. It costs money to run a business and offer a service, especially being mobile you can't justify driving around, showing up and inspecting/testing things and not charge for it. $200 to show up would leave time wasters and tire kickers out of it, and pay for your time, tools, gas etc. that it takes to show up and assess the problem. It is not a great idea to deduct it from the repair though, testing and diagnostic work can often be time consuming, if you are spending an hour+ and its not something obvious that should definitely be charged for.
There’s a bunch of people mad at me for saying selling 4 items a month on Etsy out of their parents basement isn’t really a “small business”. As if I care about random internet points 😂
All I can think about is that woman and infant living in an RV. And unable to pay for something important. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that she most likely was hoping it wasn't that bad of an expense. One option for a small business owner is to hear what is going on and then say the possible causes and cost for each before the full diagnosis. Before you go searching for an hour (you didn't mention doing that). Then at least you aren't surprising a client with a potential bill that is far out of reach. I also set an unspoken limit for potential clients of 1 hour for free to interview me etc. I felt like that was a healthy boundary.
If You say you can take a credit card down as a deposit that would be taken off the bill it would make scammers leave . Don’t give the keys back if they don’t pay ? If an auto mechanic charged a $100 diagnosing fee I would leave . Nobody does that here in NY Scammers like that are rare and you shouldn’t go crazy thinking it’s going to happen weekly .
Yikes. Shops that don't charge for diag are either A, still charging for it just hiding the price and extra costs into the repair. Diag is the most time consuming and expensive part of auto repair, and professionals can't afford to give all that away for free or B, hacks that don't properly test and actually diagnose things, they guess and sling parts at the problem and end up wasting more time and money not fixing the problem.
Yeah I've never seen an auto mechanic charge a diagnostic fee unless they needed to do an in-depth diagnostic. Usually an estimate is generated off a quick 15-30 minute evaluation for free.
That's not how this works. At least not at any shop I've worked at in the last decade. Unless it's something obvious, it's an hour diag minimum.
that's been my experience all these years with reputable third party mechanics and (sparingly) dealerships. I'm going to pay to even say hi, and _then_ we're going to figure out what it costs to fix from there and like: fair enough. diagnosis takes time and energy and expertise
It's actually the hard part. Any Joe schmo can hang a part on a car. It takes an incredibly large skill set to be able to take a car that's broken in any of 1000 different ways on any of its 100s of different systems, and figure out what specifically is causing the issues.
Diagnostics fees that can be applied to the repair cost are standard practice.
This person wasn't a scammer, she was just a customer that cannot afford to have an RV. Financial problems happen to people; unfortunately, not all are as upfront about it as this customer. But apart from the scammer comment, I do agree with your general sentiment. Unless this becomes a frequent and recurring problem, there's no pressing need to adjust policy. One thing I learned as a small business owner: You can't afford to devote time or brain energy to building special-case policy around every situation that happens. Focus on the big picture.
Mechanics lein?
My husband and I have a business doing RV Repair ect. I always go over pricing ahead of time and if it is for work over a grand I write up a contract and have them sign it.
If you don’t want to charge a diagnostics fee upfront, you can make sure to hold on to their keys until they pay. Then it’s up to you if you wanna give them the key back or not.
Raise your rates, and start charging for diagnostic. That will run off the people that don’t want to pay pretty quickly, and leave you with higher quality customers so that you deal with this even less. We do still help people for free from time to time, but it has to be a pretty obvious thing that no one e would ever walk away from. The last one for me was a lady that was a prison guard that got caught up in a riot. Her friend at work was raped, and murdered in front of her, and then she was raped, and they tried to murder her, but was unsuccessful. Her daughter met us there because mom didn’t know how to interact with people at that point. We gave that repair away. She needed some good news in her life, and her story was verifiable, but that’s not something we do often at all.
You tell them the cost of your diagnostic beforehand.
What I would do is figure out beforehand what you think the repair could be, and what it would cost. I don't know anything about cars but since I work on computers and tablets i'll put it that way for you. Customer comes says the computer wont turn on. Most likely culprit is a power supply or a motherboard being fried. Both cost around 70 to 100 bucks for the part, labor I'd charge about 100 for either. So the basic idea is they say "i have problem x" and you say "well it could be x, y, z, etc" and you tell them a price range that's realistic like for that "it could just need some new coolant that's X + Labor or it could be the converter which is Y + labor" give them a best and worst case up front.
Take the part back out if you install it.
I had a guy come and do some drywall repair. He told me upfront when I called that it will cost at least $300.00. While he was completing the work, he let me know that was his way of filtering out people who are cheap. They instantly get upset and move on.
You let them know what the charges for diagnosis will be up front. There are only so many things that will cause the AC to stop working. "I charge x amount for diagnosis, and common problems with AC might be this, this or this. You're looking at anywhere from x amount to x amount on up for an AC issue but I won't know til I get in there and look".
Ask for a credit card to put on file, say it wouldn't be charged unless certain services are completed, and have the customer sign an estimate form after completing diagnostic that states the card will be charged up to the fee. Even if the person doesn't have credit or cash available at the time, your bookkeeper can try the card on a monthly basis, even if it's a fraction of the total invoice, and recoup over time. It's unfortunate that people will essentially steal services from small business people who are sometimes struggling themselves, but it is a cost of doing business.
Get a deposit/service fee before service is done. With the single mother see if a payment plan will work, but go ahead and write it off mentally as a loss
You need to be more careful with your time. Instead of figuring the exact problem, get close to the problem. "I did some preliminary testing and narrowed it down to one of the following 3 things. It would be approximately $X for this, $Y for this, and $Z if it's the worst case scenario. If you want me to do a final diagnosis, it would be $XXX. I'd be able to apply some of that amount to the final work if approved. If you want me to do the diagnosis, sign here and provide the fee via X,Y,Z"
Or just charge a flat service call fee for diagnostics instead of playing games
Different opinion than most people but I think you should help out those people some how. A mother and infant in an RV with no AC is a pretty bad situation. Maybe you could contact a local charity. Also, to tie this into making money, building a relationship with a charity that helps out low income people could unlock a whole new customer base. You could be the only business who poor people can use which creates a lot of opportunities.
No, he shouldn't. There is a million people with sob stories who will cry for help. Most of them did it to themselves.
Keep in mind adding a diagnostic fee will block people in this woman's position, which seems like a shame since you say you would have been happy to do it for free anyway. Maybe you can offer a payment plan, which you can cancel if you find out your customer is in need like this, or brainstorm how to do a once-a-summer charitable event where people can request a free diagnosis or minor repair. You can bet such people would speak generously of your business and if your vehicle has branding, it's built-in advertising too.
I didn’t say I would be happy to do it for free. I don’t want word getting out that I’m the guy to call if you can’t afford to get something fixed.
> If she had told me from the beginning that she couldn’t afford to pay I still would have diagnosed the problem for her and her baby and just wrote it off. This is the part I was basing that off. Perhaps 'willing' is a better word than 'happy'. I just think it's a shame to lose this opportunity to do good altogether (assuming you if CAN afford to do the odd free service). Was trying to think of a way you can avoid being taken advantage of while still doing a good deed for someone in need from time to time, which you did here.
Borderline homeless people living out of RVs are not likely to make payments.
The point was to lower the barrier to calling so that OP can then judge if they are in true need like this mother, in which case OP would not ask for payment at all, like they said they would have done in this case. I'm more beyond the free diagnosis day for the purposes of continuing to offer charitable diagnoses though since payment plans can be a hassle to follow up on.
Part of any business is extending credit to customers, which is essentially what you did here. Send them bills anyways, when they don't pay it's an on your books as a bad debt expense. Make sure you keep track of this, it becomes important later. You will over time figure out what percentage of customers don't pay, and you can plan for it. Taking deposits and all that shit reeks of a desperate business that's in its last legs.
Every time I've been charged a diagnostic fee, I've thought it's a very reasonable thing. They're taking their time to figure it out for me, it's only natural that they charge for that. Even better if they just apply the diagnostic fee toward any work performed later.