"it should only take a few minutes..."

[dabeldesign]

“Well it’s just a small break, it just needs to be tacked back on, it should only take a few minutes…”


Does anyone get tired of hearing this?!? I’ve heard this same thing about 3 times this week from different people inquiring about me fixing their equipment.
Well sure, sometimes it turns out that it really only is a few minutes worth of welding but not after I spent 25 minutes to get there, 10 minutes to pull out all the cables and set up the equipment, 10 minutes of careful grinding and prep work, and of course at least 10 minutes to clean everything up! This is why I tell them from the beginning that there is a 1 hour minimum charge but they insist that it will only take a few minutes. That makes me wonder, aren’t you hiring me for a reason? Didn’t you seek me out because you wanted me to use my knowledge and experience to fix your problem?? So WHY are you telling me how to do my job?!

If you don’t want to pay for a quality repair job then find someone else with their HF 110v flux-cored wirefeeder and have them fix your tractor, but don’t waste my time…




...ok, i feel better now

[MAC702]

Yep, and we probably get a thread a year on it, too. People just don't think through everything we do before and after welding that little break on their $5 wagon.

[aametalmaster]

Yup then after someone tries to fix it with their HF flux core welder and bugger it up than they bring it to you and it takes twice as long. I see it weekly...Bob

[dabeldesign]

I knew I wasn't the only one, I just had to rant a little; 3X this week is enough already!

[dabar39]

dabeldesign, When did you take over my shop???

That's what I deal with all the time. It baffles me how people can treat us like that, but, they do. I can give a quote on a project and they think it is negotiable, they wouldn't think about going to their doctor, lawyer, dentist or Wal-mart for that matter and haggle over the price of an item, but they think they can get away with it when dealing with us, Why?

I get cr*p all the time when I tell them that I have a minimum charge of 1 hr. plus materials, like you said they think it's only a five minute project and you are ripping them off.
Sometimes I get so frustrated that I feel like shutting the doors and going back to work for someone just so I don't have to deal with it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. Dave

[dabeldesign]

dabeldesign, When did you take over my shop???

That's what I deal with all the time. It baffles me how people can treat us like that, but, they do. I can give a quote on a project and they think it is negotiable, they wouldn't think about going to their doctor, lawyer, dentist or Wal-mart for that matter and haggle over the price of an item, but they think they can get away with it when dealing with us, Why?

I get cr*p all the time when I tell them that I have a minimum charge of 1 hr. plus materials, like you said they think it's only a five minute project and you are ripping them off.
Sometimes I get so frustrated that I feel like shutting the doors and going back to work for someone just so I don't have to deal with it.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. Dave

Wow, are you my long lost brother? We sure seem to think the same!

I've learned to stick to my hourly charge and don't ever negotiate price. It takes as long as it takes and it costs as much as it costs, that's it! If people want to be cheap and haggle price, I happily turn them away because they always end up causing more problems than it's worth.
Sheesh, i've only been doing this a couple years and I'm already fed up with people!

[dabar39]

I thought I would bring this one back to the top. There are more ignorant people out there than we need.

I got a call this morning and the guy says the tongue broke on his trailer, he has the new piece, all I gotta do is weld it on for him. Shouldn't take you more than ten minutes he says, I ask him where it is and he tells me the trailer is in Hollywood Fl. about 2 to 2 1/2 hours drive each way. He lives up here near me and I asked him why he doesn't have someone down there do the work, he says they want 400.00 to do the job and thats too expensive. I asked him what he thought it would cost him for me to go and do the job, he says I don't know but 400.00 is out of line. I tell him what I would have to charge him for the 6 - 8 hrs. plus mileage and expenses, not to mention it is a holiday and he would be screwing up my plans for the day.

He then has the nerve to ask what it would cost if I rode down there with them using their vehicle, we could load all my equipment in his van cause he's got to go and get the trailer anyways. Did I mention I have never met this guy and wouldn't know him if he walked past me.

These are the pictures he e-mailed me for the 10 minute project. Dave

[MAC702]

TEN minutes??

Dude, if you can't do that in FIVE, you need to give it up....


Actually, it's funny this thread got bumped because I'm just getting ready to leave for a friend's house to do a "30 minute job." I've not seen it yet, but he has a small fleet of tractor-trailer dump trucks, and has had me do lots of welding on them. It's an aging fleet in need of constant maintenance. Anyway, supposed some bracket on the bottom fell off, but he recovered it, and needs me to weld it back on.

At least he didn't say "five minutes," so we'll go see just how accurate he was...

[KEENAVV]

I thought I would bring this one back to the top. There are more ignorant people out there than we need.

I got a call this morning and the guy says the tongue broke on his trailer, he has the new piece, all I gotta do is weld it on for him. Shouldn't take you more than ten minutes he says, I ask him where it is and he tells me the trailer is in Hollywood Fl. about 2 to 2 1/2 hours drive each way. He lives up here near me and I asked him why he doesn't have someone down there do the work, he says they want 400.00 to do the job and thats too expensive. I asked him what he thought it would cost him for me to go and do the job, he says I don't know but 400.00 is out of line. I tell him what I would have to charge him for the 6 - 8 hrs. plus mileage and expenses, not to mention it is a holiday and he would be screwing up my plans for the day.

He then has the nerve to ask what it would cost if I rode down there with them using their vehicle, we could load all my equipment in his van cause he's got to go and get the trailer anyways. Did I mention I have never met this guy and wouldn't know him if he walked past me.

These are the pictures he e-mailed me for the 10 minute project. Dave

To fix that properly $400 is cheap!!!

[weld_13]

I thought I would bring this one back to the top. There are more ignorant people out there than we need.

I got a call this morning and the guy says the tongue broke on his trailer, he has the new piece, all I gotta do is weld it on for him. Shouldn't take you more than ten minutes he says, I ask him where it is and he tells me the trailer is in Hollywood Fl. about 2 to 2 1/2 hours drive each way. He lives up here near me and I asked him why he doesn't have someone down there do the work, he says they want 400.00 to do the job and thats too expensive. I asked him what he thought it would cost him for me to go and do the job, he says I don't know but 400.00 is out of line. I tell him what I would have to charge him for the 6 - 8 hrs. plus mileage and expenses, not to mention it is a holiday and he would be screwing up my plans for the day.

He then has the nerve to ask what it would cost if I rode down there with them using their vehicle, we could load all my equipment in his van cause he's got to go and get the trailer anyways. Did I mention I have never met this guy and wouldn't know him if he walked past me.

These are the pictures he e-mailed me for the 10 minute project. Dave

thats just stupid ten minutes...whatever . should have told him since it was only gonna be ten minutes why he didnt do it him self . talk about an idiot . it would take close to ten minutes to get his old hitch off i dont know about anybody else but at least that time for me to do it. before i started welding and we started doin stuff and work8in with other peoples welders before i got mine at least we had respect for people who were doin it even though we thought the price was ridiculous.