"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!

[phaxtris]

i get that 'oh it will only take 5 minutes', i tell them every time 'NOTHING, and i mean NOTHING takes 5 minutes'

[fun4now]

i wonder if we could haggel on the price of gas !!!
5 minuits is nuts, heck i cant even do a 5 minute job of my own in my own shop in that time.
my lawn mower deck hooked on the curb and broke lose a mounting bracket. 5 minuite job right, not!! by the time i got it in the shop ground down to get a good bead, then welded then put away the welder leads and the grinders and get back out again 15-20 minimume . and that was just a quick stick weld, so no gas to deal with turning on checking flow, then turning back off.
i just dont see how you could actualy do any walk in jod in less than 30 minuits.

[Black Wolf]

At the shop I just left, the Foreman was an uneducated French-Canadian fellow from Quebec that used to work in a mine. No understanding of metal. No understanding of weld strength, joint preparation, welding procedures etc.
His catch phrase for just about everything involving welding/repair/fabrication was "I'm not a welder, but if it were up to me, I would do this,..." He's one of the biggest reasons I left. He'd tell you how to do something (I usually refused to do it his way) and when/if it failed, he would run to the owner and say he had "nothing to do with it". The other fellas in the shop wouldn't stand up to him and I just got tired of fighting with him everyday.

Later,

[Winger Ed.]

The other classic statement at the begining of a conversation that makes me cringe, is hearing,
"All ya gotta do,,, is,,,,,,,,,,,".

Nowdays, whenever I hear that, I get this real tightening sensation a little ways below my belt.
.