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Why use me...?
Feedback from customers tells me that I'm not the cheapest gas engineer in
the book, but nor am I the most expensive. This is just as I would like it to be,
because I take pride in offering good value for money rather than trying to
compete on cost alone.
There are several things that I do that will hopefully mean good value for
money to you...
1) I offer you fixed time appointments if this is important to you. Many
firms will expect you to stay in all morning (or all day even) so they can turn
up when it suits them. If you work normal office hours then tell me and I'll
visit in the early evening when you get home, or first thing in the morning so
you only need take an hour or two off work.
2) I am fair with my time charges. I charge for time spent traveling to your
house, but often not the return journey for local calls during the normal
working day. (For longer or time-consuming
journeys I need to charge travelling both ways unless I can group together two
or more customers in the same area.) Otherwise I only charge you for time spent
working on site, on your repair. Unfortunately many firms will go the the
merchant for parts and keep the clock running without telling you, then give you
a bill for three or four hours when they barely spent an hour actually in your house. I don't do
this as it's open to abuse. If I don't have the right parts in my van, my policy
is to make a new appointment to re-visit after my next trip to the merchant
(when I'll buy parts for several customers in one visit). I'll only charge for time spent
buying spares if you instruct me to make a dedicated trip out during the repair
to obtain parts urgently.
3) Proper diagnosis. I may spend quite a bit of time diagnosing your boiler
fault. I may appear to be doing nothing apart from scratching my head and
reading notes. I prefer to find the fault for certain by checking,
testing, thinking. The 'other' way, favoured by many unfortunately, is to
announce confidently that (for example) "it's the fan", then fit a new
fan. If this doesn't work, then choose something else than often goes wrong
and replace that. This 'part changing' method can cost you dearly. Better to pay
to have the faulty part positively identified in the first place in my opinion.
4) Reliability. I turn up when I said I would. If I'm significantly delayed I'll call you and re-schedule. I'll never leave you waiting all day and
not turn up. That's a promise. Communicating with customers is important.
5) I explain things to you properly so you understand what needs to be done,
and why. Customers often say things to me like "well you're the first
person who's ever told us that!"
Can't think of anything else for now.... ;-)
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