[Wiser]

I have a question for those who offer 24/7 emergency service. Do you just respond to existing customers or anyone who calls?

We have been responding to all emergency calls - however, a 2:00 a.m. call for a customer that only uses us once leaves us feeling used. Or worse, a hotel whose maintenance man is home sleeping peacefully.

Any thoughts?

 

[service guy]

I respond to anyone. Money is money, and I don't come cheap.:thumbup1:

 

[Song Dog]

Anyone who calls. They get a Emergency service Fee of 79 and flat from there. They and all customers pay at time of svc.
If it is a late call, in an area that would make Rambo nervous, we get credit card over phone to confirm appointment. People in that area will not have a CC or will cancel. That way we are safe:thumbsup: Or I could carry my XD40 (usp will know what that is:thumbsup But it weeds out the bad people. It sounds kinda harsh but who wants to be in a bad area late at night and who would want to send anyone there.
Like SG said money is money.

In Christ,

Song Dog

 

[Ron]

It sounds kinda harsh but who wants to be in a bad area late at night and who would want to send anyone there.
.

In Christ,

Song Dog

We don't have areas like that here, We live in a pretty nice place here, no place is that bad here.

 

[Song Dog]

See Ron, right there is a great reason to move out west. Nice people and plenty of coyotes:thumbsup:
I was n Boise n 2005 and fell in love with Idaho. People were great, the scenery was AWESOME and killed some coyotes. Don't get much better than that. Oh btw I fixed a stool while I was there staying at the shooting range for the hunt.

In Christ,

Song Dog

 

[I'mYourTourGuide]

I respond to anyone. Money is money, and I don't come cheap.:thumbup1:

I agree totally man.

 

[threaderman]

There are certain places I don't want to go after 8pm,so we don't,I'm not a kid anymore and have too much to lose.Money isn't everything,but for repeat customers I do everything possible to accomodate them.

 

[Plumberman]

We go to every call 24/7 unless its down on the south part of town, then we wait till daylight and I carry help with me. But if its in a good part of town we go to it. First time customers are C.O.D

 

[Herk]

I don't do 24/7 because I'm a one-man shop. My opinion on this is that you would need a minimum of about fifteen employees and they would have to be willing to rotate the emergency hours, unless you had employees who would actually prefer the late hours.

Plumbing is hard work, and I can't imagine doing a long day and then jumping back into the truck at ten o'clock at night. (Actually, I can imagine it - I have done it in the past.)

I like to think that plumbing is not my life - it's what I do so that I can have one.

I remember many years ago being called out by a motel because an entire floor was backed up. It was around midnight, the cleanouts were outside and the temp was -10 degrees. When I got finished, the manager said he didn't think there was enough money in the till to pay me . . .

 

[Wiser]

Herk - we have three guys rotating and it is a pain. Like the others have said money is money, BUT what about lost production the next day? Not to mention lack of sleep leads to grumpy plumbers. Hey GRUMPY - is that how you got your name? (teehee)

Last Sunday we had a night clerk of an Inn call us a 2:00 a.m. for a tub running that wouldn't shut off and the guest was threatening to call 911. He panicked and called us. We showed up (15 minute drive) and started to diagnose problem. Asked him where the water shut offs were. He didn't know. Asked where the water heater room was, didn't know. The rooms didn't have individual shut-offs either. To boot, the guest didn't want it fixed - she wanted to go to bed. Asked night clerk, who pays the bill? I dunno man. WHAT!!! You call a plumbing company at 2:00 a.m. and do not know who pays the bill. Grrrrrr.

We just mailed them a bill, we hope we get paid.

 

[service guy]

Herk - we have three guys rotating and it is a pain. Like the others have said money is money, BUT what about lost production the next day? Not to mention lack of sleep leads to grumpy plumbers. Hey GRUMPY - is that how you got your name? (teehee)

Last Sunday we had a night clerk of an Inn call us a 2:00 a.m. for a tub running that wouldn't shut off and the guest was threatening to call 911. He panicked and called us. We showed up (15 minute drive) and started to diagnose problem. Asked him where the water shut offs were. He didn't know. Asked where the water heater room was, didn't know. The rooms didn't have individual shut-offs either. To boot, the guest didn't want it fixed - she wanted to go to bed. Asked night clerk, who pays the bill? I dunno man. WHAT!!! You call a plumbing company at 2:00 a.m. and do not know who pays the bill. Grrrrrr.

We just mailed them a bill, we hope we get paid.

Next time get a credit card over the phone before you send anyone out that late.

 

[Wiser]

We don't take credit cards. Getting paid hasn't been problem with us, even with out of town owners. We are currently looking for a processor for credit card payments. We've been procrastinating - last time we looked into it and comparison shopped it made our eyes glaze over.

 

[service guy]

Do you have a COD policy that you make clear on the phone? It just seems to me that you messed up on that call. You just ran out to fix a problem for a stranger without knowing how you would get paid...

 

[Wiser]

All residential customers are COD. However, restaurants, hotels, property managers etc. are always billed out. Most clerks / managers do not have access to checkbooks - especially corporate owned places.

I do believe we will get paid, it's a nice Inn. Not a two bit 'rat motel.' We do not service what we believe to be questionable businesses.

 

[ToUtahNow]

We always offered 24/7 and some of our best clients came from the fact we were the only ones who would help them in their time of need. A prime example is a property management company which the shop I sold still services. I received a call late one night regarding a leak in an apartment building. The maintenance guy told me their regular plumber recommended me as he could not make it. When I called the plumber the next day to thank him he told me the account was a PIA because they had so many emergencies and he will not do emergencies. Before too long I was the regular plumber. This account is always good for a minimum of $10,000 per month in service. Now 28-years and over $3,360,000 collected in service work later, they still get service when the call regardless of the hour/day.

Mark

 

[service guy]

All residential customers are COD. However, restaurants, hotels, property managers etc. are always billed out. Most clerks / managers do not have access to checkbooks - especially corporate owned places.

I do believe we will get paid, it's a nice Inn. Not a two bit 'rat motel.' We do not service what we believe to be questionable businesses.

Then why were you complaining about this call? I don't understand.:confused1:

 

[Wiser]

1. The 2:00 a.m. part mainly.
2. Dealing with incompetent people that time of night.
3. Hoping it would have led to a lot more business, but apparently they use a maint. guy during the day.
My orig. thread - leaves you feeling used. Even when paid. Sometimes the extra money isn't worth a night's sleep.

 

[service guy]

Lots of plumber's don't do 24 hour service around here. Thats good for me, I'll gladly take the business form them.

 

[Herk]

we have three guys rotating and it is a pain. Like the others have said money is money, BUT what about lost production the next day?

The "proper" way to do it, of course, is to have enough staff that the ones who work at night do not also work during the day. Obviously, this would only be practical in an urban area where the night crew didn't keep cat-napping between calls and had enough work to keep them busy through their shift.

In the real world, there are more small towns than there are big cities. In my case, few service plumbing companies have more than 1 to 3 employees because they can't keep enough work coming in to keep them busy. That's why I remain a one-man shop.

 

[MACPLUMB777]

24/7 Service

I AM WITH MARK TO UTAH NOW ; :thumbsup:
I BUILD UP A GOOD SERVICE CO. IN L. A. IN THE EARLY 90'S BY DOING 24/7 SERVICES,
SOMETIMES WHEN I WAS VERY TIRED AND GOT A LATE NITE CALL I WOULD HAVE MY WIFE DRIVE TO THE JOB, :whistling2:
I WOULD GET OUT DO THE WORK THEN SHE WOULD DRIVE HOME, :thumbup:
SHE ALSO HAD A FULLTIME DAY JOB ! !