I’m obviously far too nice. Christmas eve, 3am. Yes, the phone goes, yes, I go let them in. And charged them £60. I must be mad!
I’m obviously far too nice. I got there, and the couple had come back from a party in a taxi. No jackets, so when I got there 30 minutes after the call came in, she was nearly crying with the cold, poor lass. I gave her my jacket. He at least had long sleeves, but he was also frozen.
Fortunately, the hundreds of hours I spend fiddling with locks pays off in a lot of situations like this, and I got them in by hand picking in under 3 minutes. They were very thankful, and offered me a drink, which I declined, since it was now ten past 3, and I had been asleep in a nice warm bed. The rate for this job? Good question. Late night calls are always more expensive, and it was the morning of Christmas Eve, a Sunday to boot. But the job only took 3 minutes of my time. I was planning to charge £80, but because it was a nice quick one, I didn’t feel I could. Is that weird?
Has anyone else got any stories of Christmas/holiday charging?
You should have charged them the extra 20 quid for ringing back to ask if you were on your way when I’d just fallen asleep again. *mutter*
Not weird at all, tho’ I have complete sympathy for Kate. Actually, I have sympathy for you both, as I’m sometimes the one that has to wake up for the calls (and call backs), and other times being the one who has to go out on them. 🙂
We also find ourselves charging “normal” prices in extraordinary circumstances (Holidays, 3am’s, etc.). Part of it is just being a good person. There’s something to be said for not being venal. There’s far too much of it in our industry as it is. If it gives you the warm fuzzies having done a good turn for a fellow human, and being paid perfectly adequately, then why charge more just because you can?
We have our own “Phoenix Locks” type folks here in the states… Based on your blog description, I’m not altogether sure they aren’t the same people. Ours are Priceline Locksmith / Superb Solutions / Dependable Locksmith, etc. They’re all the same, tho’ they advertise under a thousand different names, and they are infamous for flooding every possible market with advertising, then sending non qualified handymen (not locksmiths) out on jobs, quoting low, charging HIGH, and always, always drilling rather than picking. Then intimidating, bullying, or outright threatening the customer into paying cash and disappearing into the night. These are the types of people who give locksmithing, a proud and decent old skill, trade, and tradition a very bad name. They are the epitome of venal.
Just to make you feel less “weird”, my company does something we call “drive by locksmithing” or “who was that masked locksmith”…lol! My techs are trained to spot people in trouble, particularly people in parking lots who are having their car attacked drivers side by some local yahoo with a coat hanger (I can get it, just gimmee a minute!), and instructed to offer car unlock assistance at no charge in exchange for handing out two business cards at least once a month. We do this for several reasons… a) It saves the customers car, weatherstripping, linkages, and window tint (!). b) It helps a person out and makes us feel warm and fuzzy (never discount warm and fuzzy…lol!). c) It instructs and occasionally humiliates the local yahoo with the coat hanger (as well as instructing the customer as to what they should or shouldn’t allow a stranger to do to their car). Yes, we could make money off the situation by being good salesmen I suppose, convincing the customer that hey, we’re here, if you pay us, we’ll get you in, but it’s far better to instruct, educate, assist, and as a result, have that customer to go to his/her friends/co-workers and say “You won’t believe the nice thing that happened to me today”. 🙂 What we lose in income we more than make up in goodwill, repeat business, and better yet, referrals.
So no, you’re not weird. You’re a good person. 🙂 And this blog is a great thing. It’s the same thing I try to do over here in the “colonies”. Educate, assist, inform… An educated customer is a repeat customer, and better yet, a referral customer. You’re doing a good thing. Be proud of yourself. I’ll check back in.
Cheers!
Kim
Owner
San Diego Lock & Safe
http://www.SanDiegoLockAndSafe.com
Kim, I should have replied to you here as well as via email, but thanks for the kind words. Our name is getting out there, and we get a lot of referrals and repeat calls (as opposed to call backs!) from our customers. Good will and a good reputation are priceless.
Thanks,
Nigel