R
rotovacguy
Guest
Hey guys,
I had a good size job lined up this morning for the brother of a very good client of mine. It was a 2 hour drive away from my home for a property they just purchased, but hadn't closed on it yet. Normally a 2 hour drive would never happen, but I'm still rather slow, and this was for a good client, and was getting compensated for the mileage and time.
He initially called me last Tuesday to set up an appointment for Monday the 9th. Fine. We get all the details worked out, 1000 square feet of carpet, 250 miles round trip, yadda, yadda, yadda.
I call him Friday afternoon just to confirm our appointment, he tells me he was running late and would have to close on the house Monday, pushing my appointment to Tuesday (today) at 8:30 AM. Not a problem, I told him I'd ink him in for that slot, but he would need to call me at least 24 hours in advance if he needed to cancel for any reason. So I gave him both my home number and cell (business) number, and told him I would see him Tuesday morning, unless something came up. I didn't hear from him, so that brings us to today.
So I pick up my helper and start making the journey. We hit some pretty nasty rush hour traffic in Milwaukee, which causes us to run a tad late. Once I figure out our E.T.A. I give him a call to tell him when to expect us, and he tells me that he called me Sunday and left a voicemail telling me we need to make it some other time, since he hadn't taken possession of the house yet. I'm already more than halfway there by now, and first hearing about it...WTF????
OK, I try to play it cool. After all, I was out of town all weekend, and might have missed the message. At this point I'm kicking myself in the ass, and call my wife and tell her to check our home phone voicemail, which is where he claims he called. Anything there? NOPE!! Anything on the cell? NOPE!! I call him back and explain to him that we have nothing on our end at all. I explain to him that I'm already more than halfway there, dealt with rush hour traffic, AND had to pick up my helper. He apologizes, and still sticks to his story that he called, but may have dialed the wrong number, which at this point means diddly squat to me, but I don't want to lose my cool, or the client for that matter. So I tell him that there is going to have to be an extra charge for the gas, needless wear and tear to my van, and time spent paying my helper.
Question is, what should I charge him? Mileage? Percentage? I was thinking of charging at least an extra 25% of the final total. Should I go higher??
He obviously didn't call, only claims he did so he can say he gave me more than 24 hours notice, avoiding any further charges. When I called him back to tell him there would be extra charges, he didn't put up any fight at all, only said we'll work something out. Considering he's not fighting me, I'd say he KNOWS he didn't call, and just got caught with his pants down.
I had a good size job lined up this morning for the brother of a very good client of mine. It was a 2 hour drive away from my home for a property they just purchased, but hadn't closed on it yet. Normally a 2 hour drive would never happen, but I'm still rather slow, and this was for a good client, and was getting compensated for the mileage and time.
He initially called me last Tuesday to set up an appointment for Monday the 9th. Fine. We get all the details worked out, 1000 square feet of carpet, 250 miles round trip, yadda, yadda, yadda.
I call him Friday afternoon just to confirm our appointment, he tells me he was running late and would have to close on the house Monday, pushing my appointment to Tuesday (today) at 8:30 AM. Not a problem, I told him I'd ink him in for that slot, but he would need to call me at least 24 hours in advance if he needed to cancel for any reason. So I gave him both my home number and cell (business) number, and told him I would see him Tuesday morning, unless something came up. I didn't hear from him, so that brings us to today.
So I pick up my helper and start making the journey. We hit some pretty nasty rush hour traffic in Milwaukee, which causes us to run a tad late. Once I figure out our E.T.A. I give him a call to tell him when to expect us, and he tells me that he called me Sunday and left a voicemail telling me we need to make it some other time, since he hadn't taken possession of the house yet. I'm already more than halfway there by now, and first hearing about it...WTF????
OK, I try to play it cool. After all, I was out of town all weekend, and might have missed the message. At this point I'm kicking myself in the ass, and call my wife and tell her to check our home phone voicemail, which is where he claims he called. Anything there? NOPE!! Anything on the cell? NOPE!! I call him back and explain to him that we have nothing on our end at all. I explain to him that I'm already more than halfway there, dealt with rush hour traffic, AND had to pick up my helper. He apologizes, and still sticks to his story that he called, but may have dialed the wrong number, which at this point means diddly squat to me, but I don't want to lose my cool, or the client for that matter. So I tell him that there is going to have to be an extra charge for the gas, needless wear and tear to my van, and time spent paying my helper.
Question is, what should I charge him? Mileage? Percentage? I was thinking of charging at least an extra 25% of the final total. Should I go higher??
He obviously didn't call, only claims he did so he can say he gave me more than 24 hours notice, avoiding any further charges. When I called him back to tell him there would be extra charges, he didn't put up any fight at all, only said we'll work something out. Considering he's not fighting me, I'd say he KNOWS he didn't call, and just got caught with his pants down.
