Billing for your time...was Re: Insurance confusion

Carl Root rootfamily@erols.com
Sun, 04 Apr 1999 21:23:50 -0400


Wimblees@AOL.COM wrote:
> << Does one charge for this,

>  I can't check the electronics beyond
>  observing they work, & they don't smell funny.
>  But did spend a total of 3 hrs on the road.
>  But still they don't have a real evaluation.
>                                   Dave Renaud
>   >>
> Send them an evaluation of what you found, and a bill for three hours of
> time. If they don't like your evaluation, they can pay someone else to give
> them another one.
> 
> Willem Blees

There are two issues here, maybe more.  

If the 'piano' turns out to be a keyboard, it might have been possible
to determine this beforehand with a few questions.  If the answers
didn't reveal it's true nature, then at least you tried to get
information and are covered. 

The travel time issue is even more interesting.  You did not spend three
hours evaluating and/or servicing the instrument.  My question is, was
this an'emergency' appointment, that is, was it necessary to see the
piano right away as a special appointment rather than fit it into a full
day's worth of work the next time you were in the neighborhood?  If so,
make the travel charges clear out front, because this is an exception to
standard home service procedures.  The basic minimum service charge for
most service professions just to walk in the door of a suburban
neighborhood is the equivalent of a half hour of your time.  Add another
15/30 minutes minimum of actual work time.  Could be different in
sparsely populated areas.

Dig through your old service receipts for heating/AC contractor,
appliance repairman, plumber, electrician, etc..  I'll bet the formulas
are all pretty much the same.

Carl Root, RPT
Rockville, MD


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