Guest
Your example of automobile “blue book” pricing reminded me of my former pastor’s experience. He had a VW and needed some engine work done. There were three tasks and to do any one of them required that the engine be removed from the car. When the “technician” gave him the estimate, he saw that all three jobs were at the full blue book price. When he inquired about it, they told them that that is what the book says and does not allow for multiple jobs at one time. He then told them to schedule his car for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, since if they were going to charge for pulling the engine three times they were going to do it. They told him to leave and not come back. Does your flat rate schedule have an adjustment for situations such as this? And why can’t you give a price over the phone if you have a flat rate for repairing a drain, for example? Are you counting on the fact that the service person being on the job already will intimidate the customer and accept the price? I also do not quote over the phone, but I do price the job depending on what is needed.
