“Heres one for you Barney - heard quite a few stories about heating engineers/plumbers turning up on site - then going off to get parts, meanwhile the meter on the hourly rate is ticking.
Whilst i accept you cannot carry every single part for every single job is it fair to charge whilst out collecting parts?
Think i read one story that was a fairly simple case of a small part being required yet the travelling time exceeded the actual fitting time!
”
I guess it depends on how cold you are as to whether it is fair
If your paying for someones time, then that is what you are paying for. In Central London spare stockists are few and far between, also again to do with the recession many of them will not have their shelves filled with all known parts. I tend to ask the customer for as much information about the boiler i.e make / model as possible before going and the nature of the fault. The amount of people that reply with the answer "I dunno" even though they are looking at it is quite amazing. I generally don't charge for visiting suppliers, however if it requires a part I will normally return the following day rather than mess up the rest of the days appointments and this will suit most customers.
I could also turn this question on its head and ask do you think it is reasonable to charge someone to clear access, empty cupboards, garages and loftspaces to gain access to the boiler? After all we're there to fix a problem, not shift furniture or rubbish what 90% of the Brittish public hoard, and they stand back and watch you shifting their crap and smuggly say "Oh sorry about the mess" Or should we do it for the love of it? The funniest part of it is, when you've actually repaired whatever it is that you went their to do, they then expect you to put all the flipping rubbish back!
