OT ish; Late cancellations

Had a job booked for 4 hours this afternoon and 4 hours tomorrow morning, booked at the 'day' rate. Job booked on the 4th. Lady moving house;

E mailed her last night asking for the old & new address's. Got a reply at 07:55 this morning telling me the move had been cancelled.

I have so much going on at the moment I won't have any problem filling in the gaps, in some respects it's done me a favour, but for many self employed tradesmen it could cause a loss of a days pay.

Don't know why the move was cancelled, no reason given. Could have been a bereavement or just a lovers tiff.

I've mildly reprimanded her for such short notice, but I could have charged her a late cancellation fee I suppose.

I'm wondering if I should add something to my T&C to say that cancelling at short notice incurs a fee?

Reply to
The Medway Handyman
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You would probably have trouble enforcing it if you don't. You also ought to be specific about what the fee is and how long 'short' notice is. You may wish to have a sliding scale and you may wish to include the option to waive it if you are able to find replacement work. In any case, the fee should not be more than your actual losses are likely to be.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

You might choose to waive your cancelation fee for all sorts of reasons, but there's no reason to mention that in your terms; it could only become a source of disputes.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

If you don't have such a clause you ought to, you don't have to enforce it. Trying to enforce a cancellation fee when your T&C's don't mention it will be difficult.

Only you can judge what is "fair". Waiving it if you can drum up other work seems fair, but make sure the client knows it's been waived. What to charge 50% of labour, no travel time/exes etc? What is "short notice"? I'd say at the very minimum 24 hrs before the work is scheduled to commence. So if you are scheduled to start at 0900 on the 16th, "short notice" would be after 0900 on the 15th. I'd be tempted to use 48 hours (after 0900 on the 14th) to give a chance of drumming up replacement work without having to be on the phone so much whilst on other jobs. How you deal with weekends, donno, never been a 9-5 M-F wage slave so Saturday/Sunday have no special significance to me.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Definitely. I've been discussing this with a cleaner who is always getting this sort of problem from her clients which of course means she loses money as she cannot simply go to someone else instead. However convincing her to actually get terms and conditions in the first place was hard enough. Some people are just too nice and get taken advantage of. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

It certainly wouldn't hurt. But how big a problem is it? Is this the first time it's happened in all the years you've been handyman-ing?

Do your customers get given a written quote with your T&C's on the back

- and do they have to sign something to agree acceptance? If not, adding extra clauses may not achieve a lot.

Might a cancellation result in costs other than labour? What if you have bought materials for that specific job which you can't use elsewhere? Or doesn't that ever happen?

Reply to
Roger Mills

I'd be more inclined to say, "If you have to cancel please give me three days' notice so I can book other work."

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Does the pope shit on bears?

Reply to
Steve Firth

But how could you enforce it? Sue those who won't cough up?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

take an upfront non refundable deposit.

If they say 'no' then you know they will mess you around.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

You're joking? I'd think those stupid enough to pay a handyman a deposit rather thin on the ground. Or any similar tradesman. It's far more likely they won't turn up when they say than the other way round.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Im finding when I give a quote for a Tv repair, the customer will hum n haw and about half the time refuse the quote but when I give a price for a new aerial installation, I get the job 95% of the time..Monday quoted £50 -

60 for 37" LG PSU repair..didnt get it but got £60 for Sky tv link ext & £85 for full aerial install no questions asked.
Reply to
sintv

On 16/04/2013 19:01, sintv wrote: ...

and about half the time refuse the quote but when I give a price for a new aerial installation, I get the job 95% of the time..Monday quoted £50 - 60 for

37" LG PSU repair..didnt get it but got £60 for Sky tv link ext & £85 for full aerial install no questions asked.

Anybody with a broken TV will probably be undecided about whether it is worth paying to get what is almost certainly an older model working again or to go out and to buy or rent a much newer model. Aerials tend to be something they need, whatever they are attaching to it.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

aerials last longer than TVS and don't change spec so often. a GOOD Sony TV from the 70's worked right up to the digital age.

Now we have HD, HD ready, LCD, plasma OLED,several flavours of 'smart'....

innovate to obsolete!

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

I believe that TMH already charges a 50% deposit - so he could take any reasonable costs for his 'lost time, etc' out of that.

I'm surprised that his T&Cs (if he actually has any that make sense) doesn't already cover such situations - after all he's supposed to know everything there is to know about his work. *eg*

Reply to
Unbeliever

Which goes to show what a thick twunt you are.

I'd be surprised if you could understand anyone's terms & conditions - there might be some big words,

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Quite possibly not her fault. Moving can involve a whole chain of people moving on the same day and a problem with any one of them can stop the move for everyone.

You should.

SteveW

Reply to
SteveW

He'd be laughed at round here if he tried.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I really don't think it's sensible to ask for deposits or penalty charges for cancellation. Often people cancel because of the actions (or inactions) or others. Asking for a deposit etc will just annoy them, and lose their future business. My own was way of dealing this was to always have an alternative job up my sleeve. I tried to have a few non-urgent jobs hanging around that I could switch to at short notice. My plumber rung on Mon to suggest Weds pm for a little job I have for him. We'd vaguely agreed 'midweek, sometime'. I couldn't say yes because we have friends coming and it would be too disruptive. He just said, "I'll ring you back." Later: "No bother, I'll do yours on Thurs and the one who I promised Thurs to says Weds will be OK." Thus he demonstrates that he is an obliging chap, and thus I recommend him to all and sundry.

Bill

Reply to
Bill Wright

Having something in the T&C along the lines of "we reserve the right to charge...." etc might be useful. However chances are you would never actually use it with domestic customers.

Reply to
John Rumm

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