I've had this commercial account for 13 yrs.....a few days ago I'm out there doing maintenance and WTF !! there's another ac company van in the parking lot, & the tech is working on a 20+ yr old hp. Needs a new CF motor. I nonchalantly bs with him while he's telling me all the stuff 'wrong' with this pile of crap, besides needing a new CF motor. He thinks they need a new unit, so I tell him hell yes, tell the property manager who sent you out here he needs a new unit. So he trots off, phones in to the prop mgmr, and thats the last I hear or see of him. Three days later the phone rings, its the prop mgmr, calling in a service call...........for the very same suite / ac unit.
so the question is......would YOU bend him over & load him like a shotgun??? He doesnt know I know about the other company being out there....
No. Pricing doesn't change customer to customer. They may not get the same priority. Sometimes you get shopped to make sure you aren't screwing them etc. If it's a price thing. They'd get no slack in billing anymore.
Loyalty varies from different types of customers. They get what they give. Sometimes upgrading to a better bunch of customers requires culling some old ones. Things like that goes into decisions. You better find out why your competition got called. Point blank ask.
Tough one for me because I usually become very good friends with my customers, so when they go elsewhere it becomes personal to me.
Other times its an ego thing, I KNOW what the other company is about, guys pissing in the sumps, SLEEPING in the bed when they know the owner went over
200 miles out of town, beating off over the wife's picture, and besides all this, they do crappy work and don't know what their doing.
I would tell to go f*ck himself...you have other customers and if it's like my business ...for every one I tell to get lost, I pick 2 to 3 more customers that probably someone else told them to get lost YOU do not need customers or accounts like that.
Don't take it personally they're shopping around. Things are tough these days and it's better they appreciate YOU more when they see someone else's work. That has always been my experience when you're good at what you do.
If you customer doesn't recognize that, then you don't need them anyway. They'll be a PITA to you.
My company has continued to grow, at a decent clip, because I'm always fair and always consistent. Don't get on their asses because they asked someone else to dance... that's when they find out who dances best.
As for Paul's comments... well, in all due respect, Paul... things are a lot different out here economy-wise than they were. People WILL NOT, in most circumstances, invest in new commercial equipment until it cannot ever, ever be fixed again. That's sad... and terribly inefficient, but that's the way it is. Eventually, energy will become so awfully expensive that becomes more of a concern, but it isn't right now... and that's what modern business folks worry about. Surviving...
I fix old, outdated crap all the time. As someone posted, stuff built 20 years ago is one hell of a lot 'sturdier' than the junk manufactured today. Equipment built 30 years ago will run almost indefinitely with the right care and proper application.
Is it correct, or even smart? No. But it's what people do to get by....
Very true, most commercial accounts will pay BIG bucks for repair before a replacement happens. They will end up paying more in a few years, but they never take that into consideration.
Jake, For being an electrician by trade, you're one astute, sharp cookie. :-)
Personally I dont think the cost of energy by itself will drive replacement of worn out equipment vs repair, there has to be much stronger benefits, such as federal tax credits. Locally gasoline is $3.59 a gallon and the freeways are still parking lots, even when everybody is supposed to be at work.
And ther reason they will repair over replace??? (drum role please!)
DEPRECIATION
Yep, if the unit isn't depreciated they won't replace it Also, repairs are 100% deductable THAT year while a new unit has to be amoratized over 18.5 years LASTLY, if they rent the place they refuse to replace it, even if its a long term lease. If its a Net Net Net lease then they 'may', but usually they don't because they want to use the equipment as a negotiation item to keep the leases renewal lower or to have the owner pay the costs in order to renew the lease.
Commercial/Industrial equipment does have 'wear parts'. Bearings will need occasional replacement, starters need re-furbed or replaced, all that sort of thing.
... and it isn't just American Manufacturers, either. It's dictated by what people will pay for things. I own several Caterpillar lift trucks... sounds American, right? They're made in Texas by.... Mitsubishi... and they're good trucks, for the most part.
But here's what's happened to industry all over. I called my Cat dealer recently bitching that we have to replace steer axle king pins in these trucks about once a year. They're the 10,000 pound lift class. We run them near capacity (and maybe over sometimes... transformers are heavy).
The dealer told me ALL the new lift trucks are designed for 85 percent capacity continuous, and 100 percent load 25 percent of the time. They used to be designed for 125 percent capacity ALL the time.
I see the same thing with motors. Give me an old Reliance, Delco or Baldor... re-bearing the thing and it will run forever... because it was designed to... 115-125 percent rated CONTINUOUS. You won't find that in a heavy-duty motor today... in a temperature rating that is realistic... except maybe the Toshiba 100+ HP models.
People claim that equipment designed to capacity, and that's all.. is more energy efficient. I don't think so. The stuff breaks down faster, usually has to be tossed out and a new thing purchased. What does it cost... in energy terms, to transport all this crap, install it, haul it away when it fails and then recycle it?
Geeze... you guys got TWO rants out of me in TWO days. I must be having a bad week...
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