Reply to Thread

never fails

about the only two problems we have had with our after hours answering service is...taking residential calls..i usually call the HO back and explain we only do commercial...only once was the person pissed and started in on me...CLICK. The other thing is they are supposed to call our home phone then our work cells..try each one twice then go on to the back up guy. They called my work cell once and i did not get to the phone, they immediately called my owner/boss

I got rid of my answering service, they would always screw up and call me when I was not on call, or some dead beat that was a slow payer would interrupt you. We got a special cell phone, and gave the number to only our best customers. We just hand the phone to each other for on call, and the rest of the calls go to our regular line voice mail, they get checked in the AM. Some of the answering services bloopers were, calling my when I was in Las Vegas getting married. Calling me 10:30 at night while I was a sleep to tell me a customer called at 7:30 PM to say they were not paying a bill. Calling 11 PM with no AC residential. Called me when I was not on call a few times, I was skiing, a slow payer wanted service, or a non appreciative customer wanted service. Calling at 11:30 PM, Residential customer did not know how to use tstat.......... That is when I fired the service. But we are always there for our best customers that pay us, appreciate us, and don't *****.

Reminds of a time when I was still working for someone else.............I was on call and a call came in at about 9:30 pm on a Friday night. A guy, who's furnace wasn't working and it was a cold night, called and wanted me to come out, but after explaining the overtime rates he said, "Screw that! I'll wait till Monday!" and then hung up. I said to my wife that after he explains it to his wife they'll be calling back. About twenty minutes later......sure enough..... the wife called back. LOL!

Had a co-worker who would tell them for him to come out in the middle of the night someone better need CPR.

This was a domestic call and the fridge was still cooling just with a noisy fan motor that I didn"t have and couldn't even order till monday. With over night bus freight the only alternative.
Major grocery store or other business customers are definately too important to leave unattended.

depends who what when...If its a regular retail store i talk them into letting me come in the morning. A restaurant, i ask when closing time is. If its still several hours away i go on the call because they are losing business, if its within 2 hours i tell them i will be their in the morning. Server rooms and smell of gas i am putting on my boots before i even hang the phone up.

Hmmmm.... Guess I'm weird.. I run every call I can get.. Just like the OT!

One tech I knew would always tell them its a 4 hour minimum charge at OT rate(which was not true), do you want me to come out?
He rarely had to go.

How come when they call at 8 am and are told they have to wait until the afternoon it is ok but when they call at 1 am they can't wait until 8 am?

I have always responded to anything from drips to disasters (although we charge extra) as my boss would surely die of starvation if I were to ever miss an after hours call. One day, while answering an unusually high volume of calls, I had an angry customer that could not understand why I could not respond immediately to his lack of comfort cooling. "It says in the phone book that you have 24 HR. emergency service" he said, "Why do I have to wait?" My response was; "Sir, for real emergencies dial 911, other wise I'll be there as soon as I can."
Consequently, my boss had to take call one weekend. When I came in on Monday, he handed me a list of people that had called in over the weekend that he told to wait until Monday.?????????????????????????????????

I first tell them that I ONLY run calls that cause fire, shocking, flooding, or health related problems as emergencies.
Then I tell them that I charge extra on saturdays, sundays, and holidays.
They usualy ask how much extra, then I usualy hear that it can wait.

Chris

Amazing how it can go from an emergency to a regular service call once you talk about money!

Originally Posted by K_Neil

Got a call early sunday about a squealing fridge.

I wish they would learn. Emergency service hours are for.....

Drum roll please....

Emergencies!

That gets em everytime

ducking sunday morning service calls

Got a call early sunday about a squealing fridge. Everything still working but no fan motor in stock. Tried everything to put it off till monday, nothing worked and my tee time was coming up. Finally got mad and told him it's double time on sunday. Instant reply " Oh it can wait till tomorrow." CLICK