24 hr emergency service

[deltavolt]

hi guys i'd like to find out what 24 hr service means to different people and in different places. i currently do not manage a service dept that offers 24 hr service. I'm very interested as to what you say to a customer (not what you'd like to say) but as to company policy what you say to a customer at 9pm or 1 am e.t.c.

[coolwhip]

After 6pm I screen the calls and if its an emergency I go.

[vern p]

I always gave the customer the option based on rates. After 5pm is time and a half, after 10pm double time, after 1am triple time. If they could wait till 8am regular rates. The choice was all in how much they could afford to pay.

[deltavolt]

vern i can't imagine you get too many customers eager to get you to come out after 1 am. do your techs get triple compensation if they go out that late?

[vern p]

After 1 am if they want to pay triple I go myself lol. But if a tech went on the call I would pay him triple you betcha.

[markwolf]

The machine at the shop gives the emergency number only after it explains that it will be overtime & that non established customers will be expected to pay upon completion.This weeds out most bogus calls before we get them.

[dec]

wow triple time , now I have never tried that. I think that would be an easy way of making them go away being only Bill gates might pay that ...lol. Only once or twice I have had someone call at 5 in the morning and just told them turn the stove on I will be getting up in about an hour and their is no sense in having me get up now. one and two in the morning , now thats not uncommon. Now when it is really busy only my equipment gets done unless we have time. No sense in killing myself over customers that only call when its 10 below. Now if I hang around to be on call on Christmas the phone never rings. If I go out of town we are overwelmed with calls. If it gets slow you think I should leave town?

[deltavolt]

vern bills heavy and doesn't send his techs out unless they want. the question still is what constitutes an emergency at you company. do you maybe work for a company that shuts it off at 8pm? do you not run call is they have at least one system functioning? if its a gas leak only? or does everyone pretty much run whoever calls whenever they call for whatever reason? i've seen it all i'm just trying to get a consensus of what is most popular with the average company.

[troyorr]

I work an 8 hour day. If you call for service on Monday, I'll be there by Thursday. An 8 hour day, times 3 days equals 24 hour service.

[Milk man]

IMO, most emergency calls aren't emergencies. Of course I'm just a pee on. It only cost the coustomer Fourty dollars more for me to go out at night. Really sucks the big one. If they will pay I fly.

[a\c don]

Where I work the office closes at 6PM.

From 6:01 until 9PM answering service sends text messages to our nextime uh I mean nextel phones so the oncall tech can call the customer to explain the OT and all that good stuff.

All calls after 9PM are held until the office opens in the morning.

Helps prevent tech burnout.

[no8no3]

We have a lot of full maintenance contracts, and i have personally gone out at 3:00am to work on a water cooler. (no joke) We have one account that requires us to come reguardless of time or holidays.

I want to work the night shift for Vern....you are the man Vern!

[appltech1]

Our company owner is very generous when it comes to emergency service. He pays the tech full markup on the job less 10%. Thats emergency serice call, labor and part mark up less 10%. Can anyone top that? There is 1 catch, if you bring the call back incomplete the next day, it goes back to the company and you only get the Emergency S/call. There are other rules you have to go by but i think you get the jist of it.

[Edited by appltech1 on 01-20-2005 at 10:11 PM]