Service calls

[glen]

Looks like any service calls are being booked into sales availability slots, I have one booked in for next Tuesday and on the SAM device it has four options for me to highlight when service call is done.

SUCCESSFUL
UNSUCCESSFUL
DOR REQUIRED
BLIND/S FOR REPAIR

Could have done call yesterday when I was in area but no, now I have to lose a potential sale because some wise man/woman has put it in my diary slot. CRAZY
And yet again something just added without telling us.

Glen

SPOKE TO HEAD OFFICE AND ALL SERVICE CALLS WILL BE BOOKED ONTO DIARY.

[JoY]

Is it in our contract that we attend under guarantee service calls for no payment? Surely if Hillarys supply a blind that develops a fault under guarantee, they should pay us to visit the customer and sort it out.

Can you imagine if all of the 4 for 99's need repairs, and we only got £14 commission for them in the first place???

We should be invoicing for our time.... I think £25 per hour, would be more than reasonable.....

[mendipmagpie]

Hi Folks
Service calls have been a bone of contention for 10 years that I know of and I agree we should be paid especially if they are now going to take the place of a potential sale.I agree with J&M that these are not due to the failings of the advisor and I bet that they will be as far as possible away from your work area on that particular day.---- More fuel costs-----
Mendipmagpie

[glen]

If a adviser refuses to do a service call BECAUSE BLIND IS FAULTY and Hillary's will not pay service call fee £20 will they terminate agency ??

If they do they will still have to pay another adviser a service call fee to sort problem out ?? catch 22 really

Some definite rules need sorting this issue is always going to be around so Hillary's need to address this sooner rather than later.

What do you think

Glen

I hope Hillary's top ponchos are taking this in

[Augustus]

Might be better to have our views posted in the 'feedback for HQ' section.

I have just got back from 2 jobs on the 4/99 . Both have DOR's, one with a stappled louvre the other with all the hangers missing and one weight missing.

I will get paid a massive £30 for these jobs and now I have to go back again .

I have had two jobs in the last 6 months that I have refused to go back to because they can't get the blinds right.

HQ have had to organize another agent to go out and pay them to do it.

If we are 'charged' when we make a mistake then why can't we 'charge' them when they do ?

I can't beleive any other company is like this ?

P.

[ashwater]

Hi
First posting!
I have agreed a price usually £20 with H/O.
On one occasion H/O refused to agree a price so I told them I wouldn't go. I got an e-mail from my FSM telling me that I would get paid and did.
I think they just try it on!
Wayne.

[JoY]

£20 per service call sounds good to me..... a compromise really, as it still doesn't really cover time and petrol, but better than the present payment!

Mellissa? What do you think?

I can see that it may be open to abuse by Advisors perhaps being a bit naughty and making up calls, but if we got the customer to sign a repair note, even thought they are not paying, it would cover us.

[Bear]

I have done umpteen service calls on other agents blinds over the years and never been offered a payment. I was definitely told it was part of my Contract. If some agents are getting paid (£20.00!!!) then I have done my last sales call unpaid on other agents sales and I aint doing any more UNLESS there is a payment offered.
They try it on, and I thought they had a genuine ethical streak.. This really damned well annoys me.
I have been upstraight with Hillarys for over 8 years now and if they have been milking my kindness over the years they can put their blinds where the monkey put his nuts.

It really hacks me off... They must have dodged paying me a couple of grand over 8.5 years
the swine..
bear

[JoY]

To Bear with a Sore Head....

Look at it this way...... now you DO know due to this forum.

Negotiate a payment BEFORE you agree to go out to a service call. Preferable by email so there's no confusion when you claim it.

If it was me I would ask for some compensation for past work done for Hillarys without payment.

PS I know exactly which rollers you mean that look like a shower curtain ;D ;D ;D

[Augustus]

Not to rub it in but if it is out of your area then you should be claiming a minimum of £25 plus £10 an hour after the first hour AND 30p a mile.


For too long we really have been letting them get away with not paying what we are worth.

10 months ago when they did the figures in front of us to 'sell' us on the idea of SAM I sat in a room where they said on average we should be earning £20 an hour.

Lets not forget that we are self employed and if necessary we can register ourselves as a company and invoice them for ANY work done...


Other than that Hillarys are great to work for !

P.

[phugly]

I'd like to see how long we would last as advisors if we tried that one motters.
As for the mileage, they only offered me 25p per mile

[flyman]

I have only ever once had a service call added to my diary, normally I get a phone call asking me (very nicely) if I would do a service call, never any pressure. I always get paid £20 per call and £10 per hour after one hour. personally I have no complaints. Never peen paid mileage though.

[BlindWizard]

Same here flyman., exactly the same deal.
When I first started had a few issues but since always state my price I'm always paid and seem to have a good relationship with customer services - they give me a problem, I sort it, they pay me - no problem

[Augustus]

I'll agree with what most are saying, but there does seem a need for some kind of standard here.

Have going back to the same customer with faulty wooden venetians for the 4th time I asked HQ for payment if I had to go again- one person said no so I said I wouldn't be going again. A few days later I get offered payment to try 'one more time' .

That time I was paid.

I do always get a call before anything goes in the diary mind you.

Call diary maintenance and ask who put it in, drop them an email and agree a fee long before you go or refuse it.


At very least find out what the call is for, it might be something you can sort with the customer over the phone.

P.

[Bear]

Thanks for the pointers people--What a nice lot we are.

This forum has been badly needed. I certainly have lost out on service calls done over the years.

Now I will insist on £20.00 minimum plus £10 per hour if I cant get the "No Nails" to work in the first hour!!! ; ;D ;D ;D

Bear