I received a call from someone who got my company from the phone book. They had a problem with relays welding shut and asked if I had ever worked on that before. I asked them to send a schematic, and it was missing clamp diodes to control the surge.

I answered their question without asking for a billing. It took me two hours, one hour of which was to make sure I had it right. They were happy, and asked me to come out to check their work, and then I mentioned my hourly rate. They haven't responded with a request for me to come out, but I tried to figure that my free response let them know of my abilities if they should need help in the future.

Was I just trying to convince myself that I wasn't taken, or does this seem like a good practice to follow in the future?

How does one respond to a question that can be answered with a quick response over the telephone?

- JimTheEngineer