Charging for non solved problems ?

If you let clients get used to the idea of getting "freebies", they will eventually come to expect it. However, you should let clients know up front that you charge for all time. A contract is a very good thing to have in a case like this, it lays out all the ground rules for the client.

The doctor has seen the patient for an initial consultation, and has booked that patient in for further tests and treatment at a later date. The initial appointment forms part of the ongoing treatment course and is therefore chargeable.

When I was consulting, I set a flat fee of $25-$50 per hour, depending on how far away the site was, just to show up and make a diagnosis. I made it clear up front that those fees were non-negotiable, and due upon arrival. ( got stiffed too many times by people who were miffed that no, I couldn't magically bring back the last 10 years worth of un-backedup data ). If I had to make a return visit, I would apply the money already paid to the total, eating the travel costs for the second trip.

It has to be the case that a basic call-out charge is levied to cover your time in attending the site. However it is to be hoped that you made this clear to the client at the outset.

It is unlikely that any client will accurately diagnose what iswrong, (after all thats why we are here). You should always anticipate that a job will take longer than expected - sods law rules - OK?

Hi I do not work on computers for a living but I would charge them.As the only one who knows half enough to work on and build computers in two families let me tell you that some times I wish I could charge some of the family members.Who trash there computers and delete all kinds of stuff and SAY MY COMPUTER WON'T BOOT ANYMORE CAN YOU COME AND LOOK AT IT.And I have to spend 2 days reinstalling windows and finding drivers that they don't know where they are.So if I did it for a living YES CHARGE THEM.

You should always charge for diagnosis and problem solving research. It's all part of the process of finding out what is wrong... Even if it's only 15 minutes, it's time you're not using for another task. The company I work for charges from the minute we pick up the phone. If we can awnser within 5 minutes, it's pretty much considered a freeby. As soon as it crosses that line, it's charged in 15 minute increments. When we are on-site, it's one hour minimum and then calculated in 15 minute increments again.

However, I disagree with "Rzan"s' view that you should charge double because the client caused most of the problems. In another discussion, consultants where vehemently critisised for the way they tend to trample the client (see "Consultants: Leeches of the IT world?")... This is not the way to alleviate those views... and it's not very professionnal either. Does a mechanic charge you extra when you bring him the car you were careless with...?

M.

Remember you are a business not a best friend. As a professional, you need to charge for your time, but also make sure you are of value to the customer.

The best example I can think of is the plumber I use. If you schedule an appointment, he charges $50 an hour (a bargain) and the minimu charge is for 1 hour. Once he gets there, however, he will always try to do an hours worth of work. If he finishes the job I called him for in 30 minutes, he will look around a fix other things to make afull hour. Needless to say, I feel I always get a good deal and I have remained loyal to him for 10+ years.

Yes you should charge for the call. Be sure to tell the caller up front about it. If you don't thve the time to fix a problem at the scheduled visit, tell the client and schedule a new time. Tell the client you have to bill him. You can blame it on your accountant, even if the accountant is you. Then ask the client if there is anything else you can do for him on the current visit.

If I am called by a client for a problem I go out and look at it. I don't charge them for the visit but I tell them that if they want the problem fixed I charge x amount of dollars per hour and if they want I can start on it right then. If other client commitments will not allow me to start on the problem, I offer them a time I can come back. The problem is if you leave without starting on the problem they can find someone else to do the job and leave you out in the cold. I can't tell you whether or not you should charge the guy for the visit. If you should decide to though, I would invoice it as Consultation (time spent) Free and then Diagnosis (time spent) x amount of dollars. I would only do this if you were there for more than anhour. If you have visited this company before and did not charge him for a diagnosis, then do not do it this time. You don't want to lose him as a client. Good luck!

I used to work for a consulting/repair company, and this is what our diagnosis policy was. It cost $35 for us to look at your problem. Once we told you the problem you could pay us $35 and be done with us. If you decided to have us do the work weapplied the $35 to the first hour of labor. So if we did the work the diagnosis was pretty much free.

I concur with Kim. It depends on the client, the relationship with the client, your ability to resolve the problem. Taking into account the orginal question, do you charge for diagnostics even if you can't resolve the problem ? Yes. How much depends on the answers to the question above. Our policy is to charge. If the customer wants to negitiate, or we feel we want to cut them a break, we will do so on a case by case basis. We will never (almost) take a loss. We are will to negitiate, but we are a business and need to cover our costs.

My opinion is that part of the job of a consultant is client relationship-building. Sometimes you need to have far-sightedness that doesn't yield tangible results immediately. In this case, a patient explanation of the procedures that the client SHOULD have followed with the client in a sit down meeting would be warranted. Clients usually appreciate advice of this nature. Stress that he should have called you earlier and leave him with a positive view of your firm.

I appreciate , and agree with the reply entitled "You are a business", for the most part. With my loyal customers, who know better than to go mucking about in things they don't understand and are able to report what happened accurately - thus a) not giving me any unwelcomed surprises, b) not wasting my time and c) do not attempt to downplay the situation in hopes of saving $$ - I reward them by waiving the diagnosis fee.

Your other respondants are correct, you are a business; while keeping that in mind, there are intangible benefits to extended customer care, which may exceed the limits of the pocetbook, yet still affect it ... such as referrals.

I suppose there, really, is no cut-and-dried perfect answer. For me, at least, it is situational.

There may be a few exceptions, but I think you should bill for any time spent on behalf of a client whether it solves a problem or not. If you think you've got a bad case of indegestion, go to the hospital where it turns out you're having a heart attack, doctors work on you for a couple of hours, then you die; do ya think they're gonna say there's no charge since the problem wasn't fixed? Harsh but true. Mechanics charge whether they fix your car or not. Restaurants charge whether you eat the food or not. I think its a good idea to get in the habit of always charging so you don't feel bad when you charge or feel bad when you don't charge. I've always given free phone support so far, but if that was excessive I would have to charge for that too. Business is business, treat it that way!

To make it easier for both client and consultant, I think you need to make it clear when the client call for service, you need to let them know that minimum on site charge is two hours charge minimum. The two hours charge give you time to talk to the user and diagnose the problem. In the case stated, you can tell the user what you find out and give them a written estimation cost, and let user decide whether to go ahead or not. Thanks,

Every client should be billed for the amount of time spent on diagnosing the problem. I do not think that lowering the rate is a good idea because, what if you diagnose a problem (charge rate A), then attempt to fix the problem (rate B) then realize that you broke something else because the client failed to inform you of something else they did or did not do. How can you keep track of all that? Keep the rate the same. The client will see the value of the work and pay for it.

I also have experienced the problem of being told one thing and than just like a auto mechanic once I pop the hood and take a look for myself find that generally it was user error that caused a problem.

In these cases, although you don't want to accuse a customer of fowling up their own system, you can let them know that the problem you detect is the result of...[ and make your feeling known indirectly ]they will usually get the hint and except the fact that they conveniently forgot to tellyou a bit of information. in these cases payment for your time could be charged at a flat rate., if as in most cases it was a house call (business) travel time should be compensated billed as your physician would bill you for coming in with a cold, You already know you have a cold, yet you pay to hear him/ or her tell you anyway.

Not to say you should have to pay a tech mucho denaro $$$ just compensate for the time to tell you that you screwed up your system.

If it was in fact a hardware problem and it was described over the phone as a software conflict... Well, the initial travel to come out and make the correct diagnosis should be charged as well. Even though you did not fix the system, it should be added to the bill, you have to leave and come back again with the replacement part right. I found that as long as you treat the customer as a friend, respect them, don't talk tech talk, show them and inform them of what the problem was, basically being the only honest guy in town. they not only will call you each and every time they have a problem... but won't mind paying an initial diagnostic fee for a good tech. Keep it reasonable.

My time is very valuable to me and my family. I have two purposes for my consulting business: help people and make money. At the site I try to work in a way that lets the client see that I am a professional who cares about the productivity and security of their business. I put a high priority on developing a relationship that gives them a sense of proactive service at a fair price. I do cut them some slack when I am researching in an area I'm not familiar with (okay, I'm really fishing around in the dark - I try not to charge too much for my ignorance) . Since most of my new clients come by word of mouth, I try to live by this rule: Business Won't Build Relationships - Relationships Build Business.

If you go to the doctor, you are billed. If you go to an attorney, you are billed. Like these other two professions, the diagnosis and "fix" are not always clear and not always immediately obtained. The only thing we have to sell is knowledge andtime - both of which were used by the client in the above scenario.

"In the world of IT we can guarantee that whenever we believe we have the software to fix a problem it will invariably be the wrong version"

or it will require an OS upgrade that breaks even more things.

And I will take the opportunity to sell SOMETHING while on site.

I use 50% of my hourly as a flat "diagnose" fee with repair charges after that.

The fault was clearly on the client's shoulders, as he did not correctly describe the problem. If you are using a basic call-out fee, than I think it would be entirely appropriate to charge it in this case.

As for myself, I would only abstain from charging if I were entirely unable to solve the problem due to my lack of skill or knowledge. However if I had been able to partially fix the problem, then I think it would be fair to charge for my time.