My flat rate issue

[WDHIII]

I charge a $99 flat rate for repairs that I do off site, this has been working well, until..I had a guy with a laptop that needed a dc jack repair, a new screen and a virus cleanup!!

I charged my normal flat rate...$99 per compy. I did make a little more due to marking up the screen. How do you 'flat rate' guys handle a machine with multiple problems?


Thanks,

Wil

 

[MrUnknown]

Charge per repair done, not per PC worked on.

He had 3 completely separate problems, so 3 repairs. I would give a discount on the other repairs though.

I am not coompletely flat rate, but if someone needs a virus removal (let's say it is $99), and I find out the DVD drive needs to be replaced, I make up a number in my head that I think it is worth, and tell them I can do it for $25 or something more, plus hardware.

The number is based on an hourly rate I try to charge and estimate it in my head.

edit: remember, you're the boss. there isn't really anything wrong with making up numbers as you go along, so long as you are reasonable with it. In your example, not including hardware, I would have charged probably around $200, if not more, depends on how bad the viruses were.

 

[Mushin]

I charge a $99 flat rate for repairs that I do off site, this has been working well, until..I had a guy with a laptop that needed a dc jack repair, a new screen and a virus cleanup!!

I charged my normal flat rate...$99 per compy. I did make a little more due to marking up the screen. How do you 'flat rate' guys handle a machine with multiple problems?


Thanks,

Wil

When you say off site are you referring to you going to their location or them brining the computer to you?

Have many have you had work out like this? I am willing to bet that in most cases you will not have issues so it will all even out in the end. The other way you can handle it is to let people know that you have a base price to address an issue but major hardware repairs or repairs requiring laptop disassembly may require additional charges.

 

[joydivision]

I think a fairer way to charge is per repair. Otherwise if you're charging $99 to replace a power supply that is poor value since its just a 5 minute job.

 

[NeutronTech]

I think a fairer way to charge is per repair. Otherwise if you're charging $99 to replace a power supply that is poor value since its just a 5 minute job.

That depends if that is all you do. If I replace a bad PSU, I don't just hand it back to the customer. I give it a quick diagnostic and a tuneup. I pretty much do a tuneup with all my repairs. I have a $99 flat rate too for in shop repair. Personally, I don't care if a repair only takes me 5 minutes. The customer is aware of the cost up front and it's obviously worth it since he's paying me. However, I understand your point. I have a Basic repair package of $59 that I charge for most hardware installs (except laptop stuff).

I previously made a flat rate book that listed everything I could think of, and a price to go with it. I ran into a problem figuring out multiple repairs too. I didn't want to make it up as I went along because I wanted to be able to quote the customer consistently. I ended up scrapping it. I like my new system and I make a lot more money this way.

It does even out though. You might not make much off of the 3 separate repairs in the laptop, but how many other quick jobs did you do that you made out great? That's one of the main points of flat rate pricing, good repairs wash out bad repairs and overall, you are getting as much per hour of work that you wanted. You can't look at it on a job to job basis, you have to look at the whole picture of how ever many jobs you did that week, month, whatever.

 

[WDHIII]

I guess you are right, it does seem to even out. This is the first time in 9 months that I have had 3 different 'major' problems with one machine, and I sure have had some easy ones to offeset it.

Thanks for the replies

Wil

 

[maclaptech]

I charge the same and it evens out over time and over different calls... They know up front what they have to pay so it is fair in my eyes if it only takes 5 min...

I don't charge separately for each repair on the same PC... you gain some and you loose some.

 

[Trigz]

Flat rate

Why not give variable rate pricing a go? Maybe $99 for the first hour and $77 for each additional hour.
Make the price change at the end of the year, or at the end of the current season. Companies do this all the time.

matt

 

[NeutronTech]

Why not give variable rate pricing a go? Maybe $99 for the first hour and $77 for each additional hour.
Make the price change at the end of the year, or at the end of the current season. Companies do this all the time.

matt

I think this is pretty common around here too. The first hour being more to compensate for the travel expenses. That's not really solving the problem the OP has though. His solution is to charge is normal flat rate all the time, if he intends on keeping flat rates. You win some you lose some. In the end, it all equals out.

 

[JosephLeo]

How often is it that you get a "multi-repair" job? If your $99 flat-rate model is working fine then why ditch it? If you don't get these type of jobs often then I think that it's okay to take a hit once in a while don't you think?

 

[MobileTechie]

I charge a $99 flat rate for repairs that I do off site, this has been working well, until..I had a guy with a laptop that needed a dc jack repair, a new screen and a virus cleanup!!

I charged my normal flat rate...$99 per compy. I did make a little more due to marking up the screen. How do you 'flat rate' guys handle a machine with multiple problems?


Thanks,

Wil

I'd say that the flat rate covers a single major repair with tuneup and cleaning etc being included. However I'd be happy to provide a fixed fee for the entire job. I might do the virus removal for free if it's a simple boot into safemode and run MBAM sort of job.

No way am I doing something time consuming like a DC replacement, screen replacement and a difficult virus for the price of one job.

 

[RegEdit]

I charge a $99 flat rate for repairs that I do off site, this has been working well, until..I had a guy with a laptop that needed a dc jack repair, a new screen and a virus cleanup!!

I do flat rate pricing and customers really appreciate that there won't be any lawyer-style "billing gone wild". My pricing is kind of like General Motors' "value pricing" -- It's right in the middle. If it's a small job then the customer pays more, whereas if it's multiple problems then the customer gets a bargain. I feel comfortable with my pricing because the vast majority of repairs involve just one thing. I actually charge $20 more if the repair involves fixing something inside a laptop OTHER than the easily accessible HD or RAM, so I feel protected in that regard. You might consider tacking on more for special situations. It's still flat rate pricing. You can always opt out of a job and charge them nothing.

 

[NeutronTech]

No way am I doing something time consuming like a DC replacement, screen replacement and a difficult virus for the price of one job.

I know it seems like a losing deal, but in the end it all works out. When you have a flat rate system, you really can't look at it as being paid by the job. You really have to look at a week or so, and divide it by hours that you worked. Then you get the big picture on what you made per hour. If it is consistently less than you'd like, you just up your price a bit. I really think in the end for the most part, you get what you wanted to make per hour or more. Seriously most repairs take relatively little time. So if I get one job a month or so that requires a lot of time like this laptop job would, it doesn't bother me.

But, I know that at the moment you are working on such a job, you feel cheated and underpaid for it. Even though it all averages out good.

 

[154Tech]

What about a scale? Instead of 3 issues costing 3 * $99. 1 issue is $99, 2 is $175, 3 is $225, etc, etc. It's still basically flat rate as the 3 issue customer always pays $225 no matter how long it takes you to fix all 3, but you make additional money to offset the fact that 3 issues take more time than 1.

 

[RegEdit]

What about a scale? Instead of 3 issues costing 3 * $99. 1 issue is $99, 2 is $175, 3 is $225, etc, etc. It's still basically flat rate as the 3 issue customer always pays $225 no matter how long it takes you to fix all 3, but you make additional money to offset the fact that 3 issues take more time than 1.

Define "issues". Customers never really know what exactly is wrong with their computer, so they don't want to be unsure as to whether or not they will be paying $99 or $225. They just want their computer fixed.

I charge a flat $100 to fix any software and / or hardware issues, but I add $20 if it involves fixing an internal laptop part other than the RAM or HD. I also charge more if they want data backed up. I don't charge extra if ultimately Windows needs to be reinstalled, but I charge extra if they want local email data, browser data, or secure data migrated to the new installation. As long as I'm not taking apart a laptop or backing up / importing / reconfiguring data then I am comfortable with a $100 repair.