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Heard a customer say they paid $80 for a fridge diagnostic fee and I thought that was fair
Had a guy tell me his neighbor charged him $80 just to look at a fridge that wasn't cooling, and now I'm wondering if I should bump up my own diagnostic fee from $50 since I've been using the same rate for like 3 years now, anyone else adjust theirs lately?
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wright.leo5d agoMost Upvoted
Honestly, I gotta push back on that "last straw" story, @david_reed22. $45 for a two hour round trip plus gas is rough, but bumping it to $70 right after one bad customer feels like a reaction, not a strategy. I think $50 can still work fine if you're upfront about what the fee covers and you're not driving crazy distances for every call.
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lol I went through this exact same thing last year. I was at $55 for the longest time and felt weird about raising it but honestly, you gotta think about your time and gas if you're driving to people's houses. $80 is pretty standard now in my area, I bumped mine to $75 and nobody even blinked. The trick is just to make sure you're clear upfront what the diagnostic covers, like if you stay and fix something does that fee get waived or rolled into the repair cost. Also check what other people in your area are charging, don't just jump to $80 because one guy said his neighbor paid that, but yeah $50 is kinda low for 2024.
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david_reed226d ago
Blew my mind when my buddy Tom told me what happened with his diagnostic fee last summer. He's been doing appliance repair on the side for years, had his rate at $45 forever. One day he drives 45 minutes to a lady's house, spends an hour figuring out her fridge just needed a defrost timer, tells her the fix is $60 plus parts, and she flips out saying she already paid him $45 just to show up. He explained the $45 was his truck roll fee and diagnostic, not the repair, but she wouldn't budge. He ended up walking away with just the $45 for a two hour round trip plus gas, and that was the last straw for him. He bumped his diagnostic to $70 the next week and says the only people who complained were the ones who would've been a pain anyway. From what he told me, $50 these days is basically you paying to work for someone.
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