You know those annoying customers, the ones that think they know how to repair and manage their security system until the day comes that something breaks. The phone rings, you answer to hear a familiar yet panicky voice. Help me, my system is offline, I don't what went wrong nothing is working. They love paying T&M for certain tasks but are reluctant to sign onto any managed services and agreements stating they can fix the system themselves.
What's your move? Oh boy...
If they are not going to keep there hands off the hardware then T&M sounds like the best option.
Next time you present them with a T&M invoice, prepare a second one with a backdated services agreement.
Make the T&M invoice a bit more than the service agreement.
You deal with it.
Since you have no contract, you don't have to answer their call. Or you continue to charge T&M.
My issue with those types of customers in the past, as a technician, is they also critique everything I do while I am fixing the problem they caused. And then they apparently dispute the charges later.
One in particular, the guy added a bunch of extra stuff to his system, beyond the auxiliary power of the system. He had a random alarm of all his powered devices. So I get dispatched, and I show up and count everything. I look up the max power draw of everything, and he is like 100ma over.
"Well not everything would ever go on all at once!" he claimed. Well, that's not how you do power calculations, because you can't really control if everything will go on all at the same time. Since all your powered devices went into alarm at the same time, all I can assume is the power overloaded and cut off.
So I quote him the cost (from the office), and install an auxiliary power supply and split everything up. The whole time he keeps chirping about how this isn't the issue, such a waste. All my devices would never all draw power at the same time. He later disputed the charges of the T&M call, not sure what became of it, but he never did have that issue again.
I went into an anecdote, but aside from not servicing them, or continuing to provide T&M service, there isn't much you can do about those customers that insist on doing their own work. Especially if all the equipment is paid for. We liked to remind ours the terms of the initial contract for installation stated any unauthorized work voided you warranty, outside of that it was always, "Here's what I did, and the office will send you a bill."
My issue with those types of customers in the past, as a technician, is they also critique everything I do while I am fixing the problem they caused.
(Adjust for your rates)
Thanks Daniel for the very accurate and informative perspective. I can agree I have seen this same ping pong match before. Well done.
I was going to type this long story of one of our PITA clients but the bottom line is, you can fire clients. Make your terms very clear, and if they are not good for your business, let them go.
They own their system and can finger it if they want, as long as they pay the bill. Where I do draw the line is when they have multiple vendors out to "do work". If we see clear signs that other vendors have been in a panel, I will walk away. I don't know how to explain the difference, but for us, there is a difference. I too "fire" clients.
You have all heard of the 80/20 rule: 80% of your revenue is generated by 20% of your customers. Tru-dat. I annually reevaluate those that underperform and make adjustments. They eat up too many resources.
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