A potential customer phoned me and asked for a quote. I said that it was a smallish job and did not necessitate a visit. I quoted my hourly rates on the phone, as the work involved fault finding.


I removed some very old and rain filled and corroded outside lights, supplied two new lights and installed them. Inspected the old M.E.M. wooden framed fuse box with porcelain fuse carriers, showed the customer a 5 Amp lighting fuse carrier with a 15 Amp piece of fuse wire fitted, explained the danger with that, disconnected an old corroded driveway short lamp post wired in T&E cable run in a plastic underground hose that was tripping off the one and only house R.C.D.  and replaced some damaged wiring accessories and rectified other faults. Tested the earthing and R.C.D.s and inspected the intake position etc. The customer made me lots of cups of tea and we got on well.


When I had finished I presented my invoice and the customer gave me a cheque.


An hour later when I got home he complained about being overcharged. We discussed the matter. He demanded a discount. I refused, and explained that he had not said anything about discounts when I was at his house.


In the morning I phoned him up and said that if he wasn't happy I could return and remove all of my materials, at his cost. He said that I would have to replace his old lights, but confirmed that his cheque will clear without  problem. He claimed that when I had quoted my rates initially on the phone I had said that the charges were for the day, and not the hour. He was wrong. I had quoted the hourly rate for the first hour and then the lower hourly rated for subsequent hours. He said that I must overcharge as I was immediately available to work for him, indicating that others would not employ me as I charged too much, and all other local electricians were not available for weeks.


But we soldier on. I hope that the cheque clears.


I must try to source one of  those radio operated devices that a certain forum member mentioned a few years back. It connected N to E when operated, and can be easily hidden. Or is that very naughty?


Z.