Date:         Tue, 16 Jan 2007 21:29:19 -0500
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Moral question--no Bob-related content
In-Reply-To:  <6da579340701161739g2bb0bd03yb3ae6d8daf223d1f@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

That sounds like an honest way to handle it.

I had a problem on my van a few years ago, ended up at that vanagon guy in
Rapid City, SD where others on this list have been. Nice folks, but it took
them AGES to figure out what was wrong.  Days. I was camping at their repair
place, riding my bike around the town, hanging out waiting.  When they
finally got it figured it out and fixed they told me they were going to
charge me for around half the time they put into it, which seemed fair.

My dentist once decided she hadn't done a good enough job on a crown, and a
year later said "will you let me replace it?"  Once she made it clear that
it was at her expense, of course she did replace it.  Which also seemed
appropriate.

If a professional can't solve a problem that falls within their field, I
don't think they should be able to bill for their time.  With the guys in
SD, the problems with my van were a mix of the kinds of problems that are
hard to sort out, but they probably could have been more systematic about it
- paying them half seemed okay.  It is kind of a gray area.


Joy

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of John Bange
:::Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 8:40 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: Re: Moral question--no Bob-related content
:::
:::>
:::> He put in the time, so he should be paid. I didn't get the problem
:::fixed,
:::> so
:::> he shouldn't be paid. What's the answer?
:::
:::
:::As a technical service person myself, this is how I look at it: I am
:::hired
:::to perform a task. I generally bill hourly for the time it takes to
:::complete
:::that task, under the presumption that I am competent to do the job and
:::won't
:::be billing for time spent scratching my head. I have had cases where a
:::job
:::has taken me 1 or 2 hours longer than it should have because I missed
:::something obvious and critical. I never bill for those 1 or 2 hours,
:::because
:::the client is paying for my expertise, not my stupidity. In a case where
:::I
:::can't solve the problem, I will either walk away without billing a dime
:::(if
:::I'm totally stumped), or bill for perhaps an hour or two (if I am able to
:::tell the client WHY I can't fix it, and maybe tell them who CAN).
:::
:::In short, it's not the time alone that's worth anything, it's the time
:::spent
:::providing you with a valuable service. Troubleshooting that ends with "I
:::dunno" isn't worth squat. The mechanic and HVAC guys are jerks to ask you
:::to
:::pay full boat for fruitless troubleshooting. If they want to be paid
:::hourly
:::without regard to performance, then they need to go work in a factory, or
:::state government, or something.
:::
:::--
:::John Bange
:::'90 Vanagon - "Geldsauger"
:::"Staubkess bolt? I have one of those?"