First customer !!!

[Ian platt]

First customer brings in a pair of sandals could you sole and heel these  wasn’t a straight forward job straps all loose  rope type wedge heel all the layers of rope loose  yes I replied  £16.95 is that ok    Oh I don’t think I’ll bother I mean if it was about a £5 it might be worth it to which I replied I’ve been repairing shoes since 1981 and sole and heel was more than a fiver back then !!! Hope that’s not patern of my day!!!!

[The Worksop Heel Bar]

Had this a few times lately. £5 hardly covers materials let alone the time to do the job. I don't think people realise they aren't just paying for the materials but for the skill and knowledge that has taken years to accumulate to actually do the job. 

[kirkybob]

They wont work for less than minimum wage , but want to pay someone else to work for them for next to nothing. I was once asked to do a job  for a customer to what worked out to be 50p an hour. This was about 5 years ago and the customer could not see why I turned the job down.

[The Worksop Heel Bar]

It gets me when they come in for work done, you tell them the price, they then say "That's expensive, it's only a simple and easy repair!" 

If it was that simple and easy you wouldn't need me to do it, anyone could do it. 

[Bren]

Same this morning for me. Sandals with one in 3 pieces. Quoted 8 quid for the pair and punter pulled her face. How much did she expect it to coast?

Anyone complaining about my prices gets instantly sent to timpsons pop-up about 2 mins walk away.

[x minit uk]

Unfortunately I think we are going to see more and more of this with cost of living crisis .

[rubinshazi]

16.95 thats very cheap

[The Worksop Heel Bar]

Had another one this morning but this time asking how much for a watch battery, told him £5 only to get a shocked face and "I haven't got that much cash!"

I'm sure I said £5

He'll have a cardiac when he goes down the road to Timpsons

[almeriasecure]

On 7/21/2022 at 9:27 AM, Ian platt said:

First customer brings in a pair of sandals could you sole and heel these  wasn’t a straight forward job straps all loose  rope type wedge heel all the layers of rope loose  yes I replied  £16.95 is that ok    Oh I don’t think I’ll bother I mean if it was about a £5 it might be worth it to which I replied I’ve been repairing shoes since 1981 and sole and heel was more than a fiver back then !!! Hope that’s not patern of my day!!!!

It's the same in the locksmiths trade.

You quote a price and sometimes the answer is "I'll call you back" or I'll have to speak to the missus"

They try to shop around for a cheaper price when you have given a good price.

I once had a call out for a snapped key in a filing cabinet.

When I quoted £50.00 she said don't bother.

I asked her what price she was expecting to pay. £5.00 was the answer.

[kirkybob]

7 minutes ago, almeriasecure said:

It's the same in the locksmiths trade.

You quote a price and sometimes the answer is "I'll call you back" or I'll have to speak to the missus"

They try to shop around for a cheaper price when you have given a good price.

I once had a call out for a snapped key in a filing cabinet.

When I quoted £50.00 she said don't bother.

I asked her what price she was expecting to pay. £5.00 was the answer.

Was she going to bring the filing cabinet in or where you expected to go on site to fix it.

[almeriasecure]

She expected me to go to her home and unlock it

[rubinshazi]

You guys in uk should get together to work on a minimun charge for different services and stick to that. Dont undercut each other. 15.99 for soles and heels and a fiver for a battery is way too cheap. 

[grahamparker]

37 minutes ago, rubinshazi said:

You guys in uk should get together to work on a minimun charge for different services and stick to that. Dont undercut each other. 15.99 for soles and heels and a fiver for a battery is way too cheap. 

In your opinion.

This argument has been had for many years some are cheap some are expensive, We all charge what we feel is right for our location and customer base.

7 years ago a local guy popped up and undercut everyone, we lost a fair bit of our key cutting trade but i held my nerve and 7 years on the company has gone bust and we are busier than ever, we are now at 50-60 thousand keys a year and padlock sales this last year have just hit 14,000 but you may say my key cutting prices are way to cheap.

 

[cobblers.keys]

I had a woman come in today asking if I had some insoles for box Oxfords. When I asked what type of shoes they are she said '' you work in a shoe shop and don't know what box Oxfords are " laughed and walked out and told her husband. I knew that box Oxfords must be footwear but didn't recognise them. I thought she was a bit out of order just because I work in the industry and don't know every type/style of footwear under the sun. Imo

[Count Muppet]

She sounds like a dick

id have been happy to see the back of her

[Flash]

2 hours ago, cobblers.keys said:

I had a woman come in today asking if I had some insoles for box Oxfords. When I asked what type of shoes they are she said '' you work in a shoe shop and don't know what box Oxfords are " laughed and walked out and told her husband. I knew that box Oxfords must be footwear but didn't recognise them. I thought she was a bit out of order just because I work in the industry and don't know every type/style of footwear under the sun. Imo

Are they just a shoe maker in Oxford?

[grahamparker]

So are box Oxfords similar to bagged Oxfords.

 

[Flash]

Just a bit cheaper!!!!!!

[rubinshazi]

On 7/25/2022 at 10:19 AM, grahamparker said:

In your opinion.

This argument has been had for many years some are cheap some are expensive, We all charge what we feel is right for our location and customer base.

7 years ago a local guy popped up and undercut everyone, we lost a fair bit of our key cutting trade but i held my nerve and 7 years on the company has gone bust and we are busier than ever, we are now at 50-60 thousand keys a year and padlock sales this last year have just hit 14,000 but you may say my key cutting prices are way to cheap.

 

Of course my opinion. Dont know how much you charge for a key but u did the right thing to keep ur prices the same no matter what goes around. For me its the job cost that i go by. Not location or whats right for the customer. Stiletto soles and heels are 25-30 no matter if they are m&s or prada. Watch batteries are 10 for a lorus or tag heuer. 

[hakeemz]

8 for lorus 25 for tag (50 with pressure test)

[Sarah Wise]

18 hours ago, cobblers.keys said:

I had a woman come in today asking if I had some insoles for box Oxfords. When I asked what type of shoes they are she said '' you work in a shoe shop and don't know what box Oxfords are " laughed and walked out and told her husband. I knew that box Oxfords must be footwear but didn't recognise them. I thought she was a bit out of order just because I work in the industry and don't know every type/style of footwear under the sun. Imo

Blimey.... sounds like my Mum.... I'll find out where she was yesterday 

[wellsy9]

On 7/22/2022 at 9:55 AM, The Worksop Heel Bar said:

Had another one this morning but this time asking how much for a watch battery, told him £5 only to get a shocked face and "I haven't got that much cash!"

I'm sure I said £5

He'll have a cardiac when he goes down the road to Timpsons

I had a guy in last week asking how much for a battery and when I quoted him the price said it was too dear. He came back after 30 minutes to say he got it done somewhere else but it wasn't working. Told him to take it back to where he got it, he said he did but the shop refused to give him his money back. Told him it wasn't my problem, he would need to take it up with other shop.

He asked me to put a battery in eventually, same price as I quoted originally. So he ended up paying more because he was trying to save a few pence.

[Auto Key Wizard]

"The poor man always pays twice"

[tommy]

I thought I had heard it all until today, Guy came in with 2 keys to be cut and then put down about 8 old G7 Era cut motice keys and an old scabby M22H expecting me to do a part exchange. He couldn't get his head around the fact that the chances of me getting a customer in with similar cut keys were very slim to non-existent and if he left them then I would have put them in the bin.

He went away, with no keys cut, probably to go and weigh them in at the scrapyard.

 

[Flash]

1 hour ago, tommy said:

I thought I had heard it all until today, Guy came in with 2 keys to be cut and then put down about 8 old G7 Era cut motice keys and an old scabby M22H expecting me to do a part exchange. He couldn't get his head around the fact that the chances of me getting a customer in with similar cut keys were very slim to non-existent and if he left them then I would have put them in the bin.

He went away, with no keys cut, probably to go and weigh them in at the scrapyard.

 

I've met this situation before, " can you swap this No. 32 for a 36.