Welcome to our forum.
1. Educate the customer. When I bought my first house, years ago, the real estate person sat with my wife and I and explained the whole home buying process. There were no surprizes later. If you go out on a service call that turns out to be customer caused, you should ask yourself if the customer was educated enough to fix the problem. Explain your charges in advance rather than let the customer think every trip is covered under the warranty. Usually, an informed customer will not sue you for breach of contract if you change the the warranty conditions after the sale. Also, the more the customer knows, the less they will muck things up. My dealer showed me how to purge the air from the pumps to avoid an airlock service call. 2. Respect the customer. Treat them like an adult and don't act like a used car salesman with "one day only pricing" , inflated MSRPs, or TV ads that say "No spa over 3995". I just got back from the grocery. Prices were plainly marked and I didn't have to dicker on the gallon of milk. Some of us don't go to Costco, Sams and Walmart. We don't enjoy that type of shopping experience.my thoughts as a customer and an owner of a service company. But I've been accused of spoling my customers.
Everything seem to be tied to fuel prices. Freight for a Hot Tub is $355 (more or less depending on geography) carries an additional 12% fuel charge of $42.60 to the dealers. Gas and Electric Store Utilities have risen substantially in the past 2-3 years, vehicle fuel prices have risen 30% to 40%, and Services that we require have additional "surcharges" or "travel charges". A recent service bill at the FORD dealership included an additional $25 charge for "miscellaneous supplies". If we charge a fee, it is NATURALLY ASSUMED that this is a WARRANTY Service Call and there should be NO CHARGE.
WOW! Over a year now and still seething venom, lashing out with retaliation, one evil deed deserves another and another, and another.