Charge for email or phone support?

xzen · Apr 1, 2020

Today a customer emailed me about a problem, and I was able to guide them to a solution. This factory plant is 20 minutes away. Under other circumstances I may offered to pay them a visit, which I would charge for. I have two questions about business and moral:

We have no support agreement, and it's not a regular customer. Can or should I charge for supporting by e-mail?
It took me 15..20 minutes to find the right documentation and to answer some emails. I had a pretty good idea about the solution. Should I intentionally keep it to myself, so I would "have to" visit and charge for both travel and work?

Aabeck · Apr 1, 2020

In my opinion you volunteered.

Without a stated remote support fee and policy I doubt you could charge for it now. [I do have a published fee for it and do charge it.]

If you want paid simply say you can't diagnose it without being there and get a PO for the service call.

Tom Jenkins · Apr 1, 2020

I used to answer all kinds of questions for customers, prospective customers, and total strangers at no charge. I still do. I consider it very inexpensive marketing. When a conversation started with "I know this isn't your problem, but ..." and ended with "Thanks for your help" I knew they would remember me when they had a potential project.

Usually, I try to limit the time to fifteen or twenty minutes. If it starts to get too involved or time-consuming I politely indicate that this might be something I would need to do on a consulting basis and give them my rates.

I don't know for sure if my method is the smart business way, but it seems to me that a bit of uncompensated service is good for the soul.

kamenges · Apr 1, 2020

I agree with Aabeck in this case. If you didn't explicitly state the help was going to cost the other party a fee and there is no contract in place for such help, you volunteered your time. It would be very difficult to go back now and ask for payment.

The company I work for handles things much the same way as Tom Jenkins stated, for much the same reason. It is pretty cheap marketing. Granted, there is the occasional customer that will take advantage of this. In my experience they are few and far between and can be handled on a case by case basis.

You stated below that this customer is not a regular customer. Support like you mentioned is one of the things that can make them come back. You might have just created a new regular customer.

Keith

mk42 · Apr 1, 2020

Not personally an integrator, but my thoughts:

To me, it seems fair to charge for remote support, if you are up front about it. If you say "that's a great question, and something I can help you with. My remote support rates are lower than on site rates, $XXX to start the support and $XX for each hour after the first" (however you want to charge), that seems fair and reasonable.

You probably can't charge retroactively. If you don't talk about money up front, talking about cost afterwards feels like a trick.

That said, it might also be fair to eat the cost as "sales and promotion" expenses, especially if you know it will be something simple and might turn into more business later. Also, it might take more than 20 minutes to collect/process the money you billed for the 20 minutes you spent with the customer; trying to bill might be a net loss unless you factor that in upfront.

geniusintraining · Apr 1, 2020

For my being a supplier its a little different but I would say 60% of my calls are supporting someone that will never buy from me, I try and point them to the videos first then if they come back I will try and help if I have time, the other 40% are customers and its my job to help them.

I would also roll it in on the next job you do for them, IF it starts to take to much or a lot of your time (and let them know up front) I dont think they would have a issue with it.

Remember this is also an investment or can be seen as one.... I hope they will call you for their next project and remember the help/support you have given them.

Ronnie Sullivan · Apr 1, 2020

What about when they try to get you mend a machine by phone for free.
I've had one or two ask me to get my plc and hmi files out and study why this or that is happening.
Once you have designed the controls and written the software, some think it's free support for life.
They know what they are doing, it's a ploy to save them a visit from you.I

If it's a regular customer, I'll probably oblige for a while but 1 offs I play dumb.

NetNathan · Apr 1, 2020

Ronnie Sullivan said:
Once you have designed the controls and written the software, some think it's free support for life.

SO true...
I help a lot on "simple" phone call troubleshooting, but when it gets too involved....like a remote connection or research into the prints....I give them my rates.
I also have a "remote connection fee' to help pay for yearly remote connection software fees.

harryting · Apr 1, 2020

I have been on both of this situation.

Comes down to you as the integrator to prep the customer with clearly spelled out rate sheet in the initial contract. Typically, with a new system, the customer get a year of warranty that includes support. Again, be clear about the expectation.

jraef · Apr 1, 2020

Along the lines of "inexpensive marketing", if it were a heretofore unknown customer from a referral or something, I have, on occasion, volunteered the help as you did, then send them an invoice the next day with a letter or email saying;

"Glad I could help you yesterday. I did it for you voluntarily so you are under no obligation, but IF you were happy with the service I provided, feel free to pay for my time. As I said, I volunteered the help, I just wanted you to know that I too am a business." Most people are honest and appreciative of you treating them as adults. Not all, but most.

Needless to say if I couldn't help them I didn't send it... I got about 50% remittance on that over the years and I'd say that most of them became repeat customers.

Dayvieboy · Apr 1, 2020

Most of my customers are long term.
I may answer a few phone calls before I send them a bill.
But I always keep track.
In the Bill I state dates & time spent supporting them & the reason.
Sometimes the bills are for services done a few months apart.
Sending out 4 or 5 bills for a couple of hours here & there takes too much effort & is an administrate waste of time.
I do account my admin/paperwork time for every bill I send though not specifically listed.
After 8 hours of a working day I need 8 hours billed.

Never had any complaints.

JesperMP · Apr 1, 2020

We have a standard 2 year warranty, and within that period, support is free.
After the waranty has expired we still provide support. But only what can be classified as helpful advice that can be cleared with a phone call or a simple email. Or, if there is a grave deficiency in our software (which is extremely rara), then we would also fix that free of charge even years after the waranty expired.
Other than that, we either bill by the hour or send a fixed quote for the fix or modification.

Jeev · Apr 2, 2020

General questions and help that only require a quick chat or a couple of e-mails are usually free. Warranty period aside, you are getting charged if:

1) It's more than 30 minutes on the phone or remotely connected.

2) It's a breakdown and you draw me away from other work.

3) You continually abuse the 30 minute rule.

One of the other providers on a site we have machinery on have somehow convinced that customer to agree to a $400 a call policy. It doesn't matter if the call is 2 minutes or 20 minutes - It's $400 as soon as they pick up.

VAN · Apr 2, 2020

Tom Jenkins said:
I used to answer all kinds of questions for customers, prospective customers, and total strangers at no charge. I still do. I consider it very inexpensive marketing. When a conversation started with "I know this isn't your problem, but ..." and ended with "Thanks for your help" I knew they would remember me when they had a potential project.

Usually, I try to limit the time to fifteen or twenty minutes. If it starts to get too involved or time-consuming I politely indicate that this might be something I would need to do on a consulting basis and give them my rates.

I don't know for sure if my method is the smart business way, but it seems to me that a bit of uncompensated service is good for the soul.

This is my feeling on support in general. The award might not be 100% but if they remember you, they'll try and work with you again. I have a panel shop out of PA that will be the first shop I try to work with no matter what. I don't live near this shop and no matter what state I work in, they're high on my radar to send business too. (I don't work in the same industry as I did, and I'd still send business to them if I can.)

xzen · Apr 2, 2020

Good input!

Thank you all for your input. Good advices and answers to my first question. Not so much about my second question however. With the danger of derailing the topic, I just remember this recent story: I was called out to help troubleshooting a milling machine that had crashed. The crash was mechanically fixed, but the machine would still not do complete an automatic tool change. When I arrived, I asked the operator to help me, as I was not familiar with this particular machine. The operator himself suggested to run manual M-codes (CNC commands). And voila! After doing this the automatic sequence was working again! I was just standing alongside with hands in my pockets. 10 minutes observing someone fixing a problem themselves. 4 hours driving. Sometimes all it takes is a little moral support. To my defence, this time I didn't have a clue beforehand.

Charge for email or phone support?

xzen

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Aabeck

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Tom Jenkins

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kamenges

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mk42

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geniusintraining

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Ronnie Sullivan

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NetNathan

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harryting

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jraef

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Dayvieboy

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JesperMP

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Jeev

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VAN

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xzen

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