unethical?

semi-pro waster · 17 Apr 2013 at 17:49

RDM said:
Quick hint, if you have to ask "Is this unethical?" Then the answer is probably "Yes".

In the same way that starting any sentence with "I'm not racist but..." probably means that what follows is likely to be objectionable to a number of people.

Although here on the face of it the idea of charging a higher price to compensate you for taking on business that you don't really want/need isn't especially unethical. It's common practice for many businesses to provide a high quote for business that isn't in an area/market they are targeting, this may be because they don't have the necessary experience so have to factor in the costs of getting up to speed or simply because they don't want the hassle of dealing with that customer/issue - if the person isn't willing to do business at that price then they've not had to directly refuse but they avoid work they didn't want, if the person does take up the offer then they're adequately compensated for doing work they didn't really want.

holymonk · 17 Apr 2013 at 18:46

Its not unethical, you said what you did to not have to do a job for someone for whatever reason. The fact that they accepted it is their problem.

atpbx · 17 Apr 2013 at 19:16

How is this unethical? Its standard practice.

You don't want to do it, but you will for a price that offsets the fact the work is either awkward or puts you out.

mattyfez · 17 Apr 2013 at 19:38

atpbx said:
How is this unethical? Its standard practice.

You don't want to do it, but you will for a price that offsets the fact the work is either awkward or puts you out.

Indeed, work I do on the side in spare time I will quite happily over charge if I can't be bothered or they are the kind that keep coming back with niggles unrated to my work or are generally annoying... and if they pay anyway then it's compensation for the hassle of dealing with them as far as I'm concerned.

dowie · 17 Apr 2013 at 19:54

kwerk said:
Sometimes when i cant be bothered dealing with a work client or I simply don't like them I will quote a ridiculously high price not expecting to hear back. I did this the other day but the client said OK. I took the money of course but tbh I feel slightly wrong about it. Would you say it's unethical?

not necessarily - depends on the situation - if its a case that you didn't really want their business but them agreeing to the high price made you change your mind then they've paid what they needed to to get you to do what they wanted.

FoxEye · 17 Apr 2013 at 20:04

Can't see anything unethical about this, OP.

m00ch0 · 18 Apr 2013 at 11:21

I don't see the problem, if they accept the extra price, the extra money is for working with people who you didn't want to. simple.

InKursion · 18 Apr 2013 at 12:32

If they ever, say, in the course of talking to some business/industry colleagues, discover just how grossly you have overcharged them... well then they could make it their business to trash your reputation and spread discontent in your industry. Just worth a thought. Clean conscience & good reputation? You never know, they may even let you keep the cash if you attempt to come clean on your 'miscalculation'.

InKursion · 18 Apr 2013 at 12:33

m00ch0 said:
I don't see the problem, if they accept the extra price, the extra money is for working with people who you didn't want to. simple.

Yes, but one could very quickly end up telling himself he "just doesn't really want to work with" a lot of people

. It sounds like a lousy way to justify over-charging.

semi-pro waster · 18 Apr 2013 at 12:55

InKursion said:
Yes, but one could very quickly end up telling himself he "just doesn't really want to work with" a lot of people . It sounds like a lousy way to justify over-charging.

Possibly but then that is where you might expect market forces to come in to play - if they choose to consistently over-charge then the customers are likely to start to look elsewhere. As you say above there is also the risk that they talk to other customers about pricing - the more people that you factor in a component of additional recompense for (or that you over-charge if you prefer) then the greater the likelihood that they will end up talking to each other at some point.

peige · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:30

Its not unethical, your asked to quote and you put the quote in. Its up to the buyer who will get the work.
We do it, sometimes the work involves many factors you can't accurately price so you throw on a percentage or amount that will cover it worse case.

This last week we asked for quote for 9 panes of 30 minute fire resistant glass, remove old glass, supply new and fit.
I have two quotes in front of me, one for £850 including VAT and one for £1300 plus VAT, both specifying the same glass.
I don't know why the other quote is so much higher but they certainly won't be getting the job!

A few weeks before we were quoted for a 16 channel DVR for our cctv system, 1300 plus vat including fitting (which was simple as we have an existing system so the plugs just needed swapping over)
In the end we brought our own system for £440 and fitted it ourselves, a good quality one that conformed to all the specs the quote they supplied offered. Was that quote unethical? Of course not, they failed because they put too much of a mark up on the item, if it had come in under £1000 it probably would have been ok...

anything I don't mind · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:34

******* tax, very common.

Most of the companies i deal with, usually don't list prices on their website and when you ask for prices they just beat around the bush. The only way you get a price is if you ask for an official quote. The reason they do is that they have different prices for different customers based on whatever criteria they can come up with.

But end of day its your time and you can charge what you want for it.

RDM · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:48

semi-pro waster said:
Although here on the face of it the idea of charging a higher price to compensate you for taking on business that you don't really want/need isn't especially unethical. It's common practice for many businesses to provide a high quote for business that isn't in an area/market they are targeting, this may be because they don't have the necessary experience so have to factor in the costs of getting up to speed or simply because they don't want the hassle of dealing with that customer/issue - if the person isn't willing to do business at that price then they've not had to directly refuse but they avoid work they didn't want, if the person does take up the offer then they're adequately compensated for doing work they didn't really want.

I am going to disagree with you, despite it being common practice you are basically being dishonest with your customer, which I would say is always unethical.

oulton · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:52

Not really unethical, they might be the type of person with more money than time and would rather spend more than the hassle of looking around for a deal.

FoxEye · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:57

RDM said:
I am going to disagree with you, despite it being common practice you are basically being dishonest with your customer, which I would say is always unethical.

How is it in any way dishonest? I just don't get it...

The client asks you to quote for work. You quote higher because you don't really want to do it.

The client accepts the price and you do the work.

Where is the dishonesty?

m00ch0 · 18 Apr 2013 at 13:59

InKursion said:
Yes, but one could very quickly end up telling himself he "just doesn't really want to work with" a lot of people . It sounds like a lousy way to justify over-charging.

As semi-pro waster pretty much says the market comes into the factor then. I don't see it as unethical, its business if a customer is willing to pay x amount then thats that.

Its no different than shops selling different items at different prices.

If a customer is willing to pay thats it. this is precisely the point of shopping around.

robgmun · 18 Apr 2013 at 14:10

ince said:
Who doesn't do this.

I wish i was in a position to do this!

atpbx · 18 Apr 2013 at 14:15

RDM said:
I am going to disagree with you, despite it being common practice you are basically being dishonest with your customer, which I would say is always unethical.

There is no dishonesty here.

Dishonesty would be to tell the customer it's going to cost £100 but then charge them £200 when you've finished.

Telling them upfront you want £200 to do something you would normally only charge £100 for because you really can't be arsed isn't dishonest.

RDM · 18 Apr 2013 at 14:22

FoxEye said:
How is it in any way dishonest? I just don't get it...

The client asks you to quote for work. You quote higher because you don't really want to do it.

The client accepts the price and you do the work.

Where is the dishonesty?

Because rather than say "I don't want to do the work" you quote high in the hopes they find someone else. That seems to be dishonest to me.

FoxEye · 18 Apr 2013 at 14:30

RDM said:
Because rather than say "I don't want to do the work" you quote high in the hopes they find someone else. That seems to be dishonest to me.

If I was on the receiving end, I still wouldn't consider it dishonest. The onus is on me to know (or to find out) how much is reasonable for the work I want done. And to set my budget accordingly.

If I choose to accept a higher quote for any reason (local contractor, lack of time to find alternatives, etc), that's my problem.