How much is 'a drink' in payment terms for a tradesman?

Also, how many other people is he just "fitting in on his way home from work"? Another couple of jobs like that, with people proffering anything more than 20 quid for a 10 min easy job, and "fitting stuff in on his way home" becomes quite lucrative on top of a full day at work. Not such a saint really.

Where? Cider is £4.80 around here, I don't buy beer but it's usually slightly less. I'd say a fiver is a drink.

Sorry to hear this.

I hope his conscience gets to him.

They need to be reminded about conmen,scary, but true the lengths some will go to once they've found vulnerable people.

£20 for his time would have been generous. From elderly people, on his way home from work? A tenner would have been acceptable.

Oh, just seen that that was their shopping money. And that there were clearly demoninations of notes, so he didn't need to take it all. Not a nice person, he shouldn't have taken it. Poor parents.

For those saying so, where is it £20 a drink in a normal pub? Its not even that in London venues.

So the tradesman gets to feel all good about himself with his generous handwaving about "no charge"... but in fact walks off with the cash for an elderly couple's food shop.

What a prince amongst men.

That's bloody shocking, for 10 mins. Absolutely not trustworthy.

If a drink means money then how can he say no charge just give me a drink (money), £10 or £20 is still charging so why not just say call its a £10 or £20.

I agree @CurlyhairedAssassin , that’s why I said in these circumstances I’d pay £10 if I supplied the bulb.

In an example of cultural differences, I would literally have handed him a drink 😂

I'd be pretty upset about this if it were my parents, he has taken advantage and I'd be telling him so.

If he had quoted £60 before he came, fair enough, but he said no charge and then took their shopping money.

Am I the only one thinking that even 20 quid is excessive for a 10 minute change of bulb that the homeowner already had, never mind the 60 that OP's parents gave him? He was only calling round on his way home "to assess". Presumably if it would have been something more complicated he would have come out on another day to fix it and charge an appropriate amount. I mean he's clearly honest, as he could have pretended that it was something much more complicated, come round another day, faffed around, turned the electricity off for 10 mins, got his pliers out and charged them £100, but are we really expected to pay tradesmen £20 for 10 mins of what was essentially just honesty?

It's different if it was out his way so cost him more in time and petrol than if he'd gone straight home. Or if they really had no-one else eg neighbour, relative or friend that could have gone up a ladder and changed the bulb. But if not, 20 quid for 10 mins is £120 an hour for labour. Is that what electricians are paid now?

Fine for them to offer 60, totally & completely unacceptable for him to have accepted it. Total dick move.

£20.

Just read the updates. OP, that’s sad to hear they gave their shopping money away! Do you know why they did that?

I asked a friend how much one of her handmade goods costs, she said “how much do you think it’s worth? ” I told her to just let me know how much you want then I’ll pay that. I wasn’t happy about being asked to put a value on her work. It’s like extra work for me having to figure out what they think is a reasonable price!

I dislike these open-ended requests for payments because it’s human nature not to want to appear stingy, but you can easily get carried away and be ripped off . I believe that’s why some people do make these request tbh.

Next time that happens, please ask your parents to insist on some sort of guide price. £60 isn’t “ no charge!”

OP- I'd also speak to your parents about showing their cash to tradesmen! He shouldn't have taken the £60, but what if your DM had £100 or £200 in there? Would she have got that wad out and showed him the lot? 😬

For those mentioning call out charges, these have to be stated and agreed in advance and the guy didn't tell OP's parents about any call out charge, just said give me a drink then took the money he was offered. Call out charge doesn't come into it, on this occasion. He was a chancer.

£60?! To change a bulb. That's too much. A tenner would have been enough.

That was at the very least a mean thing for him to do and at worst he was looking to rip them off in the first place. Sadly there are many who are happy to make money in that way.

Did you tell your parents that wasn't a sensible thing to do? Are they likely to get into the same (or even worse) situation again? Or was it just an error of judgement and they now realise they were conned?

£60 for a call out is reasonable in my book.

My husband is an electrician and has a £50 call out fee (deducted from any work that needs doing)

I doubt he'd charge it in this instance though but I also doubt he'd have accepted £60 if he had just added it onto his day and it was on his way home.

Yeah in your case even though he is a tradesman by profession, I would still expect to give a drink or a box of his favourite chocolates etc as opposed to handing over a tenner since he’s also a friends husband so I really doubt he expects that. My friend has did little things for me which are loosely related to her profession and to say thanks I’ve picked up the tab for coffee or lunch. It wouldn’t cross my mind to slip her a tenner!

I wouldn’t have known it meant cash either in OP’s situation. Very confusing indeed! I’m not autistic but also ND, and the lack of clarity would annoy me 😆

she needs to ask around in case they need a tradesperson again, but not him!