Let me tell you a story about working for friends. I'm taking a year off and a few months ago a friend asked me if I knew a shop so he can have a Bluetooth handsfree installed in his and his wife's car. He told me the device was not original from the car brand and the shops wouldn't take it. I told him I could do it and would charge less than the shop. He is a coworker of mine so he knows how detailed I am for the work, so we agreed.
I didn't want to make a lousy job so I did everything as if I would have done it in my own car. Remove linings, not doing a single drill or glue so you can always deinstall and leave everything as it was. The stereo was fitted with the car and didn't have the tel mute wire or the audio in, so I spent a couple hours surfing the net trying to find the pinout. I finally succeeded, and by then I had spent almost a full day 6-7 hours and I was starting to think what lousy deal I just made.
My test CD won't eject, so I opened the stereo and I don't know what the hell I did, that even after my long experience in electronics I did a short somewhere and a transistor started to smoke. It blew to the extent that the name was illegible and I couldn't replace it. Now the CD won't work anymore, but will the radio.
I returned the car to him explaining everything. No problem, he is very understanding. I promised to find out what the transistor was and replance, and one month later I've been unable after having posted in many forums asking people to make a picture of their stereo.
Even if that didn't happen, how much should I've charged? I believe 30 euro for experienced electronic technician is a fair price. That would have meant 180 euro, almost double than the device alone.
Now let's forget about the time consumed and think about how much would be fair. For that device, 30-40 euro would be a fair price. That would mean making 6 euro an hour, even less that what I pay to the woman who comes home and do the ironing, cleaning etc. And you don't even have to go to university for that...
But, even worst, if I can't repair his stereo I feel obliged to buy him a new -second hand- one. And even if I repair it, I don't feel like accepting money from him.
So, what was the lessons lern?
a) NEVER ever offer to do something to friends or relatives again.
b) If they ask for help, do it only when it is either 1) a 5-minute deal or 2) urgent and nobody else available.
c) If you do help, don't accept money or you will be accepting responsability and "implied warranties".
but finally, if for some reason you accept the job, do it as I did, like if it was for yourself. Do it the best you can do and don't think about how much time you are putting on it and how much should it be paid. You don't think about money when you do it for yourself, so don't do it for your friends or relatives.
I once was in the other side of the story, taking my car to be painted after a slight crash to one of my brother's best friend shop. I was not satisfied with the outcome, and could have done it repeated as it was my insurance company paying and I had to sign the acceptance. But I didn't want to offend my brother's friend and I had to leave with the impression I was stupid. Lesson learned: take your business to people with good reputation, but without personal relationship to you so you can fight for your rights if the going gets though.
Raul
