I am so sorry to hear that your boiler isn’t working. I guess you’d be best advised to call out a plumber. Oh, you don’t want to pay for it to be fixed? Well, you won’t find too many plumbers who will do the work for nothing!
It’s such a shame that your car won’t start. Home mechanics, garages …. there are a few options so that you can get back on the road. Oh, so you don’t want to spend your hard earned cash on getting your car moving again? I guess you won’t be going too far very fast then.
As family historians, we are the same. You have a brick wall in your tree and you’d like us to break it down. That is no problem at all. We are more than happy to help. However, we will not provide that service for nothing! “Which certificates will you order?”…. well, we are hardly likely to tell you that!
Why do some people consider us to be a different species to other professionals? Our expertise is highly valuable, so why do certain potential clients feel that they should receive our knowledge for nothing? Is family history research expertise less valuable than the ability to fix a tap, or fight your battles in court? We don’t think so and so we charge for our services, just like any other trade/profession. Are we wrong to do so? Certainly not.
It is staggering the audacity of folk. They ask you what your quote is for the work they want. Fine. You tell them what you can provide and at what cost. Fine. They ask you a million questions, including how to pay you, and then ask for a cheaper price. Not fine. You say that is your best price and they continue to ask more questions (clearly expecting you to give them details of what you have already found without them paying any money). You reiterate your quote. They state that they are not clear what you will deliver for your quote. You quote an earlier email which specifies the exact deliverables. They then ask more questions….. Seriously! I have the answers to your brick wall queries. Do you want to know the answer or not?
Your boiler, electrics, legal matters, whatever…. are not fixable for free, or even at a cheaper price than first quoted just because you ask. A quote is a quote. Why would you consider that family history is any different?
