[Heka1]

I have given my clients to opportunity to call me on my cell phone if they have a problem with their site, as of now I am have been doing this free of charge to make good customer relationships and so far it has worked to my advantages.

My question is should I start charging for the phone time after my normal business hours that I give them? I think I should but I don't know how much.

What are some of you other freelance designers doing in this case?


--Note--
I posted in the wrong section, I meant for it to be in business, if someone could move it to the write location it would be greatly appreciated.
--Note--

[suedenem]

Depends. If it's a quick 10 minute job it'd probably cost more logging the call and invoicing. If it's turning into a half hour consultancy then I'd charge at my hourly rate.

As a rule though, I *never* give out my mobile number - I value my non-work time too much for that. It also sets a precedent that you can be contacted and issues solved instantly - not desirable from a time planning point of view.

[CharmingMan]

get skype, I had a client in america my phone bill for a month was 22o bar. Owwwww!

[Aibrean]

I do $15/hr for that kind of stuff. That way I'm getting at least something out of it but they are forking out a bunch of money.

[Heka1]

Thanks. I think I will charge my hourly rate if it goes over the 30 minutes like you said, that way my clients can be happy and I can still give the support that I am looking to provide.

[Aibrean]

I do quarter-hour increments, rounded up.

[cjgraphix]

If we are talking about 'after hours calls', they should all be charged. I have people calling at 6am, and then at 9pm... my first comment is, 'I can continue this call for xxx per 15 minutes. Otherwise please call me back during my standard business hours' (which are 9am - 6pm Monday - Friday, or by appointment.)

People need to know that while the internet is on 24 /7, you need your down/personal time. If clients want to interrupt that time, they need to pay for it.

[pgo]

Originally Posted by cjgraphix

People need to know that while the internet is on 24 /7, you need your down/personal time. If clients want to interrupt that time, they need to pay for it.

If I worked as a freelancer, I would add 50% to my hourly rate for that sort of thing. They're your clients, not your slave masters. Can you call your car mechanic at home and have him come over to fix your car at 2AM without paying massive labor fees? Of course not. Why should web designers/developers be any different?

You can't charge extra for regular work outside of your hours - like if you're working on a project at 11pm it doesn't work, but if they interrupt the normal flow of your life...

[illvibe]

That said, if it's a really piddling small job and they've already paid you a packet, it can be nice to build goodwill. But be careful how much you put out for free.

[cathode]

I tend to build some of that into every project, I've done it so much now that I find it pretty easy to estimate 5 hrs or so of "phone assistance" over the next six months.