The call-out fee and the price of an emergency, explained
By FixNow24
What the call-out fee covers, where the price ranges come from, why two amounts are shown, and how the firm price is set once the professional is on site.
What the call-out fee is for
The €35.00 call-out fee pays for the professional’s journey and for the diagnosis he carries out at your home. It is due when you send the request, because that payment is what forwards it to nearby professionals: without that commitment, nobody would travel.
It is not deducted from the price of the work and appears on the invoice as a separate line, already paid. The amount is the same whichever VAT rate is chosen afterwards: it is the total you settle at that moment.
If no professional accepts, it is refunded automatically. If you cancel before the professional sets off, likewise. From the moment he is on his way, it stays with him, including if you then refuse his price on site.
Where the ranges shown come from
Each symptom offered in the app points to one or more lines of our reference price list, maintained from our back office. The range shown runs from the lowest minimum price to the highest maximum price of those lines, urgency surcharge included.
No amount is produced by an automated model. When you add a description or photos, they only serve to match your problem to the right lines of the list, never to invent a price. The range therefore runs from €8.48 to €1,908.00 incl. VAT at the 6 % rate, and from €9.68 to €2,178.00 incl. VAT at the 21 % rate, depending on the trade and the fault.
Why two prices, and how the firm price is set
The VAT rate depends on your home and on the nature of the work, and the professional selects it on site, under his own responsibility. Until the diagnosis has happened we therefore show both amounts, at 6 % and at 21 %, never a price excl. VAT on its own.
After the diagnosis the professional enters a firm price. If it exceeds the range, he must write a justification that you read before deciding, and an above the estimate notice sits next to the amount. You accept or you refuse: nothing starts without your agreement.
You pay one price only, the professional’s, with no service fee added. FixNow24 is paid by its partner professionals, on the basis of jobs actually carried out and paid for in the app.
A few particular situations are worth knowing. If the professional finds on site that the job does not belong to his trade, he tells you and everything stops there: only the call-out fee remains due. If something unexpected appears during the work, he does not add it on his own initiative: he submits an additional quote that you approve or refuse in the app, and a refusal brings no extra amount at all. And if you refuse the firm price announced, the job is closed with no cost beyond the call-out fee already paid.