I,m in wrong repairs buiness

[reynoldston]

Our TV was off in the color so I called the company we bought it from. The service person came to our house took the hand control which it took him less then 5 min. and readjusted it. He got 183 dollars for this little job. I'm not complaining because he knew what he was doing and I didn't.

 

[Rivets]

Hindsight is always 20/20. Service man was probably half our age and grew up on video games. I normally get my nieghbors grandson to fix my electronic problems and he's only 15. I don't mind paying extra for problems I can't fix, but hate it when the "pros" charge a steep price and don't get the problem solved.

 

[LoCo86]

Hindsight is always 20/20. Service man was probably half our age and grew up on video games. I normally get my nieghbors grandson to fix my electronic problems and he's only 15. I don't mind paying extra for problems I can't fix, but hate it when the "pros" charge a steep price and don't get the problem solved.

Like A/C repair men. I've been through five of them.

 

[reynoldston]

He fixed the problem, but when I said 5min. most of that time was making out the bill. I have been in the repair business all my working life so know what things cost. Like I said I'm not complaining about the cost because he has the know how and I didn't. I also have to think on this. On top of the bill he had about a 40 mile drive, had to find my house. He is doing this work as a living, I do it retired as a hobby. He has big taxes to pay I don't. His business must run out of a building with secretary's, more taxes, and heat. I am sure this all has to go into the cost of this repair. So when someone is throwing around small prices on this forum and I don't agree with them I hope you see where I am coming from. What ever your living was or is I am sure you got paid well for it.

 

[motoman]

Still seems high with no part replacement.

 

[reynoldston]

Still seems high with no part replacement.

I have to agree to a point here. Now what if it needed parts? I look at things in a different way then some people. The bill could well be into the 3 to 4 hundred mark. Now as I recall the TV is less then a year old and I bought it on sale. As I remember I paid around 550 for it. To me if it needed more then then what I paid for the repairs it would go into the trash and I would buy another TV set. A different brand for sure. I don't know where TV's are made but my last one went for around 10 years.

 

[Rivets]

I agree that the bill might be a little high, but let's look at it from his side. Let's say his labor rate is $75.00/ hour. Most small businesses around here charge differently when going on a service call. Time starts when he leaves the shop and ends when he returns. You said he had about a 40 mile trip, I'll assume that is one way. Then most places have a flat rate extra charge for service calls, to cover vehicle costs when they go on the road. Let's say that is $35.00. Finally let's say that the round trip took a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes. If we add it up you get $124.50 plus $35.00. Equals $159.50. Now we add 5% sales tax of $7.59 for a grand total of $167.09. My labor rate, length of time, tax and automatic charge may be off, but if you look at it that way it is not that far out of line. Just depends on which side of the fence you are on.

 

[reynoldston]

I agree that the bill might be a little high, but let's look at it from his side. Let's say his labor rate is $75.00/ hour. Most small businesses around here charge differently when going on a service call. Time starts when he leaves the shop and ends when he returns. You said he had about a 40 mile trip, I'll assume that is one way. Then most places have a flat rate extra charge for service calls, to cover vehicle costs when they go on the road. Let's say that is $35.00. Finally let's say that the round trip took a total of 1 hour and 40 minutes. If we add it up you get $124.50 plus $35.00. Equals $159.50. Now we add 5% sales tax of $7.59 for a grand total of $167.09. My labor rate, length of time, tax and automatic charge may be off, but if you look at it that way it is not that far out of line. Just depends on which side of the fence you are on.

You are a fast learner.

 

[bertsmobile1]

You are a fast learner.

And remember he was the FACTORY repair man, nt a general repair man as most of us are.
Call out John Deere , Ferris or Kabota for a factory repair man ans seww what the bill looks like.

A friends son had a demolotion business .
dad is fairly handy & willing to tackle any repair job, any place, any time.
However they were all on holidays when one of the excavators split a hydraulic line so the partner just rang Komathsu.
They bill for a replaced hose $ 3,500.
$ 400 for the hose. The other $ 3,100 was the service & call out fee @ $ 250/hr plus a $ 225 courier to bring the factory part from the warehouse plus a $ 75.00 priority pick fee and for most of the time the technician was sitting in his van , on his computer waiting for the hose to arrive.

For a refference , any one of the franchise hydraulic hose technicians would come out for a flat $ 90 to $ 150 and charge around $ 50 per fitting to remove a blown end & fit a new one.

 

[bt3]

Much of the time, it is a "Trick" to doing something that you (I) can't figure out on our own. I've done this a few times with appliances or electronic devices. I try my best to do it myself. After hours of tinkering, I give up and call the Repairman. He gets there and "shazam". Within minutes he pops open a hidden compartment, or sets a flerbin device to reform the refraction of the decimater, and everything works great. :wink: You get my drift. Sometimes there are tricks in the trade that you (I) just don't know that a person working in that trade does.

I had a service contract on a new dishwasher that suddenly failed to work. I honestly tried to fix it. Could not figure out what the issue was. Service guy shows up, and withing 1 minute FLAT, he's got it working. Problem was a screw holding the dishwasher tight to the kitchen cabinetry came loose and was preventing the microswitch device in the door of the unit from engaging and thus working at all. I laughed when he tightened the screw and that's all he did. Took him 1/2 a minute to do that and another 1/2 minute to cycle the unit and get it running. No kidding. One minute total. The Bill (that I did not pay because of the service contract) was over 100 bucks. He said he sees it all the time, and he sure knew right where to check for the repair that I could not figure out in a few hours of tinkering. After SEEING him fix it, sure, it was obvious. But BEFORE I saw it? I'd never have figured it out. Tricks of the trade. Knowledge is power, and in this case, knowledge is money.

Have you guys ever heard the story about a business that had a large machine that failed. No one in the office could fix it even though they tried and tried for hours and hours. Called a repair guy. He shows up, walks around the machine, and WHACKS IT HARD with his hand on a certain spot in the back. The machine starts up running like a kitten.

He presents a Bill for $200. The office owner says, "You are charging me 200 bucks for whacking my machine with your hand?"

Repair guy says, "No, I'm charging you 200 bucks for knowing WHERE to whack the machine with my hand!"
:smile: