# Have I Just Been Ripped Off?



## chris r (Oct 17, 2011)

For the last 3 years my "up & over" garage door has never been right, it would only open around 75% of what it should. If I had a pound for everytime I'd bashed my head on the door...well I would have a few quid in my pocket.

Anyway, got a few days off work this week so I decided to get a pro to come down and fix it. Thye turned up this morning, said they would give it a service, and they plucked out of thin air the fee of Â£100. Ok, I thought, this could take them a while and in the end it's bound to work better than it did.

So I trotted off down to the cash machine, came back, a total of around 5 minutes, and they were done!! The door works a treat, but Â£100 for around 5 mins work, give me a break. I paid up though as there were 2 of them & they were bigger than me.


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## joeytheghost (May 26, 2011)

They quoted you Â£100 and you agreed!?

They fixed it, as you say it works a treat so its fair isnt it??

We get this a lot. You price for work and when you finish they complain you where only there half an hour!?

You pay mainly for the expertise not the time - plus if you given a quote and its agreed, 5 mins or 10 hours your paying the same


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

chris r said:


> For the last 3 years my "up & over" garage door has never been right, it would only open around 75% of what it should. If I had a pound for everytime I'd bashed my head on the door...well I would have a few quid in my pocket.
> 
> Anyway, got a few days off work this week so I decided to get a pro to come down and fix it. Thye turned up this morning, said they would give it a service, and they plucked out of thin air the fee of Â£100. Ok, I thought, this could take them a while and in the end it's bound to work better than it did.
> 
> So I trotted off down to the cash machine, came back, a total of around 5 minutes, and they were done!! The door works a treat, but Â£100 for around 5 mins work, give me a break. I paid up though as there were 2 of them & they were bigger than me.


I guess you paid up because you had entered into a contract to have some work done, it was done and your satisfied with the quality of it.

if you could have done it yourself you would have but you lacked the required skill set.

you paid for their time and expertise.


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## chris r (Oct 17, 2011)

joeytheghost said:


> They quoted you Â£100 and you agreed!?
> 
> They fixed it, as you say it works a treat so its fair isnt it??
> 
> ...


It was only a half hearted moan, and I'm dead happy that it works. Just seems a crazy price for 5 minutes work.


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

They quoted, you accepted, done deal!

Tradesmen get good and bad jobs, ballbreakers and earners, they've seen an "earner".  Rememeber, they might not have anything else on this week (Xmas run up) Â£50 each won't go far.


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## gaz64 (May 5, 2009)

chris r said:


> joeytheghost said:
> 
> 
> > They quoted you Â£100 and you agreed!?
> ...


I understand that  but your buying their knowledge of how to do the job not just the time doing the job... It took 5 minutes because he had the knowledge and tools to do it in 5 minutes, if he had taken an hour it wouldn't have cost any more


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## chris r (Oct 17, 2011)

Perhaps saying "ripped off" is a bit harsh. I should have named the thread "nice work if you can get it, providing you have knowledge of these things". Lol.


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## MerlinShepherd (Sep 18, 2011)

Exactly, you agreed, you pay.

Besides which, three years of hassle and brain injury? Â£100 sounds like a good deal...


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## norfolkngood (Oct 11, 2008)

if you had bought a new door it would be 2k from some companies so thats a good saving for something that works ok ow .......... :to_become_senile: so in theory you could go and buy a 1900 pound watch :man_in_love:


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## Agent orange (Feb 11, 2006)

norfolkngood said:


> ...so in theory you could go and buy a 1900 pound watch :man_in_love:


I've just tried this logic on the missus to no avail.

I've spent the bulk of the morning and an hour this afternoon fixing a leaky washing machine. Thought it was just a case of replacing the inlet hoses but it transpired that the leak was coming from insane the machine, bugger! Got there in the end though and fingers crossed it shouldn't leak now.

I mentioned to the better half that I'd saved the cost of a new machine or, at very he least, paying for a repair man to come out and could maybe buy a watch with the "savings". I'm still recovering from the look she gave me :shocking:

Cheers,

Gary


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## mel (Dec 6, 2006)

Your personal "knowledge set" is the most precious thing you can sell - you've built up a knowledge of common faults to look out for on different items, and you know how to fix them through experience and much wasted time and effort beforehand - and that's part of life, and runs throughout life :yes:

Come to me'sen and Mrs Mel for dance lessons at night school in a class setting, it'll be subsidised by the "Council" and Sports subsidies to the point where you're paying the equivalent of Â£3.20 an hour. Ask for individual *one to one* lessons like in "Strictly" it'll cost you around Â£60 an hour - there's another of the differences. You're buying our joint knowledge of over 80 years combined dance work, and individual attention to diagnose and solve your problems :to_become_senile:

:weed: ldman:


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## Philz (Oct 20, 2009)

I suppose you could look at it from the point of view if you had been charged Â£40 call out and Â£10 for the fix then it seems good value. 1 week later it all goes wrong again would you be happy?


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## tixntox (Jul 17, 2009)

I remember the story of the plumber called out at 3 am by his doctor because his toilet wouldn't flush! The plumber threw two paracetemol down the loo and said "If it's no better after a couple of days, call me again!" 

Mike


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Chris,

What did the receipt say? How much were the parts and labour charges?


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## Barryboy (Mar 21, 2006)

Stan said:


> Chris,
> 
> What did the receipt say? How much were the parts and labour charges?


If the guys were anything like the locals around here, there would be no receipt for a cash job like this!!


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

Barryboy said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > Chris,
> ...


Yep, tax corporation tax would see them down to Â£80 gross profit, less materials, less van fuel, road tax and insurance, less advertising (which brought them the job)...........they won't be getting rich.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Barryboy said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > Chris,
> ...


I get the picture.:wink1:


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

Corporation tax liability:-

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/ct/getting-started/new-company/who-is-liable.htm


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## chris r (Oct 17, 2011)

Stan said:


> Chris,
> 
> What did the receipt say? How much were the parts and labour charges?


No receipt I'm afraid it was all done "on the fly". Which is partly the reason for starting the thread. When I asked him how much it was going to cost, it was a figure pretty much pulled out of thin air. I guess I could have haggled a bit, but it was early & I'd only been up about half a hour.


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## Stan (Aug 7, 2003)

chris r said:


> Stan said:
> 
> 
> > Chris,
> ...


Understood Chris, better luck next time.:wink1:


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## Benzowner (Nov 11, 2009)

Â£100? not a bad price, most plumbers, electricians etc charge up to Â£50 just to come out and look. I would imagine you could not fix it, so what price knowledge?


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## BondandBigM (Apr 4, 2007)

Aiding and abetting a tax dodger and then complaining about being ripped off.

Is hypocritical the word I'm looking for ?????

:lol: :lol:


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## Rigsby (Jan 3, 2012)

I own a property maintenance company, and the rates I charge are Â£18.75 per hour. BUT if you ask me to cut a single joint in a worktop (mitre) it will cost Â£100 for 3o minutes! this is because,

Router cutter Â£27.99 (up to 3 good cuts)

Router cost me Â£400.00

Router jig cost me Â£210.00

Fuel

Insurance

Tax

One other thing to think about is if it's cut wrong the cost to me would be a new worktop Â£120+

If the job requires a great deal of skill and expensive tooling I'll always charge more, if it's a matter of turning up and rehanging a door then the smaller price applies. I think if you can be seen to be fair and still make a profit you wont go far wrong.

On saying goes "you can please some of the people some of the time, but you cant please all of the people all of the time"


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## Monaco (Dec 1, 2011)

Would always look at doing this sort of stuff myself rather than be ripped off,and it feels a hell of a lot better knowing it cost you nowt.


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## PhilipK (Sep 23, 2011)

Isn't there the old joke about the guy who gets his watch/car/garage door repaired. The repairer just turns a screw and charges him Â£100 for the job.

When the customer complains, the repairer writes him an innvoice: "For turning screw, Â£5. For knowing which screw to turn, and by how much: Â£95".


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

PhilipK said:


> Isn't there the old joke about the guy who gets his watch/car/garage door repaired. The repairer just turns a screw and charges him Â£100 for the job.
> 
> When the customer complains, the repairer writes him an innvoice: "For turning screw, Â£5. For knowing which screw to turn, and by how much: Â£95".


That's along the lines of "How many IBM engineers does it take a change a light bulb?"

Answer: "50. One to change the bulb and 49 to write the f'ing manuals."


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## Barryboy (Mar 21, 2006)

Just think yourself lucky this wasn't a Mercedes booked into your friendly local authorised dealer.... Â£100 would have got you just about an hour's labour.... parts and VAT extra, of ocurse....


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## shadowninja (Apr 14, 2009)

tixntox said:


> I remember the story of the plumber called out at 3 am by his doctor because his toilet wouldn't flush! The plumber threw two paracetemol down the loo and said "If it's no better after a couple of days, call me again!"
> 
> Mike


:lol:


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## amh82 (Dec 5, 2011)

PhilipK said:


> Isn't there the old joke about the guy who gets his watch/car/garage door repaired. The repairer just turns a screw and charges him Â£100 for the job. When the customer complains, the repairer writes him an innvoice: "For turning screw, Â£5. For knowing which screw to turn, and by how much: Â£95".


Excellent!!


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

It might have been a complex fix and taken them an hour, it wasn't in this case! Also you have to add travel time plus fuel, vehicle depreciation, interest etc :lol:


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## shoestring (Jan 14, 2012)

is it not a case of swings & roundabouts some you win & some you lose


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