Are we really THAT bad off?

[aline]

So now they are out the $30 bucks if they tell them to get lost- if the customer even knows they are being overcharged.
-Hal

I would really like to know. If I call a service company out to my house how do I determine if I'm being overcharged? At what rate or amount do you determine that you are being overcharged?

Personally I wouldn't feel I was out much if it only cost me $30, to have a company send someone out and give me a quote, just so I can tell them to get lost. Seems to me they're going to be out a lot more than $30.

Some of the big box stores charge $100 to come out and give a quote.

What if they tell me $85 an hour over the phone, they get there and estimate it's going to take about 6 hours, so I'm looking at around $500 or so. If I tell them I don't want to spend that kind of money to have it fixed and to get lost what are they going to charge me for their time so far? I'll bet it would be more than $30.

What happens if it takes them longer than they expected and it takes them 9 hours to fix it? They've already done the work so I would think I would be stuck having to pay for it. I would think paying $30 to know the price upfront would be less of a risk than having someone come out at $85 an hour and not knowing what it's going to cost until they're all done. If they give me a questimate of what they think it's going to cost and I don't like it so I tell them to get lost wouldn't I be out at least $85 instead of $30?

I just can't believe people are so cheap they're not even willing to pay someone $30 to spend a half hour driving out to their house, spend another half hour to an hour looking at their little $500 job and then spending another half hour driving back.

 

[growler]

$30 is how they suck them in. When they get there customer finds out what they really charge.

They have already stated openly that they charge a rate of $35 an hour. It's hard to get out of that once you put it in an add, that's why most companies never list an hourly rate.

There is a chance that this is a misprint and the actual hourly rate is $85.00 an hour. Once I think of all the mistakes the phone company has made with adds in the past, it's very possible.

The $30 trip charge could be to get in the door but $35 an hour really doesn't sound right anywhere in the country.

 

[Rawls007]

The $30 trip charge could be to get in the door but $35 an hour really doesn't sound right anywhere in the country.

You probably have never been to a place like southern Mississippi where unlicensed contractors are allowed to run rampant. Where you can get anybody you want to pull permits for you and the code department doesn't even care as long as they get paid.

The average residential journeyman electrician around here makes $15 an hour if they're lucky enough to work for a boss that appreciates good help. I remember when I was once in that position and probably thought $35 an hour was pretty good money. My guess is that the type of person that would run an ad like that, is the type that is just starting out and grossly under estimates the real cost of doing business.

In fact, $35 hour wouldn't be terrible money as long as you didn't have any overhead and you were actually able to log in 40-50 billable hours. But as experienced contractors, we all know that will never happen.

Unfortunately for this person, he's going to get broken in the hard way. What will most likely happen is that he'll just default on his agreement with the phone book. But in the mean time, it's doing a disservice to the local industry by diminishing our value, and this is why it sort of strikes a nerve. Not that I don't blame a man for trying to make a buck, but you should really think about the long term scope of your decisions.

 

[Power Tech]

That may be $15 too much. LOL