Rip off or just lack of product knowledge? (1 Viewer)

[Bobby22]

It comes back to that same question again and again.

Why is profit a dirty word for so many people?

Profit is profit ......excess profit is rip off.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Profit is profit ......excess profit is rip off.

Define "excess" please. As a percentage would be good.

 

[Paddywack]

It comes back to that same question again and again.

Why is profit a dirty word for so many people?

There is profit and then there is misleading someone into paying over the odds at that point its a rip-off - you don't tarmac drives for old folks do you?

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[Judge Mental]

Jeez..Nick just stop comparing this with yourself and look at it passionately

£300 is a utter nonsense. half hour labor at most + parts. probably caried out by a lad on minimum wage or worse still, work experience then a quick test with a meter by some one else...

 

[Deleted member 29692]

There is profit and then there is misleading someone into paying over the odds at that point its a rip-off - you don't tarmac drives for old folks do you?

No. Too much like hard work.

 

[chaser]

So in your opinion what is an acceptable margin for a trader to make? 10%? 30%? 50%? 200%?

If they charge £50 for a job that costs them £40 to do what's the point in them bothering with it really?

Because if they had been honest people they might have sold something else to the guy one day, they won't now

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[chaser]

Or in fact any of his mates

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Jeez..Nick just stop comparing this with yourself and look at it dispationely

£300 is a utter nonsense. half hour labor at most + parts

Like I said before perhaps they didn't want to do it and were pricing it away. Perhaps they have a minimum charge policy. I know a lot of garages that have a minimum labour charge of two hours. Perhaps the OP could have asked them to break it down and then we would have a definitive answer.

I'm not disputing that it's a high price but there are lots of possible reasons why it might be so.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Because if they had been honest people they might have sold something else to the guy one day, they won't now

So what would be an acceptable margin then? Or are you saying you think they should have done the job at cost?

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[Judge Mental]

Like I said before perhaps they didn't want to do it and were pricing it away. Perhaps they have a minimum charge policy. I know a lot of garages that have a minimum labour charge of two hours. Perhaps the OP could have asked them to break it down and then we would have a definitive answer.

I'm not disputing that it's a high price but there are lots of possible reasons why it might be so.

are you in the pub? have you been there all afternoon?lol as its the only way your contribution in this thread makes sense.. unless a windup

 

[chaser]

So what would be an acceptable margin then? Or are you saying you think they should have done the job at cost?

Well the part is 20 quid , an hour to put it on £40 , I would have thought £70 would be more like it.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

are you in the pub? have you been there all afternoon?lol as its the only way your contribution in this thread makes sense.. unless a windup

Not at all. Which bit do you not understand?

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[Deleted member 29692]

Well the part is 20 quid , an hour to put it on £40 , I would have thought £70 would be more like it.

Assuming the dealership only charges £40 an hour for a technician. That would be on the low end these days. The small three man band garage in our village charges about that and they have minimal overheads. £120 an hour is nearer the mark for car dealerships so I don't imagine MH dealers are much different. 2 hour minimum charge, add Her Majesty's bit and there's your £300.

 

[chaser]

£120 an hour, I give up.
More than I got a week for most of my life.

 

[andy63]

Am I missing something here...
The op thought he needed an adaptor..
Was told no you need a new regulator fitting...which he didn't. .. He just needed an adaptor which is what gaslow have sold him..
Displays a complete lack of knowledge by the suppodsly professional people he went to or they were indeed trying to rip him off by selling and fitting a regulator he didn't need..
Have I read the op post correctly or got that wrong...
Even if he had to have a new regulator I agree with most the price seems excessive.

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[Deleted member 29692]

£120 an hour, I give up.
More than I got a week for most of my life.

Par for the course for most main dealers. I'm sure some of them charge more.

 

[Bobby22]

Isn' t your suggestion of 2 hr minimum charge .£120 per hr plus vat an example of a rip off.

If the little old pensioner wanted ,say, a hab bulb replaced. 10 minutes max start to finish. = total rip off.


By the way , do you get any repeat business

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Was told no you need a new regulator fitting...which he didn't. .. He just needed an adaptor which is what gaslow have sold him..
Displays a complete lack of knowledge by the suppodsly professional people he went to or they were indeed trying to rip him off by selling and fitting a regulator he didn't need..

Without having seen the job none of us can say for sure but maybe the reason is that an adapter would do the job but replacing the whole regulator is the "belt and braces" way. Just a guess.

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[Deleted member 29692]

Isn' t your suggestion of 2 hr minimum charge .£120 per hr plus vat an example of a rip off.

If the little old pensioner wanted ,say, a hab bulb replaced. 10 minutes max start to finish. = total rip off.


By the way , do you get any repeat business

No it's an example of standard practice. When I was contracting in a completely different field to the one I'm in now we had a minimum call out charge for up to the first hour even if the job took 5 minutes. I don't think you will find anyone who works any differently. Ring a plumber or a sparky and ask them to quote you for a 20 minute job

Yes I do actually. About 80 - 85% of it is repeat

 

[scotjimland]

I wonder what happened to good old fashioned 'business ethics' and being an 'honest trader' ..

 

[bellabee]

Because if they had been honest people they might have sold something else to the guy one day, they won't now

Funny you should say that. We were looking at bike racks in his showroom. We're looking elsewhere now.

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[bellabee]

Am I missing something here...
The op thought he needed an adaptor..
Was told no you need a new regulator fitting...which he didn't. .. He just needed an adaptor which is what gaslow have sold him..
Displays a complete lack of knowledge by the suppodsly professional people he went to or they were indeed trying to rip him off by selling and fitting a regulator he didn't need..
Have I read the op post correctly or got that wrong...
QUOTE

No Andy, you haven't got it wrong.

 

[andy63]

Without having seen the job none of us can say for sure but maybe the reason is that an adapter would do the job but replacing the whole regulator is the "belt and braces" way. Just a guess.

Agree that it's hard to know all the circumstances but from the information available in the op post which is what we are all commenting on they were in fact doing unnecessary work , and if that wasn't explained then even by your own definition it was ripping him off..

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Agree that it's hard to know all the circumstances but from the information available in the op post which is what we are all commenting on they were in fact doing unnecessary work , and if that wasn't explained then even by your own definition it was ripping him off..

It was expensive. I still don't like the term "rip off"

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[Judge Mental]

I think we have all got that......but thats just you getting hung up on semantics dear boy

 

[andy63]

It was expensive. I still don't like the term "rip off"

You may not like it and I understand your views but by your own definition earlier you would agree it's appropriate in this case

The only time I believe "rip off" is appropriate is if someone is trying to tell you that you need unnecessary work.

 

[Bobby22]

No it's an example of standard practice. When I was contracting in a completely different field to the one I'm in now we had a minimum call out charge for up to the first hour even if the job took 5 minutes. I don't think you will find anyone who works any differently. Ring a plumber or a sparky and ask them to quote you for a 20 minute job

Yes I do actually. About 80 - 85% of it is repeat

Then why would most of us think we are being ripped off by you?

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[Deleted member 29692]

You may not like it and I understand your views but by your own definition earlier you would agree it's appropriate in this case

Not at all. Choosing belt and braces over a cheaper alternative can't be termed unnecessary. Again this is pretty much standard practice with dealers and larger garages. If they fit an adapter or similar and the original part that it's fitted to fails they get the blame so they don't do it. Better from their point of view to replace the whole thing with something they have some comeback on in the event of a warranty claim.

Now if the dealer had said that they needed 4 new tyres and a replacement clutch in order to fit the new regulator that would have been a rip off.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

Then why would most of us think we are being ripped off by you?

Because my charges are high and would seem excessively so to people who think they know a little bit about what I do. As a rule those people don't actually have a clue what's involved in what I do. I usually invite them to take their business elsewhere.

 

[andy63]

The only time I believe "rip off" is appropriate is if someone is trying to tell you that you need unnecessary work.

Come back to your own words again... the proposed work was unnecessary ..an adaptor was all that was needed... designed to overcome that problem The fitted regulator was working fine.
I'd suggest if someone had tried to pull a stunt on you like that you may well have used the same term..

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