Quote:
I drove into the service department of new auto dealership to for a recall, and proudly displayed was a sign proclaiming they sold more parts this year.

Same dealership, I told them that the rider's front door wouldn't lock with the key while I was in there. They gave me an estimate of a few hundred dollars to replace the mechanism. I told them I'd come back. I took it to a locksmith, and he replaced a $3.50 part that looked like a bent paper clip. It took 10 minutes, and he didn't even charge a service fee. I've used that locksmith since, whenever I need that kind of service.

With capitalism, it's all about profit, not the customer.
Notes Norton


Don't get me started on car service departments or most of the trades now.

I had an ignition coil go bad and a fuel pump that was intermittent. I honestly didn't feel like doing the repairs myself so I took it to the dealer. The dealer wanted $1500 for the ignition coil and $1300 for the fuel pump. They priced the coil over $100 and the pump at $500+. I decided to do the coil myself. Under $40 for the coil and 90 minutes total time including going to the store to get the coil. The pump, I had a local shop replace it. Total for the job was $425 and 3 hrs in the shop.

My HVAC coil inside sprung a Freon leak. A company came and diagnosed it correctly. $120/service call. Next day, I called a friend who was retired from the HVAC business and has been a teacher in a tech school. He confirmed the leak issue and gave me an estimate of $850 with 2 guys taking no more than about 4 hrs and no cost for the parts due to warrantee. Due to his age he didn't want to do the job.
The company that came out first estimated the repair to be over $2200 with a credit for the service call included in that price. I pointed out that the coil was under a 10yr warrantee and shouldn't cost a dime. They said they could give me a $200 credit and refused to itemize the quote. Calls to several other companies resulted in non itemized quotes of $2800 and $3500+. I contacted the company who installed it originally. They were about 70 miles away and said they had to charge round trip. They quoted around $900 estimate. Final bill was around $925. 2 guys, 4 hrs, handled the warrantee.

You really have to be careful these days. People will screw you in a heartbeat and tell you that you're getting a good deal.

ADD: if you do the math.... the first company was charging $275/hr per person on the job. The last company was charging $437.50 per hr per man. No wonder they didn't want to itemize the quotes and then there's sales tax on the labor in this state that NEVER shows up in a quote like this.

Last edited by Guitarhacker; 10/01/23 08:45 AM.
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