Triumphrat

Panthermark · 05-24-2007, 12:20 AM

Well, I was going to buy a bike on e-bay....but that has been shot.

My townhouse was built 3 years ago, and it came with all new appliances. My fridge went out on my yesterday...yes...it died after only 3 years. I had to run to Wal-Mart late last night and buy a deep freezer and a bunch of ice so that I could save some of my food....which I had just stocked up on for Memorial day. (At least the beer will be OK).

I called GE to have them send someone out to look at it. First off....it's $70 dollars just for them to come to the door. The guy walks in, and looks at it for about 5 minutes....then tells me that I need a new defrost heater...whatever that is. Ok...fine. He then tells me that the total cost will be $250!!! ***?! Okay....whatever...there is nothing I can do about it. My food is basically spoiling in the fridge.
But here is the problem.....he had the part swapped in about 40 minutes. And 15 minutes of that was thawing ice.
The part itself was $40.00....which isn't that bad. I ran upstairs and priced the part online...it can be had for $28 plus shipping..which makes it about $34 OK....I can live with that.
HOWEVER, that means that I was charged $140 in labor...for less than an hours work.

That is a major rip. Being a do it yourself kinda guy, I've gone back and re-did everything the repairman did. If you don't have to thaw ice, it's a 10 minute job AT MOST. Remove two screws and the back panel. Remove two more screws and unplug the old unit....then reverse and go home. You don't have to move the fridge...or even unplug it.

I've contacted GE about the labor charge. We will see.
Being that I spent 250 bucks on my fridge, and another $150 on a deep freezer....there went my e-bay money for a 1974 Honda CB 360. Dang....

iceman · 05-24-2007, 02:16 AM

.......... there will also be time to travel to and from your house plus mileage - would that make up the difference?

Grant

ruscook · 05-24-2007, 06:02 AM

I don't like to be ripped off any more than the next guy. BUT you are paying for their expertise as well as their time, truck, parts warehousing etc.

If you knew what to do in the first place you wouldn't have called them would you?

I'm speaking from first hand experience here. My house alarm has been playing up. $130 to call out the monitoring company, $90 to call out the local alarm reseller.
We take the cheaper one obviously, the tech comes out opens the unit, disconnects the mains, the battery back up, let's it run out of power and then plugs it all back in. Yes, the modem that dials back to base gets "confused' sometimes and needs a hard power cycle which you can't do without disconnecting the internal battery. A $90 lesson with no parts required :-)

Now I know what to do, I won't pay the $90 bucks again :-D

Russ

hogwylde · 05-24-2007, 10:45 AM

I work for the public and make house calls too and we charge $24.95 for a service call. That's it - just $24.95 and people still belly ache. I am told things like:

But all you did was press a button on my TV/PC/VCR
I could have done THAT!
You were only here 5 minutes!

The bottom line is when somebody calls for ANY kind of service call, it is because the individual has no idea what the problem is and needs a professional. When the professional goes out, you have to keep in mind the costs of gas, employee's pay, etc, etc.

Like it was said in a previous post - at least now you know if it were to ever happen again.

Think of all the effort (and money) you would have gone through through-out the entire trouble shooting process. In the end, you may think you paid too much money, but do you think you could have repaired it in time for your Memorial Day festivities?

SR1 · 05-24-2007, 10:54 AM

Appliance repair, just like everything else these days, is online. It's also quite easy.

Here's a website I've used several times and I've saved lots of money with it: http://fixitnow.com/[addsig]

Shorty · 05-24-2007, 12:20 PM

Most people don't understand everything that's involved in a service call.
A calibration lab I worked for charged a $250 prep fee just to cover the time and expense incurred getting ready for the on-site.
When all was said and done, the alternative would have cost more just in down-time alone.
I personally don't mind paying the price of a service call if I think I got good service and the problem was resolved.

Shorty

Panthermark · 05-24-2007, 10:31 PM

Ohhhh....but the plot thickens....

I thought the repairman went two houses down after mine.

Nope....

He went next door.

I just spoke to my neighbor (yup, the one who feeds the rabbits I'm trying to get rid off), and it turns out that her defrost heater also went out on the same day. Being that we were booked back to back, that means that she was charged $70.00 for a service call in which the repairman walked 20 yards to his left. Her total bill came to $230 for the same part. He knocked $20 off of her bill because he burned one of her towels.

GE will be getting an earful from me on this.

SBBonnie · 05-25-2007, 03:27 AM

All that and the pesky wabbits too! Good luck man - dealing with that stuff is no fun....now you'll just have to buy the bike to make yourself feel better! :-D

Sprint1050DA · 05-25-2007, 09:18 AM

Well, just think how mad you would have been if they would have charged your neighbor even less since they were already so close. They charge a flat rate for a reason too, I'm sure. Evens out the costs for driving/hourly pay if they have to send someone out a good number of miles, or if it's someone close by.

doodledog · 05-26-2007, 09:47 AM

I work now on call outs, the company have 20 £100,000 vehicles on call 24/7 with drivers, sometimes we dont move all day other times we dont stop, all do courses, we have a 24/7 call centre, we have a workshop, on standby, we have all this and then wait, a call out price is guess work, too high and we would not compete, too low you go bust, the boss works out how much by experience and educated gueswork, on how many vehicles may have a problem per month a year into the future, all the vehicles are insured and taxed so the fixed costs are there every day, thats what your paying for.