Big Mike's Appliance Repair Replaced Ignitor on Furnace Northglenn Colorado

You were cold. Now you are warm. He charged you the correct amount to make you not cold.

Apparently, your only complaint is he did not work for FREE.

You have no complaint.

I didn't expect anything for free. I also did not expect to pay any made up number to be "warm". There are tons of other people I could have called and found a more reasonable company. If you think $720 per hour for labor is reasonable then you good for you and keep flushing money down the toilet.

It's $140 an hour which is reasonable for a skilled repairman. You pay for the first hour whether it takes that long or not. Haven't you been to a mechanic lately?

I used to work as an electrician and if I did not charge for the first hour, I would have been changing light bulbs for people and not making enough to survive.

Now do you get it?

It seems $140 pro-rated would still be enough when you pop on the $40 "diagnosis" fee on top of it. That's $75 for 15 minutes worth of work. The additional fee just to show covers travel time.

But why charge $75 when you can charge $180?

I get it, but it's still a rip off. Unless you own the company, that is, then they are not charging enough.

By the way, I don't go to mechanics, they are even a bigger rip off. No, I would not like to replace my "Johnson Rod" that is marked up 100% that takes an hour to replace at $100/hour, but the book says 3 hours so that what we're charging. By the way, did you know your transmission fluid is dirty and your wiper blades are worn out?

You had a service man come to your house, repair your furnace, parts and labor under 200 bucks? You got off cheap. Don't be an idiot, think before you file such a report!!

The TOTAL bill was not under $200. I don't know where I said that (because I didn't). I did not complain about the cost of parts. If you add the cost of parts in, the bill was well over $200. I was complaining about the cost of labor. Make sure you understand what you are talking about before you start calling names.

I always have to resond when reading these reports.  Its always"it only took them 15 minutes". Ask yourself this, If I didnt call a reputable company could they have fixed it that fast?  When you also state 15 minutes, you didnt include travel time, scheduling time?  Most companies sevice a 30 mile radius from there place of business.  If your house is closer, great.  In this situation, the cost of the part im sure was doubled, which is industry standard.  If you had to stock these parts and purchased in advance of needing them having at least 20,000 in parts at all times you would make money on them too(isnt that what banks do?)  Lets throw the part(ignitior) out of this equation.

$180.00, most hvac techs do 8/9 calls per day in an 8 hour shift. lets say 9=$1620.00

techs wage $25/hr= $200.00

Employee benifits about $20/day

gas $50

overhead to business? depends, but a cost no less

company truck payments?

and, oh yeah, they are a business so they need to make money right?

One year later, furnace quits again. I call a different company.

Turns out Big Mike did a hack job and did not even put in the right part (made it fit with a little brute force and ignorance).

Now I have to pay another guy to do the job right.

I don't care how many excuses and justifications you have, I got ripped off!

Based on your argument each employee is bringing in the company about $20,000 per month (not counting weekends even though most companies provide service seven days per week).  Minus overhead (not counting gas, benefits, and other stuff you already mentioned) your still looking at signifigant profit per employee.  The more employees, the more money coming in.

But the company has to make money, right?  So the question is, how much?  How much money do they have to make at the detriment of the homeowner?

Who cares because he who dies with the most money wins.

your point is well taken, however I wonder what you do for a living? I would love to look at how much you make or your company?  Then I can think of a response on how you are making too much.  Anyway, your math is correct, but lets remember that no heat calls only happen 5 months (typicall when the money is made cuz ac is never as much of an emergercy) out of the year on average, you would have to be the luckiest company in the world to have every tech do 9 calls per day every day.  There are alot of times you end up doing call backs, cleaning the shop, cleaning your truck, not every minute is able to be billed.  I do agree with you it was billed higher than what I would bill.  Our calls are 90 per call plus parts

New company came in and quoted me $326 to replace a part that Big Mike did wrong.

I ordered the part for $12 and will put in myself which should take less than 10 minutes.  $326 cleary is gouging.

BS

I am done calling people.  I will fix as much as I can myself until I can sell the house.

I love Corporate America. (sarcasm)