How bad was she robbed?

Athlone_Bhoy

The womans car wouldn't start so she went across the road to a garage asked a guy could he look at it. Guy came over still wouldn't start so he said he just bring it to the garage stick it on a machine to find what was the. The problem? A fuss needed changing, charged her 75.

Gonna have a word later.

blahblah06

They charge ya for putting it on the computer then for supplying the fuse then labour for the time both took

pounder770

I hope the word will be "Thanks for dropping what you were doing,and getting the missus on the road". That's what he did,and what he charged for.

Bandara

Can't see any issue here, her car was broken and it was fixed for 70 euro.

Seems fair to me. The fact that it was a fuse is irrelevant, the charge is for the expertise and equipment needed to diagnose the issue

ClutchIt

That mechanic is a rip off merchant. He screwed that woman out of about €73.50. Ok so he took 5 minutes of his time too, big deal, I'm sure he can make some real money from the next person who actually has a real problem.

I know a mechanic who'd have charged nothing for that. If he charged €20 it would be more than enough

the_syco

Athlone_Bhoy wrote: »

Guy came over still wouldn't start so he said he just bring it to the garage stick it on a machine to find what was the. The problem? A fuss needed changing, charged her 75.

So... the guy came out, couldn't fix it, brought the car to the garage, and fixed the problem? If it was such a small part, why didn't you fix it? And don't use the "I didn't know what the problem was" excuse, as you clearly have an excellent knowledge of the in's and out's of her car... :rolleyes:

Athlone_Bhoy

The guys garage is like 30meters from where I live. That's not the point he said he would get in touch about how much it would cost but he didn't just put in a fuss and charger 75 for doing it + when he got the car he wasn't busy at so none of this crap thank him for stopping doing what he was doing.

Gophur

Do you not understand how business operate? No business, like mechanics, runs at 100% capacity, but their overheads do. Is such a person expected to sit on his hands and then do the job for a fiver?

If a motorist cannot diagnose a blown fuse then they really cannot complain about what it costs to get them back on the road.

Joey the lips

Personally knowing how business operates, knowing a fair price and "feeling" for both sides I would not see anything wrong with the op speaking his mind in a cival fashion if the op wants.

The garage might agree and refund him for future business... It might not agree and possibly only ever make 75 euro out of the man. The way I see it is the AA cost 10-15 euro per month and they would have diagnosed this in 2min but the women payed 75 euro to be on the road an hour later... It all depends on your view.

MagicSean

It cost me €65 just to get my car plugged in to a computer for a diagnostic. Don't think she was overcharged at all really.

Fey!

That sounds cheap if he did a diagnostic.

Is this your regular garage or was "the woman" just a drop-in-and-sort-this-now person?

PCPhoto

OP - she wasnt robbed at all !

if you still feel you are being "robbed" by a qualified mechanic then by all means study a basic car maintenance course at night in a local college and save yourself some money in the future.

I've had a number of problems with my own car - and only recently been told that the last guy to "replace" my starter motor must have replaced it with a secondhand one (less than 12months and it needed to be replaced) ..... my lesson learned - I can now diagnose what my car sounds like when it needs a starter motor replaced.

I can also tell when oil is getting into my water pump and a couple of other different things....on each occasion I have paid a decent amount of money. (I plan on doing a car maintenance course in the future)

OP she can now tell what her car reacts like when it needs a change of fuse.

BronsonTB

Have to agree with the majority...It#'s a fior price if he had to go all that trouble to find it was the fuse but he he intentional new straight off what is was and used the diagnostics as way to charge more, well then that is different.

As long as he didn't intentionally set out to rip then it's a fair price.


======
www.celicaireland.com

PCPhoto

BronsonTB wrote: »

Have to agree with the majority...It#'s a fior price if he had to go all that trouble to find it was the fuse but he he intentional new straight off what is was and used the diagnostics as way to charge more, well then that is different.

As long as he didn't intentionally set out to rip then it's a fair price.


======
www.celicaireland.com

in fairness - he could have suspected the fuse, but may not have been 100% and doing a diagnostic would have confirmed his suspicions.

either way - well done Mr Mechanic. (I dont know how many times I've had simple things go wrong)

Anan1

A friend of mine called a plumber out recently to sort out an airlock that he'd spent two hours trying to get rid of. The plumber arrived out, saw that the pump had turned off automatically during the water shortages, pressed the switch, charged €70 and left. Was my friend done? This much I can say - the two hours he spent trying in vain to fix the problem were worth a lot more to him than €70.

Darsad

Big fuse over nothing really sorry fuss

whippet

reminds me of what my auld boy came across years ago,

He put a little twang on his new car, paint wasn't scratched and brought it to a body shop.

The guy there took out his little set of tap hammers, gave it two quick taps and it was good as new.

He then said that would be £20, my auld fella questioned £20 for two taps of a hammer, the guy's response

"Right, £1 for each tap of the hammer and £18 for knowing where to tap it"

Your €75 was to pay for the guys, Time, Expertises, Equipment and Fuse.

He is in business as a mechanic and therefore has to make money, until you come across a St. Vincent De Paul type chain of garages you will have to pay mechanics.

GTE

The diagnostic is a bit steep. I was charged 25 when I was diagnosing a problem with my car.

He should have charged you, obviously he should but I think that price is a bit excessive.

PCPhoto

whippet wrote: »

reminds me of what my auld boy came across years ago,

He put a little twang on his new car, paint wasn't scratched and brought it to a body shop.

The guy there took out his little set of tap hammers, gave it two quick taps and it was good as new.

He then said that would be £20, my auld fella questioned £20 for two taps of a hammer, the guy's response

"Right, £2 for each tap of the hammer and £18 for knowing where to tap it"

Your €75 was to pay for the guys, Time, Expertises, Equipment and Fuse.

He is in business as a mechanic and therefore has to make money, until you come across a St. Vincent De Paul type chain of garages you will have to pay mechanics.

Maths FAIL !!!

Owen

The country is broke. I'm convinced of it. There's this thread, and there's a guy I saw driving into a tire shop last week in nearly new a6 and asking for budget tires for it. And when those ones weren't cheap enough, he kept asking for cheaper and cheaper.

GTE

PCPhoto wrote: »

Maths FAIL !!!

Thanks for point that out. The moral of his post made NO sense without that correcting you made.

Dear jesus.

whippet

PCPhoto wrote: »

Maths FAIL !!!

oops

ocokev

Athlone_Bhoy wrote: »

The guys garage is like 30meters from where I live. T

So how did the car get to the garage?

Did you ask if there is a call out charge?

Did you ring other garages and get advice or quotes from them?

king_of_inismac

People need a reality check here.

Yes, he's running a business and yes he ran a diagnostic.

BUT 75 Euro for replacing a fuse is extortionate! If it took twenty minutes, does that mean he's charging 225 an hour labour?

Come on guys. If he charged 20/30 euros that would be plenty!

Owen

king_of_inismac wrote: »

BUT 75 Euro for replacing a fuse is extortionate! If it took twenty minutes, does that mean he's charging 225 an hour labour?

There's a difference between 20 euro if she brought it to the garage, and 75 if he has to close the garage and go out to her. All businesses have call out charges.

king_of_inismac

a call out fee for crossing the road? Really?

Next time you want work done on your car, ask me. I could do with the extra cash

Owen

king_of_inismac wrote: »

a call out fee for crossing the road? Really?

Yes really. Thats how the world works. A lot of businesses also charge for an hours labour or part thereof too.

king_of_inismac

Not any mechanic I've dealt with.

Anan1

king_of_inismac wrote: »

BUT 75 Euro for replacing a fuse is extortionate! If it took twenty minutes, does that mean he's charging 225 an hour labour?

Come on guys. If he charged 20/30 euros that would be plenty!

How long did it take to repair the car?

samsemtex

It sounds a bit excessive alright but at least they got your car working again. Some "special" Volvo dealers who will remain unamed (Johnson and Perrot) charged me €115 to plug in a diagnostic. they just told me what the problem was when they could have seen it very easily if they just looked under the car. They didnt do anything and the car was there for 25 mins. Then they wanted to charge me 3times the price that Greers Volvo of Antrim wanted for the same part and service.

Irish dealers = rip off merchants. There are some good independant mechanics out there though if you are lucky.

ToxicPaddy

For situation that occurred, I probably would have paid the money as it was an on the spot fix and he sorted it there and then, if you were shopping around and thats the best price you could have gotten then I'd complain.

My father had a 3 series BMW about 5 years ago, the glass in one of the fog lights was cracked by a loose chipping one day, drove into the local dealership to get it replaced, the guy came out with a small box containing the replacement glass and an electric screwdriver..

Unscrewed the glass, new glass part fitted, screwed it back in.. took less than 5 minutes.. €125 please!!!! (part - €55, rest was for labour!!) :eek:

Needless to say the father nearly dropped with the fright, never went back there again..

Now thats being ripped off!!!

biko

Some mechanics will charge less to keep your custom or because they know you or something but 75 was still an ok price.
What you pay for is the diagnostics. If he could have got it started on the street he probably wouldn't have charged anything.

If you yourself would have tried to get it working it may have been hours or more to track down the issue, instead it took minutes.
Time or money, you can't have both.

VolvoMan

samsemtex wrote: »

It sounds a bit excessive alright but at least they got your car working again. Some "special" Volvo dealers who will remain unamed (Johnson and Perrot) charged me €115 to plug in a diagnostic. they just told me what the problem was when they could have seen it very easily if they just looked under the car. They didnt do anything and the car was there for 25 mins. Then they wanted to charge me 3times the price that Greers Volvo of Antrim wanted for the same part and service.

I suppose the money they invested in that big massive showroom has to come from somewhere.

Riskymove

personally I think the bigger issue here is that he did the work without consent

I certainly would be unhappy with that

Owen

Riskymove wrote: »

personally I think the bigger issue here is that he did the work without consent

Are you reading the same thread as the rest of us?

Athlone Bhoy wrote:

The womans car wouldn't start so she went across the road to a garage asked a guy could he look at it

corriganalan

Fuses generally blow for a reason.. Maybe he was just checking everything else was ok before replacing it?

Riskymove

PaintDoctor wrote: »

Are you reading the same thread as the rest of us?

are you

That's not the point he said he would get in touch about how much it would cost but he didn't just put in a fuss and charger 75 for doing it

Owen

By asking the guy to look at it, you automatically incur charges. I'm sure the guy meant that if there was anything serious wrong, that he would get in touch and give a quotation for parts before proceeding with the work, but seeing as it was just a fuse after he had diagnosed it, he instead charged for call out, time, labour and the use of the diagnotic machine.

He didn't do anything extra than look at the car which is what the OP's 'woman' asked him to do, hence the 75 euro charge, which excessive, or not, is what the lady in question asked him to do.

Riskymove

PaintDoctor wrote: »

By asking the guy to look at it, you automatically incur charges. I'm sure the guy meant that if there was anything serious wrong, that he would get in touch and give a quotation for parts before proceeding with the work, but seeing as it was just a fuse after he had diagnosed it, he instead charged for call out, time, labour and the use of the diagnotic machine.

I understand that and I have no problem if the guy charged for looking at the car but I do believe if he said he would contact them about what was wrong before doing anything then he should

He didn't do anything extra than look at the car which is what the OP's 'woman' asked him to do, hence the 75 euro charge, which excessive, or not, is what the lady in question asked him to do.

he did replace the fuse; i guess it depends on how much of the fee is for replacing the fuse as oppossed to the diagnostic element



again, he is within his rights to charge for looking at the car, although I would have thought local businessmen may have been a bit more savvy with people living beside him

Sitec

corriganalan wrote: »

Fuses generally blow for a reason.. Maybe he was just checking everything else was ok before replacing it?

Exactly and if the said Mechanic just changed the fuse and charged her €10 and the car broke down again on the way home whos fault would it be? There would be another thread about how bad this Mechanics service was and how much of a cowboy he is.
Your not just paying for a fuse. Your paying for a skill and reasurance that the job is done right.

mickdw

PaintDoctor wrote: »

By asking the guy to look at it, you automatically incur charges. I'm sure the guy meant that if there was anything serious wrong, that he would get in touch and give a quotation for parts before proceeding with the work, but seeing as it was just a fuse after he had diagnosed it, he instead charged for call out, time, labour and the use of the diagnotic machine.

He didn't do anything extra than look at the car which is what the OP's 'woman' asked him to do, hence the 75 euro charge, which excessive, or not, is what the lady in question asked him to do.

Absolutely. We can assume the €70 charge for the diagnostic which he was asked to do. I dont think a €5 charge required a phone call to get the go ahead. Only problem with the garage that I can see is that he should have told her at the beginning that his diagnostic will be €70.

Woman would have said ok & then would have been delighted that it only cost 5 quid to put right.

The day of a mechanic charging €5 is gone unless you are dealing with some guy in a shed. They have buildings, insurance, staff, equipment includiing the diagnstic gear which woul have cost an arm & a leg.

There is the possibility that he went straight to the fuses though & fixed it on the spot. In that case, some would use alittle common sense specially if dealing with repeat customer

king_of_inismac

It's not the work or the size of the job that's the issue.

It's the price. 75 Euro to replace a fuse? My local mechanic would charge 10 euro for that. Why? Because he knows I'll come back to him when I need a service, or any bigger job done.

A few weeks ago my alternator failed at work. There's a mechanic across the road. I asked him if he had a booster pack because my battery was dead. He came out, diagnosed the alternator problem and helped me start the car. How much did he charge me? nothing!

I will send him work after that, and have already recommended him to many.

Riskymove

king_of_inismac wrote: »

I will send him work after that, and have already recommended him to many.

thats my point here

Gophur

I'm reasonably handy at most stuff, including plumbing, electrical, cars and electronics, and it's a right pain in the hole to be asked continuously to "have a look" at things, knowing the asker has no intention of paying for the work done. Far too many people want far too much stuff free.

I was asked would I consider setting up as a PC-repair/installer type of business but I know, in my heart and soul, every cent I'd ask for would be a cent begrudgingly handed over.

It costs money to keep any machine maintained, some people seem to think they should run on air, and any repairs should be done for nothing.

keithclancy

ToxicPaddy wrote: »

For situation that occurred, I probably would have paid the money as it was an on the spot fix and he sorted it there and then, if you were shopping around and thats the best price you could have gotten then I'd complain.

My father had a 3 series BMW about 5 years ago, the glass in one of the fog lights was cracked by a loose chipping one day, drove into the local dealership to get it replaced, the guy came out with a small box containing the replacement glass and an electric screwdriver..

Unscrewed the glass, new glass part fitted, screwed it back in.. took less than 5 minutes.. €125 please!!!! (part - €55, rest was for labour!!) :eek:

Needless to say the father nearly dropped with the fright, never went back there again..

Now thats being ripped off!!!

Simple fix there was to ask how much it was first.


You can't complain about the price of something without asking for it before hand.

you have no excuse complaining about it afterward.

Hagar

Have we reached the point where a qualified mechanic needs a diagnostic machine to tell him a fuse is gone? Just curious.

Theta

1st wrote: »

Have we reached the point where a qualified mechanic needs a diagnostic machine to tell him a fuse is gone? Just curious.

We have reached the point where the newer high end BMW's contain more lines of code then a F22 raptor then I think we need the Diag machine.

Vertakill

Gophur wrote: »

I'm reasonably handy at most stuff, including plumbing, electrical, cars and electronics, and it's a right pain in the hole to be asked continuously to "have a look" at things, knowing the asker has no intention of paying for the work done. Far too many people want far too much stuff free.

I was asked would I consider setting up as a PC-repair/installer type of business but I know, in my heart and soul, every cent I'd ask for would be a cent begrudgingly handed over.

It costs money to keep any machine maintained, some people seem to think they should run on air, and any repairs should be done for nothing.

I fking haaate "can you have a look at" questions. Because as you say, people have this mindset of "Well, you're experienced and I'm sure it's only a 2 min fix so it won't be too much hassle for you" and expect it done for nothing.

These quick fixes are only quick because the person is trained, experienced and it's their profession and income.

The mechanic came over and couldn't get it going and then brought it to his garage, hooked it up and ran a diagnostic (most diags are 50-65 euro alone), found your problem, resolved it and had the car back running in no time.

You should be glad he was so knowledgable because you could've been sitting there for hours trying to pinpoint the problem yourself.

75 euro is not cheap but it's definitely not extortion like you make it out to be.

1st wrote: »

Have we reached the point where a qualified mechanic needs a diagnostic machine to tell him a fuse is gone? Just curious.

Would you not prefer the convenience of being able to sit in the driver seat, hook up the diag machine and read every code (not just the issue the customers brought the car in with) within about 5 minutes?

The cozy approach to being a mechanic!

king_of_inismac

This conversation needs a bit of common sense (in fact this country needs a bit of common sense).

1. You should not be charged a call-out fee for walking across the road to see a car.
2. I don't believe you should be charged 50 euro to run a diagnostic on a car.
3. No mechanic I've ever dealt with would charge 75 euro for a fuse change.

I've no problem paying a good hourly rate to a good mechanic for servicing, suspension, gearbox work, etc.

But that kind of money for a fuse or a bulb is way over the top.

Vertakill

king_of_inismac wrote: »

This conversation needs a bit of common sense (in fact this country needs a bit of common sense).

1. You should not be charged a call-out fee for walking across the road to see a car.
2. I don't believe you should be charged 50 euro to run a diagnostic on a car.
3. No mechanic I've ever dealt with would charge 75 euro for a fuse change.

I've no problem paying a good hourly rate to a good mechanic for servicing, suspension, gearbox work, etc.

But that kind of money for a fuse or a bulb is way over the top.

The costly bits are for the call out and the diagnostic. That's where the brunt of the bill occurs.

Code reading costs about 50eu at least in most places. The machines in question cost a small fortune.

king_of_inismac

What call out? the walk across the road?

Secondly, why did he need diagnostics for a blown fuse? Surely that's one of the first things you'd check in a situation like this?

I don't think we'll agree on this one, so I'll make my final comment:

In all my experience with mechanics,
- None would have charged me 75 to change a fuse.
- None would have charged me a call out fee for crossing the road.
- None would require a diagnostic to tell me a fuse was blown.

In that context I think the OP was very much overcharged.