[lit-ideas] Re: You don't say.....
- From: "Mike Geary" <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2005 17:01:20 -0500
Paul Stone:
> 3) I had a furnace problem last September and had to call an HVAC dude
> (are
> you listening MIKE?) to come and do some work. After futzing around for 3
> hours, he had the problem licked. Just as he was writing up the bill, his
> cell-phone rang and he sat on the steps of MY house talking about someone
> else's job for 12 minutes. After he hung up, he looked at his watch and
> filled in his hours. At 80 dollars an hour, he over-charged me a full 15
> minutes which is 20 dollars of MY money. Now, I complained and got him to
> reduce his bill, but it's the principle of the thing.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. If it had been me I would have thanked you profusely
for pointing out the error. Then I'd have scratched out the twelve minutes,
re-computed the bill at $100 an hour -- the new rate!! And thanked you
again.
He was obviously not a very good technician if he could only get 3 hours out
of a service call. And you're telling me he fixed it without selling you a
new $500 heat exchanger that if you didn't replace that day would probably
kill you that night with carbon monoxide -- the silent, scentless killer?
He's a discredit to the profession.
In fact I often get calls from people who've been told that they need a new
compressor or heat exchanger or a whole new system. They're embarrassed to
admit they want a second opinion as if I might take it as a slight against
my trade. More often than I'd like to admit, the first company was either
wrong or was lying. It's possible, of course, to misdiagnose a problem, but
I've seen cases where there was simply no freon in the unit and the AC guy
told them they need a new compressor. $1000 please instead of $200. Nice
work if you can get it.
BTW, I charge $65 an hour US, that's $80.45 Canadian according to my
calculator. Gas is getting so expensive that I'm seriously thinking of
raising my rates to $68 soon ($84.52 Canadian) and I'll still be $3 or $4
under the big boys. You don't have to pay it, you know. You can always
choose to be hot or cold as the case may be. I always apologize when I give
a bill to someone. Christ, I wouldn't pay that, I keep thinking. But they
always do, and gladly. So strange.
Your complaint about business ethics and Phil's Amen, seem short-sighted to
me. Why not celebrate it as the triumph of Capitalism that it is.
Mike Geary
Atlas Air Conditioning Company
Strongest in Knowledge
Strongest in Service
Strongest in Jesuitical Ethics
Memphis
------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html
Other related posts:
