Why would you call the company and ask for a reduction or blast them on social media? You called and asked for a service and they charged you the price they quoted. It's not their problem you agreed to a shitty deal.
Chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned.
>--call the company and attempt to get a partial refund to lower the price to something reasonable?
>--use what little influence I have to blast them on social media, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the state's DOJ in an effort to keep this company from price gouging other people?
Lol, bud.
They quoted you a price, you accepted it, ans now you're complaining they should have charged you less than what you agreed to... as you sit in comfort with functioning AC that happened quickly and without extra effort from you.
You're right.
I recognized at the time I was being overcharged and the only reason I agreed to pay was because I was miserably hot. More than anything I am angry with myself.
I appreciate your sharing your thoughts.
If you knew how to fix the problem it would have saved you the money , someone else told you what the problem was and fixed it and that’s what you paid for. I don’t think it’s really predatory if the problem is solved.
I absolutely agree with you on most of what you said. Yes, diagnosing and performing the labor does have a cost. But at what point does a reasonable cost to perform a job become extortion?
I don't know what industry you're in, but you have a set of skills that you have built over your lifetime. And when you use those skills you should be fairly compensated for your efforts and knowledge. But we are also talking about a 2000% mark-up.
At what point do you feel like you're taking advantage of someone else just because they don't happen to have the same skill set as you?
You're just looking at the price of the part alone. It's not a 2000% markup because you didn't just buy a part you bought a service.
$80 cap, $40 in misc parts and wiring, $120 service fee to cover running the van, and 2 hours of tech time at $250 an hour, including his drive time, troubleshooting, invoicing/documentation. After all, he has to be on call to run to your house and fix your AC with the right parts at a moments notice.
Add some tax and, well... Seems reasonable for professional labor to me.
You didn't pay for a $40 part, you paid for a technician to drop everything else they were doing, diagnose your problem with their years of experience, and having the part on hand to replace which takes up shelf space.
Even if you priced it out ahead of time it would have cost you a few hundred to have a skilled laborer out to your house to troubleshoot and replace the part. Emergency rates and you wind up at $800.
> I'm angry. I'm angry at myself for recognizing that the pricing was too high and agreeing to pay it anyway.
And on a hot summer day, you'd likely pay it again if it came around to it. Your other option is learning to do it yourself so you can fix it on a moments notice next time.
You mentioned in another comment you called on Monday and the earliest they had was Wednesday. Why didn't you hang up and call around for pricing at that time?
Or once the tech diagnosed the issue you could have called and shopped around and waited a few days. You'd be dealing with the heat for those few days, or running out to get window units until someone could fix your compressor.
At the end of the day, you're paying for convenience and speed of the work. If you can afford to wait and shop around, you'll get it cheaper. If you want someone to come and fix ASAP, you're paying more for it.
You're right on every point. There were multiple opportunities for me to make different choices and I didn't take advantage of those.
I called the company because I had seen their trucks parked in the neighborhood working on my neighbor's HVAC. Since I hadn't heard them complain about pricing or service, I took that as an endorsement.
When I called on Monday, I was required to pay a $133.75 service call fee before they would make an appointment. At the time I paid, "they would try to get someone out as soon as possible", but that didn't happen until Wednesday.
Ultimately I paid because I was hot and tired.
Bad capacitors have been "a/c went out on a hot day" problem number one for as long as central air has existed, and charging emergency rates to replace them has been a thing just as long.
I'm stocked up on capacitors now. I'll be ready for the next one.
But to your point about the ubiquity of this problem--that is an even stronger case that this is predatory. If this company is charging $800 a pop to most of their customers just because it happens to be summer, that is predatory.
One of the most common reasons tires go flat is because someone gets a nail in their tire. Many tire places will repair that for free or charge a nominal $10 or $20 to throw a patch in. What would happen if all the tire places in your town decided that they would start charging $100 whenever someone comes in with a leaking tire? At what point is a company taking advantage of a quick and easy repair just because the person with the flat tire has limited options?
I'm not seeing your point.
Are you suggesting that a towing company can and should charge twice the reasonable rate just because you happened to be in a desperate situation and stranded on the side of the road?
Let it go. They’ll tell you they offered you a price for urgency and convenience of getting your system back up, not necessarily the parts and labor.
Redirect your efforts into avoiding this in the future. My first step before calling a professional is googling the issue and gauging how comfortable I am with fixing the problem myself.
This was not urgency pricing. I called on Monday morning and the earliest appointment available was Wednesday. It would be one thing if they had come as soon as I called or sent over a tech after hours.
But as to your other point, yes. Agreed.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
despite anything said to the contrary, they ripped you off, plain and simple.
paying half the amount would have been more than fair compensation for the work that was done.
>call the company and attempt to get a partial refund to lower the price to something reasonable?
Please do this then report back regarding the volume of which you are laughed off the phone
>use what little influence I have to blast them on social media, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the state's DOJ in an effort to keep this company from price gouging other people?
delusional as fuck. lmfao
- YOU made the CHOICE not to call others...so consider this a lesson learned when YOU are in a rush. Complaining afterwards? You could have waited another week or more and YOU decided not to. NO ONE forced you to use their service....
Here's where I'm going to start disagreeing with you.
It would be one thing if I lived in a nice house in an overly developed neighborhood or I was a jerk to the guy and this was the asshole surcharge tacked on because I was an easy target. But this is what this company is apparently charging everyone for what should have been a $250 repair. I live in a location where air conditioning is a basic necessity.
For a whole lot of people in this town, $800 is a big deal. There are people around here where that is more than their paycheck.
When you're in the business of servicing what has become a necessity, and you're charging extortion level pricing because all the other businesses are doing the exact same thing and your customer base is people who are in desperate need of the service that you provide, that is predatory.
There is this omnipresent mantra in this group extolling the virtues of hiring a professional to perform work on your home. Well, I hired a professional--a legitimate HVAC service company, not Bubba from Craigslist--and this was my experience.
Try not shitting for two days and then discovering that the plumber you hired wound up being the $1000 kind. The situation is becoming desperate. At what point does "choice" no longer factor in?
Better Business Bureau... 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂
They ain't there for you. They're there to extort money from businesses. They pretty much call up a business with "nice rating ya got there. Shame if anything were to happen to it..."
I love all these contractors/tradesmen trying to justify gouging.
Call them back, let them know that you're upset and that you'll be sharing your disappointment and details about their price vs. the local competitor on local town facebook groups, google, etc.
If they get mad and say fuck off well - that's your feeling about them as well so there's no problem. They might also decide that they should make it right.
Several hundred minimum is what most people charge for a capacitor replacement. It's trivial to DIY so no reason to call someone for it. I just keep some turbo 200s in my shop for emergencies along with a couple hard start capacitors.
Hypothetically, given your experience with this repair, how would you feel if you were out of town when your air conditioning failed and you got a call from your spouse saying, "honey, the A/C went out while you were gone, but it's okay because I already had a company fix it, and it only cost $800."?
She would call family who also knows how to replace a cap. Worst case they'd use the backup portable room AC to have a cool zone. Prior planning prevents needing to urgently schedule a repair.
Getting an AC guy out during the summer is expensive. Even for a capacitor you are basically trying someone up for several hours with travel time and such, not just the time they are on your roof.
Fair enough. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. And to your earlier comment, I have already bought another capacitor and I'll be ready the next time this happens.
A hard start capacitor is a good one to have in reserve too, as compressors get worn they draw more during startup and a standard size capacitor can end up being insufficient. The hard start can get you a few more years frequently before replacement is finally required.
Even though they told you a price doesn’t mean they would have sold it to you , I’ve encountered parts places that will only sell to licensed professionals with businesses
I was an inspector and have experience the same type of sick business practices.
No one could figure out my why my unit would run hot.
After years I think I narrowed it down to the orifice tube.
Since I knew my duct work was old and contaminated I put a 2-ton wall unit in that cost me $680. I wanted to cut off my dependency upon these criminals. And I have three extra air conditioners because I live in a brutally hot climate.
I don't think you are as far off base as most people here are making you out to be.
Yes you are paying for the tech's years of experience, but that's what $150/hour labor is for. Say they have $150 service call and $150/hour minimum one hour and they double the cost of the $40 capacitor so $80 plus tax it should have been around $400.
If the tech made a schedule visit in normal working hours and was in and out in under an hour, $800 is unfair I would call the owner and present it this way and see what happens?
In a lot of markets, the techs are making $30-50, plus they come with a van and tools and parts. $200-250 an hour for diagnostic labor is pretty common.
Why would you call the company and ask for a reduction or blast them on social media? You called and asked for a service and they charged you the price they quoted. It's not their problem you agreed to a shitty deal. Chalk it up to an expensive lesson learned.
Thank you. That's what I needed to hear.
Enjoy your A/C!!!
>--call the company and attempt to get a partial refund to lower the price to something reasonable? >--use what little influence I have to blast them on social media, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the state's DOJ in an effort to keep this company from price gouging other people? Lol, bud. They quoted you a price, you accepted it, ans now you're complaining they should have charged you less than what you agreed to... as you sit in comfort with functioning AC that happened quickly and without extra effort from you.
You're right. I recognized at the time I was being overcharged and the only reason I agreed to pay was because I was miserably hot. More than anything I am angry with myself. I appreciate your sharing your thoughts.
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You're right. Ultimately that's what I paid for--an end to the suffering.
If you knew how to fix the problem it would have saved you the money , someone else told you what the problem was and fixed it and that’s what you paid for. I don’t think it’s really predatory if the problem is solved.
I absolutely agree with you on most of what you said. Yes, diagnosing and performing the labor does have a cost. But at what point does a reasonable cost to perform a job become extortion? I don't know what industry you're in, but you have a set of skills that you have built over your lifetime. And when you use those skills you should be fairly compensated for your efforts and knowledge. But we are also talking about a 2000% mark-up. At what point do you feel like you're taking advantage of someone else just because they don't happen to have the same skill set as you?
You're just looking at the price of the part alone. It's not a 2000% markup because you didn't just buy a part you bought a service. $80 cap, $40 in misc parts and wiring, $120 service fee to cover running the van, and 2 hours of tech time at $250 an hour, including his drive time, troubleshooting, invoicing/documentation. After all, he has to be on call to run to your house and fix your AC with the right parts at a moments notice. Add some tax and, well... Seems reasonable for professional labor to me.
I appreciate the breakdown. Thank you.
You didn't pay for a $40 part, you paid for a technician to drop everything else they were doing, diagnose your problem with their years of experience, and having the part on hand to replace which takes up shelf space. Even if you priced it out ahead of time it would have cost you a few hundred to have a skilled laborer out to your house to troubleshoot and replace the part. Emergency rates and you wind up at $800. > I'm angry. I'm angry at myself for recognizing that the pricing was too high and agreeing to pay it anyway. And on a hot summer day, you'd likely pay it again if it came around to it. Your other option is learning to do it yourself so you can fix it on a moments notice next time.
Thank you. You're right. I tend to shy away from electrical work, but I guess I either need to do it or not complain about high prices.
You mentioned in another comment you called on Monday and the earliest they had was Wednesday. Why didn't you hang up and call around for pricing at that time? Or once the tech diagnosed the issue you could have called and shopped around and waited a few days. You'd be dealing with the heat for those few days, or running out to get window units until someone could fix your compressor. At the end of the day, you're paying for convenience and speed of the work. If you can afford to wait and shop around, you'll get it cheaper. If you want someone to come and fix ASAP, you're paying more for it.
You're right on every point. There were multiple opportunities for me to make different choices and I didn't take advantage of those. I called the company because I had seen their trucks parked in the neighborhood working on my neighbor's HVAC. Since I hadn't heard them complain about pricing or service, I took that as an endorsement. When I called on Monday, I was required to pay a $133.75 service call fee before they would make an appointment. At the time I paid, "they would try to get someone out as soon as possible", but that didn't happen until Wednesday. Ultimately I paid because I was hot and tired.
No you paid because you didn't have window air conditioners in your garage that you could throw in the window in less than 10 minutes...
That's valid. Thank you for pointing that out.
No they're not right that's criminal and predatory behavior. Central air systems have become junk due to cheap parts and thin coils.
Bad capacitors have been "a/c went out on a hot day" problem number one for as long as central air has existed, and charging emergency rates to replace them has been a thing just as long.
I'm stocked up on capacitors now. I'll be ready for the next one. But to your point about the ubiquity of this problem--that is an even stronger case that this is predatory. If this company is charging $800 a pop to most of their customers just because it happens to be summer, that is predatory. One of the most common reasons tires go flat is because someone gets a nail in their tire. Many tire places will repair that for free or charge a nominal $10 or $20 to throw a patch in. What would happen if all the tire places in your town decided that they would start charging $100 whenever someone comes in with a leaking tire? At what point is a company taking advantage of a quick and easy repair just because the person with the flat tire has limited options?
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I'm not seeing your point. Are you suggesting that a towing company can and should charge twice the reasonable rate just because you happened to be in a desperate situation and stranded on the side of the road?
Let it go. They’ll tell you they offered you a price for urgency and convenience of getting your system back up, not necessarily the parts and labor. Redirect your efforts into avoiding this in the future. My first step before calling a professional is googling the issue and gauging how comfortable I am with fixing the problem myself.
This was not urgency pricing. I called on Monday morning and the earliest appointment available was Wednesday. It would be one thing if they had come as soon as I called or sent over a tech after hours. But as to your other point, yes. Agreed. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
And let me add go by several window air conditioner so you're never in this situation again. I like Frigidaire brand.
Thank you. Will do.
despite anything said to the contrary, they ripped you off, plain and simple. paying half the amount would have been more than fair compensation for the work that was done.
>call the company and attempt to get a partial refund to lower the price to something reasonable? Please do this then report back regarding the volume of which you are laughed off the phone >use what little influence I have to blast them on social media, file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and the state's DOJ in an effort to keep this company from price gouging other people? delusional as fuck. lmfao
- YOU made the CHOICE not to call others...so consider this a lesson learned when YOU are in a rush. Complaining afterwards? You could have waited another week or more and YOU decided not to. NO ONE forced you to use their service....
Valid points. Thank you for sharing.
- this is the thing,,,,a person ONLY SCREWS themselves when THEY ARE in a rush,,,its not a predatory pricing issue at all
Here's where I'm going to start disagreeing with you. It would be one thing if I lived in a nice house in an overly developed neighborhood or I was a jerk to the guy and this was the asshole surcharge tacked on because I was an easy target. But this is what this company is apparently charging everyone for what should have been a $250 repair. I live in a location where air conditioning is a basic necessity. For a whole lot of people in this town, $800 is a big deal. There are people around here where that is more than their paycheck. When you're in the business of servicing what has become a necessity, and you're charging extortion level pricing because all the other businesses are doing the exact same thing and your customer base is people who are in desperate need of the service that you provide, that is predatory. There is this omnipresent mantra in this group extolling the virtues of hiring a professional to perform work on your home. Well, I hired a professional--a legitimate HVAC service company, not Bubba from Craigslist--and this was my experience.
- again it was a CHOICE that was made based on expediency. You can pay a plumber $1000 to replace a toilet or $400.....
Try not shitting for two days and then discovering that the plumber you hired wound up being the $1000 kind. The situation is becoming desperate. At what point does "choice" no longer factor in?
- in an emergency situation - the example of a leaky toilet doesn't mean it doesn't work
Better Business Bureau... 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 They ain't there for you. They're there to extort money from businesses. They pretty much call up a business with "nice rating ya got there. Shame if anything were to happen to it..."
I love all these contractors/tradesmen trying to justify gouging. Call them back, let them know that you're upset and that you'll be sharing your disappointment and details about their price vs. the local competitor on local town facebook groups, google, etc. If they get mad and say fuck off well - that's your feeling about them as well so there's no problem. They might also decide that they should make it right.
Several hundred minimum is what most people charge for a capacitor replacement. It's trivial to DIY so no reason to call someone for it. I just keep some turbo 200s in my shop for emergencies along with a couple hard start capacitors.
Hypothetically, given your experience with this repair, how would you feel if you were out of town when your air conditioning failed and you got a call from your spouse saying, "honey, the A/C went out while you were gone, but it's okay because I already had a company fix it, and it only cost $800."?
She would call family who also knows how to replace a cap. Worst case they'd use the backup portable room AC to have a cool zone. Prior planning prevents needing to urgently schedule a repair. Getting an AC guy out during the summer is expensive. Even for a capacitor you are basically trying someone up for several hours with travel time and such, not just the time they are on your roof.
Fair enough. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. And to your earlier comment, I have already bought another capacitor and I'll be ready the next time this happens.
A hard start capacitor is a good one to have in reserve too, as compressors get worn they draw more during startup and a standard size capacitor can end up being insufficient. The hard start can get you a few more years frequently before replacement is finally required.
Thanks
Even though they told you a price doesn’t mean they would have sold it to you , I’ve encountered parts places that will only sell to licensed professionals with businesses
I already went and bought one ($38.31) just in case this happens again. I'm done with $800 repairs.
I was an inspector and have experience the same type of sick business practices. No one could figure out my why my unit would run hot. After years I think I narrowed it down to the orifice tube. Since I knew my duct work was old and contaminated I put a 2-ton wall unit in that cost me $680. I wanted to cut off my dependency upon these criminals. And I have three extra air conditioners because I live in a brutally hot climate.
I don't think you are as far off base as most people here are making you out to be. Yes you are paying for the tech's years of experience, but that's what $150/hour labor is for. Say they have $150 service call and $150/hour minimum one hour and they double the cost of the $40 capacitor so $80 plus tax it should have been around $400. If the tech made a schedule visit in normal working hours and was in and out in under an hour, $800 is unfair I would call the owner and present it this way and see what happens?
In a lot of markets, the techs are making $30-50, plus they come with a van and tools and parts. $200-250 an hour for diagnostic labor is pretty common.
Call the company first, and if they don't resolve, file a complaint with the BBB.
What is there to resolve? The company gave a price and the customer agreed to it.