Tuesday, January 22, 2008

taken for a ride

do you ever feel like you've been taken for a ride when a service person comes to fix something that is broken in your house? be it a freezer that's not freezing, or a dryer that's not drying, or a washing machine that's leaking water, or an oven that stops baking in the middle of preparing dinner. well, these are all things that we have had to deal with in our 7 years of living in our home! let me tell you, we have an issue with almost every appliance that we have either purchased or that came with our home! don't even get me started!

luckily, my strapping, man of a husband can fix just about anything and he usually does, saving us a bunch of money! and i'm all about saving money! but sometimes, like today, when the husband is busy studying and doesn't have a minute of extra time,while our food is going bad in a non-cooling refrigerator/freezer, you've just got to bite the bullet. so, bite the bullet is what we did.

but, oh my goodness, can you say "total rip-off"?! sure, the guy came and he fixed our refrigerator, for which i am VERY grateful, but at what cost?

he was here for a total of 15 minutes, and i am not exaggerating! about 5 of that was taken up by him using our bathroom because he had "too many cups of coffee this morning", after which he did not wash his hands (don't even get me started on that one, either!), and writing up the overpriced receipt! that leaves 10 minutes of actual labor, which, come on, he pulled the fridge out from the wall, unscrewed about 7 screws, removed the cardboard backing, clipped the bad part out and replaced it with the new working part, replaced the cardboard backing, and replaced the 7 screws. how hard is that?!

the part came to a whooping $58.50, which i'm okay with. what i'm not okay with was the $50 he charged for the 10 minutes, if it was even that much, for labor, on top of the $62.50 for the service call!

i was taken for a ride this morning! and it wasn't a fun ride!

14 comments:

Bridget said...

Oh, I hate that! All repair men rip you off. We had our garage door fixed a couple weeks ago. He was here for 10 minutes and charged $89!!

Becca said...

YUCK!!! I hate that kind of stuff. I guess all we can do is count our blessing because we have husbands that can fix most things and these overpriced service calls are few and far between. Was Mitch mad? Mike would have been! What's Mitch studying for anyhow?

Becky said...

ohhh, I would be hacked too.We havnt had to pay for anything like that since we are lame and still rent, but I have felt that way many times leaving the mechanics.

Siouxsie said...

And on top of everything else, I bet you didn't find him anywhere near as appealing to watch do repair work as you find Mitch! Talk about unfair!
;-) Siouxsie

tutu lady said...

Bummer! I feel your pain. But the bright side is that you and your family will not get food poisening this week.

Darilyn said...

Ouch...that is NOT a fun ride.

Anonymous said...

that does stink! i am a lucky one too, my husband can fix almost anything. glad your fridge is up and working.

Merilee said...

Oh yes, I hate those calls. We fished out 600 bucks to the plumber, but we still have a hole in our ceiling. After all he is not a drywaller!

shauna said...

I like how you know EVERYTHING he did. I notice every detail too, just in case I might want to try to fix it myself in the future. Boo for the $$$ and EWWWW for the non-handwashing.

Hey, did you have any troubles transporting pics for your winkflash book? Someone is emailing with troubles--verticle pics transporting as horizontals. email me if you can help sfoliaki@cox.net

mahalo

Dustin and Camila said...

I'm going to venture in a male perspective here... While I agree the $$$ seem steep, the poor guy probably isn't rich. In fact I'm willing to bet his income ranks in the low to middle income? And thank goodness for guys like him, or the many households who DON'T have a strapping do-it-yourselfer would have to buy a whole new fridge. I'm just saying that he paid a price for his knowledge and expertise, and while it might seem steep to pay all that $$$ (I agree there), I guarantee he isn't taking your money home to roll in piles of cash. I usually see guys like that pull up to my house in an old service van or truck (if he's on his own) and can tell from his general appearance that he doesn't live lavishly.

Just my 2 cents....

mahina said...

oh dustin: leave to you to be the sensible one! sheesh! thanks for bursting my bubble! haha!

Dustin and Camila said...

Hehe, sorry... Just call me Dustin "the party pooper" Woodhouse

Elizabeth Dimit said...

I guess there are two sides to everything!

Katie Smith said...

I can see the other side to the story, but if this guy works for some company (not doing it all on his own) I would seriously consider calling the company and telling them that you think you got ripped off. You don't have to be mean about it, but the guy could have at least been a professional about it. "I had too many cups of coffee this morning?" Gimme a break! And, he didn't wash his hands? Those are reasons alone to complain.