Scammer got me Friday.

$195 doesn't get a HVAC tech to the phone in Vegas. The OP was VERY fortunate not to be dinged for new capacitors, relays and all sorts of piece parts at 400% markup.

The other poster got hosed with the $180 capacitor.
 
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My house and AC unit is only about four years old. Didn't expect any problems. I guess I got spoiled in my previous house. Twenty nine years on the same AC unit. Had coolant topped off about every four years by the same guy at my rural home there. By the time I moved his total fee had gone up to about $135.
 
He's not scamming you. Cost of living is way up. A skilled tradesman has every right to charge what it costs to pay the bills and raise a family.
 
Have you been to a Franchised car dealership for repairs lately.

$150 an hour and then they charge for the supplies the mechanic takes home
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
You had no idea what the problem was and would have spent hours "trouble shooting" and when you found the chewed wires would you know what to do or have the tools available t do the job? You don't pay them by time alone, you pay them to know how to, have the tools available to and to fix the problem. $195 sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Click to expand...
Our Plant's Chief Maintenance Man was on the job for 50 years. Finally, at age 70 he retired. He offered to be a Consultant on Retainer and come in as needed. At that time the Plant Manager was a young guy with an MBA, and he balked at the idea.

Weeks later there was a catastrophe and the whole plant was down because of a major machine failure. We're talking $thousands / hour in losses. The PM called in old Joe, but told him only to tell the new mechanic what to do and then send us a bill. Joe spent a half hour and then put a check mark on a part. The mechanic replaced the part and the plant was back up and running.

The bill came and it was for $500. The PM was livid. He demanded an itemized bill.

The new bill:
One Check Mark...................................................$0.50
Knowing where to put the check mark........$499.50
 
soFlaNative said:
Most likely required by your local municipality, contractors around here need separate certification for the work.
I wonder if any service would have been included, up to a point if needed for the price.
I've installed a few on new services and had to immediately break them apart, usually the 4 inchers when some schmutz got stuck in the seat when we'd open the flow.
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Yes it is a local reg. In the past it has cost $50-$70. 1 tech.
2 techs, 10 minutes, $200!
Pretty nice racket.
 
GypsmJim said:
Our Plant's Chief Maintenance Man was on the job for 50 years. Finally, at age 70 he retired. He offered to be a Consultant on Retainer and come in as needed. At that time the Plant Manager was a young guy with an MBA, and he balked at the idea.

Weeks later there was a catastrophe and the whole plant was down because of a major machine failure. We're talking $thousands / hour in losses. The PM called in old Joe, but told him only to tell the new mechanic what to do and then send us a bill. Joe spent a half hour and then put a check mark on a part. The mechanic replaced the part and the plant was back up and running.

The bill came and it was for $500. The PM was livid. He demanded an itemized bill.

The new bill:
One Check Mark...................................................$0.50
Knowing where to put the check mark........$499.50
Click to expand...
HAH! I love it!
 
Just getting someone to come out and give an estimate can be challenging. I need a section of privacy fence replaced.

Called 4 fence guys so far and 2 said not interested, the other 2 said they would come out and both no showed.
 
$200 to get non-working AC fixed? Sounds like a bargain.

I’m too embarrassed to say what I paid to get what I thought was a faulty GFCI breaker replaced, when it turns out the problem was a boneheaded homeowner (me) who had left an extension cord plugged into a exterior outlet.
 
No scam detected. The problem is not the repair fees, it's the cheaply made overseas stuff that we compare them to. An American-made air conditioner was about $300 in the 1950s, equivalent to a couple thousand dollars today. If one of those cost $30 to fix back in the day, I doubt it would have been seen as an issue. But when a modern imported unit is $500 and the fix is $200, we grumble.

I'm having a pistol worked on locally, and the 'smith mentioned he'd need to test fire quite a bit and he'd have to itemize and charge the box or two of ammo above the price of the fix itself. I'm like, "Of course, how else would you do it?"
 
Not sure if serious.....you AC is back on, fixed for $195....sounds like the guy did his job correctly and didn't overcharge.
 
CAJUNLAWYER said:
You had no idea what the problem was and would have spent hours "trouble shooting" and when you found the chewed wires would you know what to do or have the tools available t do the job? You don't pay them by time alone, you pay them to know how to, have the tools available to and to fix the problem. $195 sounds pretty reasonable to me.
Click to expand...
This ^^^^ times a hundred. Everyone knows after the fact.
 
As a tradesman myself (Auto Mechanic), I don't believe you were scammed. Now if he had sold you a much more expensive "failed part" that you did not need & fixed the wires along with it, I would agree.
 
blackdeuce said:
My air conditioner quit about a week ago. I was lucky to get someone here quickly. Two nice young men showed up. Within an hour, they had it fixed. $400+. The invoice showed $180 for a capacitor. It was a large one. It was probably the going rate, but I don't think it was a two person job.
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$180 for a $20 capacitor .
 
blackdeuce said:
My air conditioner quit about a week ago. I was lucky to get someone here quickly. Two nice young men showed up. Within an hour, they had it fixed. $400+. The invoice showed $180 for a capacitor. It was a large one. It was probably the going rate, but I don't think it was a two person job.
Click to expand...

That capacitor is likely about $20 at the supply house. Service calls don't come cheap these days.
 
If you have a good multimeter, I can teach you how to test a capacitor ..............EZ.........but I made a career out of heavy industrial maintenance..........but I only know enough about residential AC to be dangerous.........
 
I’ve done calls at thousands of homes and businesses for over thirty years. So I would like to ask the following.

When you made the appointment,

1. Did you ask how much the trip charge was?
2. Hourly rate?
3. Any other charges?
4. Do they have liability insurance?
5. Warranties?

Each of these questions is important and it’s not wrong to ask.
 
BE Mike said:
Calling an electrician, HVAC or plumber costs a few hundred at a minimum these days. You pay them for what they know, not necessarily what they do. There is a nationwide shortage of skilled tradesmen.
Click to expand...
I sure got one who didn't know and/or didn't care about the job. I wanted to have installed 2 new toilets I purchased. So I called what seemed to be a topflight plumbing firm. Out came a younger fellow who went to work on the first toilet. I don't have a great knowledge of plumbing but after he installed the first new toilet I decided to see how it would run. I flushed the new toilet, and it ran fine. And then it ran and ran and ran. I called over the young plumber and pointed out that the newly installed toilet was not filling up and stopping. In a kind "Whoops" moment the young plumber figured he'd better take care of the first toilet and make sure the second one didn't end up with the same problem. I just had a bad feeling that I could have ended up draining the Susquehanna River if I hadn't checked up on his work, even with my limited knowledge of plumbing.
 
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