Scammer got me Friday.

I'd say you actually came out pretty well on that deal. Anytime you can get AC fixed for less that $200 is outstanding. Remember, they don't charge for repairing it, they charge for knowing how to repair it. Plus parts of course, heh.
 
How much would you charge to drive to someone’s house and do a 20 min job?
You gotta get there you have to drive back you also don’t know if you’re gonna do other work that day and you have to be on call.
You also have to have all the tools and the know how.
He fixed the problem. It doesn’t matter what the problem was, and came in under 200 bucks.
It’s OK. Is just the cost of doing business these days.. If you had called 10 other businesses, none of them would’ve done it much cheaper by much if any.
 
Ok, not a scam by most folk's opinion. Just an obvious running the bill up as high as possible for the amount of work done and time spent. The guy that serviced my AC at my old house never double billed me with a flat fee for showing up and then a near same charge for about fifteen minutes of work. And then have the gall to charge me $25 for gas to drive about eight miles. As to whether someone else would have done the same thing as this guy I will find out if I ever need service again because I will never call this company again.
 
I'm going to print a copy of this thread and stick it to my home office wall...as a reminder of the happiest day of my life. The day I walked away from an electrical contracting business 16 years ago and all the customers that thought I was a crook for not charging minimum wage by the minute. And only for the minutes I was at their home on a weekend or late night, restoring their power when I could have been home with my family.
 
The issue to some seems to be the $25 gas charge. I can see that.

When eating out at some restaurant I don’t appreciate the extra charge for kitchen staff or the busboy, just add it to the price of the food and I’ll never know you insult me.
 
marinevet said:
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.........
Click to expand...
Yeah, I’d like to know. If my A/C went out or blew warm air I don’t think the first thing I would do is jump in my car and go buy a capacitor.
Maybe if I had the experience once before?
If my car didn’t start I wouldn’t just go and buy a new battery or engine.
 
I keep a couple of capacitors and a 30 amp contactor in the garage . $50 or so on Amazon . Throw in a bottle of Turbine Oil for $10 and a good Multimeter and I'm set for most minor electrical issues ,
 
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...
Love it!!! Had a gut come in to my officer about a year ago. Wanted me to go over a divorce petition he got off the internet to make sure it was good to go and asked me what I would charge. I quoted him a price of $1,500. He got irate and left. I saw him about a month later when he came back, told me that the papers had gotten rejected twice and decided to just let a lawyer do it and asked me how much. So I told him-$1,500. It's called value billing. People just don't get it.
 
When you said "scammer", I thought you bought more Medicare coverage, or Final Expenses Insurance from Bill Jones from Thailand. Is your house cooler? I, like others would have been happy to pay that bill.
 
Heat pump quit blowing cold air two days ago...capacitor was dead, had a new one in the garage. The guy came out, actually the son of a good friend, within about 4 hours...very lucky there as he and his wife were getting ready to leave for Nashville to see AC/DC! He came out, used my capacitor, put in 4.5 pounds of refrigerant (system hadn't been touched for refrigerant in over 10 years), found a bad spade connector issue...charged me $190.

My wife is in there recovering from an infected triple bypass operation so I don't need her being even more uncomfortable than she is...the $190 was very reasonable to me. 😊

No matter where I've lived I've always kept a new capacitor sized for the heat pump I have as they are usually the problem 98% of the time, especially as heat starts building and the electric company starts loading the lines for the increased demands...they're very simple to install and have saved my butt more than once! 👍
 
I would gladly accept your service charge and be happy.....Last call I had was to do the 1st of two annual checkup of the heating and air system.....checked the units, sprayed some coil cleaner, 2 new air filters and added some freon. Total time here 31 minutes .... cost $280.00.
 
BKLooney said:
Heat pump quit blowing cold air two days ago...capacitor was dead, had a new one in the garage. The guy came out, actually the son of a good friend, within about 4 hours...very lucky there as he and his wife were getting ready to leave for Nashville to see AC/DC! He came out, used my capacitor, put in 4.5 pounds of refrigerant (system hadn't been touched for refrigerant in over 10 years), found a bad spade connector issue...charged me $190.
Click to expand...
There's no way any HVAC of heat pump system should leak refrigerant like that.
 
We were having issues with our septic system a good while back, just on one end of the house, so we called a plumber. He said most bathrooms have a tub. Correct. He told us to fill the tub, flush the toilet and pull the drain plug at the same time. He said to call him back if it didn't work. It worked. Called him back and thanked him. He said "That's what we're here for: enjoy your day."

He never came out and said no charge.
 
YeshuaIsa53 said:
We were having issues with our septic system a good while back, just on one end of the house, so we called a plumber. He said most bathrooms have a tub. Correct. He told us to fill the tub, flush the toilet and pull the drain plug at the same time. He said to call him back if it didn't work. It worked. Called him back and thanked him. He said "That's what we're here for: enjoy your day."

He never came out and said no charge.
Click to expand...
Baltimore Colts great Art Donovan said; the thing about us big guys is when we get into the bathtub the toilet overflows.
 
Had an ex-pro tackle working for us awhile. We had to drive him to a local Wendy's when he had to go.
 
Re: the OP. You got a reasonable deal ; gas charge or no.

Sort of reminds me of a situation from my days in the trades. Went out with the boss on a no-heat call in the middle of winter. ID'd the issue bad cad cell on an oil burner IIRC and told the customer what it would cost to fix (reasonable parts+ labor). Customer said "all you people are cheats!" Boss, picked up his bag and made to leave. "Customer" said "What bout my heat!" Boss said, fix it yourself and we left.
Life's too short to deal with jerk customers.
 
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