I'm not in the business but I too am mechanically inclined -
and I don't think Tony was ripped off or enjoys hearing
someone say he was!
It costs money to run a business, be licensed, bonded,
insured, and train and keep good people. Advertising and
other expenses you wouldn't even think about also surely
come into play - things like maintaining inventory.
The company didn't necessarily sell Tony a lot of stuff he
didn't need - what they did was tell him if you didn't buy
the package deal there would be no warranty. Why they did
that makes perfect sense. They want what any home owner
wants - the system to be reliable and not need repair
again. Perhaps prices were in line and perhaps there was
someone out there just as reputable but cheaper. However,
where Tony lives may have something to do with that too
(cost of living is decidedly different in Las Angeles,
California than Selma Alabama...). Even if what he was
charged was high, Tony has an old motor which the company
will likely have to replace for free in the future. If the
price he paid gets that done without hassle I say he is
ahead of the game.
Too bad the suggestion about changing the battery and
cleaning the contacts wasn't the first suggestion.
Stephen Kurzban
Richard J Kinch wrote:
Tony writes:
Service Call $48
Gear Kit $68
Set 218 tor spr $178
set 1000cc tor dru $48
1 c bearing $18
1 set 10 neo rollers $118
Lifetime warranty parts and labor
Based on the above, does it look like I was "ripped off"?
Absolutely. Fair price for the springs and installation would be $150
tops. For that gear installed $75. So you paid double what you ought.
But you probably didn't even need most of the items you paid for! In sum,
you paid $468 for parts with a cost of no more than about $75. The
diagnosis, retailing and installation of those parts has legitimate value,
but imagine the profit if every customer was that much of a sucker for
mark-ups.
You may not have needed the springs at all. The opener gears are plastic
and wear out normally.
The sick thing is that some in the trade considers this fair dealing. The
justify it as preventative maintenance when they sell you all kinds of
stuff you don't need.
That warranty has no particular value above the normal warranty of
performance you would be entitled to anyway.
You got robbed. You got manipulated by experts when you were vulnerable.
You didn't know any better. Now (let's hope) you will.
Learn to think critically, and act upon critical thinking, or you will
always be a sheep to be shorn. In this age of Google, you don't need to be
ignorant of how stuff works (and fails to work) and what it should cost to
fix it.
See my page:
http://www.truetex.com/garage.htm
People send me sob stories like yours all the time. You are only on the
upper-middle of the ripoff scale. I've heard far worse.