This is called Flat Rate.

More at the bottom.

"Snoop Drew" wrote in message
news:e4Cqc.4691$zw.4@attbi_s01...
I hired an electrician from the yellow pages to replace a faulty Ground
Fault Circuit Interruptor (GFCI) in the garage, and install two new ones
in
the kitchen to bring it up to code.

The guy charged me $261 per GFCI, for a total of $783. He spent an hour to
do the job. I told him before I signed the work authorization that this
seemed expensive and asked about a discount but he just frowned. Is this
really a fair price?

Their yellow page ad reads "reasonable prices" and "complete professional
&
reliable service" with "30 years experience!!"

I don't think someone who has 30 years of professional experience would
say
that $783 is "reasonable" for installing three GFCI outlets, with no new
wires to be run.

i have no one to blame but myself, but do i have any recourse? Can't i
just
call the guy to complain and ask for a partial refund? Or can I really win
in small claims?

yes, I deserve an award for stupidity and gullability, but i think there's
a
special place in hell for people like this...


Flat rate is a program used by a lot of contractors that are supposed to
reward the customer by using an average amount of time to do a certain job.
Tech A can do this job in 20 minutes, but tech B takes 1 hour and 20
minutes. Average that out and you get 50 minutes. You get charged the 50
minutes whether tech A or tech B come out to do the job.

You have to sign a authorization before you start the job. That gives them
permission to do the work at the price on the contract. You can also refuse
the work and pay a diagnosis fee for them coming out.

In some areas you are allowed to request a pricing breakdown. Some techs
will look at you funny if you ask for the breakdown.

It's also called up front pricing and several other names. It can be a good
thing and it can be a bad thing.

I won't have anything to do with it. There are a lot of people in my
industry that love it. They say it's really helped the bottom line. I
think it's a way to help people that really have no clue how to run a
business....

I have more if you want to hear my ramblings......