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Posted to uk.d-i-y
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OT'ish: Greedy plumbers?
On 18/05/2021 21:39, wrote:
I've been talking to a rural plumbing firm about a small job that I
could do, but didn't fancy doing, and had agreed their published rate of
£90 for the first hour followed by £50/hour thereafter. I guessed the
job would take between 1 and 2 hours. Today I found out they were going
to charge more than £150 for parts that I could easily buy for £50 at
retail prices. When they wouldn't justify the mark-up I cancelled and
will do the work myself when the warmer weather arrives. I was prepared
to pay the (OTT) labour rate but they blew it by putting such a huge
mark-up on the parts. Because of greed they lost the job.
I feel sorry for people who don't have the option to do things
themselves, or who don't know anything about the time jobs take and the
cost of materials.
I don't know whether you have ever run your own business, but many
people who have not significantly underestimate the overheads for firms
like these. You may be right, this firm could be taking the ****. If you
actually used them, you might find that they "round down" their hours,
or are scrupulous about stopping the clock during tea breaks.
While I am pretty skeptical about TripAdvisor and the like, it is
interesting to see what reviews firms get on social media. To my mind,
there is nothing to beat a personal recommendation.
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