On Sun, 17 Jul 2005 19:43:49 +0000 (UTC), bz
wrote:

I had a consumer electronics shop in the early 1970's and ran into the same
kinds of problem back then. I finally decided that I couldn't make a decent
living at it honestly and was unwilling to do it any other way and closed
the shop.


"Honestly" is the operative word. The VCR problem I had was quite
simply to replace the rubber drive rings and then align the timing.
At $75 an hour the job could have been done in less time but $75 was
acceptable. I didn't care to save the $75 as I didn't want to spend
the time and effort to look up the fixes on this VCR. To the labor
charge the shop tagged on another $50 for cleaning and shop supplies
(standard charge item he said), something I had already done and with
far more care than anyone else. I understand the shop's desperation
to pad charges to make up for dwindling servicing business. But it
leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I certainly will never go to a shop
to get anything fixed again. If I can't fix it its tossed. The $100
or so bucks saved on not using the shop is a sizeable chunk of money
towards a new appliance.