Incompetent repairman

killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
A guy came to fix my blinds. For f…’s sake… The guy was eyeballing my window for almost an hour and couldn’t get what I saw in 2 minutes and I’m not a smart guy.

I wanted to smash his head through that effin window.



Some windows have a protective insect net.

You have to pull it down when you want to use it/stop insects coming in.

The axis it spins on has a spring inside.

When you pull it down you stretch out the spring.

You have to lock the insect net in the bottom position because otherwise it would roll back up again because of the spring.

There was an above average windy day.

The wind made the axis jump out of its fixture and the spring rolled out to a neutral/zero position.

So the net is all flabby and doesn’t go up.

You need to roll it back around the axis while out of its fixtures and then put it back in place so the next time you pull it down, it would tense the spring again.





Two beers and 15$. Nothing done.
 
M

Midwesthonky

Audioholic General
Sadly, probably a $10-12 per hour worker. You get what you pay for.
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
Sadly, probably a $10-12 per hour worker. You get what you pay for.
I've noticed lately I'm spending a huge amount of energy trying to tell people to stop assigning guilt when services fail. For that matter, I also try to tell them they shouldn't accept the assigned guilt. This is the wrong way to go.

The much, much costlier guy never even showed up. Could you use that same sentence in that case? Was it, in all honesty, up to me to choose who gets the job?

See what I mean.

But the most important thing is; it's not an hourly fee, that's the "house visit" you usually pay for the guy to come over and asses. This may differ in your country as oppose to mine.

Also, this was a guy from one of the better reviewed repair companies.

Another thing; in my country, with our standards, if you ask for 15$ per hour, you are REALLY expensive.

So, what was that you were saying about getting what I payed for? Is it really the case?
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
A few questions, based on your comments-

How old are the blinds and how does a company provide a warranty for their products in your country?

How does a company charge for their services/products relative to the costs incurred by being an operating business? If charging $15/hour makes them "REALLY expensive", does this mean they receive money from the government, to allow them to operate without losing money (or at least to break even after paying everyone)? Does the government allow companies to make a profit, or is it all 'break-even'? Does a company send the guy to repair these things, or is it a government agency?

If you know how to repair the blinds, why would you put yourself through all of this by having someone who can't see the problem come out and not do something, at a cost to you? This event sounds like a comment made about the Czech Republic by someone I know, who had gone there before 1991 to teach people about the English language- he said the general policy was "We'll pretend to pay you if you pretend to work".

If you know how to make the screen operate after the spring has gone slack, can you do it for yourself?
 
slipperybidness

slipperybidness

Audioholic Warlord
If someone comes to make a repair for me, but doesn't actually repair anything, then there is no way they are getting a single dime out of my pocket.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
If someone comes to make a repair for me, but doesn't actually repair anything, then there is no way they are getting a single dime out of my pocket.
Exactly. Always beware of anyone that asks for money up front. Nope, you do work, you get paid. Simple as that.
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
All good comments. Thank you. You really help me vent this steam.

@highfigh It's the difference in standard of living. In my country 15$ is a lot to get for one hour of mere "on-sight" inspection.

I did fix the insect net on my window, in the end. The reason why I didn't want to do it in the first place is because I didn't want to find out the hard way that there was a step I shouldn't have skipped and wouldn't if I were a professional. I hope I explained that well; you know, even if you see what the problem is, you're still careful not to make it worse.

@slipperybidness I agree with you, some companies will do the free assesment, others won't. My HDD failed and I had to pay 20$ just to get the info how much can be saved and what would it cost. They are asking for 350$ and that's just silly. Where I live, if assesment implies some time investment or an in house visit, some companies will charge for that.

The funny thing is, the guy called his boss to ask for advice, but they couldn't do it over the phone. So the guy asked his boss to come and see. The boss called later and said there's a match on TV that evening and he is not coming.:D:D:D:D

@panteragstk they didn't ask for the money upfront, It's, sort of, understood here. I was mainly bitching about him not being able to see such a simple problem.

Here, let me ask you directly; I described the problem in my first post. Were you able to understand what needed to be fixed from what I wrote?
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
All good comments. Thank you. You really help me vent this steam.

@highfigh It's the difference in standard of living. In my country 15$ is a lot to get for one hour of mere "on-sight" inspection.

I did fix the insect net on my window, in the end. The reason why I didn't want to do it in the first place is because I didn't want to find out the hard way that there was a step I shouldn't have skipped and wouldn't if I were a professional. I hope I explained that well; you know, even if you see what the problem is, you're still careful not to make it worse.
Is it also a difference in the value of your currency, where $15 means more than it does, here? Our problem is that people always want more- it's the national pastime for millions of people, complaining that they want things they can't afford or have, so someone should pay for what they want or pay them more to do menial work without their doing more for the pay and some work themselves to death in their quest for MORE. "I Need!" has been confused with "I WANT" and it causes a lot of problems. Various factors have caused the federal poverty level to skyrocket to more than $23,500 and 'low income' for a family of four is over $47,000 in the US.

In addition to selling and installing AV equipment/systems, I work on boats. Yesterday, I checked out the air horns on a boat which I had previously installed some stereo equipment and found that the air compressor works, the horns don't. I had to remove the gauges in order to access the compressor and connect my horns but unfortunately for all of us, the boat manufacturer made it very difficult to reach the nut that allows removal of the horns- the dash has a pair of access panels, but whoever made changes to the electronics and wiring also created a rat's nest so thick it's impossible to see what I need and the panels are located such that it's impossible to reach the nut and any openings on top are too small for my hands to fit through. I wasn't able to actually repair them, but I found the problem- should I not be able to charge for my time finding the problem and driving there? I did perform a service for them- I found the problem. Owning and driving my van isn't free, my tools aren't free, my business & vehicle insurance aren't free, searching for information took time and if I'm doing that for a customer, should I not be able to charge for it? If it costs money to operate a business, it's time to close and if I want to pay myself, I need to charge for my time, labor, parts/supplies/equipment.

The other marina the customer called about the horns didn't seem interested in doing the work- I now understand why. It's not a repair these customers would do for themselves- they wouldn't even bother to remove the four screws in order to replace each speaker- I can't imagine what would happen if they tried to repair the horns.

In my case, I do a lot of work myself because I can be too impatient to wait for someone to charge me to do a bad job and if I can do it myself, I don't like paying for it.
 
Last edited:
P

pewternhrata

Audioholic Chief
Is it also a difference in the value of your currency, where $15 means more than it does, here? Our problem is that people always want more- it's the national pastime for millions of people, complaining that they want things they can't afford or have, so someone should pay for what they want or pay them more to do menial work without their doing more for the pay and some work themselves to death in their quest for MORE. "I Need!" has been confused with "I WANT" and it causes a lot of problems. Various factors have caused the federal poverty level to skyrocket to more than $23,500 and 'low income' for a family of four is over $47,000 in the US.

In addition to selling and installing AV equipment/systems, I work on boats. Yesterday, I checked out the air horns on a boat which I had previously installed some stereo equipment and found that the air compressor works, the horns don't. I had to remove the gauges in order to access the compressor and connect my horns but unfortunately for all of us, the boat manufacturer made it very difficult to reach the nut that allows removal of the horns- the dash has a pair of access panels, but whoever made changes to the electronics and wiring also created a rat's nest so thick it's impossible to see what I need and the panels are located such that it's impossible to reach the nut and any openings on top are too small for my hands to fit through. I wasn't able to actually repair them, but I found the problem- should I not be able to charge for my time finding the problem and driving there? I did perform a service for them- I found the problem. Owning and driving my van isn't free, my tools aren't free, my business & vehicle insurance aren't free, searching for information took time and if I'm doing that for a customer, should I not be able to charge for it? If it costs money to operate a business, it's time to close and if I want to pay myself, I need to charge for my time, labor, parts/supplies/equipment.

The other marina the customer called about the horns didn't seem interested in doing the work- I now understand why. It's not a repair these customers would do for themselves- they wouldn't even bother to remove the four screws in order to replace each speaker- I can't imagine what would happen if they tried to repair the horns.

In my case, I do a lot of work myself because I can be too impatient to wait for someone to charge me to do a bad job and if I can do it myself, I don't like paying for it.
I dont need a house, I want a house. Most my age (mid 30s) have the mind set that if they work (or even if they dont) should be able to buy a house, and not any house, but a nice big house. Why, well because shelter is a right.
I do most work myself bc I hate paying someone for a skill I have. If I don't know, I'll read up and determine if it's something I can, or want, to tackle. The heating element in my stove went out, a quick internet search, rather than wait on my landlord to fix, I coughed up the big $15 and replaced the part myself. Let the landlord know what was going on (figured he should know, it is his property) lucky me, he owns a brewery and me and the wife get a good night out on him.
I'm often in the mindset that a company should not charge diagnostics, but if they dont then then services would probably go up. Also I would not be too keen on driving around all day explaining to customers what is wrong free of charge so they can go elsewhere.
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
Is it also a difference in the value of your currency, where $15 means more than it does, here? Our problem is that people always want more- it's the national pastime for millions of people, complaining that they want things they can't afford or have, so someone should pay for what they want or pay them more to do menial work without their doing more for the pay and some work themselves to death in their quest for MORE. "I Need!" has been confused with "I WANT" and it causes a lot of problems. Various factors have caused the federal poverty level to skyrocket to more than $23,500 and 'low income' for a family of four is over $47,000 in the US.

In addition to selling and installing AV equipment/systems, I work on boats. Yesterday, I checked out the air horns on a boat which I had previously installed some stereo equipment and found that the air compressor works, the horns don't. I had to remove the gauges in order to access the compressor and connect my horns but unfortunately for all of us, the boat manufacturer made it very difficult to reach the nut that allows removal of the horns- the dash has a pair of access panels, but whoever made changes to the electronics and wiring also created a rat's nest so thick it's impossible to see what I need and the panels are located such that it's impossible to reach the nut and any openings on top are too small for my hands to fit through. I wasn't able to actually repair them, but I found the problem- should I not be able to charge for my time finding the problem and driving there? I did perform a service for them- I found the problem. Owning and driving my van isn't free, my tools aren't free, my business & vehicle insurance aren't free, searching for information took time and if I'm doing that for a customer, should I not be able to charge for it? If it costs money to operate a business, it's time to close and if I want to pay myself, I need to charge for my time, labor, parts/supplies/equipment.

The other marina the customer called about the horns didn't seem interested in doing the work- I now understand why. It's not a repair these customers would do for themselves- they wouldn't even bother to remove the four screws in order to replace each speaker- I can't imagine what would happen if they tried to repair the horns.

In my case, I do a lot of work myself because I can be too impatient to wait for someone to charge me to do a bad job and if I can do it myself, I don't like paying for it.
I agree with everything you wrote. Find nothing to contest. Just FYI; 15$ is roughly 100 kuna and this buys ONE of the listed (so it's either or):
3.5 pounds of prime turkey breast no skin no bone
2 pounds veal cutlet top quality
15 average loafs of bread
20 carboard packs of milk (one liter, good brand)
Monthly mobile phone fee (average package, nothing packed with options and features)
10 liters (2,2 gallons) of gas

I think you SHOULD have charged finding the problem. My guy was in the vicinity and in our terms that's just a few blocks away. He did invest his time, but found nothing. It's a border case at best. Charging failure is a tricky one.

But, as @pewternhrata wrote, you can't go driving around all day giving people free diagnostics and then let them call someone cheaper who might even rely on your diagnostics conveyed by the one who has the problem.

Still, in my case, there was very little to pay.

For some reason those insect nets, especially ones that are built in the window, cost an arm and a leg. That's why I was reluctant to say the least. I don't want to tell myself I know it all. That's usually the downfall. Even if I see where the problem is, I still try to spin a few different scenarios in my head and predict how my meddling might make it even worse.

I fix most of the stuff around my apartment, but I'm always this way; measure five times, cut once! ;)
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I agree with everything you wrote. Find nothing to contest. Just FYI; 15$ is roughly 100 kuna and this buys ONE of the listed (so it's either or):
3.5 pounds of prime turkey breast no skin no bone
2 pounds veal cutlet top quality
15 average loafs of bread
20 carboard packs of milk (one liter, good brand)
Monthly mobile phone fee (average package, nothing packed with options and features)
10 liters (2,2 gallons) of gas

I think you SHOULD have charged finding the problem. My guy was in the vicinity and in our terms that's just a few blocks away. He did invest his time, but found nothing. It's a border case at best. Charging failure is a tricky one.

But, as @pewternhrata wrote, you can't go driving around all day giving people free diagnostics and then let them call someone cheaper who might even rely on your diagnostics conveyed by the one who has the problem.

Still, in my case, there was very little to pay.

For some reason those insect nets, especially ones that are built in the window, cost an arm and a leg. That's why I was reluctant to say the least. I don't want to tell myself I know it all. That's usually the downfall. Even if I see where the problem is, I still try to spin a few different scenarios in my head and predict how my meddling might make it even worse.

I fix most of the stuff around my apartment, but I'm always this way; measure five times, cut once! ;)
I plan to charge for this work, but need to discuss the options with the owners of the boat- without finding a way to get to the nuts that hold the horns on, the easy way is to add a set, which will make it look like a hillbilly owns it and that's not acceptable. IMO, the boat manufacturer should have thought ahead to consider a way to replace them after years of people adding and changing electronics in an already cluttered area with limited access to wiring. I'm positive the horns were installed before the dash pod was added and that make it easy during manufacture, but almost impossible, later. I'll call the manufacturer tomorrow.

I told a friend with a boat of similar size and mentioned that if I need to replace his horns, I just need to empty a storage compartment and crawl in- they're almost too easy to access.

'Didn't' and 'couldn't' are two different things when you clearly saw a problem and in his case, it had to do with his inability to see it.

I'm a member of a ski boat forum and the number of people who think it's appropriate to jump head first into a problem on their new boats amazes me. These boats start at about $60K and go to over $200K, have fuel injected engines and systems that require expensive training for the authorized service techs to learn and these people have none of that, few tools, no diagnostic equipment and wouldn't think of working on a $12,000 used car that's no longer under warranty. They have one bad experience at the dealer, declare them 'incompetent' and head to the store to load their 'parts cannon'. Their way of fixing things is to replace a bunch of parts and try it- if it works, they "fixed" it, but since they replaced more than one part, they can't possibly be sure of what caused the problem. I originally joined because I read about someone who was annoyed by his new boat's warning buzzer that sounded if the key was in the ON position, but the engine wasn't running. Someone wrote that he should cut the wire to the buzzer and I explained A) why that was a stupid idea and B) that it would void his warranty- that buzzer was there to warn of low oil pressure or overheating.
 
highfigh

highfigh

Seriously, I have no life.
I dont need a house, I want a house. Most my age (mid 30s) have the mind set that if they work (or even if they dont) should be able to buy a house, and not any house, but a nice big house. Why, well because shelter is a right.
I do most work myself bc I hate paying someone for a skill I have. If I don't know, I'll read up and determine if it's something I can, or want, to tackle. The heating element in my stove went out, a quick internet search, rather than wait on my landlord to fix, I coughed up the big $15 and replaced the part myself. Let the landlord know what was going on (figured he should know, it is his property) lucky me, he owns a brewery and me and the wife get a good night out on him.
I'm often in the mindset that a company should not charge diagnostics, but if they dont then then services would probably go up. Also I would not be too keen on driving around all day explaining to customers what is wrong free of charge so they can go elsewhere.
A lean-to is a 'shelter', a big house is a luxury. They need to learn this.

Do you realize that in order to know what caused a problem in an electronic device that the repair often must be made in its entirety? There's no "I think it's this..." and Boom!- It's done.An educated guess will show this at times, but unless something was built to cause a designed failure so a module can be replaced, repairs are made at component level. If the person doing the repair didn't build it, don't make them work for free- manufacturers don't just pay whatever someone asks for, they pay what they want and if someone is willing to do the work as a goodwill gesture for their customers, great.

You would be surprised by the number of service complaints that were caused by people not knowing how to use something. When I worked for a stereo store, we had a lot of people coming in with their receiver that "blew the amplifier, or something". We liked to weed out the real problems, to keep the service techs from wasting their time, so we would plug the power cord into an outlet, connect some speakers and turn it on- in a lot of cases, we just turned off the Tape Monitor switch and the problem was solved. Sometimes, it was the speaker selector, set for A+B and the receiver was designed to connect them in series when only A or B was needed.
 
P

pewternhrata

Audioholic Chief
I plan to charge for this work, but need to discuss the options with the owners of the boat- without finding a way to get to the nuts that hold the horns on, the easy way is to add a set, which will make it look like a hillbilly owns it and that's not acceptable. IMO, the boat manufacturer should have thought ahead to consider a way to replace them after years of people adding and changing electronics in an already cluttered area with limited access to wiring. I'm positive the horns were installed before the dash pod was added and that make it easy during manufacture, but almost impossible, later. I'll call the manufacturer tomorrow.

I told a friend with a boat of similar size and mentioned that if I need to replace his horns, I just need to empty a storage compartment and crawl in- they're almost too easy to access.

'Didn't' and 'couldn't' are two different things when you clearly saw a problem and in his case, it had to do with his inability to see it.

I'm a member of a ski boat forum and the number of people who think it's appropriate to jump head first into a problem on their new boats amazes me. These boats start at about $60K and go to over $200K, have fuel injected engines and systems that require expensive training for the authorized service techs to learn and these people have none of that, few tools, no diagnostic equipment and wouldn't think of working on a $12,000 used car that's no longer under warranty. They have one bad experience at the dealer, declare them 'incompetent' and head to the store to load their 'parts cannon'. Their way of fixing things is to replace a bunch of parts and try it- if it works, they "fixed" it, but since they replaced more than one part, they can't possibly be sure of what caused the problem. I originally joined because I read about someone who was annoyed by his new boat's warning buzzer that sounded if the key was in the ON position, but the engine wasn't running. Someone wrote that he should cut the wire to the buzzer and I explained A) why that was a stupid idea and B) that it would void his warranty- that buzzer was there to warn of low oil pressure or overheating.
It's like going to an auto parts store with an issue. They are all (mostly all) salesmen(women) they know the parts to components, but they dont, and within reason, do not know how to fix a car. All advertise free cel scans, make it sound like they know what's going on, print out the code and start blindly selling parts for areas on the list.
I'm not a certified mechanic, just recently started getting into direct injection. It amazes me how little some of the employees know about cars. Walk in and just a question on gdi, I guarentee most will give the deer in headlights look.
 
killdozzer

killdozzer

Audioholic Samurai
I originally joined because I read about someone who was annoyed by his new boat's warning buzzer that sounded if the key was in the ON position, but the engine wasn't running. Someone wrote that he should cut the wire to the buzzer...
:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D
Too good to be true!
 
M

Midwesthonky

Audioholic General
When it comes to quotes or a site visit, I usually won't charge a customer. What I will do is assess the situation and tell them in advance what they are up against. In one situation, I told the customer it could be $500 or it could be $5,000 (US currency) because you can't tell what is behind the drywall to make the change she wanted. If something looks like it will take considerable time just to diagnose or I have to dig into it, I will let them know the situation and that I will need to charge them. That way there are no surprises.

But diagnosing an issue takes time. Time you should be spending making money. Can't give it away free. Unless it's for a warranty service call. I hate to say it, but I am turning small work away because by them time I do design work, procure materials, etc., a $350 job costs $1,200. I can use my time on your small job or I can put it towards a customer than is worth $180,000 a year to me. So I tell them the honest truth that at a shop rate of $75 per hour (cheap), it doesn't take long for costs to sky rocket beyond them just going and buying an inexpensive replacement. Especially when someone wants me to refinish cabinet doors. No, just no. Horrible job to do and it's cheaper for me to buy new than to sand and refinish old ones. Costs me work but saves me headaches. OR I tell a person how to do their own fix. They can spend $50 and their time or they can pay me $1000.
 

Latest posts

newsletter

  • RBHsound.com
  • BlueJeansCable.com
  • SVS Sound Subwoofers
  • Experience the Martin Logan Montis
Top