Questionable service folks????

Had to call a heater guy out today cause ours went hooters up....Was actually calling to see when he could show up next week and was surprised when he said he'd be there in 20 minutes..Nice surprise tho....

Anyway, he got there and wiggled a couple things and said this is the problem... Went to his van and dug thru everything with no success and said "be back in half hour"... Left, came back an hour later and said the part was nowhere in the area to be had and he could have one Wendsday for 250 euro....... Done a little McGyverin on the one that wasn't working and got it going but no tellin how long. Call him Monday if I need him to order it and BTW, the starter electrode is cracked and gonna go any time 150 euro if you want me to order it at the same time.....
He made a couple adjustments and charged me 80 bucks which I was glad to pay and still shocked that he showed up so quick.

Heater is a 1995 model and prolly on it's last legs so I got another used one to switch out for a good price. He looked at it and said he could swap them out in a day max but likely half day but parts were no longer available for that heater. Could install a new one for 8k 40% more efficient yadda yadda...... Asked him a couple questions about pellets and solar for hot water in summer.... He said that solar would be another 5k on top, pellets wouldn't work for us without a bunch of changes (and would cost more than the oil furnace yadda yadda....
Said we'd think about it....

Got on the net and joe blow can get the heater setup he was offering ready to install for 3500 bucks, solar addition for 2300 bucks.... he said he could do it in a day so labor would be 400 bucks tops...Figure he had to figure some profit but was a little disappointed to see he was doubling the price...

To top it off, I googled the sensor and electrode, ordered both online for 145 bucks shipped.....

I appreciate the guy showing up on such a short notice and his charge was completely reasonable, but I guess we won't be talking to him about further work...

done now.....

A lot of service folks make a good share of their money on parts mark up. I can buy parts from a local supply house using a company account and get about a 60% discount over Joe Blow walking in off the street. If I were a service tech I could then charge a little more than what Joe would pay over the counter and say that It was due to my time and travel expense. All in all an 80% mark up isn"t all that uncommon.

(quoted from post at 08:55:15 12/30/11) A lot of service folks make a good share of their money on parts mark up. I can buy parts from a local supply house using a company account and get about a 60% discount over Joe Blow walking in off the street. If I were a service tech I could then charge a little more than what Joe would pay over the counter and say that It was due to my time and travel expense. [size=18:78113a5145][b:78113a5145]All in all an 80% mark up isn"t all that uncommon[/b:78113a5145][/size:78113a5145].

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And I could and would gladly go for that because you/he would then stand behind what was done 100% without "you got me bad parts"..

Just can't stomach him charging over twice what I could get myself (200+% markup)....

Others may be the same also tho.... Haven't asked anyone else yet......

Looks like the best deal would be buy the stuff and pay someone the day of labor (500+/-) to switch it out..... Looks like a new heater is in the works for the coming year tho.....

My neighbor paid $200.00 for a new ignitor like this on a Sunday. I bought one for $14.00 including tax. They're not that hard to change. Hal

Dave went with a new one about 3 years ago. LP cause thats what we use. I could have gotten the heater at a box store for around 1200. I got it from a heating and ac shop with a great reputation. I installed it myself because that now 1800 furnace was going to be the better part of 5K installed mostly using existing duct work.

Mark up that you see with your situation is NORMAL! Go look at what a auto repair shop pays for parts and what they charge the customer. Most of our suppliers told us what to charge for parts when I was turning wrench's. On small stuff under 20 bucks most of the time it was at or near 100% over our cost. About the smallest markup was on reman engines and trannies but still 300-400 dollars. I was paid by the flat rate plus a % of the parts. We were honest and only fixed what needed fixing.

Rick

(quoted from post at 10:07:30 12/30/11) Dave went with a new one about 3 years ago. LP cause thats what we use. I could have gotten the heater at a box store for around 1200. I got it from a heating and ac shop with a great reputation. I installed it myself because that now 1800 furnace was going to be the better part of 5K installed mostly using existing duct work.

Mark up that you see with your situation is NORMAL! Go look at what a auto repair shop pays for parts and what they charge the customer. Most of our suppliers told us what to charge for parts when I was turning wrench's. On small stuff under 20 bucks most of the time it was at or near 100% over our cost. About the smallest markup was on reman engines and trannies but still 300-400 dollars. I was paid by the flat rate plus a % of the parts. We were honest and only fixed what needed fixing.

Rick

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Thinking about going that way myself (just the gaurantee isn't any good if not installed by a pro).... Installed the existing one and all plumbing for heat and water from stuff gathered up off ebay...think I could handle a new kit..... Wife has the solar in her head and she's like a pitbull.... The area the panels would have to go on the roof only gets direct sunlight a couple months out of the year for any length of time because of the neighbor's house but she's still pouting about it..... For the price of the solar, I could insulate the house and put siding on (she wants Larch board & batten) twice.....

Nope. He did you right.

As far as parts costs go, you can't compare apples to oranges. Tech's get their parts from their supply house - not the internet. There's a price to be paid for the time and convenience. There's also the question of whether it's a factory part or a universal part. Factory parts are extremely expensive & some HO's only want OEM parts. His price on those items OEM is reasonable. The new installation price seems steep.

As far as the igniter shown posted, that igniter from Rheem will cost me over $200 at the supply house. Universals are $40.

(quoted from post at 13:38:39 12/30/11) Nope. He did you right.

As far as parts costs go, you can't compare apples to oranges. Tech's get their parts from their supply house - not the internet. There's a price to be paid for the time and convenience. There's also the question of whether it's a factory part or a universal part. Factory parts are extremely expensive & some HO's only want OEM parts. His price on those items OEM is reasonable. The new installation price seems steep.

As far as the igniter shown posted, that igniter from Rheem will cost me over $200 at the supply house. Universals are $40.

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OK.... I know I could have easily paid 200+ bucks for him to show up on Friday before a long weekend.He was real fair in charging me just 2 hours labor. Parts I ordered are the same ones on the heater (brand/#) but it may not mean anything in these days of chinese copies....