Kitchen Large Electric Appliances - labor charge to replace motor coupler on Kenmore washer?
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wgc
01-05-07, 03:29 PM
I was hoping someone can help decide whether a repair charge was reasonable. I was unable to communicate with the technician because of a bad phone connection, his accent, and my irate wife. I've gotten dropped twice so far by customer service. If a pro is willing to reply, how might you typically charge (I am near Boston and realize that labor rates are higher here than most places)?
From the symptoms I thought the problem was the motor coupler and followed links from here to find a listing for the part at $10. However I could not afford the time to do it myself so called a service. Sure enough, it was the motor coupler.
- Over the phone, he described ~$60 visit + ~$60 labor + ~$30parts.
- The service says the visit fee is just a minimum labor charge, not a separate charge
- The receipt says he was there for 23 minutes and charged $132 labor + $20 parts.
There are some discrepancies (plus my wife smelled alcohol) and that seems like a really high labor rate. Does this sound reasonable or not?
- That's a ridiculous rate for actual time spent, but is there usually a "customary" labor charge or a minimum charge? If there's a minimum of an hour, I guess that's not as bad, although still pretty high.
- I can see a parts markup, but is double (actual) or triple (estimate) the online cost to me reasonable?
- or you can take this story as further evidence that DIY is a good idea.
From the symptoms I thought the problem was the motor coupler and followed links from here to find a listing for the part at $10. However I could not afford the time to do it myself so called a service. Sure enough, it was the motor coupler.
- Over the phone, he described ~$60 visit + ~$60 labor + ~$30parts.
- The service says the visit fee is just a minimum labor charge, not a separate charge
- The receipt says he was there for 23 minutes and charged $132 labor + $20 parts.
There are some discrepancies (plus my wife smelled alcohol) and that seems like a really high labor rate. Does this sound reasonable or not?
- That's a ridiculous rate for actual time spent, but is there usually a "customary" labor charge or a minimum charge? If there's a minimum of an hour, I guess that's not as bad, although still pretty high.
- I can see a parts markup, but is double (actual) or triple (estimate) the online cost to me reasonable?
- or you can take this story as further evidence that DIY is a good idea.
dave6466
01-06-07, 02:59 PM
I guess it depends on the location & the service co's situation. I have low overhead. Part-time business out of home. I typically charge a basic service call if local & some profit from parts. If call takes more than an hour I will tack on an additional fee to call. A coupler replacement is a fairly easy job & can be done in 20 minutes or less. I typically charge $15.00 for coupler & $30-$40 for labor/service call. As I stated before though, no overhead, employees, service trucks to maintain, etc. Plus a rural area & lower living expenses here. Even so, I believe a service charge plus a labor charge is a bit much. Best to call a couple places & get an estimate on charges ahead of time.