Was I price gouged for AC part?

7/14/2014 at 8:30:53 PM

Did you get a quote? Is the company reliable and honest? Call them and discuss the price, but online parts pricing are not always comparable even though part numbers are the same.

Most companies will charge $200 for a service call, so with parts, misc pieces, tax, $300 could be accurate... unless the technician drove up in a Honda civic with a magnetic sign on the door.

7/14/2014 at 9:01:57 PM

Did not get a quote as I did not know what the problem was other than my furnace fan working and a c compressor not.

I did not shop around, it was Sunday and the house was getting uncomfortably warm wanted it fixed asap.

I did online search for a/c repair in Mississauga and it came up on Kijiji. Advertising $49. Service call.

Thanks for your reply.

7/14/2014 at 9:10:07 PM

Well, if you found him on kijiji and charges $50/hr, you were well overcharged on the part. Some guys charge low /hr then mark up materials to extortion pricing as most people don't know parts pricing.

Something like paying $85-$200 for a fridge water filter, certainly not worth it, but they got you over a barrel once you have the fridge.

AAA air conditioning certainly screams, scam!

7/26/2014 at 4:51:44 PM

Even as Contractors we have to watch for this. I sourced a part out for a stove recently, the local supplier wanted 300% more then what was available on-line. Many of these parts come from the US, so the contractor / supplier needs to pay for the part, duty, taxes, exchange and brokerage fees. Many times these fees are more than the part itself.

As a tradesmen I am somewhat lucky that I can troubleshoot the item myself and can decide if I want to wait a couple days to a week for the part to come or do I get it locally and pay through the nose. I also tell my clients this so they have the option to know they will get the $20 part and two service call fees in a few days or get the $200 part and one service call fee and get it fixed immediately. Sometimes in the end it might actually cost the same.

Cheers

John

John Kuehnl-Cadwell

Master Electrician

Datawise Solutions Inc.