Fridgefreezer breakdown - overpaid for repair?

Enigma80

Hi all,

Fridgefreezer broke yesterday (Sunday) and having called around I managed to find one person who was willing to turn up at 730pm.

The problem turned out to be a control board and I was charged 160 for the repair, managed to get it down to 150 with 6 months warrenty. I was surprised that a little control board would cost so much. I know a couple of other people have charge about 50 for a first hour, but he was only here for about 30mins.

Having told a friend about the problem and cost, he Googled it only to find the part cost would've been between 10-30 quid depending on his supplier.

Am I right to think I was overcharged or is this just about the usual cost I'd expect to pay? Just want to know whether to go back to the same guy repairers again in the future should I need to. He seemed like a fairly nice polite guy so no problem in that respect.

Debt_Free_Chick

See what others say but I would have thought that 7.30pm was "out of hours" and yesterday was also Sunday. I imagine you paid extra for both of those factors.

Enigma80

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

See what others say but I would have thought that 7.30pm was "out of hours" and yesterday was also Sunday. I imagine you paid extra for both of those factors.

Kind of what I thought, especially given the fact that I couldn't get anyone else to come out. I did what had to be done and paid the man. Just don't want to feel like I've been taken for a ride really.

yangptangkipperbang

Considering that the guy turned up on a Sunday evening and fixed your problem I think you should be quite satisfied.
There is a BIG difference in finding the cost of an item on Google (of unknown provenance) and getting someone who has one to turn up on a Sunday and fit it.

Don't forget that in many cases the "first hour" charge also includes some element of travel time etc. So if the first hour is £50 and it takes him 5 minutes that doesn't mean that the bill will be £4.

Would you turn out on a Sunday evening like he did ?

dil1976

Depends how much he charged you for parts, also bear in kind he has given you 6 months warranty that would also cost money.

I would say the price wasn't too bad, maybe before you commit in future you ask beforehand about the cost?

Enigma80

dil1976 wrote: »

Depends how much he charged you for parts, also bear in kind he has given you 6 months warranty that would also cost money.

I would say the price wasn't too bad, maybe before you commit in future you ask beforehand about the cost?

Yes I did ask about price, but at the end of the day as I mentioned earlier it was a Sunday night and didn't have any other choice so I agreed and paid the man.

I did ask for a rough idea of price before he actually came around, but he said he couldn't quote over the phone, which is fair enough.

irishcol

Enigma80 wrote: »

Yes I did ask about price, but at the end of the day as I mentioned earlier it was a Sunday night and didn't have any other choice so I agreed and paid the man.

You did have another choice - you could have waited until Monday. by choosing to get it done outside of normal working hours, you paid a premium.

Next time, you might think it's betetr value to risk some of your food defrosting and waiting until the next day. Or, equally, you might decide that it's worth paying for a faster service.

Enigma80

irishcol wrote: »

You did have another choice - you could have waited until Monday. by choosing to get it done outside of normal working hours, you paid a premium.

Next time, you might think it's betetr value to risk some of your food defrosting and waiting until the next day. Or, equally, you might decide that it's worth paying for a faster service.

The problem is as both my wife and I work we bulk cook to ensure we have food ready during the week for our son, so the freezer and fridge are always packed full. In this case it was worth paying more to get it done.