Extra charges?

ThisIsWeird

Unethical?

grumbler

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:
So, did this particular guy overcharge you for the parts? We don't know; we'd need to know the parts involved, whether they were 'genuine' manufacturer's parts, and their RRP.
I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery.

It's perfectly legitimate and lawful to charge more than a retail price.

I notice you avoided the 'moral' part of my post.

"I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery."

Would you ever charge more than 'retail' for a part you were fitting?

Of course it's not immoral.

How can you be that sure?

morality - principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.

It's just your principles and understanding of right and wrong differ from mine and other (not all) people's.

Again, this depends on the extent of overcharging.

Risteard

grumbler said:

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:
So, did this particular guy overcharge you for the parts? We don't know; we'd need to know the parts involved, whether they were 'genuine' manufacturer's parts, and their RRP.
I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery.

It's perfectly legitimate and lawful to charge more than a retail price.

I notice you avoided the 'moral' part of my post.

"I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery."

Would you ever charge more than 'retail' for a part you were fitting?

Of course it's not immoral.

How can you be that sure?

morality - principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.

It's just your principles and understanding of right and wrong differ from mine and other (not all) people's.

Again, this depends on the extent of overcharging.

Making a profit isn't overcharging though. Not making a profit is criminally negligent.

ThisIsWeird

This isn't about profit, it's about consciously over-stating the true cost of new, readily-available, parts, presumably in order to increase your profit on a job beyond what it would otherwise be.
Yes, it's the overall £igure at the bottom of the quote that counts to the customer, and you could over-inflate the labour charge instead of you wanted to, but this specific issue is about the OP suspecting that the plumber charged significantly more than the listed price for the parts.
That would strike me as being unethical behaviour.
There is a list price that layfolks would be expected to pay. Then there's the (often very significant) discount that a trades person receives, and absolutely fair enough to that. But to then charge more that the list price strikes me as exploitative, because you are essentially fibbing about the cost of the parts.
I should emphasise that's there's no evidence that that's what actually happened in this case, tho'.

grumbler

Risteard said:

grumbler said:

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:

Risteard said:

ThisIsWeird said:
So, did this particular guy overcharge you for the parts? We don't know; we'd need to know the parts involved, whether they were 'genuine' manufacturer's parts, and their RRP.
I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery.

It's perfectly legitimate and lawful to charge more than a retail price.

I notice you avoided the 'moral' part of my post.

"I would suggest that charging more than retail price is wrong, certainly morally, and possibly legally, I don't know. I mean, you can't just pull any silly inflated figure out of the air and call that 'honest', can you? It is robbery."

Would you ever charge more than 'retail' for a part you were fitting?

Of course it's not immoral.

How can you be that sure?

morality - principles concerning the distinction between right and wrong or good and bad behaviour.

It's just your principles and understanding of right and wrong differ from mine and other (not all) people's.

Again, this depends on the extent of overcharging.

Making a profit isn't overcharging though. Not making a profit is criminally negligent.

OK, define 'overcharging' then. It's one of ways of making a bigger profit.

And not all ways of making a profit are moral. That's my opinion. You are entitled to yours.

Risteard

ThisIsWeird said:

This isn't about profit, it's about consciously over-stating the true cost of new, readily-available, parts, presumably in order to increase your profit on a job beyond what it would otherwise be.
Yes, it's the overall £igure at the bottom of the quote that counts to the customer, so you could over-inflate the labour charge instead of you wanted to, but this specific issue is about the OP suspecting that the plumber charged significantly more than the listed price for the parts.
It strikes me as unethical behaviour.
There is a list price that layfolks would be expected to pay. Then there's the (often very significant) discount that a trades person receives, and absolutely fair enough to that. But to then charge more that the list price strikes me as exploitative, because you are essentially fibbing about the cost of the parts.
I should emphasise that's there's no evidence that that's what actually happened in this case, tho'.

You're not fibbing about the cost - you are merely stating your sale price. Purchase price is irrelevant. There very often aren't discounts for tradesmen anymore. There is a minimum markup applied to all materials. It's called running a business.

ThisIsWeird

"Ooh, Mr 'Teard, that bill was higher than I expected!"
"Yup, love - I charge £30 for these plastic sockets..."?

There ''very often' aren't discounts for trades folk any more'? Cough, how often is 'very'?

Risteard

ThisIsWeird said:

"Ooh, Mr 'Teard, that bill was higher than I expected!"
"Yup, love - I charge £30 for these plastic sockets..."?

There ''very often' aren't discounts for trades folk any more'? Cough, how often is 'very'?

Almost all of the time. Those days are long gone.

casper_gutman

A few people have mentioned the costs associated with an installer needing to go and purchase parts locally if they aren't already in their van. I'd argue they'd be within their rights to charge even more if they do have the part in the van. You're paying them for their expertise in predicting that the part might be needed, sourcing it, storing and transporting it around in their van, taking the risk that it will be stolen or destroyed in a fire or accident, the opportunity cost of not having something else in there, etc.

timjim

Why all the complaints about traders making a profit by marking up costs of materials.
Apparently according to a Google search

"It costs Apple $501 to make an iPhone 14 Pro Max, and the company sells it at a base price of $1099. This makes Apple’s base markup on the latest iPhone model at 119% Apple is the only tech company able to sell its tech products at such a premium, thanks to a combination of hardware, software, and marketplace."

Do any of the people who are complaining have an iPhone or do you avoid them because they make too much profit