Con artists - "Approved Garages"

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  • silverwhistle
    silverwhistle Posts: 3,775
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    hucker wrote: »
    I only voted Tory because BNP and UKIP didn't have a candidate in my area this time round.

    I've been reading this thread with morbid fascination. I've never met such an unpleasant poster on here. I thought perhaps you were just trying to give the Tories a bad name with your nastiness and stupidity, but now I see you really are that nasty. (edit, and stupid)

    Incidentally, how much does your medical insurance cost, because I fear one day you're going to need it.
  • Joe_Horner
    Joe_Horner Posts: 4,895
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    hucker wrote: »
    I say again, my local garage charges me £40 for the hours THAT HE WORKS ON MY CAR. If you can't make a profit doing the same, you have no clue as to how to run a business. And what the hell are you doing on a money saving forum if you're a business owner? This forum is for CUSTOMERS trying to SAVE MONEY, not business owners justifying their RIP OFF prices.

    You really do have no idea, do you?

    For a start, it's accepted that a garage bills directly for ALL time - including diagnosis. That's not the case in my business.

    Diagnosing, say, an automatic chronograph might take a couple of hours for an obscure fault - which isn't paid for unless the owner accepts the quote. Similarly, it's accepted for garages to increase quotes if further problems show up during the work - again, that's not generally accepted in my business.

    In watch repair it's normal that once a quote is given it's honoured. That inevitably means that some jobs use more time (and parts) than expected. It's in the nature of the work and that time and those parts need to be paid for in the great scheme of things.

    Which means that a garage can work far more "billable hours" in a week than I can. If I could bill a solid 8 hours each day I could reduce my target rate considerably, but I can't because other things need to be covered that all take time.

    As for not being on MSE because I'm a business owner - just do one.
  • Jackmydad
    Jackmydad Posts: 9,186
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    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    You really do have no idea, do you?

    For a start, it's accepted that a garage bills directly for ALL time - including diagnosis. That's not the case in my business.

    Diagnosing, say, an automatic chronograph might take a couple of hours for an obscure fault - which isn't paid for unless the owner accepts the quote. Similarly, it's accepted for garages to increase quotes if further problems show up during the work - again, that's not generally accepted in my business.

    In watch repair it's normal that once a quote is given it's honoured. That inevitably means that some jobs use more time (and parts) than expected. It's in the nature of the work and that time and those parts need to be paid for in the great scheme of things.

    Which means that a garage can work far more "billable hours" in a week than I can. If I could bill a solid 8 hours each day I could reduce my target rate considerably, but I can't because other things need to be covered that all take time.

    As for not being on MSE because I'm a business owner - just do one.

    Ah come on Joe, you know those ultrasonic cleaners (and the fluid! :eek:) are dirt cheap.
    To say nothing of odds and ends like Bergeon screwdrivers etc. etc. etc.
    And I thought fully synth car engine oil was expensive until I bought some Moebius watch oil. . .
    I've had a little play at watch cleaning and repair. Anyone who does it professionally has my utmost respect.
    Seventy five quid an hour is cheap for those skills.
  • Joe_Horner
    Joe_Horner Posts: 4,895
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    Jackmydad wrote: »
    And I thought fully synth car engine oil was expensive until I bought some Moebius watch oil. . .

    What, so £8700 a litre for Moebius 9010 isn't cheap? :D

    Multiplied by the 3 to 6 different lubricants any given movement might need it does add up - even bought in small quantities some go out of date before you use them and have to be ditched.

    Or the 39 different sizes of battery, some of which you might use 1 from a box of 10 before they're out of date - and some might even cost more individually than your (standardised) battery charge so you effectively give them away at a loss.

    But costs like that don't need to be paid for apparently :rotfl:
  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898
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    hucker wrote: »
    State why you believe sex is different than say a game of chess. Would you be upset if someone forced you to play chess (which is just another form of enjoyment). You should get back in your time machine and go back to the Victorian ages.

    Are you seriously suggesting that sexual abuse is equivalent to cheating at chess?

    Go and play in the middle of the M6 at rush hour.
  • Jackmydad
    Jackmydad Posts: 9,186
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    edited 5 August 2018 at 5:28PM
    Joe_Horner wrote: »
    What, so £8700 a litre for Moebius 9010 isn't cheap? :D

    Multiplied by the 3 to 6 different lubricants any given movement might need it does add up - even bought in small quantities some go out of date before you use them and have to be ditched.

    Or the 39 different sizes of battery, some of which you might use 1 from a box of 10 before they're out of date - and some might even cost more individually than your (standardised) battery charge so you effectively give them away at a loss.

    But costs like that don't need to be paid for apparently :rotfl:

    The stuff I bought was the "cheap" natural oil.
    The 8000.
    £6100 a litre. :D
    I did only buy 1 ml though!

    But all (half) joking aside, it goes to show how many unseen costs there are.
    And that's with any business.
    Anyone who runs a business and doesn't make a profit on materials is going to be not running a business before long.
  • wgl2014
    wgl2014 Posts: 1,144 Forumite
    To be fair part of what the OP says is understandable, if you go to a garage you pay the hourly rate for their mechanics time and the upkeep of their specialist facilities. If parts are needed that they don't keep in stock there will also be a cost involved in them identifying and ordering them but it shouldn't end up with a £10 part costing £60. I would rather pay a realistic hourly rate and (garage willing) source and supply my own parts, I would add that generally if there is an option to buy an uprated or higher quality part I am happy to spend a bit more so may not be looking at this from a typical viewpoint.

    As to the BNP reference and other bull that has been written I hope the OP is actually trolling and not genuinely as deluded as they like to make out.
  • Mercdriver
    Mercdriver Posts: 3,898
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    wgl2014 wrote: »
    To be fair part of what the OP says is understandable, if you go to a garage you pay the hourly rate for their mechanics time and the upkeep of their specialist facilities. If parts are needed that they don't keep in stock there will also be a cost involved in them identifying and ordering them but it shouldn't end up with a £10 part costing £60. I would rather pay a realistic hourly rate and (garage willing) source and supply my own parts, I would add that generally if there is an option to buy an uprated or higher quality part I am happy to spend a bit more so may not be looking at this from a typical viewpoint.

    As to the BNP reference and other bull that has been written I hope the OP is actually trolling and not genuinely as deluded as they like to make out.

    Much is assumed about what is charged by suppliers. If you are Joe Bloggs paying at point of sale you might be charged one price. But as a garage paying by invoice you might be charged a different price entirely. Suppliers often charge different prices to different people at different rates based on the assumed value for the end provider.
  • almillar
    almillar Posts: 8,621
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    Markup is THEFT.

    Yes, we hear you. Except that it's not. You've already accepted that your garage is marking up the labour cost with other costs, remember?!
    This forum is for CUSTOMERS trying to SAVE MONEY, not business owners justifying their RIP OFF prices.

    Don't post again until you've had a wee think about this. See if you can work out how a business owner, can also be a customer...
    I say again, my local garage charges me £40 for the hours THAT HE WORKS ON MY CAR

    And rent, electric, wages etc, you keep forgetting.
    Tax pays for what the government wants to spend it on, not what the citizens want. Tax is theft and everyone should avoid it as much as possible.

    Who paid for the road you're driving that lovely car on?
    A coffee shop is not marking up the cost of the cake, they're adding on the cost of them baking that cake. It's a LABOUR CHARGE.

    You've no idea. They've very likely bought in the cake and MARKED IT UP MASSIVELY, the very thing you're complaining about in a garage! Wait till you find out the real cost of the beer in the keg that someone just pulled you a pint of!
  • hucker
    hucker Posts: 112
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    They can't unless they get an apprenticeship.


    School leaving age in now 18 but I guess you left at 16.

    I live in Scotland, where we don't treat our kids as slaves.
    https://www.gov.uk/know-when-you-can-leave-school

    I wonder why your sig is banned....
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