Is this reasonable..? Views please..

age · Post by **age** » Apr 28th, '06, 19:49

DynaMight wrote:
The fact that they just did the work and then lumped you with the bill annoys me, they're saying 'We've done the work now so pay up.

We don't know if this is true as we are getting 2nd hand info here. Apart from the shock of the price is Kim Happy with her bike now ???

Stinky · Post by **Stinky** » Apr 28th, '06, 22:34

I hate my local one. Charging me £200 to get your carb drained without telling you how much its going to be.

SNIFFY · Post by **SNIFFY** » Apr 28th, '06, 23:11

What’s reasonable to one man could be a rip off to another; it seems an extortionate price because they had to diagnose the problem that could have been anything. To me the labour rate seems extortionate but what do I know. What I do know is it pays to take your bike to some one who is experienced and from what I have read (the threads that age has posted and age seem’s to know a bit about performance and mechanics) and also speaking and listening to the guys at the said place, they know what they are talking about. It’s all very well asking what someone else will charge on a pre diagnosed problem but that’s not a like for like scenario. I promise these guys know what they are talking about, they explained to me and speedy the ins and outs of a problem with a bike we put on the dyno and every word made logical sense. They know that bikers talk to bikers and the last thing they want to do is knowingly rip of a biker let alone a women. Oh even garages can mess up and I’m sure if they have they will sort the issue as one person having a bad experience tells at least ten others and that’s not good for business.

Cheggers · Post by **Cheggers** » Apr 28th, '06, 23:20

This is where forums like this come in handy. I had a snag with the head stock bearings on my R6 that a garage wanted £80 to fix. Ten minutes on the internerd later i found a step by step guide with more pics than a haynes manual. Feeling reasonably confident with my tool

i managed to fix the problem and the money i saved went to a deserved night out!!

But if i do have a problem too large to do or i just can't be arsed, i always ring around as many places as possible and always get written quotes/estimates.

DynaMight · Post by **DynaMight** » Apr 28th, '06, 23:53

AGE996 wrote:
DynaMight wrote:
The fact that they just did the work and then lumped you with the bill annoys me, they're saying 'We've done the work now so pay up.
We don't know if this is true as we are getting 2nd hand info here. Apart from the shock of the price is Kim Happy with her bike now ???

Her original post went like this:

Anyway, I took it to the garage the other day and they said they would do an initial assessment and let me know what it was/how much? I didn't hear from them for 2 days so called in to see them to find that the work had been done. It was in fact the carbs, which they cleaned and balanced. I was told it was 2-2.5hrs labour. Cool, I thought. However, when I went to pick it up I was charged 4 hours labour (£176)

chris_1127 · Post by **chris_1127** » Apr 29th, '06, 10:18

what i cant quite get my head around is that he told nick they diagnosed the problem in an hour, but then spent another 7 hours on it. How can guys who have a dyno and so are used to messing about with carbs then take another 7 hours to strip, clean and set up and balance a set? they havent charged for any parts from what we've been told, so they dont seem to have done anything other than that; and they havent charged for any leads or other ignition components so at most they have just cleaned a few contacts there as well. please tell me if you think i'm missing something, or am underestimating the time this would take

AndyCBR · Post by **AndyCBR** » Apr 29th, '06, 10:23

DynaMight wrote:
Her original post went like this:

I think Gav, what Age is trying to say is ..there's two parties involved here & without being party to the original conversation no one else knows exactly what was said.

Why should Kim's version be any more reliable than Mark's...

If you only know one party then its human nature to take that persons side...

Both seem to be genuine & reasonable people to me so I'll leave it at that..

Funky · Post by **Funky** » Apr 29th, '06, 11:01

I have some bacon stuck in my teeth, I've tried swilling with my coffee and sucking it out, it's not budging. I'm going to have to use dental floss.

Lady g · Post by **Lady g** » Apr 29th, '06, 11:29

Thanks to everyone for the responses. Andy is quite right - you do only have my side of the story and there are always two sides. The main issues with the matter for me are there was supposed to have been an initial assessment and report to me for costs and there wasn't, that when I did see them (after the work had been completed) I was told the bill would be 2.5hrs and a few hours later when I went to pick it up it was 4hrs. I was told 15hrs had been spent on it, but I understand Mav was told it had been on the table for 8hrs.

At the end of the day, Mav went to see them and had them explain - for which I'm grateful to him - and so far as the quality of the work is concerned, I don't have any complaints. Its true they didn't charge me for parts or for the bit of fuel they put in it. They were friendly and were able to do the work in the time frame I needed.

In conclusion, I still think the work is expensive and would think twice about going there again, but am content that the work has been done and I've learned a valuable lesson.

Thanks to all..

tomr6 · Post by **tomr6** » Apr 29th, '06, 11:32

Kim wrote:Thanks to everyone for the responses. Andy is quite right - you do only have my side of the story and there are always two sides. The main issues with the matter for me are there was supposed to have been an initial assessment and report to me for costs and there wasn't, that when I did see them (after the work had been completed) I was told the bill would be 2.5hrs and a few hours later when I went to pick it up it was 4hrs. I was told 15hrs had been spent on it, but I understand Mav was told it had been on the table for 8hrs.

At the end of the day, Mav went to see them and had them explain - for which I'm grateful to him - and so far as the quality of the work is concerned, I don't have any complaints. Its true they didn't charge me for parts or for the bit of fuel they put in it. They were friendly and were able to do the work in the time frame I needed.

In conclusion, I still think the work is expensive and would think twice about going there again, but am content that the work has been done and I've learned a valuable lesson.

Thanks to all..

Seems like a fair and sensible comment to give closure to this issue before the handbags come out! Well done Kim.

Funky, try keeping some tooth picks on the table. They are both efficient and inexpensive! Also, swilling coffee could result in unsightly staining.

Post by **billinom8s** » Apr 30th, '06, 15:30

unfortunately tho, coffee itself may also leave staining. hmmm looks like funky is gonna have naaaaaaaaaaasty teeth from now on