AIBU about what to do with dishonest repairmen?

I think that it is hard to judge what the cost to running the business, holding stock parts and keeping a fleet of vehicles in Florida. It really does not matter what someone spends for a part on ebay, if they can not install for themself, nor can one compare. The shop has a set price for the part, a set price for labor, a trip charge, and an overhead shop charge, also taxes I think. The work was timely done and not to 2600-3500?

While there are undoubtedly rogue tradespeople, I do think that many people do not have any idea of the true cost of running a business. It is very easy to complain that a 20 minute job was charged at £90 for example, but (1) the tradesman may not have known it was only going to take 20 minutes (2) they have to travel there in their van, and carry out job insured to cover any accidents and liabilities and (3) a lot of time is spent visiting clients, preparing estimates etc., and this is not chargeable. It is the same as comparing the price of a tearoom pot of tea to the cost of a tea bag at home; lots of costs go into the final job. A plumber who charges £70 an hour may only be being paid for 4 hours a day, the rest spent travelling to and from the builder's merchants to collect what is needed, travelling to your home, visiting potential clients at evenings and weekends. Cost in holidays and sickness, liability insurance, running a van etc., and suddenly it is not such a lot of money.

Anya....I never asked how Stan got their names or how he vetted these people.

Grandma Moira...I agree wholeheartedly that tradesmen should get paid fairly for their honest, hard work and yes, there are dishonest customers out there too (that's another issue for another post). I hope we can both agree that expecting thousands of dollars for a relatively small job such as this one, was neither honest 'nor fair.

To clarify:

Stan actually paid the lowest bid which based on my own (generous) estimate was still ridiculously high for the job.

Three repairmen were contacted on the on the 4th of July, the same day the unit broke down. A fourth was called the next day and spoke over phone in person. All of them responded after 7/4.

My comment re: 'holiday markup' was sarcastic due to the proximity of the holiday. Truth is most businesses stay open that day and a few close early.

Not sure about exact details but it appears that the fourth individual (the one who actually fixed it) had the tools and parts inside his van (Stan did mention the 'capacitor' on the phone).

According to Stan, fourth man was only there for about an hour, all told. When time came to pay, he charged $35 more, without prior agreement or mention. Stan paid willingly and didn't ask (comparing charges to what he could have paid). That last thing along with the other three bids may have 'soured' his overall experience, but he was happy to get his AC back.

I never realized how outrageous this whole thing was, until we were faced with having to deal with the same issue.

There are obviously rip off builders but (apart from dishonest customers who refuse to pay) customers don't always see how it works for the builder.
For bigger jobs, there's time to travel to the job, look at it, write an estimate and they may not get the job.
For emergency jobs, you should expect to pay extra for work done on a holiday when everyone else is off work. Normally, the builder travels to look at the job, then goes off to a shop, maybe more than one shop, to find the part, then returns to do the work. Time may be spent giving advice, sometimes the builder has to return to collect the money. It's never "just a 20 minute job".

There's nothing wrong with giving honest feedback, even if it is negative, so long as you stick to facts. No one can 'sue' you if you do that.

BB I think the OP's DH was only able to do their own repairs because of the learning curve provided by their neighbour's experience.

There are local networks (I use one called Next Door) in the UK where you can ask the local community for, and pass on, names of reliable tradesmen. That's how I got my dishwasher fixed very cheaply and quickly.

Do they have anything similar in the states?

I think we have to all be more careful who we get to do our jobs... Always get at least three valuations......Go by local recommendations as much as possible

Surely calling someone out on a public holiday would add a few hundreds to the quote couldn't he have waited a day for his AC to be mended ?

If the repair and parts that you did yourselves was so easy couldnt you have done it for him ?

You can certainly give poor reviews and I have I recently had a grumble ( not nasty) about a restaurant, online, the next time I went the problem had been rectified maybe it was my review maybe it wasn't I ll never know but you do need to word things factually and not be throwing insults out or else you can rightly be overhauled about it

For those of you who responded, thank you for all your valuable insights.

So, it goes without saying that one has to beware of swindlers. The real issue however is what to do about them? Unfortunately, I heard about a person who almost got sued for posting a negative review about someone.
Our neighbor came dangerously close to being 'fleeced' by these shysters. I can't help but wonder who they'll try to cheat next, whether or not they'll succeed and for how much?

I think expecting tradesmen to come on holidays, after hours, or drive a distance is a charge. In the 385 example the shop was closed for holiday, was same day service, someone had to procure the bit and drive out. The tradesman was on holiday, the parts shop was on holiday, should opening and working on a holiday be to normal charge?

One has to wonder (for far too many years in my case), why the government really does not sort this problem out once and for all! Just as you have proper professional accredited bodies for people like accountants, midwives etc etc why can't we have ones for trades people? Genuine, qualified and capable trades people must hate those that keep giving them a bad name and are worth their weight in gold if not platinum!

Current organisations do not really reassure in my opinion as they do not seem to check the work properly etc just offer comments from people and who is to know if the customer commented too soon before finding things weren't as they first thought etc. Are people commenting genuine?

I agree with Elaine that there are unscrupulous tradespeople everywhere. But in some countries they are given a harder time. I believe in Germany certain tradespeople have to be licensed and if there are excessive complaints made about them their licence is taken away and they can no longer run a business.

I wish we had that sort of system here. I get infuriated viewing "Watchdog" sometimes and seeing the same truly cruel and deceitful rogues coming back year after year because there doesn't seem to be a speedy and effective legal mechanism to prevent them from, at best, rooking the public and, at worst, putting them in real danger.

Having said that, in amongst the usual sprinkling of rogues, I have been pleasantly surprised by a few tradespeople who have gone out of their way to be helpful and who have not charged the earth.

I don't think it matters what country you live in - some tra desmen charge well over the odds for work and parts! Most hourly rates are much more than I get per hour as a senior nurse. Our stupid push button toilet flush system broke. First plumber blew down the tubes - didn't work and we got a gobbledy gook story about getting a new smaller one that would leave a larger hole in the white surround - DH looked up the make and found the proper part and ordered it. The day plumber was meant to come, he forgot? then went on holiday (we haven't paid him). We called another company and they charged £90 for putting it in - took 20 minutes. DH watched and seems he can do it himself if it happens again! This was fro Trusted Trader site!

This is the UK you are talking to. Did you mean to?
We are not really in any position to comment on this.

In the UK we have a website called My Builder, some people don't like it, but I have found it really helpful.

You post you job, and any tradesmen who are interested get in touch.
(Saves loads of time phoning round only to find that you job is too small for some of them to bother with!)

Customers can also leave reviews, and if I received bad service, or feel I was overcharged, I would say so!