The guy should be thankful we have "crap" so he can make $75 per hour.

 

I would have to go with faber on the fact that I too would pay a premium for quality work and good service.

Unfortunately, you have to look long and hard to find someone that does do quality work and when you do find him/her you have to keep it a secret because if anyone finds out you’ll never get to use him/her again because they will get too busy.

I understand you have put a lot of time and money into your trade and as long as you provide quality work at a reasonable rate usually will not scoff at a large bill. But you also need to realize that your customer is not always as stupid as you think they are and if you think my “crap” and the quality of work you do on it is not your first priority then you will be the last person I will bring my it too. I expect my mechanic to treat my bike or car as if it where their prized possession when they are working on it.

I won’t even go into the quality of work done by my car dealer’s mechanic staff….if my car was not under warranty they would never see it (they charge $85+ per hour). Or how about the sloppy a$$ job my Harley dealer’s staff does just changing the oil? I spend hours maintaining my bike and for $80 an hour they can’t manage to use a rag to cleanup their spills.

As far as those that attend law school…just suffice it to say that they have invested significantly more then 60 – 70k. It is 30k a year for under graduate work at a decent college (that’s 120k just to get a Bachelor’s degree). Anything that requires graduate work is looking at costs between 120k to 250k minimum….oh and that doesn’t include the tools of their trade. So you have a little catching up to do.

 

I know what you are saying. As a self employed HVAC tech, people always are complaining at our service rates. What most people dont ever consider is that we have to cover all of our expenses working for them.Everything is paid for by the customer. We dont have a large shop (2 guys, 2 trucks, working out of a 20 X 30 shop) and they all have to be paid for each month. Trust me, self employment is awesome but very expensive.

 

Doctors practice, lawyers practice, and dentists too, but a mechanic of any sort must know what he is doing or the lawyer will practice his law on him.... It takes guts and a good solid knowledge of what you are doing as a mechanic because there is no practicing, especially those in business for themselves. A good public relations education is important too. I have seen professional people actually whimper and cry about the price of maintaining their 'toys' as if someone else is responsible. And there are people out there whos game is to screw a small business out of their livelyhood, striving to get something for nothing. The agreement before the job is started and a signed work order sometimes is the only way a small business man has to legally get his money from some of these customers. A good sense of humor is a great asset too!

 

Don'ttake what I said wrong...you deserve to pay for your expenses. My husband works for himself in a service industry....Just that you have to quantify the complaints.

I am sooooo fricken tired of every job I request a quote for at my house coming out to be $10K. I was gonna have some guys dig a ditch with a ditch witch and they wanted to charge me 5k? Give me a break.

How about this one. I had a guy come over to give me quote on replacing the windows in my house. Mind you my husband is a contractor so we had a clue. The guy quote me $2000 a window and I have 16 windows...so it was $32,000 for windowswith installation. He actaully quoted me $8000 for 6 windows in the front with no installation.

Now I happen to know the retail price (not the wholesale price) of the windows I requested and the windows generally cost $200 to $300 each and some even lessand I could buy the front windows at retail price for less then half of the cost quoted. Sooo...exactly why was the retail cost of the windows under $10k but the installation over $20k?

Now The only reason i was going to have someone install them was for convienance. And I had budgeted about $6k just for the front windows. The installation of them is about 4 hours with a couple of guys tops (they didn't even have to patch stucco)

When they called me to ask why I had not moved forward on thier bid I explained to them that they were way over priced and thier materials were pricedat 3 times the cost of the retail price. She was actually offended that I would have a clue that thier rates were way too high. She was more offeneded when I told her if anyone mentioned thier company I would notify them of the price gouging.

So basically we are back to the need to quantify the compaints. Do I hate that it costs me a lot to keep up my car and bike...yes. More because the motor company can and does not make a better product. (e.g most cars should not need oil changes every 3500 miles but to keep up my warrenty I have to change it that often). And then other compaies take advantage of that....like charging $55 to change the oil and still give crappy service for that minor service.

Companies and individuals do not always have the integrity that you hope. From mechanics to lawyers you have to be very careful what you are getting.

 

Wow, where do you work...I'm gonna start bringing all my crappy toys to you.

First mistake is to think that I consider my scoot a toy..it's my primary mode of transportation...you may have a legitimate gripe about the cost of the education; but you still have a lot to learn it seems...I guess they don't teach customer skills in school huh?

By the way, open your ears...people complain about the price of medical treatments as well...don't feel so special.

 

It never amazes me that people will spend 20K on a bike, 7K on performance work, 10k on chrome and paint, 5K on leathers and clothing, and then NOT take a course to improve their riding abilities because "it's not in their budget".

 

I'm with Zombie on this one. My Road King and my wife's Street Bob aren't considered toys to us. We spend way too much money on them for them to be considered toys. I realize that you were probably not "intending" to call them toys in a belittling way. But forsomeone in the MC industry, it seems you should at least be a bit more respectful of the very customers who are making it possible for you to make a living.

Just my opinion, of course.

 

My plumber charges $109 per hr. But he's good.

 

AAAA yes ,,,,,,,,,,,,,the real world !!