Glad to see that at least a few more people are in the know as far as how this situation should have gone down.
I had a Craftsman 32cc blower come in today, new style, Ive never seen one quite like it..some "Incredi-pull crap"...junk.
Man says it has been working fine but says it wont spark...he says it probably just needs a plug.
I had just finished lunch and was walking around the showroom finishing my pepsi looking at the new Allis Chalmers riders we got in...so I told him id look at it for him.
I took it to the shop and first thing I did was check the compression...anyone who has ever worked on one of these crappy Ryobi powerheads knows, compression first.
Compression was good enough to run...115psi
I checked spark, and it indeed had good spark...I showed the customer it had spark.
I checked for fuel getting to the cylinder, and it was getting none at all, so we confirmed a fuel related problem.
While pulling the rope I also discovered the powerhead was loose in the housing, moving all over the place, slamming into the housing, etc...obviously it had been doing alot of vibrating, and possible intake damage was more likely with it like this.
He asked, of course, for an estimate, before he left.
I figured it like this..
30-35 minutes to tear the blower housing down, hopefully the bolts are just loose or missng, and not broken off in the case, and re-assemble if repairable.
Labor- 35 dollars.
To repair the fuel problem, knowing I have good fuel flow, and knowing I have enough parts engines with good intakes on them if the need to replace one should arise, I figured I would be rebuilding the carb as well.
I figured 35 dollars + parts, which would have been a 12 dollar kit,
Labor - 35 dollars
Parts- 12-20 dollars.
Estimate came to 80-90 dollars + tax.
The man went ballistic..said I was way out of line, refused to beleive it had anothing major wrong with it, etc...moaned and groaned, carried on and made a scene...He thanked me for "wasting his time"...
I asked him how he would like to pay for the diagnostic fee....He was like..:jawdrop:
He tells me I have alot of nerve asking for a fee when I "didnt even fix the damn thing" and "was just trying to rip him off".
He paid..in cash, and tore out the door, threw the blower from about 15 feet away into the bakc of his truck, and sped out the parking lot.
The sign that clearly states that there will be a diagnostic fee any time a tech is asked to fix or check out a peice of equipment on the spot is clearly hung on the door to the shop, above the counter, inside the shop, and above my desk...
As one guy said earlier i nthis thread...when you work on commission, Time = Money.
If you want something fixe,d or you want me to tell you what it will take to fix something..or you just want to shoot the bull....expect to be billed accordingly.
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You take a saw to a shop and tell them what it wrong with it...we can only assume that because you are at a repair shop, you cannot fix it yourself, and thus we can only assume you have diagnosed incorrectly...
A funny one was about 1 and a half months ago a man brings in a Stihl Trimmer, he's in a great big hurry...it wont crank, wont do anything. He says "fix it". Ill be back in an hour...
It is rare for me to do anything more than a chain sharpening "on the spot"...but he seemed liek a nice enough guy, so I put down what I was doing and...
I diagnose a dirty carb, and stiff diaphragm, so I popped the carb open, hit it all with B-12 Chemtool, installed a new metering diaphragm and metering needle, spring, and fulcrum lever. The Fuel pump skin was the plastic style, showed no damage, whixh worked out because that was one part in the kit that didnt match the Stihl spec'd carb.
I put it together, started on 2 pulls, I tuned it in and it ran like a top.
The whole thing probably took 25 minutes tops...but we have a set fee of 35 dollars for a 2 cycle carb rebuild. I made out a ticket and took it up front, trimmer, invoice, everything.
Man shows up an hour later...and flips out at the bill.He says he is a certified smal lengien technician and knows what it involved in rebuilding a carb, says "you only replace the disc, and it takes less than 5 minutes"
He says the bill should only be for 5 dollars plus parts...
I was headed up front, but my boss stopped me, he went in and absolutely laid this guy out (with words), I mean he layed into him like Ive never heard him do before.
The man paid and left...he will probably never be back, but that's okay. He's never bought anything from US (he only buys stihl). He's never used us for repairs before (he uses other shops im sure). So it's no loss to us, because it isnt worth it to keep him as a repair only customer, with that kind of attitude.
Much like OCC...why should we keep you as a customer when you b*tch about a standard charge for a repair? We dont have time to put up with your Bull, and Time = Money.
(just ask Red 
)
He thinks it will be under warrenty but approves the $2900 job without much hassle, musta thunk this redneck was dumb.
