Called to request estimate for installing a new circuit and asked for a ball-park figure. CS Rep told me they don't have prices and that a service person would have to look at the job. Didn't sound unreasonable for a custom installation job. I had them come on out. Found out their prices are already fixed, they just want you to pay a service call to find out what the price is.
Tech was competent and efficient. Sized up the job and showed me a very nice, laminated booklet with all of their prices. The job I needed done was specifically noted with a fixed, PRE-PRINTED price. The same price he checked on the PRE-PRINTED invoice he gave me.
The price was three times what I had budgeted, so I paid the tech $59.00 for the service call / estimate, and sent him on his way.
My issue is not with their prices. They can charge whatever they want. My issue is that they DO have pre-determined prices, but they sell the service call as if they're calculating each job individually. So you get to pay a service call to find out the answer to this question:
"What's a typical, ball-park charge for installing a '50A hot tub cct w/o GFCI'?" — (quoted from the invoice)." Well, that costs $679.00, says so right on the pre-printed invoice.
When I asked for a ball-park notion of what they charge for installing "so-and-so", they could have disclosed their already printed price which would have ended the matter right there. Nope. They'd rather keep their secret until they've "earned" their fee for a service call, which is, in this case, all they'll get.
These people probably do good work, and they've certainly done a good job calculating what they charge for this-and-that. Fine. They market to people like me who have no idea what their services cost, but it'll cost you a service call to find out the price they already have all worked out in advance.
Bottom line, if Mister Sparky tells you they don't have any ball-park prices for the jobs they do, don't believe it. Just get ready to pay a service call to find out what they could have read to you from the very nice, pre-printed book that they'll show you when they get there.
Mister Sparky, please don't tell me you don't know what "so-and-so" will cost when it's already pre-printed on your invoice and all your tech has to do is check it off.
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