Re: How much have you paid for Labor on your boat?
bugsbunnyboater,
if your shop is guessing you need to go to another shop....... i have to admit some techs may be making an educated guess... if they are lazy or head the same prob over and over again.
thats where troubleshooting comes in.
when i worked at ford, a few years back, we had a big problem with interior lights staying on. the switch inside the door collected a lot of dust and would stick causing the lights to stay on. ford wanted me to put new ones in..... but after i changed a few i realized you could just clean them up and they were fine, then i realized you didnt even have to remove the door panel. you just needed some brake clean with a straw in the end. i started telling customers the simple procedure and got griped at by management
.
i couldnt see charging someone for a stupid little switch that shouldnt have been stoping up with dust once or twice a month......... i said "arent we here for customer service?"........ nope we were there to make money was pretty much the answer i got....... a**holes
. what irks me is when somone brings you their car to fix then argues that the problem you found isnt it, and yes it has even happened at the dealership. i told one guy "if you know whats wrong with it why did you bring it here, why didnt you just fix it yourself?"..... yeah i got in trouble for that one too.
as for marine shops around here right at about $100 per hour............... of course everyone who has a screwdriver and a pair of pliers is a mech.. around here.
i do some boat repair from home, but im honest about my experiance.. or lack there of. if its easy i wont charge but maybe $10 per hour since i like to work on things. if its too bad or i cant fix it without major help i will just tell the customer the truth... and of course if it aint fixed i dont charge anything. its like i tell them "you can throw parts at it all day long, making guesses, and maybe still not find the problem.. thats where troublshooting comes in"
good question though...... i really thought places around the coast would be sky high, but i guess there are more techs around so that would keep the cost down.
