Interim Hearing Before Inaugurating Kangaroo Court

hlb · 7 Sep 2003

My prop shaft fell off in Dartmouth last week. The bill for repair is £942-72. This includes labour of £367. Now the point is. Two lads came to fit it and could not, after working all day. So they had to get the good mechanic to do the job on Saturday. Should I pay for all the labour??

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

SteveE · 7 Sep 2003

Did the good mechanic fix the job?

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hlb · 7 Sep 2003

Yep, fixed it and realigned the engine.

Had the same job done on the other engine 7/06/03 £308.33

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

lanason · 7 Sep 2003

what was the contract you had with them ??

If it was to fix then dont pay !
If to investigate and report then pay !

<hr width=100% size=1>Adrian
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.arweb.co.uk/argallery/kelisha>More Pics of Kelisha</A> /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

tcm · 7 Sep 2003

Re: Invalid Request for Kangeroo Court

H, as you should know, the kangeroo court can only be called to judge and then pass sentence. It follows that the limit of its jurisdiction is to pass sentence upon forum contributors ONLY. Which is just as well, otherwise we'd have declared war on various companies and so on.

Notwithstanding, i wd get the wife to ring up and cry a bit and ask for a discount. Then you get on the phone and get some more. Then pass it back to her to tie up the loose ends. £600 sounds generous.

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hlb · 7 Sep 2003

Of course it was, to fix it. I wernt going anywhere without it, was I. Well, not round Start point anyway!!

On top of that, they charged £87.57 for a blummin spacer that was £47 only a month before, from my normal mechanic.

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

SteveE · 7 Sep 2003

In my view Haydn you should only pay for the engineer that fixed the job (for the hours he worked), and not the 2 that could not complete the job, if this was a car you would only pay for the sucessful job, so why should boats be any differant?

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Deleted User YDKXO · 7 Sep 2003

Difficult one this. Depends whether the two lads achieved anything and whether you want to maintain a relationship with this company. Best to come to amicable settlement and tcm's suggestion of £600 sounds about right

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hlb · 7 Sep 2003

No, they asked me when i wanted to leave. I said I was stopping for the regatta. But it would be nice to have it fixed ASAP. So they mumbled some thing about, they would do it or did I want the other mechanic on saturday. Well I was not to know whether they were any good or not. Did not quite understand what they meant at the time.

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

ArthurWood · 7 Sep 2003

Haydn - I would only pay for the hours that the guy who fixed it took. Had sim expce in Bahamas couple yr ago when bloke chgd $400 labor for job which guy who knew what he was doing took only 1hr to fix. I paid only for the 1hr. His boss, who was the twit who spent ages not fixing the prob, didn't like it, but agreed in the end.

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Happy1 · 7 Sep 2003

If I was that concerned as you abviously are, I would get quotes for the work from a couple of independent people, I would then add a percentage for the convenience of them doing it pretty much there and then, and see where you stood compared to what they charged. I would then explain in the best possible way that the cost of the repair would normally be £whatever, I would then explain that I appreciated the attempts of the boys trying to repair it, but you are not a charity, but would be willing to make a donation for their effort (bearing in mind they actually gave up their time to have a go). This should be part of the convenience amount you built in, but you could be flexible and offer slight bit more to keep the peace. Hopefuly your 2 other quotes would make them realise that you are being fair in the circumstances. Good luck anyway.

<hr width=100% size=1> "You only see what you recognise, and you only recognise what you know"

jfm · 7 Sep 2003

Pre-trial statement from Defence Counsel

Hmmm. They might already have taken a haircut. Dunno their rates, but Berthon advertise £35/hour for a middle ranking boat fixer. These guys spent 3 man days between them - 21 hours? £367 is only £18/hour which is cheap. So I'm inclined to think you are being billed say 7 hours for the good guy (7 x 35 = 250) and an extra hundred quid or so for the two guys who failed. Hence, they have already taken a haircut and are being fair

Re the suggestion of £600, surely not, thats the price of the parts, you can't expect to pay nothing for labour!

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BrendanS · 7 Sep 2003

This is simply marine tax.

just like VAT, income tax, NI, etc you should just pay it, and not question or complain about it. It pays for the greater good, and keeps the boat fixers in business, or you might not find anyone to do the business next time, as they'll all be retraining as plumbers who charge you 50 quid call out charge not to turn up on the day you took off work to welcome them to your home.

Can't you train Harry to do these odd jobs, he'd probably do it better, and be cheaper at a tool kit & a bale of hay every couple of days?

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MainlySteam · 8 Sep 2003

Being the one living closest to the kangaroos (but not close enough to be one thank goodness - gotta keep my distance there) I can rule that Happy1 is closest to the fair result as it seems there may have been a few mumbled words which could have given a hint that the 2 lads were not that good at the work.

What about the contribution being to pay their boss their houly pay rate plus parts fairly used and priced at cost, not the charge out rate, so he is not out of pocket (I realise you will still be so though).

John

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hlb · 8 Sep 2003

Re: Pre-trial statement from Defence Counsel

Ah. But. Lets not forget. I had the exact same job done in Plymouth only a month before. New coupling spacer etc. Total cost £350. I was on the boat and watched them do it. Engine pulled forwards, job done, engine realined. Proper firm, not odd job man. This lot tried to do it with engine in position, but then still had to move it to line it up.

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

jfm · 8 Sep 2003

Defence applies to have case thrown out

Have I not followed your maths? The first time was 350 labour, the second time 367. What's the problem?

You haven't expalined the parts. Were sames parts replaced each time? In which case the parts bill of 600 is the problem. You've lost me......

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gonfishing · 8 Sep 2003

Gotcha HA HA !!!!

Hi Haydn
this strikes me as a case of "Gotcha by the short and curlies" as your options could only have been a lift out and transporter home!!!!!. You were unfortunately a captive audience and at the mercy of mercenaries. B****Y annoying though

julian

<hr width=100% size=1>man made it ,man can repair it, i think??

hlb · 9 Sep 2003

Re: Defence applies to have case thrown out

Yep. You are crap at maths.

The first time the whole job, Parts and labour, cost about £350, ( maybe a bit less, cos they did another little job as) well. labour was £178

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

peterg · 10 Sep 2003

what nobody else seems to have asked is why your bl**dy prop shafts keep falling off ?!!

<hr width=100% size=1>currently boatless but kicking up a storm on the hillclimbs instead!

hlb · 10 Sep 2003

Probably mainly due to fire fighting method of boat mechanics. Who only turn up after catastrophic failier.
Because a boat service consists of changing the oil and little else. A request for a car type, look at every thing is met by dumb disbelief, or OK, I'll get round to that one next year!!
Even a reupholstery job is a two year project. By which time. It's like painting the fourth bridge and never gets finnished.

On the other hand, my prop shafts never fell off before. So why you ask??

<hr width=100% size=1> No one can force me to come here. I'm a volunteer!!.

Haydn

Interim Hearing Before Inaugurating Kangaroo Court

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