by Delmont St Xavier » Sat Sep 01, 2012 1:19 pm
Time is the 'essence' in your point and well made.
Ever called a plumber? Usually there is a call out charge and then an hourly or half hourly rate - even if it only takes 5 mins!
So a simple job of tightening a nut can become an expensive bill.
Our previous 'factor' once billed us and 'we' queired the bill and demanded a breakdown and explanation. It turned out that the firm charged for labour rounded up to the hour for two men (eg £27 x 2) and then fuel for the van (£5.50) for a 1/4 mile journey and then they charged for use of materials and so on and of course VAT at 20% on top. I used my car to drive from their depot to my place and it would have worked out at the then Inland Revenue rate of 0.45 pence per mile. Thus in mileage terms it would have been something like 0.11 + VAT.
As for the material - I went into Scotstoun Emporium and asked if they had the item and if so the cost, it came to something like £2.95 and we were being charged something like £68.00 and so the whole bill came to over a £100. Fair do's the company has to make profit, there are overheads but when we challenged the whole thing - the company came back with a reduced amount, claiming they made a mistake and overcharged (It was still higher than doing the thing ourselves).
I know it's not perfect like for like but that's often how they break things down but often we the consumer (in the instance of the fixed penalty - the unwilling participant) don't always appreciate how 'companies' work and there are other times that we know it is just a rip off!
"Listen, it's too big a world to be in competition with everyone. The only person who I have to be better than is myself. And in your case, that's enough."