If you elite morons would read the friggin thread, the issue wasn't the price for labor. The issue was the guy was ripped off on the price for the part. Suppose I was a plumber and you called me because your hose was leaking. You asked how much I charged per hour - "50/hr, minimum 1 hour charge." Then I come to your house, replace a washer, and give you a bill for $200 because I felt like charging $150 for the washer.
Same situation. You morons are arguing that because of the guys knowledge and someone has to do the books, and he has to pay for gas for his van, and he has down time, etc., that gives him the right to mark a $25 part up to $190. That's what was so wrong about this. BTW, should small mom & pop stores double their prices because there are a lot of times when there aren't customers in the store? That's assinine. If you open a repair company, excessive down time is your fault - either the market is over-saturated with repair people, you don't advertise well, or word of mouth has gotten around that you rip off customers on parts prices.
Furthermore, appliance repair isn't that complicated. The necessary knowledge is minimal. Personally, I'd avoid "repair only" types of places in favor of established businesses that carry the appliances and replacement parts. Thats why some of these guys have a lot of "down time." A majority of service problems are fairly routine - there aren't that many parts to most appliances. At least, not that many parts that frequently need servicing. (Although, most parts aren't interchangeable between brands/models and some brands charge far more for similar parts than other brands (I believe GE is one of those companies)).
In my case, when the pizza shop calls me, I walk out the door knowing it's a 5 to 10 minute job. They usually give me enough information on the phone that I can diagnose the problem before I get there. The most common problems are a spring on the oven door (actually, they're a pita to replace) or a gas control module - 4 screws, 7 wires. The last time the owner called in a repairman (major $$ since the guy has to drive 1 1/2 hours each way to get to us, thus 4 hr minimum service fee) he commented that someone else replaced a thermostat to the oven. He told the owner that if I could replace that, I could easily replace anything else on the oven. Ever since, we've stocked one of almost every part that fails within 4 or 5 years. (And, they just changed the control module... hopefully they'll last longer than 2 years each now) I've chatted with the service guys when picking up parts in Buffalo - they HATE to drive down to our area - basically, it means fewer calls for them - thus they can't charge 1 hour labor 3 or 4 times in the same hour. (wink wink) Also, as far as "down time" goes... They were scheduling repairs 1 to 3 days in advance... they didn't seem to have a problem with down time. If you're good, you'll get repeat business and referrals from other customers. If you suck and rip off people on parts prices, then you're going to have a lot of down time.
I'm happy to drive 3 minutes, spend 5 minutes swapping a part, and get a large pizza, 2 liters of pop, and maybe a couple of subs for the effort - dinner for the family for my 15 minute "inconvenience". Other times, when there're other unusual tasks that need to be done, I'm often paid quite well for doing them. (I'm already paid quite well on a per hour basis - one of the reasons I've clung to this part time job on weekends)
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