BS: Daylight robbery

Subject: BS: Daylight roberry
From: harpmaker
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 07:08 PM

I know that banks are past masters in this, but.........

I rang H2O, a plumbing company to come & sort out a water leak.
The guy on the other end said "yes, we can sort that, it will be £80 for the first hour, then £55 for every hour after that, plus VAT)
I put the phone down.

Where do these guy's get off?

That MUST take some beating?

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: Peace
Date: 04 Jun 04 - 07:48 PM

Do you know where the leak is? Often, they are easy enough to fix.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:45 AM

Another big rip off=
I just went to Jacksons, to buy some onions, [spo i can make some cheese and onion sandwidges],
but there onions was 1.50 for 3!
50p for an onion, they must be bloody joking!
I will make my own.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:47 AM

how do you make onions?

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:50 AM

You grow them. They grow pretty slowly, so they won't be in time for this particular sandwich. I just harvested the batch I planted last fall. Too bad you're so far away--it would cost a lot more than 50p an onion to send you any!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 10:00 AM

Plumbers & gasmen & electricians - they know we don't want to fiddle with these things, for fear of flooding, unexpected combustion or electrocution. Dence they figure they can charge what they like. And so they do...

Harpmaker - if your leak is somewhere accessible, try wrapping self-amalgamating tape (which you should find at your local hardware stoire, B&Q, etc) tightly round it till you can find someone reasonable. If your leak is visibly at a fitting, it's even worth just trying to do it up a bit - they can come loose.

jOhn - I suggest your local greengrocer... onions ought to be about 30p/lb!

Best of luck!
Cheers
Tracey Dragonsfriend
Scorch's Pyrography

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: el ted
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 10:04 AM

Stick an onion in the hole. 50pence. case solved. next?

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight roberry
From: mooman
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 10:12 AM

The last plumber I called wasn't a complete prat...

...turns out he wasn't fully> qualified yet...

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: GUEST,Jim Knowledge
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 11:17 AM

I `ad a plumber in my cab last week. When `e got out to pay `e `ad this enormous wedge of tenners in `is `and. I said, blimey, you must `ave been out to a load of jobs? `E said, nah, only one!!
What am I like?

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: GUEST, TheBigPinkLad
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 11:34 AM

I watched that English-chef-who-went-to-France programme last night (French Leave?) and he bought truffles. He got them from a dealer who paid the truffle-hunter the equivalent of 14quid per kilo, then sold them to the chef for 30 quid and the chef was delighted as he normally pays 250-300 for them in London.

Them truffle hunters need a union.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Teribus
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 11:46 AM

I take it that he was on his way to buy some onions - right Jim?

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 12:03 PM

one thing that is interesting about plumbers, gas fitters and electricians is that their work is always expected to be 100% successful. If lawyers and surgeons hit 60% they might be considered as doing pretty well. CEOs can loose hundreds of millions of dollars for the corporations they run and still be deemed qualified to receive their massive salaries and perks. Sometimes politicians never get it right and we elect them again and again and pay them just the same.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 12:21 PM

A brain surgeon was holding a wedding reception at his home, when the night before the event, his hot water tank sprang a leak. He made a few desparate calls and finally found a plumber who arrived at at 11:15 that night, removed his old tank and installed a new one. When the plumber finished the job, he handed the surgeon his bill. "My God!" exclaimed the fellow, as he looked at the charge, "I don't make that kind of money and I'm a brain surgeon!" The plumber replied. "I didn't make that kind of money when I was a brain surgeon, either".

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 12:43 PM

Metchosin, I was just about to post that one.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: GUEST, TheBigPinkLad
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 12:53 PM

Plumbers have to charge high prices to pay for the crack.

biddum! churrrrr

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 02:42 PM

Not about plumbing leaks, but a leak in the wallet nevertheless. In addition to my monster desktop computer here in my cave (at which I am sitting right now) I have a Dell Inspiron 3800 laptop which I often use in the living room, sitting cross-legged on the bed, or up at a nearby park on a pleasant day. A handy adjunct to my writing endeavors.

Several months ago it pooped out. Since it was out of warranty, I took it to a local shop that specializes in notebook computers. They fixed it, and charged me around $150.00. A week later it pooped out again, but in a slightly different manner. Since it was within their thirty day warranty period, they fixed it again for no charge.

Just a couple of days ago, it pooped out yet again! This time it didn't simply shut itself off (losing everything I hadn't saved yet) as it had done before, it comes on and stays on, but even though the screen is lit, there's nothing on it. A nice bright white. Blank. And nothing I can do will get the operating system (Windows 98SE) to load. It would seem I need to take it back to the shop, but since it's been several months, I'm out of warranty again.

But—they have what is known as a "bench fee." If you bring a laptop in, they charge you $80.00 to put it on the workbench. That's up front. Before they even look at it to see if it can be fixed.

It's several years old (Celeron, 500 MHz, 64 MB RAM, with a 6 GB HD and a SuperDisk floppy). I'd like to have it fixed—if it can be fixed, but I might just be better off popping for a new notebook. Some of the new ones (for under $1,000) are pretty impressive (and I'm thinking of going wireless). I'd rather not spend the money right now (I'd rather not spend the money at all!), but it looks like if I want to be able to write in a local coffee shop (where as long as you buy something, they don't really mind how long you stay) or up in the park under a tree, or have something to take with me on trips, it's gonna cost me. Leaky wallet.

The thing that really gets my goat is that because of things like "bench fees," it will cost me a minimum of $80.00 to find out if the Dell actually can be fixed or if I should just use it for a door stop.

(Mutter mutter mutter)

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Don Firth
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 02:45 PM

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 07:01 PM

One reason why desktop computers are so much less expensive is because they are so much easier to open up and work inside. I'll be hard-pressed to bother buying a notebook computer again. It was good for a while, but the repairs are tedious and difficult.

My Dad had a laptop that had a goofy monitor screen. It used to fade out to a point where you could hardly see it, and the repair folks always told him they couldn't duplicate the problem and never managed to fix it. Since he and his friend fellow Seattle Song Circle member Jean bought the same computers at about the same time, when she finally retired hers, she sent the carcass and I salvaged the top of the laptop and replaced the one on my Dad's. It works fine now, but is so old and slow it's really only good for word processing and solitaire.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:21 PM

Sitting here at home waiting to hear from the mechanics about how much they want to rip me off to get my car fixed.

I still haven't found one I'm really happy with. Their eyes light up with dollar signs when they see a woman coming.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Sorcha
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:37 PM

Don, get a pen and a paper tablet. You can write anywhere you like.

Subject: RE: BS: Daylight robbery
From: Midchuck
Date: 09 Jun 04 - 09:48 PM

It works fine now, but is so old and slow it's really only good for word processing and solitaire.

That's exactly what's wrong with me.

Peter.