My folks heater isn’t playing well

Looking for a honest person

BiL, kinda sad you have to ask it that way. Most in the profession are hard working guys doing an honest job. I had one that less than honest...

My circuit board went out. Small burn mark on it that the A/C guy showed me. He had to order one, but in the mean time he rigged it so the fan was always on and the A/C cycled as it needed to. The board was $300, the install was around the same price.

I told my friend this who was also a building manager where I officed. He laughed and told me to go google that circuit board by the model number. 19 bucks, and available at a store close by. My friend was also EPA certified, so he and I drove a block away and bought it. I know it must be tough for an A/C guy in the winter, but that was up-charged just too much.

What do you think that tech should have charged for the board, his time to troubleshoot the problem, his return trip to swap it out, bypassing the board to get your stuff going, maintaining his license, liability insurance, commercial insurance on his vehicle, accounting and other overhead costs, warranty return trip in case the new board failed (because you'd expect a new one for free if the new board failed, right?)? What is a fair price for all of that?

also, that mite have been an oem board he quoted and your friend bought a universal? dont know. i quote oem parts. they are usually more expensive.

OK, I'll play for a minute
I'm talking about the part. The labor is not disputed. Where did you get that from?

So let's address the part. Do you think a 1479% markup is reasonable?

You do know there's people reading this that need (or may need) future A/C professional help, right? If you think that nearly 1500% markup is fair and right, you're scaring off customers.

From my limited experience a new control board will get you back up and running just about every time. (I have bought 3 in the last 18 years). I just replaced the one in our downstairs unit last week. You can order online for cheapest price or go to Locke Supply in Plano and they will sell to the public. Simple plug and play install. Just be sure and mark which wire goes where for when you go back.

Turned out a rodent ate a wire. Should be an easy fix but had to return Monday with the part.

You ignored every expense I listed, of which there are many more, that goes into running an a/c business, any business. Because if you aren't making money, you have a hobby not a business.

As for losing customers, I'm not. Because I don't do residential work. Things like this right here are mostly why I no longer do residential. Most customers are great. Some, not so much. Then there are some that get quoted high prices so they'll never call again. Which are you?

And like Poppa pointed out, the tech could have been quoting an oem part, which does cost more. So that would make a dent in your perceived profit margin figures.

So he wanted $600 ($300 for the part and $300 labor, right?) to come to your house twice, troubleshoot and change a part. Then if that part failed for any reason not of his doing in the next yr he'd have to come back and replace it for free. That's $200 per trip. Not bad if you ask me, but then again I am in the industry and understand how this stuff works.

Good luck to you.

I was the paying customer that paid. What you didn't know because I didnt post it was that day 1, the diagnosis was completed, the bypass was done, a couple pounds of R22 was added to the 5-ton, and some was added to the 2 ton unit. We paid day 1 in full because it was going to take 3 to 5 days to get the part in. I really didnt feel the need to timeline the whole visit, but I was wrong. That's OK, you were defending the industry and I get that. This guy tried to rip me off. Plain and simple.

OK, lets answer some questions.

What do you think that tech should have charged for the board 100% markup, industry standard. I could have gone 200% and not had any issue
his time to troubleshoot the problem That was paid for in the first visit
his return trip to swap it out It took me 15 minutes to swap that out. I'm not sure what the minimum charge is for a visit
bypassing the board to get your stuff going That was paid for in the first visit
maintaining his license That's the cost of him doing business, not mine.
liability insurance That's the cost of him doing business, not mine.
commercial insurance on his vehicle That's the cost of him doing business, not mine.
accounting and other overhead costs That's the cost of him doing business, not mine.
warranty return trip in case the new board failed (because you'd expect a new one for free if the new board failed, right?)? That's the cost of him doing business, not mine.
What is a fair price for all of that? I'm not sure. I didnt allow it to get that far.

OK, your turn. I only have 2 questions. You dodged my question regarding 1479% markup. Is this fair? Would you pay that if you knew otherwise?
On second thought, you dont need to answer that. This can die right here and now.

What make and model furnace and what part number for board. No dog in the fight. Just curious.

I dont remember, nearly 10 years ago and both the 5 ton and 2 ton have been replaced with more modern R410 units.

Oh, To Brother in-law, please accept my apology for feeding in to the hyjack of your thread. I'm done with it, I hope you find a THF'r to assist you.

how much did they charge for the refrigerant? they checked and serviced two systems? got ya going then replaced board on the next trip for $600 ? sounds good to me. what did the dentist charge ya the last time ya had a crown? did ya shop it? no ya didnt because ya cant buy crowns on the web. yall ytube warriors are killin me GO CHIEFS!!!

But maybe you did run across some truly crooked, they do certainly exist. But too many times I've run across customers who have it all figured out, just like you, except for one very important part.... Which is the knowledge required to troubleshoot the unit in the first place. Something you needed in order to save money then trash him online.

psycho0819, all the troubleshooting, R22 top offs, and the fan bypass were paid for on day 1. The $600 bill was to swap out the board, nothing more and nothing more was unpaid from the 1st visit. My building manager friend was the one that alerted me to the rip-off. I'm not going to apologize to you or anyone else here. This was wrong, and i meant what I said.

Trash him online? I never mentioned anyone by name or company. What the heck are you talking about?

Decook, what do you do for a living?