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Agreed to fix a dryer for $40 last Tuesday in Tucson and I'm still kicking myself over it | Appliance Repairers - Discusd

patriciam22•20d ago

Agreed to fix a dryer for $40 last Tuesday in Tucson and I'm still kicking myself over it

So last Tuesday a lady calls me about her dryer not heating, sounds simple enough, I quote her $40 to come look because it's close to my place in Tucson and I figure it'll be a quick thermal fuse. Get there and it's an older unit with the vent run packed solid with lint, plus the heating element was shot and the terminal block had scorch marks on two of the wires. I told her the parts alone were gonna run past what she expected, she got quiet, then asked if I could just "make it work" for the original quote. I stood in that laundry room for a good ten minutes going back and forth with myself, because on one hand I gave her a number and on the other there was no way I was eating parts and three hours of my afternoon. I ended up walking away from the job, refunded her the $40, and now I'm wondering if I did right by the trade or just did right by my wallet. Part of me thinks any quote is a quote and you honor it, other part thinks you can't run a route when people hold you to a number you threw out blind. What do you all do when the diagnosis blows past the estimate, hold the line or bail and refund?

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1 Comment

lisat6020d ago

Walking away was the right call and I don't see it any other way. A $40 quote to come look is a diagnostic fee, not a fixed bid on the whole repair, and anybody in this trade knows the number you throw out on the phone is a guess until you actually lay eyes on the machine. Once you found scorched wires and a dead element, honoring that original number would've meant paying out of pocket for parts plus giving her three hours of your day, and that's not honoring a quote, that's just working for free. Refunding her the $40 and being upfront that the job was way bigger than expected is the honest move, even if she wasn't happy about it. The folks who say a quote is a quote have probably never stood in a hot laundry room staring at a melted terminal block.