ILBaztardo
19318
756
12
https://www.instagram.com/hellspawnedlegacy
May 1, 2026 3:28 PM
ILBaztardo
19318
756
12
https://www.instagram.com/hellspawnedlegacy
57rescraft9
Had a ride to the hospital on a Tuesday morning & 10am and had to go 4 MILES. Got the invoice----for 4 MILES. $5,800.00
The1Ballthrow
Same $hit with plumbers
Dannyalcatraz
A fan once criticized Sergio Aragones for selling sketches at a convention. He was angry to be charged $50 for something that took 5 minutes of time to create.
Aragones replied, “You’re not paying $50 for the 5 minutes it took me to do the sketch, you’re paying me $50 for the decades it took me to become able to draw that sketch in 5 minutes.”
Yes, some people are ripping you off. But acquiring skills takes time, energy and money, and deserves to be compensated.
HPCmonkey
It's $2500 because the owner of the HVAC company needs a new yacht. What's worse, the suppliers that sell a lot of these parts won't sell to you unless you are an HVAC company with a license to operate. They can continue to pump that figure up because most folks _can't_ get the parts to do it themselves.
jackpkmn
The answer is yes they do take everyone for as much of a ride as possible. It's called greed, and its killing everything everywhere.
CALAMOSCOPYJANE
Capitalism is a complete scam, pass it on.
ananfro
Yup. I’m a mechanic and my wife’s an electrician. There’s very few things we don’t do for ourselves. And the things we do are ones where it’s cheaper to pay someone, than for us to use our own time to do it when we could work instead. But yeah. A lot of companies lately are real shitty and basically just ripping people off
87cubed
I once went to [PLACE] to get my truck checked for a long haul of a heavy trailer, and I needed to be sure it was solid. The tech was a woman, tattoos everywhere, awesome sleeves. It bothered me because she started into explaining what was needed (that I'd missed) - because I couldn't tell whether she had to over-explain herself as a woman, or whether she was used to "customer knows better than tech". I waved her on ("yeah, go for it"), because A) she was right and B) that's all that matters.
bourbonandbaddecisions
I’m lucky enough to have friends across the trades. Lowest quote I got for a new 220v outlet was 1900. One of the electricians I know do it for 600 and that included parts labor and beer.
mynamespaul
Plumber charged me €1100 to replace my busted water pump. Parts €800, labor €300. but the part online was like €650 some places. I showed the dude and he was like “yeah. this’ll take me 2 hours and I’ve done it 1000 times. Do it yourself if you want but a flood’s a lot more expensive than doing it right the first time”. And tbh that was hard to argue with. HVAC maybe give it a try yourself - but DIY electric or water often comes with risk premium.
GimcrackGewgaw
Quite right. And you get something for that 150 Euro markup on the part. Parts procurement costs me, but customer-procurement is usually a false savings vs a reasonable markup. If my tech arrives and the part is wrong or late, you'll pay for the service call regardless. Customer procurement is great only if the customer wants to do the work, eat the risk, and self-warranty the part. That's what that 150 Euro margin is for.
ricbri695
I had an hvac tech out to diagnose my 9 year old tankless water heater. It was in the extended part of the warranty that covered parts but no labor. After 4+ hours he said “I think it’s this part, want me to order it?” Labor bill was already ~$600 and it’d take more for him to come install and test part, and even more if it was a different part. I said no, they called back and offered to put half my labor toward the purchase of a new heater. I called someone else and bought a new one from them
marthafarquar
Dryer stopped turning, I got one $12 capacitor, watched one YouTube video and 10 minutes later it was working fine.
GimcrackGewgaw
Youtube is awesome for this kind of thing. I have done so many repairs this way.
IvanTorhiscokov
Unfortunately, we're also living in a time where the trades are overwhelmed with projects and, to prioritize, they set exorbitant prices to see who bites. My mom was quoted $36k to remove her bathtub and convert it to a shower - not a big project. When she read over the quote, there was a $6k "administrative fee" to ensure supplies were properly delivered. $6k for a pallet of stone tile, grout and green board for a 4x7' space.
EternalStudent07
We need a tool to publicly share estimates. And compare them.
Trimule
Absolutely right. I feel that a huge part of being financially comfortable at my older stage in life is a direct result of NEVER paying to have something done if I could learn and do it myself. Paying someone a huge amount to dig a hole in the yard and replace a simple valve is just nuts if you can do it yourself. With YouTube (which i didn't have then) you can now safely and correctly do many repairs and installations.
murdock89
People knock "Youtube University", but if you are mechanically inclined it is AMAZING! I have literally saved at least $100k by educating myself over the years on car mechanics, Electrical, HVAC, Plumbing. Here's the catch, you can't JUST use youtube. It is a great start, but for things like electrical, plumbing, and hvac, you also need to read some books, learn the code requirements in your area, and do it right.
AyatollahBahloni
Replaced my Prius hybrid battery - got one from Texas for $900 - using YouTube. Dealer wanted $3200+. Just one example of saving thousands by studying up a bit.
LeekofLegend
GIVE OC CREDIT.
ILBaztardo
Added
ch1ckensandw1ch
Yeh hvac markups are crazy…but have you ever had to hire an electrician?
DippinDerps
Yeah. . . Wanted to have a GFCI socket installed in my cabinet under the sink for my new dishwasher. Dude came it. Looker at my breaker box. My cabinet setup. He let out a long fart and just said it would cost me 1700$ to run a new power wire from my breaker to put a new GFCI in there. I did it for 100$ and tapped from from a socket that was less than 3 feet above where i wanted the new GFCI. Took me an hr. Shyster.
FisheswithDynamite
A few years ago, a big name hvac company here in jersey had a bit of a kerfuffle when one of their techs left a binder at a customer's house. Inside the binder were all the upsell instructions, i.e., if a customer only needs one thing, tell them that fixing the problem will require a bunch of other services, parts or time. Fucked up part, is even though this got out, the company is still in business.
AyatollahBahloni
Just a couple of weeks ago, I fixed a dryer that was screaming like a banshee. The bearing on the belt tensioner wheel had given up the ghost. Service call to repair: $250.00+. Time to fix: 15 minutes, plus $12.95 for the part. Yes, I understand the value of knowing where to put the chalk mark (cf Charles Steinmetz) and the value of the training required to become a qualified tradesperson... but seriously, there's a lot of things a person can do by themselves with a little time learning.
GimcrackGewgaw
$250 service call is not much. Transit time alone often gets you there. Part of my business involves dispatching field workers. There's no such thing as 15 minutes. With all the required investigation, documentation, validation a tech has to do, it's literally never 15 minutes. Qualified field techs aren't cheap and there's a ton of overhead there too.
AbolishNuance
"I'm trying to make this short and sweet"
3andAHalfLivesAgo
Used to be a helper, currently have all my certs and licenses for HVAC. 1 more semester. And I’m gonna snipe every fuckin company in my area. These people are Charging $125-$200 per pound of refrigerant, billing out for 3-5lbs, but only using a few ounces. $250 for a capacitor swap. Give me 6 months and I’ma save this area I swear.
TheShoctopus
HVAC are known scammers. There are good ones, but the bad ones far out number them. The unfortunate reality is even if you are hand around the house when HVAC repairs are needed (especiall the AC part) you dont really have a choice. The best thing to do is become educated on what costs really are, what items are really broke. If they try to sell you a new system right off the bad you got a salesman and not a tech.
hyperchondriac
Had to replace the wireless thermostat because it stopped communicating with the control board attached to the furnace (shitty boards). They don't sell that model anymore, so had to replace the thermostat and control board as a package. 1600. Coulda bought a cheap wired thermostat but would've lost zone control and had to run more wires (since the cable for the wireless doesn't have control wires, just power). And the unit was only 5 years old. Fuck Lennox.
Chagrinnish
This one sounds like private equity buying up HVAC installers. https://www.investmentcouncil.org/icymi-wsj-highlights-how-private-equity-transforms-plumbing-and-hvac-small-businesses-boosting-wages-and-growth/
BarryTheCyborg
Private equity ruins fucking everything. Fucking vultures who already have a shit ton of money just wanting more so others can't have it.
IHaveGreatKittenRecipes
HVAC guys are 90% tools and they're damn proud of it. Called a company out when my system was dorking on me, dude does his diagnostics and tells me the part is 'too expensive to justify replacing, you need a new unit, it'll be 8k for one this size' and I'm on Amazon like 'you mean... this part? For 30 bucks?' I ain't replacing a 5yo unit (literally months past the warranty fuck you Trane) over a 30 dollar capacitor. IT HAS BLADE CONNECTORS! Took me longer to clean the contacts, ffs.
TheShoctopus
Exactly. Scammers.
Ninjainslippers
What fucking sucks is the margins for electrical and hvac are like 15% profit. I can understand restaurants having to raise prices to keep their 2-5% margin but scamming people just to make the company even more profitable? Fuck that.
GimcrackGewgaw
15% margin is not much unless you're in a high-dollar business. For serious, if you're running a small to medium-sized business at 15%, long-term survival is tough. You takes hits. My margins are thin and I had entire years where I lost money as I retrenched. I worked a whole year and for - income. Firing people fucking sucks. You need better than 15% when it's working or you won't survive when it gets lean. ~20 years in on my main business, margins are higher, my people have security, etc.
Cgt16
15% in what world? Guys here charge 180/hr with a 2 hr minimum and pay their guys 20/hr and supply them with a van... Bring your own tools. Way more than 15% even with insurance
LoopDog69
The only thing I have farmed out at my house was the driveway replacement and the roof. DIY baby!
cheeriossuckbecause7
And the greed is a big part of why unions aren't trusted as they used to be. The markups on repair can be outrageous, and frequently predatory.
TonyDiethelm
Fuuuuck you. You don't know if that's union or not.
cheeriossuckbecause7
Well, fuuuuck you, too. Whether union or not, unions suffer guilt by association, and people look at them as ripoff artists because who bothers to find out if the overpriced service is actually done by a union? Despite unions providing good-paying jobs and worker protections, they get lumped into the same category.
DrewK98
Did he say $1,700 for 5 weeks of summer camp? if that's sleep-away camp, I need the name of his camp.
StunttheRunt
Right to repair and having knowledge. Being in the trades myself I've seen this from some shady places and people. Call them out if you can. Not all are like this. My furnace went she it was simply a dirty flame sensor. Tech charged bare minimum (this was years ago) and taught me how to deal with it, adding it to my yearly house check ups.
My wife grew up with her contractor Dad and on a farm so knows vehicles. She loves playing dumb with Realtors, renovators, and car dealers.
ananfro
Having the knowledge can save soooo much money. Like I recently sunk about $5000 worth in parts on my truck to keep it going (suspension, brakes, all that stuff). I’d hate to see what a stealership would charge for all I fixed
StunttheRunt
Oh jeez don't remind me. My brakes and front end need to be done (25 year old Sierra)
Luckily, although I've told my kids to get into something useful (one be a dentist, one HVAC, one mechanic, etc) one of them is dating a guy who's a retired mechanic. If I can get the time free to take up his offer of his services.
YpsilantiRomani
Also I doubt the HVAC company is paying $160 for the part unless his friends can get the parts at cost
flail
I don't begrudge people making a profit on their labor. If you do the work, you deserve to be paid.
I hate that private equity firms are snapping up all the local companies they can, saddling them with debt, sucking out as much profits as possible, killing customer service, and driving experienced tradespeople out with crazy requirements designed to maximize profits in the short term. It's happening with plumbing, electrical, optometry, HVAC, you name it.
SayRamrod
yup. in canada it's also dentists, mechanics, vets, and i heard in vitro is next. because who is more desperate than parents trying to start a family.
grumpabeme
Vehicle maintenance $20 for a cabin air filter at the local auto parts store ($12 on line) - replace as part of a scheduled maintenance -$230. It literally takes 5 minutes and that includes watching the video on how to do it.
narusso
I changed the cabin air filter and the engine filter last night in 16 minutes total. Instead of $100 at the dealership, it was $27 and an opportunity to feel competent. Win-win.
ananfro
You’d be amazed at how many people don’t care when you tell them this, they’ll happily pay the amount just so they don’t have to do it
bnors92
Yep. Some people have more money than time.
Navrodel
Some people just don't have a safe place to do it for themselves.
Lot of people I know have to park somewhere where they're prohibited from doing maintenance on their cars - like most public streets - and the fine is frankly more expensive than the shop doing it for them. One of my neighbor's hustles is literally just renting out his driveway for other people to work on their cars - got him raided under "suspicion" of running a chop shop because the cops were salty about not getting their fines.
OddlyPacific
It takes a little more time on some luxury brands and not putting the HVAC system into maintenance mode can permanently damage the whole system. There are rackets that come from the top too.
StellarJay77
The cost to do it through a company also includes part of the overhead to run that company as well as potentially finding and fixing other issues in the process because a trained profession will see things a DIYer won't. Some companies business models are ludicrous though as in @OP's example and rely on consumer ignorance to make stupid amounts of profit.
MyDogsNameIsSally
On most cars, absolutely, but there are a select few that are an absolute nightmare to access. The best thing is to do a little research, and give it the old college try.
Uselesstoy
Don't forget pool robots and the pool filters. Do NOT go to the pool store.. You can rebuild your entire robot from new parts on ebay and Amazon. Ya you gotta watch a 15 minute utube video, but its worth it.. I've built more complicated toys than the robot..
DidaChikDumaChum
Loved my 2003 Mazda 6 because 90% of the problems I had could be fixed by watching a YouTube video and following instructions. Soon you'll need degrees in electrical engineering and computer science to change a tire.
TomahawkJackson
Of course, this is the exact same argument I heard people make about their 1980 Chevy Impala or 1981 Olds Cutlass in 2003. "These new cars have so much emissions shit and computers that you can't fix without special tools."
Honestly, as we move towards the future? I'll take replacing cells in a battery and replacing an electric traction motor over doing Ecoboost cam phasers on an F-150 in my garage any day for the *next* 23 years. <3
ForPriestSake
Soon you’ll have to sell your newish vehicles after 6 years. Since basically all new models have scarce inventory of parts and stop manufacturing after 5 years
TomahawkJackson
Replace *as part of a scheduled maintenance* - which is a checklist of this and how many other $20 checklist items, and the mechanic's all-in labor rate (including all wages, taxes, employer portion of benefits, etc.) of $50/hr?
Super basic: 1-2 hours is $100 in labor, 5x $20 items, and $30 "profit" ($15/hr for the building, electricity, Business Liability insurance, etc.) out of your $230.
Routine: 2-4 hours is $200 in labor, 10x $20 items, and $60 "profit" (also $15/hr) out of your $460.
chansuke
That labor rate of $50/hour is very low, a general mechanics shop is going to charge twice as much, or more depending on where you live.
TomahawkJackson
That's not the Labor Rate On The Sign On The Wall in the shop that the customer pays.
That's the "all in" *labor cost* for a company, which is loosely estimated at 1.5-2x the 'straight' hourly rate paid to the employee directly and includes all the employer-paid stuff like payroll tax, unemployment tax, workers comp benefit premiums, medical/dental premiums (employer side), PTO/Vacation, etc. etc. etc. It's the total expense of the employee per hour, not just the wage portion. 1/2
TomahawkJackson
2/2 The Sign On The Wall labor rate absolutely needs to be higher, as you suggested, because outside the "all in" labor rate on the mechanic, there's things like rent/mortgage on the building, electricity/water/trash/hazmat disposal, Business Liability Insurance, advertising, shop supplies, credit card processing fees, etc. etc. etc.
jayman0123
I have this issue with my house where, about 3 times a year, roots block the main sewer drainage. The first time it happened, I called one of the larger companies (Roto Rooter) and had them come out. They looked at the problem and said it was going to cost about $6000 to rent the machine to tear up my yard and do the work. I called another place, one of the small guys, he came out, looked at it and said "I can have you running again for $98." He took the bathroom toilet off, did some work and 1/
dawnkelly3160
Roto Rooter is the devil.
jayman0123
was done, cleaned up, and gone in 25 minutes. Turns out you can just snake the main line from the bathroom and not have to spend thousands of dollars to install an outside clean out, just to have them come out every 4-5 months and still have to run the line.
fartser
I would be willing to bet you already have a cleanout but it's covered in dirt. Next time you think about it walk down the main line in your yard with a probe and poke around. Its probably only like 6" under the dirt. There's usually two so you can snake either direction of the main line.
jayman0123
thats what I thought too, but the main line is only about 25 feet and I couldn't find it
fartser
Ah, gotcha. Sounds like the plumbers who built it knew where the toilet was gonna set and made use of it.
theshinobi23
Would've told them I expected $6000 to cover replacement of the compromised pipes and removal of the problematic roots/plants from the area it's happening in, to prevent it from repeating the same problem. They wanted to charge that much to just install an access point and snake it? Fuck that.
jayman0123
the kicker is, the roots are from a neighbor's tree that's in the middle of their yard, so it's not even a ton of roots, it's just enough to cause a back up
chrispisme
I was shop forman in a couple of auto repair facilities when I was younger. Had a client come into the back shop to get something out of his car cause he was told it would be in the shop a while, he was pretty mad. I spoke to him and found out the service advisor had been fucking him over, some bs about what was needing to be done. I straightened him out (took his side) and called the shop owner, he had a meeting with the service advisor and let him go.
TomahawkJackson
Service Advisor is a job I'd never want because of the inherent tension between two opposing axis of need. 1. The need to provide the customer the feeling that they got exceptional value for money and want to come back vs. the need to extract as much money from every bay-hour as possible because the industry is low margin and ultra-competitive. If you do #2 too well, piss 'em off and they can go ANYWHERE - on the other hand, if you do #1 too well, you don't have capacity and also piss them off.
chrispisme
we had a system called Pearson Auto systems which became Pace auto systems which ended up becoming Certigard their philosophy was do the customers "hot button" if any issues seen in the area we tried an "up-sell" to an inspection. If that was successful an inspection would be printed off with; items that needed to be addressed asap, items that could wait and, items that were strictly maintenance related. never sell more than authorized on the visit and only do what the client wanted done.
TomahawkJackson
I'm familiar with the system from years ago, when it was still Pace, I think. I had a couple shops I'd take my cars to, and they'd always give me that kind of list that was more or less sorted by MUST/SHOULD/CAN/PONDER (not those terms specifically, but the principle)
The shop I kept going back to was the one that said "This one is a MUST, we can do it, but we're not great at it. We already called (Shop B) - They're expecting you and will honor our quote of $NotThatMuch. They're expecting you."
trippingthelightfantastic
Good on you, sir and don't get me started on car mechanics.
ananfro
Some are good. Some are bad. Customers are the worst
Ac1dBurn72
Had to go and physically take the keys away from someone when my ex wife took her car for a tire rotation.
She calls me crying, saying we need to drop $4000, and her vehicle is undriveable/unsafe.
A discount tire employee tried to take her for a ride. None of what they reported was found by MY MECHANIC. She just wanted a quick oil change and rotation and didn't wanna wait for me to do it.
StellarJay77
Or computer repair, or nail salons, or plumbers, or... point is this shit exists in every major industry. In some respects you should pay more to have a professional do things because their expertise allows them to see or know things a DIYer might not, but for a company to rely on consumer ignorance to make ludicrous profit margins that is unacceptable.
Broken08
It's not the mechanics who do the work, it's the dealership service writers
StarLeagueRecruit
My roommate's car broke down. Not only was the shop overpriced, the only payment plan they'd accept was very clearly a predatory loan. Shit's fucked up.
AyatollahBahloni
I used to think the service rep at a dealer was there to let you know how much a needed repair was going to cost. I learned only later that a service rep is a salesman, and nothing else, whose job it is to sell you more repairs than you need at prices you don't need to pay.
chrispisme
See my comment above, as a mechanic I’ve seen advisors sell stuff I hadn’t recommended….fucking infuriating
trippingthelightfantastic
My mechanic (everyone needs one) showed me an assembly that failed in my car, "See this? The whole assembly costs $300+, but this little part here is what goes bad and it costs $20. Every dealership will charge you $300+ parts, plus $300+ labor to replace it rather that changing out this $20 part."
AyatollahBahloni
Good mechanic is good.
fartser
In my experience, they'll charge you the $300+ and say they replaced the whole thing when they really just replaced the $20 piece. I had a stud break while getting ready to change my brakes, so I took it to a tire place explained what happened and they told me they were required to change the stud that broke and the ones on either side. Wouldn't ya know, after getting my car back and taking the wheel off I only had one new stud in my hub.
AyatollahBahloni
Lawyer time.
fartser
More like I went up there and demanded a refund and then I reported them to the BBB.