Had our truck inspection this morning. The license plate lightbulb was out.
Part: 99 cents
Installation Cost: $8
Being ripped of for 2 seconds work? Priceless.
How many mechanics does it take to screw a customer? All of them!
Well, first you have to find a really big lightbulb…
Was it a mechanic-owned garage or was it Pep Boys? Because Pep Boys’ labor charge is $75.00 an hour. So you payed for about 9.4 minutes of their time.
Which is, of course, about 8.4 minutes longer than it actually took to put the bulb in…
Oooh, I learned that lesson a few years ago. Now MrValley and I always check our plate light before inspection day.
Was the labour charge specifically for the lightbulb, and nothing else? Was it itemised separately from the other labour?
My calculations for my local garage’s labour costs came out as seven minutes. Which, by the time the guy’s searched in the store room for the right bulb, found the keys for the truck, etc., is perhaps not so unreasonable.
My boyfriend is my mechanic, so it takes on a whole different meaning for me. 
Local garage. We even know the guys there. Heck, their phone number is so close to ours we get calls for them and I’ve always passed the right number along and how happy we’ve been (in the past) for their services! When we asked about the charge, the hubster was told, “I have nothing to do with the pricing. You have to pay it.” (which was BS, too!) We’ve bought tires there, swapped info about classic cars (we own a 1966 Charger we’re restoring), and had all our previous inspections done by them.
So, for that $8, I can now (if I wanted to) severely mess with their business by rerouting calls for them, or just saying bad things. I have no desire to do so, however. All I wanted was a valid inspection sticker. sigh
I think that’s a minimum labor charge - half of it was for writing up the bill and half of it was for recording the sale in their records. They installed the bulb for about five cents.
How many landladies does it take to screw a tenant? One
When we moved out of our rental in Knoxville, the landlady charged us $15.00 to replace a bad 45 W bulb (this was one of many petty charges). We almost went to court over that charge, but the trade off of saving $300.00 if we win, verses $4000.00 if we loose quashed that idea. Our attorney told us that she was the goofiest person she had ever dealt with in her entire career.
Ooh- it wasn’t the ones at the bottom of the hill at Southerland and Longview, was it (not the university apartments, but across from the gas station)? I heard stories like that about those - made me glad I didn’t live there.
No, my wife and I resided north of the West Town Mall. The landlady was the only one that allowed us pets I can’t speak for the ones you indicated Lsura, but renting homes to pet owners is kind of rare from what I’ve seen. We’ve been fortunate that something always opens up at the last minute.
Speaking of colleges (Cal Poly SLOtown), one of the corporate aparment owners liked to hold on to the deposits for four to six weeks rather then the max two weeks allowed by law (or so I was told). After the third week, I raised so much of a ruckus about this that I got mine back after… uh … four weeks :mad:
Back the truck up, Chuck.
- No vehicular lamps are screw based. Bayonet and butt wedge are popular, along with spade for headlamps.
- Two seconds work? I’d have to see the vehicle, but they all aren’t a simple twist and pull matter.
- Doing a walk around of your vehicle before taking it to the inspection station and correcting simple issues such as lighting is a good way to save money. Why didn’t you do it?
This is a lame bitch, bitch.
How many Union workers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Nineteen. You got a problem with that?
Yeah, I’m not really sure what the problem is here. You had some work done on your car the probably took about 5 minutes. The folks who own the place charged you for about 5 minutes of work. What’s the issue again?
There used to be a sign on the wall at the shop where I work that read:
If You Want It Fixed For Free, TAKE IT HOME AND WORK ON IT YOURSELF!
Much of my job is replacing defective or burned out light bulbs. And I get paid close to $30 an hour to do it. 8 bucks to change a light bulb sounds about right.
$20, same as in town.
Like I said, first you have to find a BIG lightbulb…
user_hostile, I can beat that. Many years ago when I lived in Waikiki, I was involved in a tenant’s rights group. Here’s one reason why. The porch light of a coworker of mine burnt out. Since she didn’t own a ladder, she asked her landlord to change it. The landlord did, then upped her rent $25 per month because he’d “made improvements”! :eek: Unfortunately, one of the justifications for high rents was a housing shortage, so moving out wasn’t as easy as it sounds. That is, however, one reason I left Hawaii for Pittsburgh!
CJ
In Russia, light bulb screws you!
Having spent the better part of a week with a burnt out lightbulb in my taillight, I am somewhat sympathetic.
In order to replace the lightbulb, I stopped at 4 stores, bought 4 lightbulbs, and 4 Toryx.
Ok, some of that was my fault. I could have shopped at more than one store per day. But I bought so many lightbulbs because Saturn put the WRONG number in the Owner’s manual list of what bulb I needed. (two packages of two bulbs. I should be able to get my money back from the one set, but I haven’t tried yet).
Still, I spent enough time and money to make me suspect I’d have been better off paying someone else to replace the bulb.