So I’m trying to hire a handyman to do some stuff around the house.
The first three people I called wanted a 50 to 75 dollar deposit. The way it works is; they come out and look at what you needed done. If you like the estimate the deposit goes towards the bill. If you DON’T like the estimate you forfeit the deposit.
That’s insane right? Like if they don’t want to do the job or just want to make a quick 75 bucks all they have to do is give you an outrageous estimate so you’re sure to refuse it.
That is some bullshit and I wouldn’t deal with such crooks.
You don’t need a deposit or payment for an estimate. They’re coming out to basically bid on a job.
Please don’t pay these asshats.
Can I ask where you are? I’ve never heard of anything like this by legit companies.
Oh no way I would pay for an estimate. Lol
I found a legit guy that wasn’t interested in any sort of deposit.
I’m in Texas. And the companies I called are LLC. 
What a scam. Hopefully not too many fall for it.
A recent experience of mine:
I purchased a bathroom light/fan to replace the current one. Same company. Same model, an updated version. Same size. Take down the old one, replace with new one. The fan cost $89.
I called a plumbing/heating/electrical company that I had used once before for dryer vent cleaning. The guy showed up late. Took one look and told me the job would cost $1,450. Said they had standard rates for all jobs, regardless of size. They didn’t work by the hour. I said you’re crazy if you think I’m going top pay $1,450 to have an $89 fan installed. He was apologetic, even a little embarrassed, but said that was the rate. I said no thanks. He then asked for a $75 “estimate fee.”
What a ripoff! I then called a local electrician, who did the job for $200.
I see the other company’s trucks all over the place and wonder how they stay in business.
Definitely give them a call when you have a $3000 job to be done.
It depends on the job. I’ve certainly had independent contractors and companies come out and charge a call-out/service call fee to visit. The amount is stated up front, though. I’ve had two different plumbers do this and an a Whirpool agent (fridge repair), as well. I thought this was pretty normal. For construction or remodeling jobs, installing HVAC, and bigger things like that, no, never any sort of fee.
I skipped getting a quote from a company that did that.
Now, I understand WHY they’d do it. The quote was for something that was going to be about a thousand dollars. I can understand why they don’t want to waste their time coming out here to write up a quote just so we can go with someone else. But a $200, non-refundable deposit meant that the other places I called for the same project would have to beat these people by at least $200 since if I use them, I’m out the $200. IOW, they could bid $1100 on the project and if I go with the guy that wanted $1000, it would cost me $1200.
Again, I get it. I didn’t use them, but I get why they’d do it. For a company like that a project like we needed done, they don’t want to quote it out, they just want to get the call and come out and do it. Which is understandable.
Also, I should be clear, this was all B2B (business to business) so it’s generally expected that things have to get a bit more expensive than $1000 before people are price shopping. At some point I had them bid out a job that was north of $50k and there wasn’t any type of fee for that.
I almost had this happen last weekend when I had my car’s brakes checked. They said it would be $45 to look at it which would apply to the service if needed. That seemed fair if they were going to be looking at it for the better part of half of an hour. Turns out, they looked at my brakes, and tires, and fixed my Check Air Pressure light for free since they didn’t think I needed any work done!
It’s a smart business move since they’ve done the same thing before and so it’s my default place to go to if I don’t need a specialist, and I recommend them to other people.
I had something similar happen the last time I bought a set of tires. They asked me if I wanted to have an alignment check done. I said yes, because it makes sense to not have your front end out of whack and ruin a new set of tires. But the “scam” is that they charge you $100 for the alignment check, and if it turns out you don’t need an alignment you get the $100 refunded, otherwise it goes towards the cost of an alignment. And guess what? They said I needed an alignment! Because of course they’re going to say that. I should have known better…
I think for things like this, there’s often a service being provided in diagnosing the issue. If I say “my appliance isn’t working, come fix it,” the person will spend some amount of time identifying what the work is that needs to be done. In this case, it’s appropriate to charge a deposit/diagnostic fee.
Yep, my 20 yo tankless water heater tanked and I called the plumber who determined it was toast and a new one was recommended. IIRC the charge was$150 They applied that charge to the new install.
Thus past Monday my car battery died. I needed a jump but we are a one car family. Guess I could’ve bugged a neighbor but I called a local tow service for a quote to jump start the car. They asked $250! Gouge much?
But I realized my car is still under warranty with road side assistance- they came out in less than hour and took like 2 min to start my car. Cost me nothing. Went to Advance Auto who installed a new battery for me.
$250 for a jump? Wow! Thankfully the last time my battery died it didn’t quite die. It just took a minute or two to start once I turned it on. The Internet seems to think that for Priuses like mine, if the 9V battery is dying but not dead yet, the larger battery will eventually take over to assist the startup, and I correctly self-diagnosed needing a new battery based on the slow start time. But at any rate I didn’t have to pay $250 for a jump.
I have also gotten a battery completely replaced by a roadside service person. That I would have thought would be worth $250.
Its not shady, its a service FFS. I am going to come all the way out to your house, burn gas, use my vehicle, use my professional expertise to diagnose YOUR problem and you don’t even want to pay for my effort? SHAME ON YOU. If this was the pit I would use stronger words.
Site visits cost money and time. Time that I could have spent on something I would actually get paid for. We’ve been screwed over enough times and I am done with it. I am ******* sick of people thinking that my time should somehow be free because of my blue collar occupation.
Our main client pays $350 for an inspection and estimate, and $200 for an inspection only. Those fees are waived if we do the work. Sound like a lot? We barely break even at that rate. With our current overhead we would sink fast if thats all we could rely on.
We have debate every time a private client wants us to come out to their home. You know why? Because they don’t pay.
Mule fritters! Plenty of service businesses offer and provide free estimates.* It’s call running a business.
Last year I needed a French drain installed in my yard. I had three different companies come out. Each one did a good amount of looking around, measuring, and offering options. Each one wrote up an official estimate.
I went with the one that made the most sense. None of them charged for their estimates. Why did they do that? Because they are operating a business.
mmm
*For the recored, I’m not against paying for an estimate if there is a good bit of skilled diagnosing / troubleshooting involved.
2020 Outback, that battery lasted!
Used to have a jump box around here. Shux.
Lol wtf?
This really pisses you off enough that you can’t say what you want to say in a non-pit thread?
That seems a little over the top.