In article ,
Keith G wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
Think you're a bit out of date as regards earning a living, Keith.
;-)


Don't talk so stupid, Plowie - I had 50 employees in two firms and
probably know a little bit more about paying staff than you do.

'Had' being the operative word.


'Operative' how? I'm retired Plowie - have been for 9 years now, I don't
need staff. (If you'd worked a little harder in your youth maybe you
could be retired also...)

Why would I want to retire? I work in a job which involves that which you
seem to spend all your time with - ie audio. So get paid for my hobby. ;-)

Add to that I get charged for stuff like 'bike servicing and that
Swim
is in full time employ, so I'm not quite so out of touch as you'd
like
to think....

So pray tell what you feel a reasonable charge would be for this
repair -


Anything over 20 quid *absolute max* would be a waste of money - I
pointed to a number of eBay auctions where VCRs were sitting at 99p + a
bit of postage...

I'm not disagreeing with that - just the principle. A repair shop is in
business to make a living. Not dish out free advice on economics. The
person in question may well have wanted his VCR repaired for any number of
reasons rather than buy new or secondhand. He might like the way it
operates, the facilities or just even the looks.


and it might help if you said what it actually consisted of.


How TF should I know?

So HTF can you know what is a reasonable quote for the repair?


Plenty of
VCRs when they break are simply not economic to repair.


You got there in the end....

Err, you spend all your time doing uneconomic things. Why want everyone
else to be different?



The 'Service Engineer' of that shop is one of the two brothers who
have
recently been *given it* by their father who is supposed to have
retired
(but is always hanging about in there). It is a goldmine - they have
been strimming the local Chavs for decades; my neighbour has known
them
and dealt with them for 30 years. There comes a time you tell a
person
like that when an item is beyond economic repair, not just take them
to
the cleaners. (Note the drastic 50 to 29 quid reduction...)

Doesn't your neighbour ever visit stores like Tesco etc and note the
price
of a new VCR?

No idea.


And therefore is capable of deciding himself if he wants it repaired
or not?


You're not really picking up on the dynamic here - the guy is 'old
school'; his instinct is to take a broken VCR to the local shop (where
he bought it) for repair and where he has been a customer for 30 years.
He doesn't know about the current 'throway ethos' and had probably paid
a ton for the machine when it was new. Where it falls on its arse is the
shysters (you need to see them in action) in the shop are/were more keen
to strim the old boy (a long-standing customer) for swift 50 quid than
point him in a better direction.

There's an awful lot of 'probables' there.

If you can see no wrong in that, then it tells a lot about you...

No - I just get fed up of those who can't do something telling someone who
can what the job should be worth. And the assumption that someone 'old
school' doesn't know the value of things.

Asitappens, Shiny Nigel who works at the shop is due round tonight,
if he makes it (he's in a state with ME or summat, so there's a
chance he won't show) I'll ask him how it's going in the 'repair
department' (loft, actually). My guess is that if it's gone quiet
they'll have got got rid of the *girl* who did most of the work....


Yes, she has left (some time ago) but it was her own idea, apparently...

Answering your own points now? ;-)


Seems you have forgotten the fixed costs of running any business.


WTF would you know?

By your attitude. I gave you a rough idea of the sort of costs a repair
shop might have which sets their rate for repairs. You seem to think they
can do it for 1960 prices.

--
*I pretend to work. - they pretend to pay me.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.