The radio repair man will gyp you if you don't watch out.

fifties · **Posted:** May Thu 03, 2012 9:10 am

Johnnysan wrote:

it usually put money in my pocket, but I had to work my ass off to get it.

And this is different from almost any other job just how? :wink:

john85 · **Joined:** Mar Thu 15, 2012 9:50 pm **Posts:** 28

When I was about 15 yrs old a neighbor of mine asked if I would accopany him to a radio shop. The day before, he had just received back his radio from the repair shop and it did not work! The tubes did not lite up. After a check for an open filament I discovered that all tubes had open filaments. They dead replacements happened to be with military numbers. We went back to the shop and behold it was empty and locked up.The radio owner inquired to the landload of the store and was informed that he had done the two veterans a favor and gave them free rent for a month. The bad guys fleeced the neighbohood and left! jn85

ChrisW6ATV · **Posted:** May Thu 03, 2012 11:58 pm

Hagstar wrote:

My gypsy friends take exception to this thread :roll:

.

John H.

THAT was the most interesting part of the article, I thought. Imagine a national magazine using the term "gypped" today!

Nick D. · **Posted:** May Fri 04, 2012 1:21 am

john85 wrote:

When I was about 15 yrs old a neighbor of mine asked if I would accopany him to a radio shop. The day before, he had just received back his radio from the repair shop and it did not work! The tubes did not lite up. After a check for an open filament I discovered that all tubes had open filaments. They dead replacements happened to be with military numbers. We went back to the shop and behold it was empty and locked up.The radio owner inquired to the landload of the store and was informed that he had done the two veterans a favor and gave them free rent for a month. The bad guys fleeced the neighbohood and left! jn85

They cleaned out in a DAY? They must have been shoveling the stuff in a box truck with a front end loader!!

Tarpawns · **Posted:** May Fri 04, 2012 12:29 pm

Johnnysan wrote:

I couldn't count the thousands of mangled sets I've seen that were abused by the 'home repair technician'. Most of them would claim the repair was a '5 minute job'; I would usually hand it back to them asking for a demonstration.

BTW, I have known techs who cheated customers, but the ratio was dozens of good techs to a single bad one.

Touche Johnnysan..Couldn't off said that better myself.... Now that's a statement I can really identify with.... Took a course in Electronic Equipment Repair while on layoff from the Steel Mills in 1981. Involved in the TV Electronic service repair trade self employed for 25 years plus and seen this come up more times than I can recall. And if that wasn't bad enough got the same type of lines from my own Female relatives that "knew!" what was wrong with a set before I even looked at it. I often leaned over backward to repair some of the adjacent possible problems to insure that set would not reappear on my bench .

Ken G wrote:

So he has to remove the back of the TV, Remove the tuner box and possibily the internal circuit board to install the new jack. How much do you think he should charge?

He should charge YOU 175$ , He should also charge you for going to the bathroom and zipping down his pants and extra for zipping them back up , then there is the trip to the coffee pot so he can charge you to fill his cup and more to go pee again ........ otherwise it should cost no more than 35 to 45$ . I have replaced alot of cable jacks and dont remember ever needing to remove the tuner .

Now dont get mad because i am beeing silly

. Really it takes about 20 minutes to replace the average cable jack . 150$ is taking advantage .

Couldn't agree with you more Ken as you so eloquently put it :wink:

...Definitely an overcharge.
Walk into that guy's shop before the big game and tell him you need it repaired "Pronto". Well you just as well... hand him over a blank check or your bank account.

While I've seen some of the jobs other repairmen overcharged that came into my shop most of the former repairs and prices given were legitimate. And as the above two guys that I quoted they would probably agree it ain't hard to spot some other Tech's former work .

The quys above Johnnysan, Ken G are legitimate honest guys that I respect as are the others Steve T and Bruce Hagen radiodoc..that commented that I didn't quote... as are the majority in the field. Not only do they have the years of acguired knowledge of studying the electronic theory related to the trade but the hands on experience of "actually repairing" an item put before them.

You really can't paint every tech with the same broad brush and I can see why Bruce Hagen resented the implied slap of some comments not directely aimed at the honest guys that are here but they worked in the field and know otherwise.....

Tubenut · **Posted:** May Sat 05, 2012 12:40 am

Tarpawns wrote:

Johnnysan wrote:

I couldn't count the thousands of mangled sets I've seen that were abused by the 'home repair technician'. Most of them would claim the repair was a '5 minute job'; I would usually hand it back to them asking for a demonstration.

BTW, I have known techs who cheated customers, but the ratio was dozens of good techs to a single bad one.

Touche Johnnysan..Couldn't off said that better myself.... Now that's a statement I can really identify with.... Took a course in Electronic Equipment Repair while on layoff from the Steel Mills in 1981. Involved in the TV Electronic service repair trade self employed for 25 years plus and seen this come up more times than I can recall. And if that wasn't bad enough got the same type of lines from my own Female relatives that "knew!" what was wrong with a set before I even looked at it. I often leaned over backward to repair some of the adjacent possible problems to insure that set would not reappear on my bench .

Ken G wrote:

So he has to remove the back of the TV, Remove the tuner box and possibily the internal circuit board to install the new jack. How much do you think he should charge?

He should charge YOU 175$ , He should also charge you for going to the bathroom and zipping down his pants and extra for zipping them back up , then there is the trip to the coffee pot so he can charge you to fill his cup and more to go pee again ........ otherwise it should cost no more than 35 to 45$ . I have replaced alot of cable jacks and dont remember ever needing to remove the tuner .

Now dont get mad because i am beeing silly

. Really it takes about 20 minutes to replace the average cable jack . 150$ is taking advantage .

Couldn't agree with you more Ken as you so eloquently put it :wink:

...Definitely an overcharge.
Walk into that guy's shop before the big game and tell him you need it repaired "Pronto". Well you just as well... hand him over a blank check or your bank account.

While I've seen some of the jobs other repairmen overcharged that came into my shop most of the former repairs and prices given were legitimate. And as the above two guys that I quoted they would probably agree it ain't hard to spot some other Tech's former work .

The quys above Johnnysan, Ken G are legitimate honest guys that I respect as are the others Steve T and Bruce Hagen radiodoc..that commented that I didn't quote... as are the majority in the field. Not only do they have the years of acguired knowledge of studying the electronic theory related to the trade but the hands on experience of "actually repairing" an item put before them.

You really can't paint every tech with the same broad brush and I can see why Bruce Hagen resented the implied slap of some comments not directely aimed at the honest guys that are here but they worked in the field and know otherwise.....

If you charged $45 to do a job like that up here in Canada, your company would sink like a block of lead. Two coffee's at Starbucks can run $15. Gas is $1.40 a litre..... That's roughly $5.32 " for your gallon" I really see the price difference in old radios too. I'm jealous of you guys down there. An old radio that would sell for $50 down your way would go for $250 or more, up here.

The radio repair man will gyp you if you don't watch out.

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