Rossman Group Lying about repairs.

[Lurking]

Congratulations, you just figured out that hiring someone cost more than doing it yourself. Wait till you find out what a car repair shop charges vs. what their employees get after taxes ...

 

If you think Rossman makes such easy 1000% profit, you should open your own business. You can lower your price a bit to only make 990% profit right out of the gate.

 

Rossman's service is worth what people are willing to pay. If you don't think it is worth what they quoted, don't hire them. They are not holding a gun to your head 

 

I don't know the details of the repair in question. But there is a difference in care and QC between me fixing my own stuff and knowing I may have to do it again, vs them sending your repaired device back and knowing if there is the slightest issue 4 months later, you will tell everyone on the Internet. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

6 hours ago, Lurking said:

I don't know the details of the repair in question. But there is a difference in care and QC between me fixing my own stuff and knowing I may have to do it again, vs them sending your repaired device back and knowing if there is the slightest issue 4 months later, you will tell everyone on the Internet. 

And apparently some people don't even need to get a repair from them to decide to attempt to destroy their reputation with unfounded claims.

 

Quite apart from the fact I think he is the sole reason Apple introduced their DIY repair option in the first place, in order to cause exactly this sort of reaction.

[DeerDK]

Expertice + time = money.

Especially if we talk about highly specialized skillsets. I work in a field with high specialization, as well as some bloddy expensive equipment (cadastral surveying with Totalstations, GNSS recievers, drones and laserscanners - not to mention the software). So when a customer starts arguing "well, how expensive can it be to come and measure a fence or to put 3 property markers in the ground?", they are completly ignoring the huge machine working in the background making us able to come do this "simple task" quick and effeciently, not to mention the years we put in our education and skill development.

 

As others have said, if it seems so easy and lucrative, you can just go do it yourself, and if you don't wanna spend x hours on it, contemplate what x hours of your own professional time is worth.

[-rascal-]

16 hours ago, cooky560 said:

I've recently been looking at repair costs for some idiot who wacked their car door into mine, leaving a scratch about 1.5" along one of the doors. 

1.5" of paint is about $5, however the shop has quoted me $260 to repair it. 

 

This is because the cost of running the shop is more than just the paint. I don't see anything wrong with the estimate in OPs post.

 

It's not that simple, if you want to get results remotely close to that of a shop.

I've done this before, on my own cars, and getting paid to do washing / detailing / scratch removal / paint correction, etc.

 

1) Wash + clay bar the section to remove surface contaminates (i.e. dirt, grime from the road) and paint/crap transferred from the other car.

• If you don't have the chemicals/solution + cleaning tools on hand, then you need to buy that
• This takes time, YOUR time

2) Mask the section you want to repaint

• It's not hard, but again, takes time

3) Apply the paint

• Spray can? Paint touch-up pen? Applicator tool?
• This step requires some skill + patience, otherwise the end result will look hideous
• If you go the applicator tool option, that's like a $10+ part

4) Once the paint is dried / cured to some degree, now you need to blend / polish the surface and the area around it

• If you don't have an DA Polisher, polishing pads, and polishing compound, you need to buy that
• Time and manual labor to polish, inspect, rinse and repeat

5) Clean + prep the surface on last time

 

6) Re-apply the clear-coat on the repaired area

 

7) Re-seal the surface (i.e wax, sealant, ceramic coating, etc)

• Tools/pads/cloths + chemicals if you don't have them on-hand already
• Time + manual labor

 

From start to finish, that can easily take you a few hours + cost of the equipment/tools.

$260 isn't too bad if you think about it, since a decent quality DA Polisher can be easily $300+.

A bottle of car soap, clay bar kit, polishing compound, sealant/wax is anywhere from $15 ~ $20 EACH.

Throw in a polishing + buffing pad or two, a couple microfiber towels / wash mitt, masking tape.

[cooky560]

1 hour ago, -rascal- said:

 

It's not that simple, if you want to get results remotely close to that of a shop.

I've done this before, on my own cars, and getting paid to do washing / detailing / scratch removal / paint correction, etc.

 

1) Wash + clay bar the section to remove surface contaminates (i.e. dirt, grime from the road) and paint/crap transferred from the other car.

• If you don't have the chemicals/solution + cleaning tools on hand, then you need to buy that
• This takes time, YOUR time

2) Mask the section you want to repaint

• It's not hard, but again, takes time

3) Apply the paint

• Spray can? Paint touch-up pen? Applicator tool?
• This step requires some skill + patience, otherwise the end result will look hideous
• If you go the applicator tool option, that's like a $10+ part

4) Once the paint is dried / cured to some degree, now you need to blend / polish the surface and the area around it

• If you don't have an DA Polisher, polishing pads, and polishing compound, you need to buy that
• Time and manual labor to polish, inspect, rinse and repeat

5) Clean + prep the surface on last time

 

6) Re-apply the clear-coat on the repaired area

 

7) Re-seal the surface (i.e wax, sealant, ceramic coating, etc)

• Tools/pads/cloths + chemicals if you don't have them on-hand already
• Time + manual labor

 

From start to finish, that can easily take you a few hours + cost of the equipment/tools.

$260 isn't too bad if you think about it, since a decent quality DA Polisher can be easily $300+.

A bottle of car soap, clay bar kit, polishing compound, sealant/wax is anywhere from $15 ~ $20 EACH.

Throw in a polishing + buffing pad or two, a couple microfiber towels / wash mitt, masking tape.

I think you misunderstood the point of my post, the point was to show how the cost is rarely if ever, down to the cost of the part itself.

[Lurking]

7 hours ago, DeerDK said:

Expertice + time = money.

Especially if we talk about highly specialized skillsets. I work in a field with high specialization, as well as some bloddy expensive equipment (cadastral surveying with Totalstations, GNSS recievers, drones and laserscanners - not to mention the software). So when a customer starts arguing "well, how expensive can it be to come and measure a fence or to put 3 property markers in the ground?", they are completly ignoring the huge machine working in the background making us able to come do this "simple task" quick and effeciently, not to mention the years we put in our education and skill development.

 

As others have said, if it seems so easy and lucrative, you can just go do it yourself, and if you don't wanna spend x hours on it, contemplate what x hours of your own professional time is worth.

+1

People watch an engineer designing a spaceship and all they see is the engineer moving the mouse and typing. Then they think anyone can move a mouse and type.

 

They forget the part that the real skill is in how exactly to move the mouse in a very expensive software and that the typed numbers and words need to be correct.

[-rascal-]

8 hours ago, cooky560 said:

I think you misunderstood the point of my post, the point was to show how the cost is rarely if ever, down to the cost of the part itself.

 

I understood your point, and I was attempting to "expand" on what you said that so other people could see why it's $260, instead of $5.

I'm not disagreeing with you, but rather, agreeing with your statement 100%. 

[NumLock21]

On 12/14/2023 at 8:03 AM, RabbidEwok said:

I am literally an electronic technician. 

So if you're fixing someone else's issue you don't charge labor for your work. Rossman's $200 to $250 is pretty reasonable. Don't know what you're complaining.

[NumLock21]

There was this saying, a man bought his car to the mechanic cause it would not start. The mechanic took a look at it, then went to grab a hammer, and bang on the car, and the car started. Mechanic charge the man an invoice of $1000. The man was shocked and said, what, you charged me $1000 for all you did was use a $1 hammer, I could have done it myself! The mechanic said, the hammer cost $1, but knowing where to hit cost $999, so the total is $1000.

 

 

[Alex Atkin UK]

Plus to reiterate, part of that cost is to do the job quicker than an Apple Certified store can, because he keeps parts in-stock - something Apple do not allow.

 

You have to factor that cost against the money you will lose not having a usable Mac waiting for Apple.  That could mean losing a valuable contract that costs you thousands, suddenly not so expensive any more.

 

If he did it for cheap, it wouldn't be worth offering to do it at all given it takes time away from the jobs that Apple DON'T cover.

[Likwid]

As for myself I can tell that there a lot of jobs I'm good at, but at port of them the result I want can't be done with my skills ( having this knowledge can help you decide your worth or where to work) so I find someone that can get the result I want and I pay for that.

 

Based on your assumptions 15 min of your time is not worth 150 ddollars, but if it was would you still do the fix? Or focusing on things you work at, maybe, just maybe doing join work improves your skills and allows to earn more.