Bitch Session...Ohoka G.A.S. - Lawn Mower Repair

In the first of what will be many such posts, now and again I get really pissed off at certain aspects of what I see, hear, and experience out there...most of which I will have experienced first-hand, such as this one, others will be media related or relayed to me by another party.

Ohoka G.A.S. - Lawn Mower Repair - December 2010



The Beast after repairs and ready for action


 Just prior to Xmas (and my wedding in fact) my trusty old Rover ride-on lost a belt. My normal repair guy was unable to do the repair due to baling season, so I called into the local Service Station on White's Road who happen to have a workshop which specialise in mowers and small tractors.
The owner originally quoted $60 for the belt, and about $50 labour, but would call me to confirm this - as a note, my normal guy advised it would be $100, no more than $150.
When I got the call, the quote did change, in his words, "about $150, maybe closer to $200" due to the labour involved. This was OK with me as I needed the mower done and he sent someone round to pick it up.
In talking to this guy, it was confirmed after looking at the belt drive that it would be labour intensive but not too hard nevertheless.
The mower turned up a day later (to my surprise) and as it was wheeled off the truck, the guy said he didn't have an invoice yet, but he expected it to be no more than $200 and I could drop in the money later that day - I went back that afternoon and no invoice had been done, so they said call in the following day - this was my wedding so I said I would call in Monday following week.
Monday comes and no invoice...Wednesday me and the boss were getting away for a couple of days so I called in again, no invoice - I left $100 for them and asked to be TXT the amount and would drop it in. The TXT came through two days later as a whopping $259.85! This is over $100% higher than the original quote, and even more than 25% than the repaired quote. To me this is not on, a little difference here and there, but when both people quote a figure, you would reasonably expect that figure to be adhered to more often than not.
I paid the rest and expressed my disappointment at the amount vs quote/s which got me nowhere...I will not be using Ohoka G.A.S. again for anything in the future.

Disclaimer - this is entirely my own viewpoint, but damned if I am going to be fucked over by others!