musings

Earlier in the year our burglar alarm control box started overheating. We phoned Hi-Tec Security Ltd who originally installed it, and they sent an engineer. He diagnosed and rectified the fault in half an hour, and charged us £109.86.

Here’s the breakdown:

Callout: £30.00
Labour: (@ £39.00 per hour) £19.50
Battery £44.00
VAT £16.36

Now, you might think I would have an issue with the callout charge. Their office is, after all, only 1 km away. Not at all. I am quite happy to accept that there is a flat rate, and £30.00 is the sort of figure companies charge. Similarly, £39.00 per hour labour is reasonable.

What I do object to, (more…)