Hashtag one two sounds like a marching maneuver. Falls right in line with left oblique.

 

My experience was the opposite. I was the senior engineer in a power supply company, but I looked like a teeny-bopper so the boss hid me in the back room and pretended (to the customers) that he knew which end of a flashlight to put batteries in.

Around here the general attitude the majority of business owners and general management of their businesses is if they can get away with something to save money on their end while screwing the customer out of extra by lying or making something up they will.

Theres a reason why Minot ND got the nickname of 'Little Chicago' many years ago. If you were a petty crook that couldn't make it in the big cities in the 30's and 40's you came here and started a business. Now those businesses they started are on their 3rd and 4th generation of family ownership and very few have ever showed any improvement from one generation to the other other than just being more secretive defensive about what they do and how they justify it.

The new thing here is the 'anti liability fee' which basically means the customer has to both sign and pay a contractual fee that says no matter who shitty of work they do or what damages they do or that may result from their sloppy work at some future point they the contractor or business are not liable for any of it. You don't sign or pay and they don't do the work which as I learned of it last winter for snow removal that was typically $100 for the 'anti liability contract and fee, plus $100 for showing up plus 1 hour minimum billable at typically $150 - $200 an hour for some half with with a worn out skidsteer or old payloader to clean out your driveway even if they were only there for 5 minutes and if they ran your mailbox over or tore up your yard, tough luck. You signed for and paid them to not be liable for it.

Its also how I got chased down while driving our big snow blower tractor ot my grandmas and paid $200 for 15 minutes of work. It was half the price of what any contractor would do the job for and the people who chased me down were happy with it. Personally I refused the money several times being for me the 15 minutes of work was nothing on my end. maybe half a gallon of fuel and 15 minutes of helping out someone who needed honest help.

 

Career changed significantly after my kids were born. I stayed at home with them while they were young.

 

User name from the shortbus that takes development challenged kids to school, from when I first started in learning electronics. Not much better today Avatar just an example of a shortbus. And the site wouldn't let me use some of the names TCM has called me.

 

I don't use my first name as it seems a little pretentious http://www.royalalberthall.com/
The avatar is me driving around Brands Hatch (except they are using newer cars now): http://www.msvdrivinggifts.com/experience/f4-master.aspx

 

The new thing here is the 'anti liability fee' which basically means the customer has to both sign and pay a contractual fee that says no matter how shitty of work they do or what damages they do or that may result from their sloppy work at some future point that the contractor or business are not liable for any of it.

Sounds like a government contract. I pay them to allow me to forfeit my rights in Law and in Equity, and in exchange, they don't have to do anything good for me, or anything at all, and if they do it badly, I still pay them some more.

Wait...wrong Thread. That would fit much better in, "The War on Cops".
Oh well. Still learning best business practices at my age!

Actually, I first learned of this in my Contractors School. The bidder of the job includes the price of insurance to pay off the, "obligation to perform" if he gets the job and fails. That way, the purchaser is paying for both the work he wants done and the price of a back-up contractor or, "liquidated damages" that would be no fault of his own if he needed them. Bid once, pork twice.

 

The new thing here is the 'anti liability fee' which basically means the customer has to both sign and pay a contractual fee that says no matter who shitty of work they do or what damages they do or that may result from their sloppy work at some future point they the contractor or business are not liable for any of it

This is what is called an "exculpartory clause" and is not worth the paper it is printed on. It is your right to be able to sue for damages cause by the negligence of others. You CANNOT be force to sign away this right.

 

The user name was dreamed up long, long ago, based on... I no longer remember.

The avatar is me, back in my youthful days.

 

Sounds like a government contract. I pay them to allow me to forfeit my rights in Law and in Equity, and in exchange, they don't have to do anything good for me, or anything at all, and if they do it badly, I still pay them some more.

Wait...wrong Thread. That would fit much better in, "The War on Cops".
Oh well. Still learning best business practices at my age!

Actually, I first learned of this in my Contractors School. The bidder of the job includes the price of insurance to pay off the, "obligation to perform" if he gets the job and fails. That way, the purchaser is paying for both the work he wants done and the price of a back-up contractor or, "liquidated damages" that would be no fault of his own if he needed them. Bid once, pork twice.

This is what is called an "exculpartory clause" and is not worth the paper it is printed on. It is your right to be able to sue for damages cause by the negligence of others. You CANNOT be force to sign away this right.

It gets worse. As of lately it's become near impossible to go into any HVAC or Electrical contractors shop and buy any parts to do you own repair work any more.
First thing out of their mouths is 'liability this that or other or our insurance says we can't sell you this for liability reasons" if you do your own work. They claim that if they sell you a part and you put it in wrong they are liable for damages to your property or anything else. BUT, if you have one of their barely trained monkeys do the work for you for a usually way overpriced service fee (plus having signed and paid the anti liability clause) they will install it for you.

I've had many conversations with out of state service techs and industrial service contractor people who are here working in the oilfields who think this is the biggest rip off excuse for price gouging, denial of service and strong arming people into paying way too much for things they would never have to anywhere else they have ever heard of anywhere in the country.

 

As of lately it's become near impossible to go into any HVAC or Electrical contractors shop and buy any parts to do you own repair work any more.

It has nothing to do with liability. It's about protecting their best customers and clinging to a dying monopoly as the Internet sells anything and everything. I believe I have seen Florida HVAC contractors license numbers in the range of 2 million plus, but there is no way there are 2 million AC contractors in business in Florida. That leaves about 1.9 million well qualified people that can't get parts locally.

The only reason to lock out well qualified people is to protect the cash flow, and I can understand that. Once you get your license activated, you are on a government treadmill. You must turn over x amount of cash just to keep up with the fees and costs. If there is a shade tree A/C guy who can get parts quickly, in every square mile of the city, the big players are in deep trouble.

I haven't had any difficulty with electrical supplies. Home Depot and Lowes carry enough for what I do, but after my business partner died, I felt fear walking into our old vendor to buy a $9 float switch. That's what Graingers is for. They are over priced, but they will sell me parts.

 

If there is a shade tree A/C guy who can get parts quickly, in every square mile of the city, the big players are in deep trouble.

And therein lies one more nail ion their coffin. For what those crooks want to charge for basic parts many guys like me can and will order a part next day air and still come out money ahead plus steal their customer and sale from them to boot which I have used that method many times.

Also being an ornery cuss whenever they play the insurnace says so' liability card I call them out and tell them I too am a small business owner who pays small business insurance and they're either flat out lying or they are getting screwed over by their insurance company since mine has zero clauses on who I can sell what to for what reason as they claim there does.

Really winds some of them up to get called out for outright BS excuses and crooked sales tactics when they have other customers standing in line.

No offense to you, but by far the HVAC related places around here are by far the biggest lying thieves I know of. Electrical contractors are second and general contractors are right next to them for BS excuses to justify extortionist business practices.
I know honest guys who work in all of those areas and they too are embarrassed and sick of what they see in their respective industries just because by default most every customer they have they go in with them assuming they are out to screw them over since most everyone else in the same industry already has.

I only ever advertise by word of mouth and recommendations and I too still see it too often.

 

Refrigeration has a lot more kinks in it than, for instance, carpentry, where you can see every part and know what it's doing. You can't do refrigeration with a tape measure and a saw, and that makes it magic for people who can't work with invisible forces like electricity, magnetism, and heat. That feature alone draws a line between them that can and them that can't, and that line is where the profit is.

You and I are never going to get rich doing 5 or 10 air conditioners per year, but when I see a row of Mercedes, Cadillacs, and Corvettes in front of an HVAC company, I know they are turning a $5 capacitor into a $300 job and a 1/3 HP fan motor into an $1800 job, and it's not the repairmen taking home $1,000 per day.

There is a lot to protect when 20 service trucks can make 10 office workers very comfortable. A few companies with 20 service trucks can exert a lot of pressure on the wholesalers, and they exert pressure on you and me. We still know how to get around that, but most people don't. They either get their home mortgaged back to them for an A/C repair or go buy some window units.

 

Generations Jacks

 

Well, I've used mine on various email accounts, BBSs and blogs since.... The Source and Netscape! Xformer and a couple others were already taken and, adding insult to injury, taken by comic book types as opposed to electrical people! I've been a power and controls guy, a "wireman" for around 38 years, and been messing with other electrical systems for another 10, (so I should know more, and better). Any username, etc. for me will probably have some electrical reference or story behind it. To me, this handheld, wireless device I'm pecking away at is an electrical appliance, just like it's "wired" predecessors. ....and until very recently yours and mine were all typically charged using a magnetic, ferrous core transformer!

 

I started out with a pic of my favorite dog and her name, but people made remarks about taking advice from a Poodle, and a Bichon is very different from a Poodle.

Incredible 'tho it may seem, I came upon that thread some time back, so struck was I with the similarity to your style/manner of expression that I nearly PMed you to inquire whether @Bychon was a former incarnation of yourself (or a sock puppy?) not wishing to appear a 'busybody' I refrained -- I now regret said reticence inasmuch as it has left me without proof of my 'clairvoyance' in this matter (a true story - I promise!)...

I was Quality Control stamp number 32 at three different corporations, purely by coincidence, so I changed that number to the shortest, easiest to type version I could think of in 30 seconds.

Yebut... How did you get #12 from #32? It seems to me '#32' would be even 'quicker' (more convenient) based upon the observation that the octothorpe is assigned to Shift+3 on most keyboards? -- But then I expect I'm missing something

Very best regards
HP

 

Long story short(not that long) Sínusbylgja means Sinewave in Icelandic.

Ah! So it's nothing requisite of the likes of Dristan after all! -- great news, that!

TTFN
HP

 

my name was picked at a time of desperation when I joined the site seeking help with homework. Sometimes I regret the choice, but generally I am ok with it.

The avatar is a symbol of my hometown. Here is a photo of the real thing:

View attachment 127689

Would that be a church spire or merely an ICBM site back of the trees?

TTFN
HP

 

@Hypatia's Protege Yes, you are correct about my surname.

As far as avatars go, I've used one of these at various times in forums.

 

User name from the shortbus that takes development challenged kids to school, from when I first started in learning electronics. Not much better today

Ya know! You have way too much in common with @Aleph(0) for your own good! Specifically: Despite your self-effacing pleas of 'numpty-ism', you show no signs whatever of said 'affliction'!

Very best regards
HP

 

At the time I was enjoying sticking 44 legged beasties to pads, this was on my bench in front of me ....