Am I getting ripped off???

Hi gang,

I went to a holden dealer today to get a quote on how much it would be to fix my air-con on a WH statesman V8.
The manager of the place said to just get a quote "wouldn't be much" but I get the quote back and it's $150

I don't know if this guy's a millionairre or what, but I would think that to most normal people $150 is a fairly large amount of money, I certainly wouldn't describe it as 'not much'. When he said it wouldn't be much I was thinking around $50-$70.

I notice he's charged me $100 for one hour of labor. Is that normal??? How can they justify charging $100 per hour for labor to pay a mechanic that earns at most $25 per hour? I understand there are overheads for rent, tools, electricity etc but a 300% overhead seems a bit much to me.

Also, the quote they've given me to fix the air con is for $650 EXCLUDING LABOR. Can someone explain to me why I should be paying for a quote when they haven't even worked out how much the total cost of the repairs is going to be? If they decide to charge me for 4 hours labor that's going to be about another $400 bucks.

Oh, and I asked them to grease up the suspension nipples while the car was in as well and they forgot to do it. Can't say I'm too impressed.

They dropped the car off at my work for me today, and I'm expected to go in and pay for it all tomorrow arvo. If someone could get back to me with the info I'm after before then that would be great.

thanks heaps!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

Hi gang,

I went to a holden dealer today to get a quote on how much it would be to fix my air-con on a WH statesman V8.
The manager of the place said to just get a quote "wouldn't be much" but I get the quote back and it's $150

I don't know if this guy's a millionairre or what, but I would think that to most normal people $150 is a fairly large amount of money, I certainly wouldn't describe it as 'not much'. When he said it wouldn't be much I was thinking around $50-$70.

I notice he's charged me $100 for one hour of labor. Is that normal??? How can they justify charging $100 per hour for labor to pay a mechanic that earns at most $25 per hour? I understand there are overheads for rent, tools, electricity etc but a 300% overhead seems a bit much to me.

Also, the quote they've given me to fix the air con is for $650 EXCLUDING LABOR. Can someone explain to me why I should be paying for a quote when they haven't even worked out how much the total cost of the repairs is going to be? If they decide to charge me for 4 hours labor that's going to be about another $400 bucks.

Oh, and I asked them to grease up the suspension nipples while the car was in as well and they forgot to do it. Can't say I'm too impressed.

They dropped the car off at my work for me today, and I'm expected to go in and pay for it all tomorrow arvo. If someone could get back to me with the info I'm after before then that would be great.

thanks heaps!

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$150 is not a lot mate. The $100/h is not just paying the mechanic remember. If anything for an A/C fix $150 is damm cheap and I'd be questioning what they are actually doing. To me I would figure all they are doing is topping up the gas. In which case you'll be back soon enough to get the real fault fixed.

I'm confused. Is it $150 or $650

Word of advice. Stay away from Holden for stuff like this. Find a small auto elec workshop that also does A/C.

I had $130 dealer quote just to check a fault i had, but they rolled it into the final amount, didn't add it on. At the end of it, $250 all up and they had the car for 2 days, when he added up the hours he said he couldn't do that to me. All good :)

But Macca the $150 is not for a fix, just a quote.

I would be pissed as well. Take your car to an auto electrician or regular mechanic that does auto AC. If you were in Syd I'd offer to help as I run an AC business.

Did they mention what the issue was?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by macca_779

$150 is not a lot mate. The $100/h is not just paying the mechanic remember. If anything for an A/C fix $150 is damm cheap and I'd be questioning what they are actually doing. To me I would figure all they are doing is topping up the gas. In which case you'll be back soon enough to get the real fault fixed.

Word of advice. Stay away from Holden for stuff like this. Find a small auto elec workshop that also does A/C.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by macca_779

$150 is not a lot mate. The $100/h is not just paying the mechanic remember. If anything for an A/C fix $150 is damm cheap and I'd be questioning what they are actually doing. To me I would figure all they are doing is topping up the gas. In which case you'll be back soon enough to get the real fault fixed.

Word of advice. Stay away from Holden for stuff like this. Find a small auto elec workshop that also does A/C.

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I think after reading the original post a few times he's saying the $150 charge is for diagnosing the fault only. OP later said the repair to the AC will be $650.

Edit - damn I was beaten to it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

Oh, and I asked them to grease up the suspension nipples while the car was in as well and they forgot to do it. Can't say I'm too impressed.

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Did they actually tell you they forgot to grease the suspension nipples? :confused:

They don't have grease nipples buddy,
I would have thought a Holden Dealership workshop would have known that.:cheers:

On another web page today a couple of guys were saying that Pro Fix at Elizabeth is
good and cheap for air cond repairs at the moment :cheers:

Yeah 'im sure the mechanic would say to the boss, its ok mate don't pay me for the hour + i spent diagnosing that a/c fault on the statesman.

I only had to read the first 6 words of the first sentence to know you were getting ripped off. Thieves, the lot of them.

Without knowing what parts they are quoting to fix the air con, $650 + labor may be reasonable or it may be the rip-off of the year. Being a Holden dealer I'm guessing at the latter.

My aircon died in my Berlina. No matter how many times I swore at it and pressed the auto button on the climate control it never got cold. Ended up being the compressor. Total for the diagnoses, new compressor, new tx valve, new dryer receiver, a full system oil flush, all fitted up and gassed up with warranty was $1050. I was given a guesstimate on the number of hours for labor up front.

QldKev

Even out here in the country, labour is $70-80 p/h at the small mechanic shops, doesn't sound too bad really.

What's this about suspension nipples not needing greasing? The suspension on my car has gotten a bit creaky of late. I though they hook up a grease gun to the grease nipples and squirt them full of grease to keep everything lubricated nicely?

I was charged $150 just for the quote... and it wasn't even a full quote, the labor price was excluded which I guess means they can decide to charge me as much as they want for the labor if I get it fixed with them. As part of that quote price, I was charged $100 JUST FOR LABOR of one hour - is that a bit excessive? The rest of the quote fees were for gas and oil.

Especially after being told it "wouldn't be much" $150 seems very steep for a partial quote.

Give me a min and I'll upload the quote they gave me and the bill for the quote...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

What's this about suspension nipples not needing greasing? The suspension on my car has gotten a bit creaky of late. I though they hook up a grease gun to the grease nipples and squirt them full of grease to keep everything lubricated nicely?

I was charged $150 just for the quote... and it wasn't even a full quote, the labor price was excluded which I guess means they can decide to charge me as much as they want for the labor if I get it fixed with them. As part of that quote price, I was charged $100 JUST FOR LABOR of one hour - is that a bit excessive? The rest of the quote fees were for gas and oil.

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Yeah I agree, $150 just for a quote is not cheap, unfortunately they would have got you to sign a job card or authority to do
the work when you dropped it off so you will have to pay. I am at a loss to understand from your original post that
they have given you back your car without being paid?
Yeah mate, they have not had any grease nipples for years, all the joints are sealed these days.

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...lzio/quote.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...quoteprice.jpg

The first image shows the quote to get the air con fixed
The second image shows how much they charged me for the quote

I'm not so sure the quote for the repairs is unreasonable, but being charged $150 for a partial quote seems excessive.

1) I've been charged $100 for a hour's work
2) I was told it 'wouldn't be much' for the quote
3) The whole point of a quote is to find out how much it will cost to get something fixed. Without quoting the labor they're not really doing that are they?


Also, please, clarrification on the grease nipple thing. Someone just said they don't need to be greased, is that true?

If that is true, how do I stop my suspension from creaking?

Thanks heaps guys

PS sorry the first pic is sideways. I did change it on photobucket but apparently have to wait for the image to be updated

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitels1ss

Yeah I agree, $150 just for a quote is not cheap, unfortunately they would have got you to sign a job card or authority to do
the work when you dropped it off so you will have to pay. I am at a loss to understand from your original post that
they have given you back your car without being paid?
Yeah mate, they have not had any grease nipples for years, all the joints are sealed these days.

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I agree that it's not cheap. I did not sigh a job card or authority or anything at all.

Yeah they haven't accepted payment yet. I'm working in a small town every Thu and Fri and I got it done there so it could be done while I'm at work. I was surprised too they didn't ask for cash up front but I work just up the road from the mechanics so I guess they figured they could find me pretty easily if I did a dodgey on them

With no grease nipples, how to I lube my suspension to stop the creakyness?


Also, can anyone tell me what my rights are regarding being charged so much for a quote I was told wouldn't cost much?
I never authorised them to do $150 worth of work to my car, so am I entitled to not pay it all?

You live, you learn. Busy places can't just pull someone off a job to have a free look at a fault on someone's car and give them a diagnosis then that someone goes to Holmart/ebay/wreckers and fixes it themselves. They spent years as apprentices and training new staff, why would they give away their knowledge for free?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...lzio/quote.jpg

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z...quoteprice.jpg

The first image shows the quote to get the air con fixed
The second image shows how much they charged me for the quote

I'm not so sure the quote for the repairs is unreasonable, but being charged $150 for a partial quote seems excessive.

1) I've been charged $100 for a hour's work
2) I was told it 'wouldn't be much' for the quote
3) The whole point of a quote is to find out how much it will cost to get something fixed. Without quoting the labor they're not really doing that are they?


Also, please, clarrification on the grease nipple thing. Someone just said they don't need to be greased, is that true?

If that is true, how do I stop my suspension from creaking?

Thanks heaps guys

PS sorry the first pic is sideways. I did change it on photobucket but apparently have to wait for the image to be updated

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Mate, I'd have to say, that looks all pretty fair and reasonable to me. Sure you could shop around and get more pricing on the repairs, but for what they did, $150 looks about the money to me...They did miss putting a receiver drier on the quote though..

Buddy after seeing that job sheet I don't think the price is all that bad, They vacced down your air cond system, used some gas, checked it over
and it all would have taken time, it looks like they were trying to get your system gassed and running for you and found that your compressor is u/s and the job could not be done without replacing it.

As I said before, try and find somewhere cheaper to do the work, Pro Fix or somewhere like that?

If you really want to try and save money, you might even get a firm quote from a wrecker who may be able to supply, fit and warranty a decent used compressor, I said get a quote from a wrecker to supply and fit in case you have a problem and then it is not an argument between the supplier and fitter for payment and re gassing if there is a problem down the track.

Creeks and groans are often caused by slightly loose nuts and bolts under the suspension and things slightly moving around, they often can be fixed just by tightening them up again.:cheers:

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Originally Posted by Phizzle

You live, you learn. Busy places can't just pull someone off a job to have a free look at a fault on someone's car and give them a diagnosis then that someone goes to Holmart/ebay/wreckers and fixes it themselves. They spent years as apprentices and training new staff, why would they give away their knowledge for free?

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I never asked for anything for free, I really don't know where you got that impression from.

I was told up front by the manager that the quote "wouldn't cost much" so that's what I expected.

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Originally Posted by HSV590

Mate, I'd have to say, that looks all pretty fair and reasonable to me. Sure you could shop around and get more pricing on the repairs, but for what they did, $150 looks about the money to me...They did miss putting a receiver drier on the quote though..

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Nah they didn't miss it, they've already done it and billed me for it.

If you wanted to try a wrecker, I would suggest Complete Auto Dissmantlers on North East Road, there used to be a guy working there called Lance
who was quite helpfull, also there are a couple of mobile air conditioning guys who might give you a quote supply and fit a used compressor but I don't know anyone who works that side of town these days.
Those compressors were often a problem on those models.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

I was told up front by the manager that the quote "wouldn't cost much" so that's what I expected.

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Well that's open to interpretation isn't it!

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Originally Posted by whitels1ss

If you wanted to try a wrecker, I would suggest Complete Auto Dissmantlers on North East Road, there used to be a guy working there called Lance
who was quite helpfull, also there are a couple of mobile air conditioning guys who might give you a quote supply and fit a used compressor but I don't know anyone who works that side of town these days.
Those compressors were often a problem on those models.

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Thanks mate. I live in Salisbury so ProFix Eliz could be worth a go. It's just hard to get my car into a mechanics when I need the car for work and i work mon-fri 8:30-5.
I'm not sure about going a second hand compressor, I mean it might just pack up 6 months later right?

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Originally Posted by Mohit

Well that's open to interpretation isn't it!

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True, but I think saying something won't cost much strongly suggests it will be under a hundred dollars, especially if it's just for a quote where they're not actually fixing anything.

Would you say that $150 isn't much money? If you don't think it's much money, then $50 must be pretty trivial to you, in which case I'd ask that you kindly give me $50 since you obviously won't miss it :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

Thanks mate. I live in Salisbury so ProFix Eliz could be worth a go. It's just hard to get my car into a mechanics when I need the car for work and i work mon-fri 8:30-5.
I'm not sure about going a second hand compressor, I mean it might just pack up 6 months later right?

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Yeah, it could and maybe it would not?

I reckon you would buy a used one for $200 or perhaps less and a new one would be close to $600

I just offered the suggestion in case you wanted to save costs on what could be a fairly expensive job.:cheers:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

True, but I think saying something won't cost much strongly suggests it will be under a hundred dollars, especially if it's just for a quote where they're not actually fixing anything.

Would you say that $150 isn't much money? If you don't think it's much money, then $50 must be pretty trivial to you, in which case I'd ask that you kindly give me $50 since you obviously won't miss it :)

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Perhaps you should have asked for a ball park number first instead of complaining about it later. Looking at what they did, that is $150 worth of work in anyone's workshop...

Looking at what was done initially for $150, time and materials seems fair. The quote to replace parts for you seems ok too. You car was probably $60k when new, so yes $150 doesn't seem like much, well it doesn't to me. Sounds like this might be your first car with a major systems issue!


iPhone

after looking at the breakdown of what you were charged i really dont think you have much to be concerned about

theoretically if it had have not had a faulty compressor you would have driven out of there with fully functional air-con.... its not their fault that they had to vac down and gas the system to determine that the compressor was faulty.....

you made it sound like it was $150 to "look" at the vehicle not actually try and repair it which would have been reasonably labour intensive

id be quite ok with it personally

In the scheme of car repair AT A DEALER, I do consider $150 to be "not that much". It's just part of the cost of car ownership. Sad but true

OK, thanks for the insight guys.

What about the matter of not saying how much labor is going to cost?

The way that quote reads they could end up charging me anything for labor. The whole reason I was paying for a quote was to find out how much it will cost me in total to fix the air con, and it seems to me that they haven't really done that. For all the work they put in diagnosing it, shouldn't they have been able to work out how long it would take them to fix it? I mean if they're only swapping out a compressor and regassing the system that should be pretty straight forward and predictable right?

(puts flame suit on) :hide:
Looks pretty reasonable to me.
One thing I've noticed in Australia is that many people often expect quotes to be either free or heavily discounted, because they feel they aren't getting any "real" work done.
$100 per hour labour is actually quite low for a dealer, with all their overheads, plus parts and consumables were actually used (rec drier, o-rings, gas, dye), so "work" has actually been done. This is a good example of where posting up the invoice answers far more questions than just typing up a few words often does.
For reference, my local pool shop charges $66 to quote on the repair of a pool pump motor. If you proceed with the job at that time, they only charge you for the repair, not the quote.
Which now leads to one of the main reasons workshops charge to quote.
What's to stop a customer going to workshop A for a cheap quote- to then go to a different place to have it fixed (or fix it themselves) at lower cost? Why would the original workshop want to discount the quote knowing this scenario is quite possible? Going back to my pool shop example, places "may" discount the quoting/diagnostic time if you show some loyalty in return, but since the op clearly stated he was only after a quote, this never came into the discussion.
It also highlights the dangers of trying to do verbal quotes without looking at the car. Often, until you start poking and prodding, you really have no idea how serious the issues with the car might be.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

OK, thanks for the insight guys.

What about the matter of not saying how much labor is going to cost?

The way that quote reads they could end up charging me anything for labor. The whole reason I was paying for a quote was to find out how much it will cost me in total to fix the air con, and it seems to me that they haven't really done that. For all the work they put in diagnosing it, shouldn't they have been able to work out how long it would take them to fix it? I mean if they're only swapping out a compressor and regassing the system that should be pretty straight forward and predictable right?

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Ask them.
Stay away from secondhand compressors too. We sell these things week in week out, so you are taking a big risk. A big risk that you will be paying someone again soon enough to put another one on there.

Ok, as an A/C tech of over 8 years, considering the make of your vehicle $150 to diagnose a fault in it is pretty reasonable as they can be a bloody prick of a system to diagnose & can be very time consuming.

First issue I look for is if the compressor is engaging & running when you activate the a/c button.
If it is & you arent getting any cold air inside on these systems its necessary to recover all the gas out of the system & then regas & retest.
The delphi compressors in VT onwards have whats called a control valve in the compressor that regulates refrigerant flow & regardless of gas charge appear on the gauges that they are functioning correctly - i.e show normal pressure.
The only way to ascertain if its low gas or dud control valve is to remove all gas from the system & put the correct weight of gas in the system - if it still doesnt work then the control valve is the issue, if it does work then the original issue was caused by low refrigerant - at this point before recovering gas I usually do a visual check to see if there are any oil marks around hoses alluding to low refrigerant, these cars are very common to leak around the compressor o'rings.
So if its the latter & its low gas, on to further testing we go - by this stage we have already wasted at least half an hour to 45 mins.

If we have identified its a low refrigerant charge then we have to go looking for where the bloody hell its all gone.
Usually we do whats called a nitrogen test, which requires us to yet again recover the refrigerant out of the system & inject it with nitrogen & then go over every single hose & o'ring join with a soapy solution that bubbles to show up leak points.
Depending on how quickly you can find a leak, this can take a considerable amount of time if you have to start pulling off covers etc to get to hoses & components.
This can take anywhere from 15 mins to 30 mins.

If the nitrogen test didnt show up anything - which 9 times out of 10 it does - we then regas the system and put in a UV dye and let it run for an hour or so & then go over it all again with a UV light to identify the leak - you can waste another 15 - 30 mins here again.

So as you can see, especially with this sort of vehicle, it can be extremely time consuming in finding the fault & a lot of people dont realise the amount of work we have to do to find it.
And thats not your fault for not understanding the process, if you had any querys the dealer should have been able to run you through the process they took to test your vehicle.
But having said that, we have different stages of testing that we always contact the customer before progressing so it then falls back on them & not us and then they understand whats going on.

From what you have shown in the quote, I would say if the compressor needs to be replaced then its either the compressor body seal that has failed(cant replace them) or the compressor shaft has been snapped.
In either case its necessary to replace the TX valve & receiver drier & flush the system otherwise it will void the compressor warranty.
If you are thinking about going the second hand route, id strongly advise against it as we have had MANY customers that have fit up second hand compressors and bought them in to have them re-gassed only to have them fail shortly after - to the point that we no longer re-gas anything that a customer has fitted themselves as we cannot guarantee the work.
Save your money & do it right the first time as you will only have to pay labor twice & I would be extremely surprised if Holden gave you warranty for second hand parts.

On another note - Legally, anyone licenced to use R134a refrigerant CAN NOT re-gas any vehicle that has a leak in the system, nor can they re-gas a system that has been opened & has not had the receiver drier replaced.
Due to the carbon tax, the price of R134a has skyrocketed & your average re-gas is around $170 - $200 alone now days - we figured out the other day that one charge of gas now has $80 in tax alone applied to it - thats even before the supplier charges us!!

If anyone is taking their later model car in for a "Re-gas" & consequently paying under $200 & not having any faults fixed or drier changed, I would be very strongly be questioning them what refrigerant they are putting in your system.
There are all sorts of nasty "blends" of refrigerant out there, most that dont need licenses & you can buy them over the counter at bursons.
Sounds good in theory, but brands such as Hychill are an LPG based refrigerant & are not designed for R134a systems & dont handle the heat well so usually fall over on a hot day.
But the bigger issue with them is that they tend to dry out the refrigerant oil & we have seen a few of them lead to catastrophic compressor failure on later model cars.

Stay clear of anyone offering a "re-gas".

Sorry for the long reply, but hopefully it answers your questions.

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

OK, thanks for the insight guys.

What about the matter of not saying how much labor is going to cost?

The way that quote reads they could end up charging me anything for labor. The whole reason I was paying for a quote was to find out how much it will cost me in total to fix the air con, and it seems to me that they haven't really done that. For all the work they put in diagnosing it, shouldn't they have been able to work out how long it would take them to fix it? I mean if they're only swapping out a compressor and regassing the system that should be pretty straight forward and predictable right?

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Yeah it seems bizarre that they cant quote for Labor - its a pretty straightforward job.
From memory the last compressor, TX, Drier, Gas, Dye & Labor job we did was around the $950 mark.

Just looking at your quotes again & I would be questioning them what sort of refigerant they are putting in the system.
$44 for a charge of R134a is waaaaay too cheap, they are either giving it away for nothing or its not R134a they are putting in the system.
Also I would be questioning why they put a receiver drier on at the inital testing phase? Because if they flush the system when you put the new compressor on its just going to clog up the drier & it will need to be done again.

And id like to know how he knows the compressor is not pumping, if its a snapped shaft you can pick that up as soon as you put the gauges on - id be leaning towards a possible control valve failure.
From experience, dealers are prone to just replacing compressors un-neccessarily.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dillzio

OK, thanks for the insight guys.

What about the matter of not saying how much labor is going to cost?

The way that quote reads they could end up charging me anything for labor. The whole reason I was paying for a quote was to find out how much it will cost me in total to fix the air con, and it seems to me that they haven't really done that. For all the work they put in diagnosing it, shouldn't they have been able to work out how long it would take them to fix it? I mean if they're only swapping out a compressor and regassing the system that should be pretty straight forward and predictable right?

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Yes, I agree. They should be able to at least give you an 'estimate' of the labour cost. Obviously, there can be extenuating circumstances that mean that your actual charge is more than the estimate but it needs to be within reason. You have a right to know roughly how much you'll be paying for the service you receive

The price seems fair to me, they would have not been able to tell the tx valve and compressor were faulty without filling the system with gas to test it first, I would consider the $150 as a charge for diagnosing the fault rather than to provide a quote which is completely reasonable, diagnosis time has to be paid for.
The only thing I dont like is the lack of labour on the $650 dollar quote, they have diagnosed it, they know whats wrong and what is needed to fix it, they should have no problem quoting hours required to complete the repair.
And no $150 is not a lot of money these days IMHO.

As said, $150 for a quote is reasonable.
This is why mechanics get paid $25 an hour, be nice if they could get more, but then dealerships would have to raise their costs to the customer.

If the dealer as shown in your quote is going to charge $660 to replace your compressor, I was quoted more than that for a new fitting of a compressor in my VN I used to have. So I would think that is a pretty good price.

Its not a quote, you have dropped the car of for diagnostics of an issue and possible repair. A bloke spent time, checking and replacing parts on your air con system.

A quote would be them looking at it and saying well if this is wrong it costs this much, if this is wrong it will cost this much.

Lessoned learnt here, the workshop bloke and your "not much" maybe different. Get a dollar value. I would consider what you have been charged as reasonable.

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Originally Posted by duke5700

Its not a quote, you have dropped the car of for diagnostics of an issue and possible repair. A bloke spent time, checking and replacing parts on your air con system.

A quote would be them looking at it and saying well if this is wrong it costs this much, if this is wrong it will cost this much.

Lessoned learnt here, the workshop bloke and your "not much" maybe different. Get a dollar value. I would consider what you have been charged as reasonable.

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It's totally reasonable. If you took that to any ac place they would go, oh theres no gas and gas it up and recheck.
They then found the compressor is at fault and have quoted you to do the work to replace the compressor. They didn't charge you for the quote. I think you are confused as to what was done.
$150 is not a lot of money. As far as hourly rates go, the tech probably costs the company roughly double what he takes home. so $50/h. The rest is profit.

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Originally Posted by the big fist

It's totally reasonable. If you took that to any ac place they would go, oh theres no gas and gas it up and recheck.
They then found the compressor is at fault and have quoted you to do the work to replace the compressor. They didn't charge you for the quote. I think you are confused as to what was done.
$150 is not a lot of money. As far as hourly rates go, the tech probably costs the company roughly double what he takes home. so $50/h. The rest is profit.

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Not to mention operation costs of the business, you also have parts, equipment, licences, etc - its not cheap!!
I think people loose sight of the big picture sometimes when they look at hourly rates and just think that the rate is going solely to the tech and/or its all profit. I wish it was the case!!

I get involved in arguments like this all the time (different trade - same shit) - what you had done is fault finding - fault finding isn't free - quotes in most cases are free but in order for someone to quote something the customer has to be able to quantify exactly what they want.
What, when where how etc - if you can't answer those questions then it's unlikely that anyone can give you a quote without some level of fault finding.

Bit like going to a mechanic & saying "How much to fix my car?" he asks what's wrong with it - "F@#ked if I know - doesn't go" you answer - how does he know if it is out of petrol or has a blown motor without looking into it.