Here's the scoop, from your post I gather this:
All shop owner's are rapists.
They charge way too much for anything minor, and take advantage of those who can little afford it, people who have things break.
They have no right to charge any more than what a customer feels a job is worth.

Put yourself in the shop owner's shoes for a second. Here's some things to think about.

Profit:
Shop labor rate typically $50 to $80 per hour.
Average billable hours per week 20 to 40 = $

Expenses:
Shop tools cost: $40,000
store rent per month $1250.00
Utilities $80.00
Education $50,000
Shop truck $28,000
inventory $
House rent $
Technician pay $25-$35 per hour
trash and waste disposal
license fees
Insurance
employee social security payments
taxes
advertising
interest on loans and inventory
etc, etc.

As you can see none of this stuff is any less than what typically people have in their inventory as costs.
Suddenly what becomes an issue is how much do I need to charge to make a decent profit and pay for all the other expenses?
Unless you know their bottom line costs, don't be so quick to judge how much money people do or don't make, and suggest they like to rape customers for pleasure.

The labor you pay helps to pay to keep a shop in business, plus provide a decent income for hard working folks just like you.

 

I disagree, shops will screw the crap out of you if you are not careful. I used to take my rappy in the be worked on. They ALWAYS left parts off or not tight. NO EXCUSE! I know that when i gave them the shop manual they did not use it cause they can not read. They were always late on finishing and always charged more than quote. The blown head gasket in Little Sahara did me in. 1hr. use and it blew. They charged me 350 dollars to replace and it was there fault. (it got off center) Then they left parts off when we went back in to upgrade.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img] Don't get me started. I do know that from every 20 bad shops there is 1 good and reasonable 1. Our local dealership was honest with us. They told us if we wanted the 01 tranny fixed by them we were out of luck. Thanks god for bob and CRAYCRAFT racing. I can tear it up and get it repaired right, quickly. REPAIR IS ONE AREA OF ATVING THAT NEEDS A OVERHAUL.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

 

it seems all repair places have different rates, it is up to us as the consumer to shop. it is sad that there is some spread in the price and it does cause hard feelings when you find out you were the one who paid so much. seems a lot of people know what the going rate is for repair, on the forum think i'll be asking a lot before i have anything done. as far as being upset that all seems fair, but it seems your the one that suffers the most on that, because these things are fun and work is where you should have to deal with stressful stuff. just my thought on it, sorry they hit you so hard, because they do seem kind of like friends when you are dealing with them {shops}

 

Round 2
I go into the shop to buy shims for my valves. We dont keep those in stock...as a matter a fact I havent never even seen those before. I told them I just had a friend that just brought his bike in for the valves to be adjusted. "Did you guys not do it and just charged him for it?" NO ANSWER. I just left.

 

That does NOT sound good. Wouldn't a company like the Better Business Bureau be a good call here? That is really really bad.

 

sounds like they are about the money, any other shops to go to.