Hey,
So on Saturday, this weekend, I was assembling something, and an accident happened, I broke the Thermostat head off. The heater went on level 5 and the room was getting really hot.
We didn’t think much, panicked (just moved in, sadly we didn’t know who to call, tried the Hausmeister but didn’t respond) and called a Notdienst Plumber/Heating guy.
We told him what has happened and he told he’ll get a new thermostat head.
He came in 20 mins, did a two minute quick install.
We fucked up, didn’t ask the cost before hand. He charged us €621 for this.
Breakdown in the photo.
We got scared and didn’t think of just going to Bauhaus and getting a tool and a new head. He also made us pay in cash and wouldn’t leave unless we did, the reason being we were new customers, new customers always pay cash is what he told.
According to him, 600 is normal for Hamburg and Saturday Notdienst.
We know we probably got scammed and the money is gone. I’ve send the Vervrauchzentrale and my Verwaltung an email.
🙁
https://i.redd.it/cwo321ef7v1h1.png
Posted by buzz_ftw
22 Comments
Its expensive, but I wouldnt say its necessarily a scam. Some of the cost is for hardware, some for his work, some for driving to you and some for work on the weekend.
If you are not the owner of the apartment maybe the owner has to pay, but usually he has to order the craftsmen
When I moved into my apartment six years ago, I had the very same accident happening to me. I went to Obi, bought a new thermostat head and installed it myself. This probably cost me less than 20 Euros. Calling the Notdienst was unncessary and the amount he charged is insane. It’s unfortunately quite common to scam people in such a situation. Maybe contacting Verbraucherzentrale isn’t such a bad idea.
„Heizungsthermostatkopf“ for 169 is absolutely wild. Those things are ~10€
The only thing that you overpaid on was the Thermostat Adjusting Valve(those are probably max 40-50 euros for non-smart models), everything else is cost of the plumber’s labor or travel.
It’s always expensive to get someone to come over to fix something, weekend & emergencies even more so.
So it’s not a scam unfortunately, that cost is bit on the high side yes but not completely outrageous
Sure you got scammed: Anfahrt plus 1h work done plus Wochenend Surcharge while he was with you for 20 min is outrageous. A Thermostatkopf usually costs a tenth of what he quoted.
Unfortunately, yes, you definitely got ripped off. But sadly it’s quite common for them to make up a big number like this. Because plumbers are usually contracted by Hauswervaltung, the few private ones can charge whatever they feel like…I once paid one 300€ for a bit of sticky tape to fix a broken pipe (which didn’t work).
You already did the right thing to do to Verbraucherzentrale, but if you don’t have legal insurance, you’re probably not going to get anywhere. There’s case law where if a Handwerker massively overcharges, you can demand the overpayment back, but you’ll definitely need a lawyer for that (and they’ll probably charge you more than you’re trying to claim).
I would probably try to forget about it and treat it as a learning experience 😞
If you have Liability Insurance or Home Insurance (I forget the German word), you can send them the invoice and they can pay you back or cover some costs at least.
When I break anything at my rental apartment, I tell the Hausverwaltung who then sends someone to fix it and I pay them. And then I take th invoice and claim from my insurance
If this is a legit company and the invoice has the relevant details, it isnt a scam.
Labour in Germany is expensive and the weekend call out added to that. Most trades have a minimum cost so regardless if the job takes 5 mins or 2 hours you will pay the call out fee. The parts cost is where they likely inflated the cost a lot, which is normal.. I take my own parts to the Autowerkstat after ordering them online for example.
In future try and figure things out yourself, and use a notdienst as a last resort.
Yes, you got scammed, but worse, that’s probably even a legal scam. They’re shamelessly exploiting people’s plight. It may well be that the amount is too high and you might be able to get at least some of it back, but as you’ve already paid, it’s probably not worth the effort.
Don’t every pay directly. If he doesn’t want to leave, call the police.
And don’t be embarred, this scam works with a lot of people and sadly there isn’t anything done against these people.
This is outrageous.
I mean all the prices for him coming over and working are fine, high, but fine.
But 170€ for the head of the thermostat, when you can buy it in retail for like 10-15€ is just crazy.
Idk man.
Also does your landlord do not have an emergency number for such cases?
This honestly looks very questionable. Weekend emergency rates are a thing, but 621€ for a 2-minute thermostat replacement is steep.
The biggest red flag is the thermostat head itself at 169€. Standard replacement thermostat heads are often in the 30€ range, even branded Heimeier models are commonly around 15 to 35€, with more specialized versions around 50 to 80€. A 500% margin on the thermostat alone could qualify as excessive.
You already did the right thing contacting Verbraucherzentrale. Keep the invoice and ask a few local heating companies what they’d charge for the same Saturday repair. If this turns out massively above market rates, excessive pricing can sometimes be challenged.
Don’t blame yourself. Panic + no heat + being new tenants is exactly the kind of situation emergency services rely on.
Do you have Haftpflichtversicherung?
Isn’t the “Einsatzpauschale” combined with working time illegal? I thought i had seen some jurisdiction about those combinations some time ago …
well… it’s too expensive. I guess this thermostat head is about 10€ in the Baumarkt nearby and just one nut to screw on. And they are working at Saturdays. Also one can lose a needle valve with a clamp till Monday or so. If the valve is intact of course.
Don’t pay and dispute.
Labor costs and everything okay, given it was an emergency. But the material cost is a scam. These things cost 10€.
Yes you did get scammed!
I feel like this is an appropriate amount for someone getting up on the weekend, finding the tools and materials and even having the knowledge to fix it.
The Thermostat should be cheaper, yes, but he also had to buy it and then your bill would „only“ be a 100€ less.
Next time, just google first and open a window. Maybe ask a neighbour.
Next time, when anything like this happens, and you are with a commercial larger landlord, call them first.
They often have a “Hausmeisterdienst” under contract (or even employed themselves depending on size) that does small repairs like those for fair prices. And they have the exact spare parts for every small thing thats installed hundreds of times through all their apartments.
I am no lawyer, but usually they are not allowed to charge more than the regular price without informing you in advance.
A thermostate head costs 10 € in the Baumarkt, here they want 169€ for it. I would check the type of the Thermostate head they used and check if it really costs that much. Even if it does I would doubt that it was necessary to use such an expensive one.
80€ for a 2 minute job is also very high, I think they have to charge in 6 minute intervalls, 80€ is probably the full hour price.
Also Saturday is a regular weekday unless it was in the evening? Also it is only allowed to overcharge the work time and not any of the other things, so if the working price was overcharged as well.
Somebody who puts pressure on you to pay in cash immedeatly is usually at least suspicious.
If you have a legal insurance I would definitley talk to a lawyer otherwise it will probably cost more to get the money back than it is worth.
Getting some emergency fixes at weekends and in the evening can be very expensive, but this seems to be very excessive. 50 to 100€ would be an appropriate price, maybe a little bit more if it was in the evening.
I would at the very least leave them a negative google review, don’t call it a scam or anything, as they often threaten to take legal action against negative reviews. Just note down the facts, at which time you have called them and how much you have paid and everybody else should be able to see for themselves if they want to hire them or not.
If it helps you:
I once closed myself out of my flat, keys stuck in the door insides. Saturday night. So I called the emergency service which takes 300€ just for showing up, usually 400-600€ when done.
The moment the guy comes to the door, he looks at me surprised and says: “You have little glass windows in your door?“
I said “yeah so?”…And slowly it hit me.
He still proceeded to try it the conventional way but after a minute or so he said, cheapest and easiest way from here is to break the glass and replace it the next workday.
So I ended up paying roughly 300€ for the key guy plus the repair for the broken glass window, none of it insured. Great way to lose money, definitely a lesson.
Yes. Why are they changing you a pauschal PLUS the working time PLUS a weekend charge PLUS the travel costs, and then overcharging for the part?
I could see €200 or so for that on a weekend, but not nearly €600…
A common, and semi-legal scam, I fear. These Notdienst services tend to prey on desperate people by overcharging because they know they can. At least they fixed it for you. Some don’t even do and you’re left without the money and still have the problem at hand.
The Wochenendzuschlag and Anfahrtkosten are actually okay, although the latter is usually part of Einsatzpauschale, so charging for both might not be allowed (I’m not a lawyer though). The Arbeitszeit is expensive but not excessively so. The new Thermostatkopf is outrageously expensive, if it is a normal one (not digital or smart).
Like others (and you yourself) have pointed out, you could have bought the replacement and fixed it yourselves, which would have been waaaay cheaper, of course. But compared to hiring a more respectable/honest Notdienst, I think you probably overpaid “only” by 150 – 200€.