Who is the best pinball repairs in Melbourne - price and honesty

[Caveoftreasures]

I charge apx $100 an hour in my business in min blocks of four hours but this is to the high end of government and big big business and I have very low overheads compared to most.
If u try n charge anymore than $50 an hour to people on wages they just can't afford it.
That's why brand new pins are so attractive.

I can understand any business charging other businesses high rates per hour, yes, a business is extremely expensive animal to run, but mums n dads just can't afford these figures unless that family is well off.
Pinball is not a cheap hobby. Someone like Nino/APR is worth the $ because he has decades of experience and probably could work it out pretty quick. We need to clone you Nino 25 times. Each state could take five or six clones each pls. Hurry up and get cloned. We need you.

[nath2099]

I'm not sure what it's like in Melbourne, but a 1 hr call in Sydney can take half a day. If a tech knows what they're doing and can diagnose and replace a switch or solenoid or fet in half an hour, $140 is reasonable. I'm sure redesigning a multi-million dollar piece of machinery's electronics would take well more than half an hour.

I also understand that most probably just fix the most major problem... the problem there  being that telling a client that it'll be a hundred to fix this, another hundred to strip that mech down... the client won't see the value.

Debugging and fixing a lamp matrix I would imagine could take hours, not to mention equipment in the form of scopes etc that your average hobbyist doesn't have.

[Brunswick Brawler]

When considering the rates, remember that the tech is not charging that 8 hours per day, 5 days a week.  If the machine is bad enough to require a full week of work, I expect you can 'fix price' the job based on a lower rate.

A big factor is the person's honesty.  You don't want to go to someone who charges $50 per hour, then get charged for 3 hours work for what was unknowing to you was only a 5 minute job.  ...So you correctly asked for 'honesty' and price.

I can't speak for others, as I only know APR first hand.  I'm confident that with a short face-to-face with APR/Nino, you will be confident that he will give you 'an honest days work for an honest days pay'.

[nath2099]

I also work in corporate in 4 hour blocks, so maybe my frame of reference in skewiff in relation to private hobbyists.

[nath2099]

" 'an honest days work for an honest days pay'"

And that's what it's all about. I'd hate to think what a full playfield restore would cost.... no doubt well less than $50/hour.

EDIT: Meaning... it would cost well less than it's actually worth.

[skywalker]

Hurry up, get that clone machine working 

[Caveoftreasures]

I know of two proper professional 30 year experienced techs in South East Qld who are working 6 days a week and are booked six to eight weeks in advance.
They are making two to three grand a week no probs when they put the decent hours in.
Being a pinball tech has now become extremely profitable.

[Caveoftreasures]

Can someone place a photo of Nino on this thread and Photoshop it ten times to make him looked cloned please.

We need to see what the owner of Australian Pinball Restorations looks like (for those who haven't seen Ninos photo before)

Someone like Swinksy who is talented in this area or anyone else who has a Nino photo to start with.
A recent photo is preferable. Who is up for the cloning ? Lol

[Strangeways]

" 'an honest days work for an honest days pay'"

And that's what it's all about. I'd hate to think what a full playfield restore would cost.... no doubt well less than $50/hour.

EDIT: Meaning... it would cost well less than it's actually worth.

Case in point - The Genie playfield. I lost count of the hours. You could probably buy half a dozen playfields with the amount of time I spent on it. But I learnt a lot, and I kept pushing myself to learn more. I've seen El-Timbo's work and his playfields are unbelievable. We are looking at doing FOUR Embryon's in one hit. The hours will be very intensive, but a flat fee is quoted. The whole idea is to preserve pinball - not to make it unaffordable. These days, astute collectors are informed of the time and effort and in most cases, more than happy to do the work.

It really helps if you love what you do. There's no issues with working longer hours. It is part of the process.

[andypinboy]

I'd like a translation on the lapdogs & tropical fruit please

[roundball]

Years ago when I first got into the hobby,  and being pretty green around pinballs, I called on a local tech to come fix the flippers on my GnR..  I watched him poke and probe, scratch his head,  umm and argh..  20 minutes later he had repaired it.  $160 please.!  I saw what he did,  he replaced a couple of fuses under the playfield.. 

Once bitten...

[nath2099]

He probably drove across the city, has a few thousand in test equipment, rent, power, rego, maintenance, tolls, and insurance to pay.... And he fixed your problem.

$160, reasonable. People really do not value other people's time.

Where would that machine be now had he not fixed it?

Are there fuses under the playfield in a GnR? Did not know that.

[dealers choice]

First off, if you want to pay someone to repair it for you, take it to Nino at APR. that said I'm reasonably new to the addiction of pinball ownership and have had 3 or 4 with problems. i've always asked questions here first and repaired all of them myself, apart from 1 which needed board repair beyond my capability and sent it to Beaky. Just ask questions and you will get help 
Bren

[Brunswick Brawler]

$160 please.!  I saw what he did,  he replaced a couple of fuses under the playfield..  

$160, reasonable. People really do not value other people's time.

Takes it back to the point about honesty. The tech should not have falsely claimed it was 20 minutes work, when it was really 5 minutes. He should have said it is a $150 callout fee, including upto 30 minutes repair time, plus materials.  Then you would not feel cheated being charged $160.

Honesty would also include showing the owner what work was done.  The owner would probably the call back the same tech for future more difficult repairs, instead of feeling cheated and going to someone else in the future.

..Hey 'Rowan' are you still there? (Rowan started this thread)

[pinball god]

$160 please.!  I saw what he did,  he replaced a couple of fuses under the playfield..  

$160, reasonable. People really do not value other people's time.

Takes it back to the point about honesty. The tech should not have falsely claimed it was 20 minutes work, when it was really 5 minutes. He should have said it is a $150 callout fee, including upto 30 minutes repair time, plus materials.  Then you would not feel cheated being charged $160.

Honesty would also include showing the owner what work was done.  The owner would probably the call back the same tech for future more difficult repairs, instead of feeling cheated and going to someone else in the future.

..Hey 'Rowan' are you still there? (Rowan started this thread)

I wish people were as reasonable as they preach but my experience generally shows otherwise. I recall on many occasions keeping a production machine down for an hour or so when the problem was solved within a couple of minutes. Why? Because when I have presented a min call out fee, in my days, for $130 I'd sometimes get abused. Remember most tech's don't get paid work for 8 hours/day, it still takes time to drive to you and go back to base, they have invested in the necessary tools, and most importantly, they have experience and skills that has taken years to attain in which enable them to troubleshoot your problem quickly. I do understand there are rogues who charge heaps too. Thats what the thread is trying to find out. But I'd rather a good tech at $140 call out done in 1 minute than a hack who spends 3 hours taking things apart that has nothing to do with the problem give you that heart to heart speech that you bought a lemon and need to off load the game asap and btw that'll be a $100. I have heard of such cases in pinball.

So cost should not be the basis to evaluate a person as being a rip off artist. Referrals is the secret when I consider tradies, techs, doctors and the like, but you figured that out, hence the thread.

I can't help you with melb techs as most of my fix its are done by me now, but pcb's I recommend Beaky in a heartbeat.