Hedahls Inc

Dear Ms. [redacted],   Thank you for contacting me about the issue with the Tire Changer at [redacted] in Rapid City, SD.   Benco was contacted by an employee of [redacted] to repair their tire changer.  As is Benco’s standard practice, Benco informed the caller that...

we are able to repair the unit, but that we no longer have a service technician in Rapid City.  So we would have to travel the 300 miles to Rapid City from Bismarck.  At that time we told the caller about our policy of charging mileage of $1.50 per mile of travel one way and the standard service call of $99.  If we are able to perform other service along the way, we split the mileage charge with more than one customer.    In this case, the service technician who called said they need the unit repaired sooner than we could get any other work lined up for our technician.  (We tentatively had another job to go on to after this customer but the customer ultimately was not ready for us and [redacted] did not want to wait.) The technician told our people that they need the unit fixed, so get to Rapid City right away.   This is understandable, since a tire changer is a vital component of a service shop.  So we dispatched our technician to make the repairs.  He drove the 300 miles (one way) to the job site, a trip of many hours.  The repairs were not made.  The Benco technician diagnosed the problem and presented the estimate for repairs.  The customer decided to wait to make repairs.  The bill for the diagnostic service performed was presented for $268.10, plus the mileage charge of $450.  Plus tax of $0.98.   The secretary from [redacted] called after they had received the billing stating that they were never told about our mileage or service calls.  We explained that we did discuss the mileage and service call fees as it is our standard billing practice and is part of our dialogue when customers contact us for service.  The secretary stated that she wasn’t aware of these fees but she wasn’t the person that had contacted us to arrange for the service.  Immediately after the secretary hung up Mr. [redacted] called to discuss the situation with Mr. Pitkin.  Mr. [redacted] listened to Mr. [redacted] describe the situation and then explained that the mileage and service charges are part of Benco’s standard billing practice for out of town work and since the technician came from Bismarck to Rapid City both charges were fairly and justly applied to the work order.   Benco Manager Shamus [redacted] asked if Mr. [redacted] would drive to Bismarck to fix a tire without charging for the mileage to get here.  Mr. [redacted] said he would not.  My point is obvious, if there is no other customer to help defray the cost of the travel to Rapid City, how can Benco perform such a service without compensation for the travel cost of manpower time and vehicle expenses?   Mr. [redacted] offered to reduce the travel fee from $450 to $225.  Mr. [redacted] rejected that offer.  To date, Mr. [redacted] has not paid Benco anything for the service we performed.    Does that seem fair?  It sounds to me that the offer to split the travel cost is very generous.  That offer still stands.   If Mr. [redacted] will pay us for the service work pus half of the travel cost, we will consider this matter closed.   I attached a copy of the work order as well as the billing for your reference on this matter.  We did not make the necessary repairs to the tire machine.  Our technician diagnosed the machine while on site and gave the customer a list of the repairs necessary to repair the machine with pricing for the parts.  The customer also wanted to know an approximate Trade in value of their existing machine toward a replacement machine (a coats RC45E or a Tuxedo TC 950) which we also gave him.  Our technician was told by the customer that they needed to think about the options of repair vs. replacement.  The next contact we received from them was when the computer generated billing was received by the customer when they stated that they were not going to pay the bill.   Please tell me how you think this matter should be resolved.   Thank you for your time,   [redacted] Hedahl

I am rejecting this response because:
When I personally called your office to request service, I was informed that the local guy was no longer here but NO one said anything about a mileage charge. I am the only one that communicated with your office.
We are willing to pay the service call of $99.00 plus sales tax.
[redacted]
Office Manager