Despite having a late finish one evening I was relieved to find Mrs Mechanic had lovingly prepared a scrummy dinner. I settled down to eat and watch a bit of background TV, as you do. We channel hopped and stumbled across a TV program featuring unfortunate folk who had received poor treatment at the hands of cowboy workmen.
‘This’ll do ‘, I thought and watched with intrigue. Now, although I had every sympathy for these people, the presenters failed to ask an important question; “Why did the couple choose that particular company to entrust with their money and safety?”
The answer in my opinion would have been obvious: It was the cheapest quote!
I hear cries of “That’s harsh Mark!”, but I think we need to learn to make educated decisions without last minute help from minor celebrities, even if it does make reasonable TV.
With the supermarkets constantly promising us that they’ve undercut the competition are we forgetting a steadfast phrase? “What’s cheap is rarely good and what’s good is rarely cheap!”
I would go for the quote in the middle and look to back it up with good recommendations or testimonials. I am also wary of ‘price droppers’; When asked to quote for some work recently on a car, our price was considerably more reasonable than the main agents, when the customer told them this they slashed the original quote by more the £800! If a company can reduce the quote substantially without good reason, imagine how much they were going to overcharge you in the first place!