He’s climatisatipn, plombier, … Sales and service for what we would call HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning).
It is high, but not unusual. It depends how the devis is constructed and whether on the other little oncosts have been itemised. If not they can get bundled into the price of the part.
Just hope he is not related to too many of the other local artisans.
Obviously your Artisan wasn’t really “in the know” about your system or he would surely have quoted for replacing the correct part. 
Albeit his quote would have been higher and (perhaps) you might not have given him the work because of that… (?) but I can’t see why he quotes for providing/fitting a part which will not do the job…
You have his Devis and Bill… (with no payment outstanding) and the system still doesn’t work…
so this is not “foreigner being daft” situation, but a genuine case of an Artisan not doing the job for which he has quoted… which any other Artisan ought to understand and not criticize you for…
just my thoughts on this…
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Something to cheer you up from having OH well integrated into the world of local artisans and who we got to know professionally is that there is often a lot of professional angst and jealousy amongst fellow artisans in the same trade and on your patch that many slag each other off. So I would not worry too much about getting a competant plombier to do the job correctly again.
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Mary W,
Have you thought of contacting the maker or supplier of your air conditioner, asking what must be done and/or what parts need to be replaced to solve ‘Error 57’, and perhaps ask for the name of an approved service engineer in your area?
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Sounds like he knows he goofed.
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The mark up is irrelevant really, you could have researched the price beforehand, but what is really in your favour is the fact that he didn’t do the job required of him, so as others say, I wouldn’t worry about his grumpy reaction.
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That doesn’t sound like much of a threat.
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He sounds rattled to me, possibly scared of being taken to tribunal and is strutting his stuff.
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Yes, thanks for checking about that option. We have all of the paperwork from when it was installed so in fact last July we went to their office and tried to set up an appointment. It was poor timing on our part; we never heard from them… Or so we believe. Late July is not a good time to try to coordinate a rendezvous. August came and went, and then in Fall we focused on other projects. When I saw the local guy’s sign we thought we’d try this fellow instead of re-visiting the folks in Angouleme (2 hours’ drive).
Definitely could have researched ahead for the price. Should have! It was a combination of ‘just want to get it done’ and ‘he is a pro so he knows what he’s doing so we’ll let him get on with it.’ Two gremlins of expediency I suppose! Cheers
No, let’s face it, he barely had to make that stipulation.
Though, apropos previous discussion, there are so few artisans in France, having to reduce the choice even further is never good. It also demonstrates that for all the requirements of training, certification, insurance etc. etc good service is not guaranteed.
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I should add: we didn’t know the part number and other details until after the artisan replaced the part and gave us the old part, in the new part’s box (which had the part number and so forth, that we needed in order to research the price).
Very true… and it’s been mentioned elsewhere (in the Press) that… with all the advances being made and stuff being constantly improved/upgraded … it’s important to find an Artisan who is actually up-to-date with whatever equipment has broken down…
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If I could offer a tiny idea about this tech; I think maybe he’s a bit on the Asperger’s spectrum. So on top of not thinking the problem through, and lack of an attempt to communicate well with us, he might have just been following the pattern he’d established from that previous job like ours, that he’d done. I’m thinking maybe his wife helps with some of the communication but she can’t be on the job site to offer more help… Just behind the scenes.
@MaryW be interested to know just what he did to perform his Diagnostics… or where you out of the room… when he was doing that ?
Good question. I was around in the house somewhere… But the problem was straight forward from the get-go, really. The system did the same for us, as it did for him when he tested it. The system told him the same thing: after trying to engage the lower fan, there’s an error code 57, which the system displays. No other diagnostic analysis done, it was self-explanatory. If that answers your question? Cheers
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oh dear… he obviously hadn’t a clue… his diagnostic skills don’t seem much good !!
he replaced a part… and still the system doesn’t work!
he should have checked that the original “part” was actually faulty… and if it wasn’t, he should have put the original part back on… and put “his” part back into his stock or got it refunded at the store…
He should have continued to check until he located the actual “faulty bit”… obviously he didn’t understand the “error code”… which means he didn’t know the equipment.
hope you have better luck next time around…
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Not sure that necessarily implies Asperger’s - he could just not understand the kit as well as he should (and, yes, simply trying the “fix” that “worked” last time).
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As OH just said “Is that a promise?” 