New to Forum - Question about Pricing

[MAV224]

Hi Everyone,

Just moved to a new house in CT about 4 months ago. It has a 20-22k gallon gunite pool that was installed in 2004, equipped with a Pentair WhisperFlo 2HP pump. Excited that this forum exists, because I have a lot of questions, but here's the first one:

Everything was working well, but one day the pump didn't turn on, and as it turned out we needed a new motor. We had a go-to service company that the previous owners had used for years, and they came and replaced the motor with a Century A.O. Smith USQ1202 2HP motor. They didn't tell us how much it would be at the time of installation, but based on my research I figured it would be about $250-$300 for the part (ignoring labor). The bill came and they charged $500 for the part alone.

My question is, is this common practice? Huge mark ups if you buy the part from your service provider instead of a direct retailer? I questioned the price and they claimed to have gotten the part from a supplier for $550, but that didn't make much sense to me given there are no prices anywhere that even sniff that range.

Any thoughts on the matter are greatly appreciated! The good thing is the motor is working well

 

[JVTrain]

Welcome to TFP!

The last time I had service done on my pool equipment was the addition of a timer. I purchased the Intermatic model I wanted with the proper voltages, etc. and had a licensed electrician install it. In the future, I'd do the same thing with a motor replacement. I'm fairly comfortable doing electrical work myself, but I'd rather make sure it was done right by someone with training.

As long as you're sure that you looked up pricing for the exact same motor model, it's unacceptable that they are charging you that much for a replacement motor. Sometimes there is a 10-20% mark-up on parts due to stocking, shipping, etc but if you were seeing the exact same motor for $300 and got charged $500 during the service, that's excessive. I don't want to stir the pot even more... but sometimes pool services will replace entire motors when the motor may only need a replacement capacitor which is less than a $50 part. Was the pump making excessive noise before it failed?

 

[MAV224]

Thank you, JVTrain. I had actually suggested changing the capacitor early on, but then when they actually came out to the house (while I was at work) they ended up replacing the motor, which they said was necessary. The pump did not seem to be making excessive noise, although it was new to me, and I can say that the new motor is quieter. Agree, going forward (although hopefully not necessary for a while) I think I will buy the parts myself and try to find an electrician or install myself. I was able to argue down their price a little, but I do believe they are being dishonest. Not sure if this was pervasive in the pool service industry, I feel like they assume since I have a pool I'm RICH, ha!