Hi all I’m new to the group so not sure if anyone will be able to help me or not I’m a lineboring engineer for a small firm and recently did a full reconditioning of a Komatsu pc80 king post knuckle So to anyone who isn’t sure these are a cast steel part prone to wearing and usually rather expensive to repair the part in question needed a lot of work and now the customer is disputing the bill After a lot of searching online I can not find a replacement part for sale to compare the price of new to the price of repair so was wondering if anyone on here might know how much one would be to buy new just so I have a comparison really due to not having the whole machine here at the workshop I can’t retrieve serial numbers to do to a Komatsu dealer so am at a bit of a loss atm I’ve attached a picture of the mentioned part just to help people understand what I’m referring too Thanks in advance
How many fill and bores on that part and how much did you charge?
Had to build up and bore all three holes for the king post pin and bush the two holes for the boom pin the two holes for the boom ram pin and the two holes for the 180 ram pin plus drill out and heli coil the bolt holes for the king post pin retaining bolts with all the pre heating and matching it took a week to do working 8 hour days my boss is charging £3500 but this is for labor and materials including a nickel alloy wire I use for cast steel parts the wire is £1000 for a 15kg roll and I used something like 7kg to build up the bores
LOL...what does that translate to in American dollars.
£3500 is roughly $4270
I would bet a new replacement part from Komatsu is more than that. It sounds like a reasonable price to me considering the time and materials involved. Bore jobs over here are expensive to begin with.
Well I did think that I know that other companies charge there line boring guys out at £60+ an hour where we are only charging something like £45 an hour so we are more than competitive but I am the only guy in my company that knows how to line bore and it’s not something we do massive amounts of For reference 1 British pound is 1,22 US dollar according to google lol
It sounds like your customer is trying to leverage the bill. They always do that after they have received the part and owe you money. Is this customer a regular?
This has been a semi regular customer and usually a good payer but this is the most expensive repair we have done for them anyway they haven’t been to collect the part yet and we won’t actually release jobs from the workshop without payment that’s a policy my boss is very strict on obviously work done out on site we have to take a chance on actually getting paid but we aren’t apposed too taking legal action to get what’s owed but obviously that then takes time to get sorted hopefully my boss can sort this out without having to do that I was more curious how much the the part was new just as a comparison really
When I run into this, which isn't often, I look at how good of a customer they are and have been. I don't like to lose good customers so if there is a dispute, I will do what is needed to make them happy. I will also say........lesson learned. I will be more prepared next time with said customer and price jobs accordingly and have him approve the expense in writing.
Generally as a rule our customers are told our hourly rate and when line boring cast we do offer the cheaper service where we would sleeve the bores not my recommended repair as I’ve always found sleeves to fail quicker than building up properly and matching to size and I do disclose that the wire used is £60+ per kg and there’s no exact way of knowing how much wire will be used but often give an educated guess once I’ve had chance to measure the bores in question I’ve been line boring for 15+ years and have always worked this way working for my current boss and previous employers but I appreciate the advice
Usually with a part like that one there will be a Part Number cast into it. I take it there isn’t on this case.?
There is a number cast in the side of this number means anything to you ill be honest I haven’t tried looking up this number but as an engineering company we don’t have an account with Komatsu or any contacts to reference this number too in regards to obtaining a price for the part I was hoping to find the part online to get an idea of price but can’t find anyone selling one not even 2nd hand hence I posted the question on here View attachment IMG_8098.jpeg
I believe that is a Komatsu part number. I just can't read it very well. Can you post that number here?
I’m having the same problem going back over pictures the part is still in our workshop as we won’t release it until we receive payment so I’ll hopefully be able to get the numbers tomorrow
If that number is 22E-70-21130........according to my sources here it is not available through Komatsu. I'm being told that is a grey market machine with an Italian serial number. A comparable part here in the USA is $7000.00 New
This is very helpful as that works out around £5800 would probably have vat added to that price plus carriage so makes my £3500 repair still come in cheaper than a new part thank you
The customer will squeal whatever the price is. You should not have painted it.....leave it with all the burned paint and weld splatter. "we didn't waste any extra time & money on the part"
That is the "rustic" price........adds 15%
See I just don’t work like that every job I do I clean up and paint it’s just part of the service I provide and I pride myself on delivering quality work for the sake of cleaning up a bit of spatter and spraying a bit of red oxide it just looks better and more professional when the customer comes to collect there component
Replace "probably" with "would" and you would be spot on. Paint or not, it still won't stop them bitching about the cost..........
Maybe not in this case but this is the first customer I’ve had in years who’s actually disputed the bill everyone else is always happy with the service we provide so I’ll carry on as I am thanks
Don't get me wrong. I'm in full agreement with going the extra mile to deliver the component back to the customer looking like it came from the OEM factory. What I was trying to say is that if a customer is going to bitch over the amount on your invoice the choice to apply a coat of paint won't stop them.
Yes, however some customers think your overcharging them. They want the cheapest job possible.
just a thought. Has your company ever considered that you aren't charging enough.? That could be an implication if nobody has complained up until this particular job.
Yes ^^^ I have seen this, very odd behavior before. Top of the line shop, super clean place, charges the most and people pay. Lower shop, doing the same level of workmanship, but doesn't have monogramed logo jackets, and "marketing" all around, charges less per hour, and get's all the gaff from customers trying to knock prices down. Be careful with hourly rates, are you just as fast as the other shops ? I would be more inclined to offer an estimate with a "Price not to exceed" limit, as well as a hourly rate for anything extra needed. Keep the customer informed if the job changes once you tear into it. And try to get the job done under the estimate (estimate high), gives customers a warm feeling.
Steve, did you get any sort of closure on this one.?