

Resolving the issue hadn’t taken very much of my time, and I appreciated their sincere apology, as well as the promise that their billing procedure would now be better. I thought the orthodontist office might make amends for their mistake by offering some small concession, but they didn’t, which was fine. I also was relieved when they told me that the incident helped them identify a way to avoid such errors in the future. Of course, I was a little upset to have been charged several hundred dollars for some stranger’s braces, but I was glad that the office took ownership of the mistake. After some investigation they called back to explain: an employee who handles their billing had inadvertently posted another family’s charge to our account, in addition our own. I first called the credit card company to confirm, then spoke with the orthodontist to see what happened. In the last billing cycle, we noticed a significant extra charge on our credit card statement from the orthodontist office. One of those reoccurring charges is for orthodontics-a privilege of parenting! Like many people, our family uses autopays for certain reoccurring expenses: rather than writing a check every month, the approved companies automatically charge our credit card. Let me tell you about one that just happened. Over the years, I’ve had many such experiences. What happens, however, when roles are reversed and it’s the company that consumes the customer's time? You may be wondering what I mean, yet you’ve probably had such an experience when, through no fault of your own, you’ve had to take significant time to resolve an issue that was due to a business’s blunder.

Likewise, supply and demand dictate that if many consumers need appliance repair, but few professionals are willing to provide it, that service will cost more than others. appliance repair $100-$200/hr.Īlthough some of these service rates may seem unreasonable, people need to be paid for their time and receive compensation commensurate with their expertise. Chances are you’ve had to shell out for one or more of the following: computer repair $25-$50/hr. The old adage “time is money” rarely hits home harder than when we need to pay for some costly service.
