Outrageous Printer Service Costs

[Nelsonretreat]

I live in New Zealand and wanted to get an idea of what people in other countries pay for printer service costs. I have just had my Epson 7600 serviced by the Epson dealer for a labour cost of  US$125 per hour. For comparison a master mechanic doing car service for Nissan or Ford would be charged out at around US$60 per hour here. The cost seems quite outrageous but maybe I'm not understanding something. The rate I was charged is just about the same as a law firm would charge here for basic legal work. And we all know the reputation lawyers have!
Any thoughts?

[GMB]

Pretty much the same what you pay in Belgium when you have a Canon technician come to service a large format printer.  I they charge minimum 1h + 1h for getting to your door.  And you pay VAT on top. They get away with this because they don't allow independent dealers to service their printers.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

... Any thoughts?

Hire a car mechanic to fix your printer. Much cheaper. Just be prepared to hire a lawyer if it doesn't work out

[Les Sparks]

Here in Durham, NC shop time for my my MGB (a few years ago) was $125/hr(don't the MGB anymore), just had my RV serviced and shop time as $175/hr, Toyota shop time $125/hr, service on my Epson 3880 printer $130/hr.
 

[Paul2660]

Decision One is the Epson repair company in the US. They charge $120.00 an hour. Looks like your rate is similar.

Paul C

[natas]

$100-150 in the USA seems to be what I am used to.

Car's are much more widely known than printers. Not saying they aren't hard to repair, but its something more common.