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What prices have you been quoted and paid for an aerial installation?
Published on by Brian Butterworth on UK Free TV In responses to the guideline I posted about how much having a new aerial fitted should cost, Ian Grice posted: "£40-£50? Every aerial fitter I contacted wants at least £150+VAT considering you can get a class 3 aerial for under £10 and a class 2 for under £15 and cable is 40p a metre why are they charging so much for 30 minutes work?"
OK, for some places putting up a TV aerial is hard work, such as multi-story properties. As many people will simply be exchanging a Group A, B, C/D, E or K aerial for a wideband type, often without changing the supporting pole or cable, a high price cannot be justified.
I am concerned that some companies will exploit vulnerable groups (such as the elderly).
So, I what prices have you been quoted for aerial installations? What price have you paid for installation?
Do you know of any companies to avoid? Do you know of any companies that are good value for money?
Or do you work for a great aerial installation company?
Your comments are always welcome. Please use the form below to add your thoughts or questions to this page. We will get back to you as soon as we can.
K
KB Aerials Wednesday 1 December 2010 10:12PM
Cavit
Reading your last post where they quoted 25 call out (which yes is a bargain - I quote 45-65 to call out) then bang on another 150 odd pounds for an amplifier that will have cost them less than 15 trade price (and that is an expensive set back amp a entry level slx one is about 8 plus vat)and on top of your description of a 5 min fault finding exercise the charge is staggering!
I have to say although I have just mentioned the trade price of an amp (check ebay) I would have probably charged 35 for it (I have a business to run ) so 45-65 call out depending on distance traveled and 35 for an amp 80-100 job done
as for claiming your money back chances are they will tell you where to get off because they obviously are not bothered about word of mouth reputation , if they are one of the big companies I would imagine they spend thousands on advertising each month up and down the country -- still doesn't justify what you have paid!
Keith KB Aerials
Sheffield 07946481125
01142514389
Get in touch with Trading Standards, they have breached 'The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumers Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008', which is a CRIMINAL OFFENCE.
In a nutshell this is to protect consumer who have been quoted one price only for the bill to come to more, without giving the consumer a 'cooling off period'.
This is how it works. You phone me and say, 'I want xyz done, how much?' I say, '50'.
I come to you and charge you 50 and NO MORE. This transaction doesn't require any 'right to cancel' paperwork because it has been completed for the price, or, less than the price quoted 'over the phone' or 'from a distance'.
Now if I turned up and said, 'sorry there is a bit more work required than first thought and it will cost more than the 50 quoted, I need to supply you 'there and then' with a contract informing you of your rights, with an option to cancel.
Now I know you said the job only took a few minutes, but you still need to be furnished with this contract, and because you haven't been, the aerial company or employee has broken the Law.
And it IS an English Law, cant vouch for Scotland, sometime they have their own.
It's there to protect those in a situation like yours whereby somebody quotes a low price to 'get their foot in the door' only to inflate the price once there.
This Law covers any work with a value of more than 35 including VAT.
Most people dont know it exists because it is just about 2 years old and wasnt heavily publicised, but some Trading Standards have successfully obtained prosecutions against those who have not give the consumer this legal right.
Wow thats brill -- I know other aerial riggers that quite blatantly quote an unrealistic price to get the foot in the door -- it really ANNOYS ME as I quote what I anticipate the job will cost the other guys may get the jobs that I have correctly quoted for then go out and charge the customer 3 times what i quoted but the customer pays it because they have a van and an engineer that has traveled and is now sat on their drive- as you can appreciate some times it will be more on arrival you find a bank of trees for instance or there is no roof access so where you thought you was putting an aerial on a 6' mast you have to use a 20'
cavit i still think even with this it will be a drawn out process getting your money back but go for it kick their asses !
On 20 August 2009 James Slater an itinerant builder from Surbiton, Surrey appeared at Staines Magistrates Court to answer one summons for failing to give a 'cancellation notice' to a consumer following agreement to carry out certain building works to her property.
This is required by the Cancellation of Contracts made in Consumers Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008.
Its purpose is to prevent consumers being put under undue pressure to agree to works when they may well wish to consider another tradesman, get quotations or not have the work carried out at all.
On 15 May 2009 Jimmy Lee a Director of City New Roofs Ltd pleaded guilty to an offence under the Consumer Protection Cancellation of Contracts (Cancellation of Contracts Concluded away from Business Premises) Regulations 1987 and also to an offence under Regulation 7 of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.
On the 11 September 2008, a lady received an unsolicited visit to her home in Camberley from two young men, one being the son of Jimmy Lee. After initially refusing, the lady was persuaded to have her driveway cleaned by pressure washing and then resealed.
The following morning, 12 September, work commenced but no 'cancellation notice' had been given to the consumer allowing a 'cooling off period' of seven days. She was then coerced into agreeing to have her roof pressure washed - a totally unnecessary and potentially damaging activity.
The initial prices quoted were also increased after work had commenced.
Fined: 500 x1; 2,750 x 1
Costs: 1798
Compensation: 550
-----------------
Christopher Allinson-Fell
Having pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to four charges of fraud under the Fraud Act 2006, Christopher Allinson-Fell appeared at Woking Magistrates Court on 17 September 2009 to be sentenced.
Mr Allinson-Fell had pleaded guilty to fraud committed against three elderly consumers by knowingly failing to advise those consumers of their cancellation rights.
Had the consumers been given notice of their rights they would have had a 7 day cooling off period to consider whether they really wanted the work done.
In sentencing Mr Allinson-Fell, the Magistrates indicated that the offences were so serious that, despite his otherwise clean record, the only sentence appropriate was a prison sentence.
Fined: Custodial sentence of 8 months suspended for 2 years, 200 hours unpaid work in the community
Costs: 1,143
Having just read a load of this thread, I'm growing concerned about getting an aerial installed in the house where I live. I have a set top areal at the mo and would like to get one installed. I am near Derby (about 6 miles or so) and after a good honest fitter. Any reccomendations? thanks
Tom alpha aerials sheffield.
dont ring a 0800 out of town look at phone and address look in local paper and ring a few and pick the one that sounds the best dont worry most of us aerial guys are honest and do a good job
Some people may feel that some installers within the aerial industry have inflated prices, but I've just seen firsthand, a plumber charging 600 to de-freeze a bit of pipe in a loft and supply about 3 meters of foam lagging.
Took him all of 40 minutes and he had travelled 9 miles from his home to the customers house in 'normal working hours'.
Down to the local library for me then, to pick up a book on plumbing.
i went to an aerial job last saturday where the customer had been quoted 500 pounds for an aerial install to one room. to be fair they did come down to 400 for cash! we did it for 150 for class 2 benchmarked aerial. what gets me is we had a neighbour of an old lady we did a repair job for accusing us of being rogue traders because we charged 75 pounds to fix it which is exactly what we quoted on the phone. sometimes you just cant win
I am looking to get an TV aerial in a 4 bedroom house with 4 points. How much should i expect to pay? And what things should i look for to know its good material(aerial/cable) being used? Does anyone know of a good company to use in the Poole/Bournemouth area?
Ideally that is what Trading Standards would recommend that you do, but I've a business to run and running around giving quotes for people (I'll exclude you from this Tom) who are mostly looking for the best job at the cheapest possible price doesn't earn me any money if these people expect these quotes to be done for free.
The proper way to do a quote is to measure the signals from where the aerial is to be fitted, and then the installer will know the exact levels and quote accordingly based on the time and materials required.
If anybody knows of a quicker and reliable way to measure the incoming signals without doing the full test, Im all ears.
If somebody was to get 3 quotes and the first one came in at lets say 100 the second at 120 and the third at 100, what chance has the first guy got of getting the job, I guess very little as the customer is likely to have the job done by the third guy, there and then.
Unlike say a plumber who is quoting for a central heating system at maybe 2, 3 or 4,000 pounds, adding in the odd 65 to cover the estimates he doesnt get might go un-noticed, but when you are talking about aerials which some fit for 75 how do you get the chance to add in something to cover the overheads incurred doing these free quotations?
When my vans run on water Ill be able to work at a cheaper rate, until then anybody who wants a quotation not to be confused with an estimate, will pay for my time unless they agree to my quotation, when the job will be done there and then.
Nothing is free in this life, somebody has to pay for it somewhere.
Hi Ian :)
Both Brain and i spend many hours each week helping out Brian in this forum and myself in the top forums of the world as a Microsoft MVP in which i give a world class service for free in security and keeping the likes of yourself on line it is not as some believe done by black magic but by a dedication of 4000 mvp's from across the world who devote their time for free in keeping you on line
So where you say nothing is free there are people who do work for free in retirement and i am one of them
Hi Nick, well done for what you, Brian and like minded people do, I think that all of us on here appreciate your efforts, but I think I've been taken out of context slightly.
It physically costs me money to send a 'man and van' to a customers premises, and that is why I say nothing is for free, somebody has to pay somewhere.
A mans working time and fuel is not free to me, it cost me 25p per mile to run a van and I pay my engineers an average 15 per hour, so if a were to give free quotations and the round trip was 12 miles it will cost me 18 plus the money I have to give our government for employing him.
So how would I re-coup my losses, by loading the price charged to the paying customer, but I dont think that is fair, why should I charge somebody for something somebody else has had done for free.
Thats why I charge for quotations and if the customer doesnt like it, we wont be calling to see them; its as simple as that.
I wasn't having a dig at you Ian OK it is just a reminder to folk who use message boards and forums that behind the scenes there are many across the world who do help out for free but get overlooked by the powers to be
And from me as well a happy new year to one and all.
Tom Alpha aerials sheffied.
I work in sheffield and know the place so well road by road when a customer rings for a price i know what they need and how much it will cost them customers ring around a few if they come back to me then i will go and have a look at the job and see what kind job they want doing very few ask for writen quotes.
hello all, I got a recordable freeview hardrive ( bush )and am unable to get more than 8 tv channels when doing the auto tune, i have tried manual tuning it in regards to multiplexing but no difference. when i plug my old freeview box back in( non hardrive ) i can get all channels back again. Do i need a new aerial to get the new box working as my current one is in the loft. and how much should i expect to pay for installation in leeds. Andy
Hi andy loft aerials are no good for freeview it must be out side on the highest part of the house sometimes one freeview box mite work and the next one mite not ,a resonable price to pay is 90-100 for a good qualityaerial fit Tom Alpha Aerials sheffield.
Fran sky runs from a dish not an aerial.
if your tv has a built in freesat you can use a sky dish if it has a freeview built in it you will need an aerial or you will need a freeview set top box that runs of an aerial as well . Tom Alpha Aerials sheffield
Quote "Tom Fletcher, 'a reasonable price to pay is 90-100 for a good qualityaerial fit" end quote
That is probably a 'Sheffield' price; prices vary up and down the country due to the local cost of living.
In the South East a Service Call charge can be around the 70 mark, a Standard aerial installation using a benchmarked aerial would set you be about 170
Ian
when ever I have had venture down t south I cant believe the price of things and if you say that is a fair price for an aerial fit 170 in the south east that's o/k I can see from this site that prices do vary a lot up and down the country . the guy asking the price lived in Leeds similar cost of living to sheffield.
Tom,
You are right buddy, i installdigital equipment in and around oxford, well known for being one of the most expensive area's in the country to live.
I charge installed including cable, bracket and benchmark digital aerial 99 no vat.
I get loads of comments a day about some of our freindly neighbours charging 250-300 for the same job. Even though they quote 49 over the phone to get on site.
Its amazing that people are willing to put up with these charges, and yet it is me that is struggling to get the customers.
Think i need to pack up sticks and come and join you lot up there, you are more honest.
Tom alpha aerials sheffield its not all roses up here mate. I watch some of these rouge traders programs like that red bull w'''''r there is plenty of money to be made in the trade with out doing things like that .if you did things like that here you would be very sorry to say the leest people are more honest here ruff but honest we get a lot of 0800 out of town firms but they dont last long is there not laws about saying one price and charging more on site? more the mugs for paying them .senareo, phone rings hi mate how much do you charge for your aerials? I say 45 turn up to house and say 300 action run of the estate dog on your arse van stript left on bricks' no im kidding its not that bad Tom .
we live in the Mendip area, already have a sat. dish, what would be a reasonable price to pay to install a cable from the dish to a different room.
Email: metrichandbookadler@hotmail.co.uk, 01934853282
hey tom fletcher
you was on about rougue traders, went on a call out the other day, they where charged just over 200 for a new aerial.
2 weeks later he call up the aerial company and said the signal had gone, they attended and said that where they had used the existing cable it was full of water and charged him another 60 to replace.
i cannot put the amount of swear words he used on here.
but the house had been put there in the late 70's so the cable was over 30 years old.
they where lucky he was ab old boy because i would have kicked up a storm with the papers and internet.
a new cable run if possible should come as standard for a digital aerial refit dont you think buddy.
Ian
I dont understand some people. I think its easier to do a good job than to bodge things / its nice to take money off a customer knowing you have done a good job, and you will always get recommendations most of our work is from that.we had a call from an old lady a few weeks ago in sheffield she said her picture was bad and no freeview at all the address she gave was a good reception area on
emleymoore full power before we got to the house we could see a 20 foot pole and a
massive blakes jbx aerial flapping about in the wind when i went in to the house there was a set back amp on the floor one of them white y splitters with a cable going up stairs to the bedroom i said to the lady who and how much did they charge for this " 255 . she said;;; and theres more when i went up stairs there was a nuther mast amp at the back of the tv' and out side under the gutter was an old fringe splitter box with the insides removed and a big tape joint shuved inside it on the wall was the exissting old brown cable and she had lived in the house for 40 years! we took it all down and put a 36 log 6 foot pole and new cable and coax drilled the wall not window frame set up the freeview box 101 channals the old said will i
get that gay rabbit thing now? cost 85 oap discount''
I am in a flat and have a small box on the lower part of the wall for the ariel to plug into for a good roof top reception, however for some reason the ariel plug will not fit into it, i think it has something to do with the round inner bit that slides into the circle in the box on the ariel. Therefore i have to use an ordinary ariel and the reception is awful.
Can you please help me to find out where I can get it fixed and how much it will cost.
123 aerials Oxford done exactly what they mention above as so bad not replacinc cable then wanted 60 in cash only to replace it And underneath it another comment from ian who is the same person if you look at there web page there lots of great comments from himself never any contact details to confirm they have no qualifications and if you ask a few technical questions you will not get a straight answer as they don't know them someone should try it and see I have and he just tries to talk his way out of it
Seeing you're comment on 123 aerials brings back sush bad memorys I called Reading aerials and who turned up our friend ian of 123 aerials don't know how he managed it but I called Reading aerials as he was still at my house they had never heard of him .he then proceeded to tell me how bad everybody except himself is and my installation would be 340 bud he says usually it's 99 but do you know anyone got 99 installation anyway he hastily left when another no. he gave me he said had sent him I said I will call them .the only mention of 123 aerials was on his van very strange person I don't think I would like in my house
cass.
some flats have strange fittings in the aerial systems but it should be a male coax push in fly lead that fits into it . or it mite have been broken at some time. go to B&Q and get one of those
universal packs of coax and cables there should be something in it that fits.
Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield.
After reading all these posts, mainly from the north of the country,I get the impression that its a cut throat business up there, much like Bristol southwest was 30 years ago, i really dont know how some of the business are staying afloat.
Im one of the oldest astablished radio and TV business down here in the southwest,We been doing satellite equipment long before sky was even thought of, and we have always been fair on my prices, not the cheapest but all the kit we use is good spec and all works carrys a 2 year parts and labour.
I must have got it right because most of the time im turning work away due to workload, although most my old customers are willing to wait until i can find a slot to book them in.
I myself have seen so many changes within the trade from when I was serving my time as a Radio TV engineer which was all valve VHF 405 lines later moving to UHF 625 lines Which meant you had to have a dual standard TV which you needed for BBC2, Most TV by then were hybride which means valve/ transistor, then of course we moved to colour TV which again needed to be dual standard because BBC2 was the only channel transmitted in colour... Wow i remember the first western in colour was the High chaperal.I remember it well because i had to go on alot of manufacturing courses to be able to repair them. Anyway along time after that we had the VCRs come out,So back on so many course i lost count,Us TV engineers had to really move with the times otherwise you were left on the shelf, Not one but 3 formats, are main sellers were the Grundig SVR system and later the Thorn VHS format,I personaly didnt like the sony betamax system, but saying that if they hadnt been knocked out of the market by big rental companys like radio rentals and granda, then it proberly would have progressed.
After that we had the start of Laser, they were playback only large discs the same size as the standard 78rpm record aprox, 2 formats, Hitachi CED which worked similar to a record player but worked on capacitance emmiting diodes the other was the philips laser, Need i say it was more courses with hitachi, i spent alot of time with different manufactures back then, like most TV engineers had to.
It was in the late seventys early 80s that me and my dad desided there was a good untouched business to be had within the satellite industrie within what we thought would be just the southwest of England, at that time we had opened are second Tv shop out in the country.
I was sent off to Luxor which was based in swindon for 2 months on a training course which was later to become salora then ITT Nokia.
First install i ever did was above are first shop which was a 1.2m prime focus dish with a 4ghz LNC, 220 west for the russian satelite Gorizont.
The following day which was VE day we had some of the main stream media turn up at are shop to see the russians parade live on russian TV, By the way, the actuall satellite receiver was built into there TVs even back then.
Soon after that we were able to offer polsat RAI for the italians, we were installing equipment all over England, it took off quite fast, you must bare in mind the dishes for 10-13-and 16 east+ 220 west were 2M primefocus fiber glass, and just the LNCs were 600 a time, it was all hand made, the satellites them selfs were only kicking out 5Watts hence the big dishes, we also took on some very large projects and for distribution we had most of it made to order, again handmade.
With todays tech far as aerials and satellite providing the person has the right meters and some common sence they can install a system.
Where most installers will come unstuck if there givin say a faulty multiswitcher, or even a bog standard distribution amp to repair apart from checking the fuse in the plug end they would be knackered.
Thats why im afraid i cant call a sky or ex sky person a engineer, the word engineer to me and many other, time served engineers is to loosly used like so many other trades.
They should be called either fitters or installers.
Theres nothing engineering about finding out whats wrong with someones satellite system all you need is the tools, spare receiver,LNB and a reel of cable.
If its the receiver at fault, and your not a engineer then you send it to someone who is a engineer.
Im sorry to harp on but it does get up my goat to think i did a stright 5 years city and guilds apprenticeship, plus umpteen courses with manufactures within the TV trade, then someone can go to colleage for 8 weeks or so, and be labled a engineer.
They will be calling window cleaners engineers soon lol, other countries must be laughing at us.
There must be other time served engineers on here, would love to here your opinions on the matter.
Warm regards
Dave
I do recall a college of mine, who had spent four years at university doing an engineering degree, and hence technically "an engineer" being generally annoyed by "technicians" (and other operatives) being called "engineers" when they had no engineering qualifications.
As a mature student, I had to do Fourier transforms and advanced calculus to get my professional qualification. It is all too evident that dumbing-down has now spread way beyond GCSE...
Dave your life story sounds like mine I am in my late 50s and did the all the things you said working for a local sheffield firm wigfalls vhf -uhf black&white TVs BRW colour TVs. videos remember PYE 205s BRC 3500 PHILIPS g8s Decca bradfords on and on?
going self employed opening my fist shop selling ex rental TVs. we had a guy working for us fitting aerials full time but always was a side line to the TV job. we sort of drifted in to the aerial trade as big names came in selling cheap TVs giving credit to any one that walk in the place the aerial trade took of from that and the rest is history as they say. we worked for sky as subbs for a few years made a bit of money out of them but it was hard work' at the moment we seem to be making a living out of the aerial trade and that is what matters in this day and age. I dont know what is around the corner or the next thing after the digital rush is over we will have to go on more courses I bet. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield
Cheers Andrea and Dave Nice to see my beating others prices here in Oxford is upsetting people funny how they are logging on the same time on 2 separate days.
What u quote over the phone is 99 full install and that is what I stick to unless they need something bigger, I have been installing and working in the tv reception area since I was 17 and have never had another job so even though I don't pay CIA or do I pay rdi for a piece of paper each year I have done every heights and signal course needed with full nearly 15 years experience in my area and again cheers it's nice to know other people get upset when I undercut them they are upset.
Also any comment on my site is 1 hundred percent accurate and if any customer wishes to see written proof as it says on my site I will provide it.
Hey cas
Just a quick one for you, you didn't say if socket on wall was broken.
You might find it's really easy most flats that have a communal sky connection plate as well as aerial plate all built into on (triplex plate)
This will have a female socket and if you have brought an aerial lead it will have to male ends.
Go into a local retailer and ask for an rf lead it goes male to female. It's like the ones you used to run from old video players to the tv.
Hope this works for you
Oops I just noticed I put CIA instead if cai sorry
Hey Tom i bet your customer was well happy, I had a lady have a smeg at me for offering her oap discount, saying oap was an offensive word and then said she would call someone else because of it.
Now that's strange he he
Ian
Im not a fan of the CAI I think they are getting to big for there boots. been on some of there courses no comment''they mite ring me up and have a pop at me I think we need some kind of regulation to a degree may be like plumbers or electricians have a card sort of government run thing it mite cost a bit though. Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield.
Hey Tom I would love to have a proper card that we could show to the elderly people and schools with our details and back grounds cos at the moment I have to fax off my driving leicence and my crb plus insurance details. to some people just to work on sight.
New business idea there for you a???
Hi Ian
I think the CAI card is like that.
dont like to say to much about the CIA as you always get some flak from some one in the trade who thinks they are the b all and end all of the trade .just dont like the way they do
business done some contract work for a few big firms here 20,mil insurance health and safety gone mad 3 months before you get money of them holding back 5% of your money stuff that I would sooner work for percy public any time OAPs heare are not daft and its always me that seems to get doneover I think Im to soft' Tom Fletcher Alpha Aerials Sheffield.
Help - can anyone tell me the most sensible thing to do. I currently have sky+ but want to cancel monthly subscription. So do I, 1 get a freesat+ box and connect to dish - outlay a bit high or 2. get a new aerial fitted on top of the house? and buy freeview+ box?????? Not sure whats the best for long term.
Shazza.
Freesat + is the best Humax make a good range of box,s just plug in and go your sky dish will not need any adjustments at all there are some cheaper box,s look at argos they have some low cost ones
Yeh I agree humax by far the best box but I had a problem with one and to do with the tv not being compatible.
It went green on the screen an know matter how many times I did research on it could not fix
Basically if you have a full hd tv then you should be fine if not you might (up to you) like to try one of the cheaper boxes. They are just as good
Shazza - If your on a budget. The Technisat HDFS has only a single tuner but has PVR functionality either with a pen drive or external Laptop HDD. It's priced just 130. but you need to factor in the pen drive or HDD. It's still makes it more affordable than the Humax. I have both and the two are quality products. The Technisat actually gives a three year warranty and can stream to your PC also formats an HDD to give media and photo partions similarly to the Humax. Performance is excellant - what it doesn't do is record "two" while watching another as it's a single tuner but has pause and series record capability. It's down to how much recording you do. Both Humax (except the 500GB drive special edition) and the Technisat have DiseQc control and have motor capablity for those who would wish make use of this. They also can function in mom-freesatmode.
06:11
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