Ok, in a question with no bearing on the Boston Bob scandal of late, here's
a situation I've been in many times and have yet to find an answer for.

You hire a tradesperson by the hour to fix a problem. He or she puts in the
hours, but does not fix the problem. Do you pay?

Sounds simple, but it rarely is. Case #1: I took a '93 Saab to a reputable
local mech to have the vacuum cruise control fixed, something which I now
know is by definition impossible. After five hours of labor at something
like $85 per hour, the mech came back with a kind of sheepish look and said
he just couldn't figure it out.

He put in the time, so he should be paid. I didn't get the problem fixed, so
he shouldn't be paid. What's the answer?

Case #2: an HVAC installer put in a $4,500 water heater in one of our
buildings, but could not get it to start. After countless hours on the phone
with the manufacturer and other information sources, we had our maintenance
guy reverse the polarity on the AC supply. Five minutes and it worked fine.
We paid the installer around $2K for his labor but balked at the second bill
he sent for his (worthless) hours troubleshooting.

He put in the hours. Should he be paid? Should we, for the damage to our
company's reputation from irate tenants without hot water? For the hours we
put in?

I think this happens all the time, especially in diagnostic situations
involving things like intermittent electrical problems.

In Vanagons.

Any mechanics out there care to comment?

Geza