Saorview for €500?

gustus

Hi,
My 96 year old great-aunt who is unable to leave the house recently had Saorview installed in Wicklow town and the guy charged her €500. She gave him 600 as he was so nice and helpful. She lives in a small cottage with one TV. He subsequently quoted my other aunt next door who is physically disabled €800. They both have modern TV's in situ.

I think he completely ripped her off.

Can anyone educate me on the ins and outs of Saorview installation with prices please?

Thanks.

STB.

Modern TV's after 2012 would have integrated tuners capable of picking up Saorview.

An outdoor aerial about €40. 20-30m of cable about €15. Couple of connectors a few quid.

Yes is the answer to your question.

What was fitted.

If they had an aerial fitted already, they may not have even needed one.

They possibly only needed their nephew to drop down and tune the stations in on the integrated modern TV.

Wabbit Ears

Say she had nothing installed.

UHF Aerial: 40
http://www.freetv.ie/wide-band-grid-uhf-aerial.html
Mast: 11
http://www.freetv.ie/aluminium-aerial-mast-180cm-x-32mm.html
Brackets 20
http://www.freetv.ie/18-wall-brackets-tk-kit.html
Cable: 20
http://www.freetv.ie/satellite-cable-100m-black.htmlc
Mast head amplifier: 13
http://www.freetv.ie/medium-gain-uhf-masthead-amplifiers.html
Power unit: 19
http://www.freetv.ie/proception-2-way-12v-power-unit.html
Wall bolts, Cable Clips, Connectors: 20
Saorview STB: 90
http://www.freetv.ie/saorview-pvr.html

So exvat all that is 233, 282+Vat

To wire it all up, hang the aerial feed through walls, Say 4 hrs is about 50 quid an hour.

TBH if it was a full blank canvas install that's reasonable.

steveon

€500 for just saorview you have got to be kidding me. I install aerial bracket and cable for one room for €85 and at that Im told Im too expensive....boxes at €50+ depending on what they require cheap combo boxes from €90 upwards ....there is no way one room could ever cost anywhere near that price..


Im disgusted ....

dubrov

The price seems very high but you would have to ask on the details of what was installed. She may have had a satellite dish installed as well to get the UK channels. Multiroom may also have been installed requiring another box.

To be honest, I'd still be expecting to get all of the above for less than €500.

For Saorview, you just need an aerial to pick up the signal and a cable connecting it to your TV (assuming it has a terrestrial tuner - most modern TVs sold in Ireland do). Depending on your location, you might even get away with a cheapy indoor aerial.

amikoalien2

Ouch

mamax

Should not have been more than 200 regardless of what he did.
Bracket, aerial, cable, clips, cable ties etc etc and maybe 1 to 1.5 hours work max.


To the guy I've quoted below, €50 per hour ??? are you serious
I've done plenty of single saorview jobs for €100 or less that include supply and fit aerial all cabling and setup tv, uhf aerials can be bought for less than a tenner these days !

To wire it all up, hang the aerial feed through walls, Say 4 hrs is about 50 quid an hour.
TBH if it was a full blank canvas install that's reasonable.

icdg

moved to terrestrial

winston_1

It may seem high, though of course there are no price controls so tradesmen can charge what they like.

It would seem also that she was satisfied with the price if she gave him a €100 tip.

swoofer

The OP should state exactly what the fitter actually did, it could have been, new aerial and dish installed, cabling, new tv, it might even be a fta system ie a combo box for freesat and saorview.

But in all probablity a rip off. A 100 tip is wow!

And was the guy local.

Atlantic Dawn

If your aunt gave a €100 tip she has more money than sense.

homer911

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

If your aunt gave a €100 tip she has more money than sense.

Fair enough, the OP says she is 96!

swoofer

I'd say this is a wind up and should be deleted, OP has 3 posts!!

gustus

To SWOOFER... Why would this be a wind up? And why would my 3 posts suggest as much? Not everyone spends their days on boards or on any computer for that matter.

To anyone else that replied. Thank you.

Yes its a local guy. Yes shes 96 and therefore has nothing to spend her money on. More money than sense? No, just old-fasioned generous and living on a state pension. A guy that does a job seems like gold dust to her.
All in all the costs may be legitimate if he did it the most expensive way possible but going on what Ive seen here and elsewhere it could have been done way cheaper for sure. Sad to think there's cowboys like that about

Kristopherus

gustus wrote: »

To SWOOFER... Why would this be a wind up? And why would my 3 posts suggest as much? Not everyone spends their days on boards or on any computer for that matter.

To anyone else that replied. Thank you.

Yes its a local guy. Yes shes 96 and therefore has nothing to spend her money on. More money than sense? No, just old-fasioned generous and living on a state pension. A guy that does a job seems like gold dust to her.
All in all the costs may be legitimate if he did it the most expensive way possible but going on what Ive seen here and elsewhere it could have been done way cheaper for sure. Sad to think there's cowboys like that about

Did you approach him and ask for an itemised bill?

danm14

She's located in Wicklow, could she have had a very high gain aerial installed to receive the UK channels terrestrially from Wales, instead of via Satellite?

Considering she's elderly the installer may have thought it'd be easier to have all the channels on one box, that would (almost definitely) never have to be retuned for the main channels, he wouldn't have to return to retune lost channels, or try to explain via the phone what to do?

Not saying doing this, or charging €500, is really acceptable but it might well have been a genuine thought that although it's more expensive it'd be easier both for her and the installer in the long run.

cornholiooo

I've heard lots of stories similar to this, it's more common than you'd think.
My sister in Cavan got badly ripped off for a new house installation.
I also know of an incident where an installer charged €400 to replace an old sky dish with a triax metal one, no cabling required.

Shame on him overcharging old people, he should be hung up next to the aerial.

Kristopherus

cornholiooo wrote: »

I've heard lots of stories similar to this, it's more common than you'd think.
My sister in Cavan got badly ripped off for a new house installation.
I also know of an incident where an installer charged €400 to replace an old sky dish with a triax metal one, no cabling required.

Shame on him overcharging old people, he should be hung up next to the aerial.

Its an awful pity we're not allowed to name & shame these shysters:mad:.