Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site biomed.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!panda!talcott!wjh12!biomed!lagasse
From: lagasse@biomed.UUCP (Robert C. Lagasse)
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Muffler Rip-Off
Message-ID: <118@biomed.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 3-Sep-85 17:46:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: biomed.118
Posted: Tue Sep  3 17:46:58 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 5-Sep-85 07:10:38 EDT
Organization: Mass. Gen. Hosp. - Dept. Biomed. Engineering
Lines: 21


     Here's the story:  I went to a big name muffler shop the other day and
was quoted a price of about 150.00 for a new muffler set-up installed on my
truck.  I said O.K. , do the job!  The job was done nicely and when I went
to pay the bill I looked at the itemized list of PARTS which added up to say
$ 150.00 and looked on the line for LABOR which nothing was written.  The
tax on the PARTS was $7.50 (Massachusetts 5% sales tax).  The bottom line
was for $157.50 .   I said to the cashier "where is the labor charge?" and
he said "we just charge for parts, labor is free". To which I replied " how
can labor be free , ? you are paying your employees a wage for work and you
are obviously charging me tax on not only parts, but labor.  Your parts
prices are super inflated to hide a labor charge and then you charge tax on
these "parts" prices"  My question is , can they practice this legally?  I'm
pretty sure that they do not give the full amount of tax charged to the
government, but instead pocket this extra fee.  Is a tax on labor in Mass.
legal???   By the was the muffler chain's name starts with an M and uses a
king or something as part of their logo.

  "Sounds to me like they're a bunch of Bottom-Feeding Sea
Crustaceans...........or Filter-Feeders anyway"
Bob Lagasse