So, not really a complaint but stay with me..

I decided to upgrade the taps in my bathrooms and found some pretty funky Hansgrohe products at Reisser in Binzen, DE and made a note of the price (not a small amount for 2 taps and bath/shower unit)

I called the Basel firm that put in the new bathrooms a year ago and asked for a quote to fit those specific taps (and I mentioned that I'd seen them on sale at Reisser).

They emailed back a quote for the labour and - interestingly - included a copy of a quote to them from Reisser for the taps at about the same price I'd seen in the shop.

All good.. job gets done.. and a few weeks later I get the itemised bill from the plumbers.

They basically doubled the amount they wanted for the taps compared to what Reisser was charging.

I was, of course, pretty annoyed.. it was almost as if they'd forgotten that they'd shown me the cost to them for the taps.

After several weeks trying to track someone down to talk to.. I got a call from the firm's owner. I really expected a 'that's what you have to pay' argument.. but, thankfully, he was very apologetic. 'We made a mistake.. it was a young guy in the office who prepared the bill.. it's not the usual way for us to source the equipment... we'll send you a new bill' (and also interestingly) '... is it ok if we add 10% to the cost of the products as a handling charge ?' (which I agreed to.. but considering they got the VAT rebate.. still pretty cheeky)

So there you go.. infer what you want.. maybe it was a genuine mistake... or maybe swiss firms just double the costs to them of materials. But if you're dealing with a Swiss company and you don't know the cost of materials 'elsewhere' then be prepared to get clobbered !

(..and p.s. I know I could have bought the taps myself.. but they needed a few extra different fittings/pipes etc.. hence I wanted the plumbers to make the order to make sure they came with the right bits... hence a 10% handling charge is OK)

I stopped reading here.

the quotes we got from electricians for trip switches (fuses) where at least double the price place like bauhaus where charging for exactly the same make and model none of the quotes was less then double some quite a bit more.

they really do take you for fools here

Even worse when you consider in many cases they will get a trade discount on stuff. We needed some new fittings for our shower earlier last year and my husband got his friend, who is a plumber, to get the items as he could get it cheaper.

Which in other words is: "We made a mistake... it was a young guy who sent you the original quote from Reisser. You should have never found out how much we charge you on parts."

There's a labour cost associated with ordering/buying the goods from the wholesaler. Do you expect your fish-fingers to cost the same in a restaurant as they do from Migros?

The bills are all made up anyway. If you pay the list price for the material, expect the labour cost to be commensurately higher. Though if the cost was on the quote, that is what I'd expect to pay, so glinaa is probably right.

Well done but always ask for an itemized (separate labor and materials) offer as was done. We have had some success getting bills reduced when we politely asked them to check if it was correct that the hours/materials cost charged is right given it took xx hours ect. You need to be able to back up your claim so keep a tab on what is happening but also realize that there can be prework that is done off site.

I always enjoy my 200 franc bill for changing a light bulb story...
The bathroom cabinet bulb died. I went to change it & found an odd size allen key screw head holding the cover in place.
Not wanting to damage the cabinet (i.e set myself up to be Switzerlanded by the agency for it), I asked the agency if the caretaker could pop in with the correct tool sometime.
They said sure, he'd sort it out and was it ok to go into the flat during the day to do so? - Yes of course we said.
A few weeks later a bill for 200 chf arrived from an electrician for changing the bulb.
We basically phoned them up and said W.T.F.? and said we never authorised you to hire a third party (To change a bloody light bulb, ffs!) and we're not paying. End of.

To my surprise, they apologised and retreated

Without trying to be too cynical, but I do honestly believe that this was the more likely scenario.