Q: I have a CD player which is almost five years old. It has recently started to give me problems and has also damaged some CDs which I played on it. I therefore took it to the shop I bought it from, which also carries out repairs, and asked how much it would cost me to have it repaired.

The technician told me he cannot give me a quote without first opening and examining it. He also said there is a flat rate of €20 for a quotation of the expenses involved.

I don't want to pay €20 only to be told that it would be very expensive to repair or that it might not even be repairable. Can firms really charge for quotations?

A: Yes they can. As long as the company does not advertise that if offers free quotations and as long as it makes it clear before accepting your CD player for examination that there is a charge, it can charge for this service. It requires skill to determine the cause of the fault and establish whether it can be repaired or not.

To do this the technician has to spend time examining the product and time is money.

Hence, it is reasonable for a technician to get paid for his labour and expertise to find out if a repair is economically worthwhile.