Need advice on dilemma I have with Colerain Honda

[jumper69]

Bear with me on this as it is a bit involved.

Yesterday (11-17-04) I took my 2003 Accord to Jeff Wyler Colerain Honda for an oil change. The guy at the service desk told me I had not had my 30k service and that it was a biggie and I should get it. I said OK. He said it would be $360. I said, after my heart returned to normal rhythm, to go ahead and do it, that I would wait. He also told me since I was near 45k miles on the car (43k to be exact), that the 45k service required a coolant flush. So, since I was there I said OK to that as well.

Long story short, it took them about 1.5 hours to complete ALL of the work for both services. Where I have the problem is that I was charged for 4 hours of work. 3.50 hours for the 30k service and .50 hours for the coolant flush.

I object to paying them for 2.5 hours of work that they never did.

Their explanation is that they charge set hours for set procedures. IOW their ?book? tells them that it takes 3.50 hours to do a 30k service. Well empirically I know that is not true. It takes about 1.50 hours.

I paid the bill. $421 total w/parts and labor. I couldn't get my car back if I didn't. What I want to know is am I justified in demanding that I get MY money returned for the services they didn't perform. I am will to pay them for the work they did. No problem with that. I am NOT willing, however, to give them another $200 dollars because they SAY that's how they bill.

What are my options? What can I do? Anything? I spoke with a service manager, a sales manager, I tired to speak with the general manager but I couldn't get to him.....yet! I didn't get to speak to the manager of the service department because he was ?unavailable?

And to add insult to injury, the sales manager's first words to me when I came out were not ?Hi Mr. Dunagan, my name is XXXXX, how can I help you? It was ?Well? I don't have ESP?

I'm ready to kill him but that's another post!

Thoughts?

[LanDroid]

It's a simple contract - they quoted you a fixed price to do the work, you agreed to it, so you have to pay. It doesn't matter if the invoice lists erroneous labor costs because you weren't quoted on a time and material "cost plus" basis. If you really think you could have had the work done for half that price, go to the other place the next time.

On the other hand, I'd try to make life difficult for the guy anyway just for the "ESP" comment... [img]mad.gif[/img]

<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ November 18, 2004 09:08 AM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>

[Ickey]

I agree with Lan Jump, they gave you a price and you agreed. I also agree about the shitty ESP comment.

My brother worked as a Ford mechanic for about 10 years, and I always had to hear the tales of the hours book. For example, he might get a car in for some work that the book claimed was worth 2.0 hours. If it took him 8, he still only got paid for the 2. Is it a stupid system? Yes, I think so. But there are times when you save a large amount of cash thanks to that book. Especially if you have a slow mechanic, or a service department that intentionally works slow to up the hours count for pay by the hour work.

[cincygreg]

That's also where you get into the "man hours" thing.

If it takes 2 hours to fix something, but it also took two people to do it in two hours...
That is actually 4 "man hours" of labor.
Not saying it was done that way, but it is something that is done in various service businesses.

[jumper69]

Yeah.....I kind of figured I was screwed. I guess I'm more angry at myself for agreeing to the work. My car was running poorly and it runs much better now, but still....

I do think I will make a bit of a fuss about the sales manager though. [img]wink.gif[/img]

Oh...I don't know shit about car maintenance but is $180 to replace the rear break pads excessive?

[Ickey]

brake pads? Can't you do those yourself? It's only a few bolts.

[jumper69]

brake pads? Can't you do those yourself? It's only a few bolts.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Can you install two separate controller cards in a server and set up RAID 5 on the external array using one card and RAID 1 on the internal drives using the other.

It's only a couple of screws.

The above was said tongue in cheek and was not meant to be mean. I simply mean we all have our own talents. Car maintenance isn't mine.

[gae]

Jump, if you really feel you've been had, contact the Attorney General's office. And bitch, bitch, and bitch some more. Sound to me like you've been had.

Can you install two separate controller cards in a server and set up RAID 5 on the external array using one card and RAID 1 on the internal drives using the other.
It's only a couple of screws.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well some of us do that in our sleep. [/i]

[reason]

Originally posted by Jumper69:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">brake pads? Can't you do those yourself? It's only a few bolts.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Can you install two separate controller cards in a server and set up RAID 5 on the external array using one card and RAID 1 on the internal drives using the other.

It's only a couple of screws.

The above was said tongue in cheek and was not meant to be mean. I simply mean we all have our own talents. Car maintenance isn't mine.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I just paid $230 for my brakes to be fixed, and it would have cost, what, $20 if I did it myself? I don't have a garage, so I can't work inside. When my tire went flat Saturday night at midnight, I found that I don't even have a jack. (Tires, $297). My parents have ramps I suppose I could use, but I wouldn't even know where to begin.

[Piña]

Being a lousy mechanic myself my philosophy is I only work on the systems that aren't likely to kill me if I make a mistake. If the things that make the car go fail, then I don't go but if the things that make the car stop fail, then an external braking system may come into play. Like a bridge support or that car in front of me.

I leave brakes to the real mechanics but I'm more than happy enough to blow up engines. I'm up to two so far.