Dealers are full of Sh!t when repairing cars *rant*

[EmperorIQ]

This happened a long time ago, but feel like sharing so here I go. . .

My sister's car overheated and we spent 600 bucks to fix the water pump. Next the car began to shut off when is it being driven. I took it to the dealer to have it fixed. and i said "Are you sure this will fix it, because I just spent 600 bucks and I don't want to spend another 900" The guy said "yes this will fix the problem".

A week later i went back (the problem wasn't fixed) Dealer gave the car a look and said that he now knows what the problem is and it'll be another 900 bucks. and i replied "i asked you if you were sure that it'll fix the problem, or else i would not have paid you the first 900"

his response: "i said that it would keep it running"
@%!@#%!@%#!@#% "now the car is just sitting in the garage"
86 benz


Edit: So if any of you decide to get your car fixed at the mercedes delearship in West Covina, CA, don't

 

[MAME]

how do you know he was full of sh!t? maybe all of those things needed repairs

 

[Mill]

How long ago?

 

[IGBT]

I never had a good experience with dealer maintance..last time I was there they forgot to put my trans dip stick back..when I returned to get it they couldn't find it..they got me a new one after a week wait..bunch of goobers at that joint..serramonte auto plaza in daily city...

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ
This happened a long time ago, but feel like sharing so here I go. . .

My sister's car overheated and we spent 600 bucks to fix the water pump. Next the car began to shut off when is it being driven. I took it to the dealer to have it fixed. and i said "Are you sure this will fix it, because I just spent 600 bucks and I don't want to spend another 900" The guy said "yes this will fix the problem".

A week later i went back (the problem wasn't fixed) Dealer gave the car a look and said that he now knows what the problem is and it'll be another 900 bucks. and i replied "i asked you if you were sure that it'll fix the problem, or else i would not have paid you the first 900"

his response: "i said that it would keep it running"
@%!@#%!@%#!@#% "now the car is just sitting in the garage"
86 benz


Edit: So if any of you decide to get your car fixed at the mercedes delearship in West Covina, CA, don't

unless that is some really nice benz, spending $2400 to "fix" it probably isnt right.


perhaps you could take the dealership to small claims court or at least threaten them with that, so maybe they will fix it instead of charging you the 2nd $900

 

[Quixfire]

I will admit the dealer handled your concerns wrong, but sometimes a symptom can be caused by more than one bad component. Sometimes fixing one problem may uncover another problem that was being marked by the first.

I have always had good experiences with my Mercedes Benz Dealer.

 

[SP33Demon]

I have a good story about something that happened to me about a month ago... well I was in an accident around xmas time, and I needed a car rental. They give me this POS 2001 Ford Escort for 15 days. On day 15, it was the first really cold day in the NorthEast, it was around -1 at night. I wake up on day 15, open up the rear driver side door, get something I needed out of there, and closed the door. All of a sudden, the rear window SHATTERS. Like uniformly, shatters for no reason at all and the middle (about the size of a baseball) starts falling into the backseat. So I'm think wtf? So I return to Enterprise after taping the window, and he says it will be filed under "no fault" and that they will cover it. Low and behold, they send it out to Mall Chrysler (in South Jersey) and they claim it was MY FAULT. They charge my dad and his insurance 1K to fix it, I'm still fighting it as a matter of fact. No way in hell that was my fault... I even have 2 witnesses who were standing right there when it happened. I'm thinking about filing a small claims court against them, but not sure if I still can because my dad's insurance already paid out the $500 deductible. I'll be damned if they ever collect the other 500, my dad said they can go to hell. Yes, dealerships are fvcking crooks, I agree!!

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
I have a good story about something that happened to me about a month ago... well I was in an accident around xmas time, and I needed a car rental. They give me this POS 2001 Ford Escort for 15 days. On day 15, it was the first really cold day in the NorthEast, it was around -1 at night. I wake up on day 15, open up the rear driver side door, get something I needed out of there, and closed the door. All of a sudden, the rear window SHATTERS. Like uniformly, shatters for no reason at all and the middle (about the size of a baseball) starts falling into the backseat. So I'm think wtf? So I return to Enterprise after taping the window, and he says it will be filed under "no fault" and that they will cover it. Low and behold, they send it out to Mall Chrysler (in South Jersey) and they claim it was MY FAULT. They charge my dad and his insurance 1K to fix it, I'm still fighting it as a matter of fact. No way in hell that was my fault... I even have 2 witnesses who were standing right there when it happened. I'm thinking about filing a small claims court against them, but not sure if I still can because my dad's insurance already paid out the $500 deductible. I'll be damned if they ever collect the other 500, my dad said they can go to hell. Yes, dealerships are fvcking crooks, I agree!!

LAME!
that is totally ass my friend..... damn!

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The two dealerships that I can get warrentee work done around my place both went through thier upper level service people. Now they have a really shady feel about them. They want to inspect everything. I just picked up my car yesterday, the service rep said the fuel injectors needed to be cleaned because they had alot of carbon on them. (wtf?) Declined that. Get home, look at the form, there's a comment: "Tech found spark plugs had carbon buildup". Yeah, there's a little bit of difference between a $5 set of spark plugs and a nice expensive run through one of thier machines.

 

[SP33Demon]

Originally posted by: CraigRT

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
I have a good story about something that happened to me about a month ago... well I was in an accident around xmas time, and I needed a car rental. They give me this POS 2001 Ford Escort for 15 days. On day 15, it was the first really cold day in the NorthEast, it was around -1 at night. I wake up on day 15, open up the rear driver side door, get something I needed out of there, and closed the door. All of a sudden, the rear window SHATTERS. Like uniformly, shatters for no reason at all and the middle (about the size of a baseball) starts falling into the backseat. So I'm think wtf? So I return to Enterprise after taping the window, and he says it will be filed under "no fault" and that they will cover it. Low and behold, they send it out to Mall Chrysler (in South Jersey) and they claim it was MY FAULT. They charge my dad and his insurance 1K to fix it, I'm still fighting it as a matter of fact. No way in hell that was my fault... I even have 2 witnesses who were standing right there when it happened. I'm thinking about filing a small claims court against them, but not sure if I still can because my dad's insurance already paid out the $500 deductible. I'll be damned if they ever collect the other 500, my dad said they can go to hell. Yes, dealerships are fvcking crooks, I agree!!

LAME!
that is totally ass my friend..... damn!

Yeah no kidding... I don't think there's much I can do, b/c it's really my word against his. Unless I can find some documentation showing that this is common in Ford Escorts for that year... I want to sue the balls off of Enterprise for this, it's total BS. I should go back and knock that punk out, the one who said it would be filed as No Fault. He's the one who inspected the car, saw it that day, and told me this. Shocking that I'm so pissed I'm actually thinking about kicking his pansy ass if I saw him, I'm usually not violent at all.

 

[EmperorIQ]

it was a very long time ago, i'd say almost 2 years? yea its still sitting in the garage, my dad plans on working on it when he retires, haha, funny man!

 

[Wingznut]

I worked as an auto technician (ASE Master Mechanic) for 10+ years at both independant shops and dealerships. And yes, I can confirm that people get ripped off every day... On both the repair end and the sales end. I don't think I'm exagerrating when I say the majority of customers are getting screwed in one way or another.

But independant shops really aren't any different.


All that being said, there's no way to judge whether or not you got ripped off with such a vague story.

 

[DT4K]

Dealership wanted to charge me $3500 to rebuild a transmission.
Independent shop did it for $1000.

But yeah, the ratio of honest to dishonest car repair shops is probably 1:100 for both dealers and independent.

I did have one good experience with a dealership repair shop. We had flown to Colorado to visit my wife's grandmother and pick up her car (she was moving into a retirement center and couldn't really drive any more). On the way out of town, the heater core went out and started leaking coolant into the ventilation system. We pulled into a Mercury dealership. It was going to be $700 to fix it (you have to remove the whole front dash to get to the heater core). But they told us right up front that they could also just bypass the heater core for about $30. That would leave us without heat or AC, but would allow the car to run fine so we could make it home (Oregon, with a stop in Phoenix, AZ). I was pretty impressed that they told us that instead of trying to convince us that the $700 repair was the only way to go.

The drive home is another story altogether. Suffice it to say that we didn't realize Flagstaff, AZ had snow storms in April, and we were glad we had packed warm clothes and extra blankets.

 

[Vic]

I agree there are many dishonest mechanics. However, IMO it is your fault for not knowing jack about cars and car repair. Your ignorance makes you an easy mark and they just can't help themselves from taking your money.

 

[Asharus]

I'm sure glad I have a tech I can trust.

 

[waggy]

well its not just car dealership shops that do this.

a independent mechanic will also rip you off. I have got ripped off once by a local transmission shop.

 

[halik]

i knew someone with an old astro van or something like that. The brake lines broke on the rear axle (about 20 dollars worth of parts + bleed the brakes) and they ended up spending $550. I was like wtf? that thing is under 100 bucks worth of labor.

Well apparently the palce told em that the brake pads and calipers are worn and that with new calipers it will need new rotors (plus bleed the system and get new brake lines lines). Anyway the place gave em a box of spare parts and when i picked up the brake pads they had more around 18mm worth of matrial left (!!!). Thats about 70% of the full thicknes of the surface


<- does all work himself or finds someone that knows how to do it

oh yeah my audi dealer charged me 3bucks a piece for cluster lights and wanted 55+ tax for oilchange (not even synthetic)

 

[V00DOO]

You should have taken the Benz for a second opinion! Most of the time, you'll find the dealer charges double what a regular garage charges.

 

[slick230]

Originally posted by: EmperorIQ
it was a very long time ago, i'd say almost 2 years? yea its still sitting in the garage, my dad plans on working on it when he retires, haha, funny man!

No offense, but even at 2 years ago, the car was 16 years old. Unless it was in VERY good condition, I'd say it was a piece of sh|t and the problems were just popping up one after the other.

 

[DrPizza]

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
I have a good story about something that happened to me about a month ago... well I was in an accident around xmas time, and I needed a car rental. They give me this POS 2001 Ford Escort for 15 days. On day 15, it was the first really cold day in the NorthEast, it was around -1 at night. I wake up on day 15, open up the rear driver side door, get something I needed out of there, and closed the door. All of a sudden, the rear window SHATTERS. Like uniformly, shatters for no reason at all and the middle (about the size of a baseball) starts falling into the backseat. So I'm think wtf? So I return to Enterprise after taping the window, and he says it will be filed under "no fault" and that they will cover it. Low and behold, they send it out to Mall Chrysler (in South Jersey) and they claim it was MY FAULT. They charge my dad and his insurance 1K to fix it, I'm still fighting it as a matter of fact. No way in hell that was my fault... I even have 2 witnesses who were standing right there when it happened. I'm thinking about filing a small claims court against them, but not sure if I still can because my dad's insurance already paid out the $500 deductible. I'll be damned if they ever collect the other 500, my dad said they can go to hell. Yes, dealerships are fvcking crooks, I agree!!

$1000 to replace a windshield?! :Q I thought they ran around $100-$200

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: DrPizza

Originally posted by: SP33Demon
I have a good story about something that happened to me about a month ago... well I was in an accident around xmas time, and I needed a car rental. They give me this POS 2001 Ford Escort for 15 days. On day 15, it was the first really cold day in the NorthEast, it was around -1 at night. I wake up on day 15, open up the rear driver side door, get something I needed out of there, and closed the door. All of a sudden, the rear window SHATTERS. Like uniformly, shatters for no reason at all and the middle (about the size of a baseball) starts falling into the backseat. So I'm think wtf? So I return to Enterprise after taping the window, and he says it will be filed under "no fault" and that they will cover it. Low and behold, they send it out to Mall Chrysler (in South Jersey) and they claim it was MY FAULT. They charge my dad and his insurance 1K to fix it, I'm still fighting it as a matter of fact. No way in hell that was my fault... I even have 2 witnesses who were standing right there when it happened. I'm thinking about filing a small claims court against them, but not sure if I still can because my dad's insurance already paid out the $500 deductible. I'll be damned if they ever collect the other 500, my dad said they can go to hell. Yes, dealerships are fvcking crooks, I agree!!

$1000 to replace a windshield?! :Q I thought they ran around $100-$200

Depends on the car. But the fault there wasn't the dealer's, it was Enterprise, the worst car rental company there is.