Dealership service centers STILL prey on females?

[NFS4]

I guess I was too naive to think that most reputable dealerships would've stopped this bullsh!t by now, but I guess not. I understand that most independent shops are pretty pathetic, but I thought that dealerships were pretty cool. My GF took her '04 Civic EX to Crown Honda on Independence Blvd. in Charlotte to have her oil changed early last week before heading to work. Granted, she doesn't know much about cars so she just wanted to get the oil changed and be done.

Well, she gets there and the service guy says that she not only needs an oil change, but her 30,000 mile service is going to cost $270. He ran off a laundry list of stuff that they need to check and replace in addition to doing the oil change. Of course, she's like confused as hell as she just thought that she needed an oil change. She tells them that she only wants an oil change and he tells her that it's best to get it done all at once and that it will take about 2.5 - 3 hours all total. She didn't have time to wait that long (and she wasn't sure if he was telling her the right info anyway) so she just drove off and went to work.

Well, she told me about it earlier that afternoon and of course I'm like WTF? I look at the manual and at the most, it says that she needs an oil change, ail filter replaced and to have her tires rotated. Everything else looked to be just inspecting hoses, hinges, etc. Nowhere near $270.

So fast forward to today. Her dad ends up taking her car to the dealership and tells them that he wants an oil change and they say no problem and don't mention a damn thing about $270 in additional service.

Anyone have any other stories of females getting the shaft in auto service

 

[acemcmac]

Dealerships are the one place on earth that I have no problem going in and making a scene..... Go rip them all goddamn new assholes. It doesen't matter if you get an apology.... One good sh1tfit will loose a dealership 100k in businesse instantly with people turing around and walking out

 

[mugs]

Does she have 30k miles? My Honda dealership charges $100 for 7500 mile service, $200 for 15000 mile service, and $400 for 30000 mile service. They have it posted on a board. Obviously I've never had it done there. I don't think they were trying to prey on her because she's a girl, dealerships are just a rip-off.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: mugs
Does she have 30k miles? My Honda dealership charges $100 for 7500 mile service, $200 for 15000 mile service, and $400 for 30000 mile service. They have it posted on a board. Obviously I've never had it done there. I don't think they were trying to prey on her because she's a girl, dealerships are just a rip-off.

30,500 or somewhere near that.

 

[MetalMat]

My gf went to get her break pads put on at Midas on her Mitsubishi 2001 galant. They said that she needed new rotors (which I pretty much already knew) but were going to charge her 500+ bucks for it. The also said that all of her tired were worn to the treads and were gonna bust any day, and tried to sell her tires at 100 bucks a pop which was a "good deal". I told her to get the F out of there and we are going somewhere else. She told them to park her car out side and just put the keys under the car mat. They half arsed did it and left the keys in the ignition.

Anyways, I went to A1 tires with her car on my day off, spent around 200 for new rotors and pads, plus got her a used tire for the 1 tire that was worn out for 30 bucks.

 

[imported_LoKe]

Originally posted by: NFS4
Anyone have any other stories of females getting the shaft in auto service

I haven't been able to get into contact with 5 Speed Girl, yet.

 

[zendari]

That's not preying.

 

[Excelsior]

...dealerships are just a rip-off.

In-fvcking-deed.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: zendari
That's not preying.

Just business as usual?

 

[SVT Cobra]

Depends on the worker, and I know they don't just prey on females, just anybody they can make money on.

 

[funboy6942]

Working at the dealership you are required to mention that because that is what is reccomended in your sevice manual. They were not trying to jsut go after her but depending on the management they were required to brinf that up and let her know. Also so you know (which I am sure you do) if you dont keep to the schedual in the manual and show proff you had it done there at the dealership or yorself with reciepts and say the engine locks up that is thier out for not having to do anything under the warranty for your car because you "neglected" or didnt keep the up keep on it

This way the dealership gets money from you in doing the 5k, 10k, 15k,...... service and if you dont will get even more money from you when you cannot prove you had what was supposed to be done and they stick you with the full bill. And how do I know this? I did it on a punk kid and a Mustang. never even bothered to have the oil changed and brought it in dry as a bone, not one leak anywhere, and no reiepts showing he had ever had the oil changed ever. Cant warrant neglect its in the fine print

So if people ever wondered why they can offer such high mile warranties is because 90% of the people dont keep the up keep acording to the manual and when something goes wrong and you cant prove it they have an out. So not defending them but if you dont want that to happen find out what needs to be done and do it yourself and keep every reciept for the entire time that car is under warranty.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: zendari
That's not preying.

Just business as usual?

Yeah. They wanted to charge her the normal rate for stuff that really needed to be done. It is strange that they didn't tell her dad she needed to have that stuff done though. Overcharging her or doing work that doesn't need to be done would be preying.

 

[her209]

I'd make sure they actually did what they said they would do.

 

[ruffilb]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: zendari
That's not preying.

Just business as usual?

I read something in a book a while ago (Blink, actually, by Malcom Gladwell) that mentioned something about that. It was a great read.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: funboy42

This way the dealership gets money from you in doing the 5k, 10k, 15k,...... service and if you dont will get even more money from you when you cannot prove you had what was supposed to be done and they stick you with the full bill. And how do I know this? I did it on a punk kid and a Mustang. never even bothered to have the oil changed and brought it in dry as a bone, not one leak anywhere, and no reiepts showing he had ever had the oil changed ever. Cant warrant neglect its in the fine print

So if people ever wondered why they can offer such high mile warranties is because 90% of the people dont keep the up keep acording to the manual and when something goes wrong and you cant prove it they have an out. So not defending them but if you dont want that to happen find out what needs to be done and do it yourself and keep every reciept for the entire time that car is under warranty.

They can't refuse warranty service due to not following the service schedule unless they can prove that the lack of service CAUSED the problem. In your case, obviously the lack of oil changes was the cause of his problem. But you couldn't refuse warranty service on his alternator because he didn't change his oil, for instance.

 

[thomsbrain]

so they recommend the scheduled service and this is "preying?"

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: zendari
That's not preying.

Just business as usual?

Yeah. They wanted to charge her the normal rate for stuff that really needed to be done. It is strange that they didn't tell her dad she needed to have that stuff done though. Overcharging her or doing work that doesn't need to be done would be preying.

I guess preying isn't the right word, but here's how I see it:

According to the manual (going by memory), they check hoses, hinges, make sure fluids are OK, etc. etc. They don't actually change anything or replace anything. When I went to have my handbrake on my Mazda3 tightened at the dealership, they did all of that stuff for free.

Guy's reaction: $270 for that sh!t? Just change my damn oil.
Female's reaction: $270? Well...I guess it has to be done...

That being said, the same guy that waited on my GF also waited on her dad.

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: funboy42

This way the dealership gets money from you in doing the 5k, 10k, 15k,...... service and if you dont will get even more money from you when you cannot prove you had what was supposed to be done and they stick you with the full bill. And how do I know this? I did it on a punk kid and a Mustang. never even bothered to have the oil changed and brought it in dry as a bone, not one leak anywhere, and no reiepts showing he had ever had the oil changed ever. Cant warrant neglect its in the fine print

So if people ever wondered why they can offer such high mile warranties is because 90% of the people dont keep the up keep acording to the manual and when something goes wrong and you cant prove it they have an out. So not defending them but if you dont want that to happen find out what needs to be done and do it yourself and keep every reciept for the entire time that car is under warranty.

They can't refuse warranty service due to not following the service schedule unless they can prove that the lack of service CAUSED the problem. In your case, obviously the lack of oil changes was the cause of his problem. But you couldn't refuse warranty service on his alternator because he didn't change his oil, for instance.

No I didnt say that but if something drivetrain wise goes bad then yes they can.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: thomsbrain
so they recommend the scheduled service and this is "preying?"

I guess I see it as preying b/c whenever I've taken my car in for service (be it my old Camry or my current Mazda), I never got "propositioned" for any XX,000 mile services. However, if my GF takes her car to Honda or her mom takes her Camry to Toyota, they always get hassled about $XXX service deals. Likewise, my GF's dad never gets hassled either.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: zendari
That's not preying.

Just business as usual?

Yeah. They wanted to charge her the normal rate for stuff that really needed to be done. It is strange that they didn't tell her dad she needed to have that stuff done though. Overcharging her or doing work that doesn't need to be done would be preying.

I guess preying isn't the right word, but here's how I see it:

According to the manual (going by memory), they check hoses, hinges, make sure fluids are OK, etc. etc. They don't actually change anything or replace anything. When I went to have my handbrake on my Mazda3 tightened at the dealership, they did all of that stuff for free.

Guy's reaction: $270 for that sh!t? Just change my damn oil.
Female's reaction: $270? Well...I guess it has to be done...

That being said, the same guy that waited on my GF also waited on her dad.

This is why I do all of the maintenance on my Civic myself.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: mugs
Does she have 30k miles? My Honda dealership charges $100 for 7500 mile service, $200 for 15000 mile service, and $400 for 30000 mile service. They have it posted on a board. Obviously I've never had it done there. I don't think they were trying to prey on her because she's a girl, dealerships are just a rip-off.

30,500 or somewhere near that.

Then it was due for the 30,000 mile service (which is warranty required) and $270 is a reasonable cost for that. I don't see the issue.

 

[1prophet]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: funboy42

This way the dealership gets money from you in doing the 5k, 10k, 15k,...... service and if you dont will get even more money from you when you cannot prove you had what was supposed to be done and they stick you with the full bill. And how do I know this? I did it on a punk kid and a Mustang. never even bothered to have the oil changed and brought it in dry as a bone, not one leak anywhere, and no reiepts showing he had ever had the oil changed ever. Cant warrant neglect its in the fine print

So if people ever wondered why they can offer such high mile warranties is because 90% of the people dont keep the up keep acording to the manual and when something goes wrong and you cant prove it they have an out. So not defending them but if you dont want that to happen find out what needs to be done and do it yourself and keep every reciept for the entire time that car is under warranty.

They can't refuse warranty service due to not following the service schedule unless they can prove that the lack of service CAUSED the problem. In your case, obviously the lack of oil changes was the cause of his problem. But you couldn't refuse warranty service on his alternator because he didn't change his oil, for instance.

If the person is a problem customer or bought the vehicle somewhere else they can refer him to another dealer due to scheduling problems especially if the warranty is a money loser or they have reached the unwritten warranty quota that can bring about an audit.

 

[NFS4]

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: mugs
Does she have 30k miles? My Honda dealership charges $100 for 7500 mile service, $200 for 15000 mile service, and $400 for 30000 mile service. They have it posted on a board. Obviously I've never had it done there. I don't think they were trying to prey on her because she's a girl, dealerships are just a rip-off.

30,500 or somewhere near that.

Then it was due for the 30,000 mile service (which is warranty required) and $270 is a reasonable cost for that. I don't see the issue.

The issue is that the same guy who hassled my GF about the service didn't even bother to go after her dad when bringing in the same vehicle and punching in the same VIN number.

I guess the question should be are dealership more than likley to offer a $300 service to a woman who they think wouldn't know any better versus a man who "presumably" would know better say buzz off

 

[funboy6942]

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: Vic

Originally posted by: NFS4

Originally posted by: mugs
Does she have 30k miles? My Honda dealership charges $100 for 7500 mile service, $200 for 15000 mile service, and $400 for 30000 mile service. They have it posted on a board. Obviously I've never had it done there. I don't think they were trying to prey on her because she's a girl, dealerships are just a rip-off.

30,500 or somewhere near that.

Then it was due for the 30,000 mile service (which is warranty required) and $270 is a reasonable cost for that. I don't see the issue.

The issue is that the same guy who hassled my GF about the service didn't even bother to go after her dad when bringing in the same vehicle and punching in the same VIN number.

I guess the question should be are dealership more than likley to offer a $300 service to a woman who they think wouldn't know any better versus a man who "presumably" would know better say buzz off

Did he bring the same car in there after your GF? There may of been something on the screen that the service was offered but refused so at that point no bother in asking. But if not then yes and I would of been all over my service advisir because that needs to be mentioned to everyone no matter what race or color and the service writer may not of been just going after your gf but not doing his/her job correctly like he/she should of.

 

[Shadowknight]

NFS4 - I too live in Charlotte. I don't know any females who've had bad experiences with dealerships, but I usually just go to the Pontiac dealer on Tyvola road - they don't try to hoodwink you, and the workers seem pleasant enough.