Off topic but all of us suffer this...

[harryball]

Excuse the rant but...

Why do I feel robbed everytime I leave this place?

At one time or another we all have to get vehicles worked on... well the Bat Truck (F350 7.3L diesel) began leaking oil around the turbo "tubes". It's about $12 worth of O rings that need to be replaced, it is common, it is well known, it's not a simple fix but it is not complicated. A good mechanic maybe and hour+.

I really don't have time to deal with it myself, the guy I generally use is busy and this truck has to roll next week to Durham. So I go to the Stealership. I KNOW... I got what I deserved. I was told there was a $179.00 diagnostics fee if they just told me what was wrong with the truck. Otherwise it would be the estimate for the repair. OK... I understand if you tell me it's going to be $34,000 it'll cost me $179 to get my truck back. Fine.

Well, the estimate they called with was high but ok... $224 to fix it... fine.

I get there and it is $179.00 diagnostics fee + $224 to fix it. :eek:

:mad:

I knew what was wrong with it, the mechanic new what was wrong with it, the homeless guy on the side of the road probably knew what was wrong with it.

I paid the bill I made sure they knew I was not pleased and left. I know times are tough... but come on.

It's times like this I realize how well Shopbot Support is. I can't imagine them charging me a fee to tell how much it will cost me to fix a problem. Especially a common well known problem inherent to their equipment.

Anyway... grrrrrrrrrrr :mad:

Thanks for not being jerks ShopBot! :)

/RB

[myxpykalix]

Did they charge you for the grease or did they insert it dry?

BTW...since this was off topic, i'm afraid i'm going to have to charge you a fee for having to read this, with a minimum "reader fee" and since it required additional work of a response, i'm going to have to insist on the hourly fee, the first hour or any part thereof to be billed @a buck-two-eighty, reader fee a duece and a quarter.
pay the cashier please...thank you for your patronage, please come back again....

[gene]

Dont do like i did and run out of deisel . I have a 7.3 powerstroke and ran out of fuel couldnt get it to crank for the life of me . Called the toe hook to the dealer , which said a bad fuel pump . $ 996.47 later i understand why they called it a POWERSTROKE:eek: ! If i had bleed the fuel system , Well live and learn!

[michael_schwartz]

Had my van in the shop and they asked me when the last tune up was. I stated I had less than 5k miles since the last tune up which was done at another place and they tried to convince me to pay for another. I asked them what was wrong with the one I had done, and they were speechless.

[bcondon]

My son's Camry only had heater fan on high and low. His friend at school told him that it was common problem and that the variable resistor which is behind the glove box was the issue. Part is $24. I will pull the 2 screws in the globe box to fix BUT Toyota wanted $190 to fix it...


Now my Sienna has a recall....

SO they said I needed new brakes in the Sienna. They wanted $600 to replace rotars... I told them to just replace the pads... Cost was $150
but then they made a whole pile of noise about how there would be vibration because of hard spots on the rotars..so I said... lets just try it and if it is a problem, I will let you know...well that was 12 months ago...

Has anyone ever heard of replacing the brake line fluid? That is the latest
scheme... on $255... The tech could not tell me why I would need to do that in a closed environment...

I agree with RB

Grrrr

[blackhawk]

Bob - Yes, replacing your brake fluid is a good idea. The brake system is sealed for the most part, but over time it will absorb moisture and dirt. The moisture can make your braking feel spongy and the dirt can eventually damage your brake system. Most manufacturers suggest replacement every two years. I agree with that for a performance car that you drive hard. For the average grocery getter, I would say every 3 or 4 years would be fine. I have replaced the fluid in several different cars. The old brake fluid that comes out is nasty looking, usually nearly solid black. $255 is a rip off though. I can do it in any of my vehicles in about an hour by myself, with help about 1/2 hour. Brake fluid might cost $10 bucks. Send me an email and I can talk you through it if you want to try it yourself.

[magic]

Now the real question is

How can we position ourselves as providing a must-have service/item that people need... so we can charge what we want?

[GlenP]

Man that sucks Robert. Good you drive a ford though.:) What really ticks me off is if they ask you do some work for them they are the cheapest and slowest at paying. Go and tell them you charge $65/ hour for your cnc cutting and they will laugh in your face....but hook up to their computer and have SOFTWARE tell them what to fix and its $$$$$$. I would have thought they would have learned their lesson with the way things have been in the past couple years. Problem is they got you too. Here in Canada you pay the bill or walk home....they will not release your vehicle until it is paid. :mad:
Good to see you posting Robert.

[michael_schwartz]

Now the real question is

How can we position ourselves as providing a must-have service/item that people need... so we can charge what we want?

program our shopbots to fix cars?

[curtiss]

Sometimes you can go to a local tech school and find some pretty good auto help. They often need vehicals to practice on, depending on what they are doing, this might be ok. A few years back I bought a small truck with crank down windows... my daughter said "what is this" as she cranked down her first window she said "cool...."

It is sad how they want to make the codes only readable at the dealership and keep everyone else out of the loop. The sensors sending you the warning of whatever are wrong about half the time. If you have brakes, coolant and oil, you should be able to drive...

Each year I usually buy a gallon of anti-freeze, make two gallons of 50-50,siphon / drain a gallon out of two vehicals and add a fresh gallon to each. Not perfect but all for about $10. I guess I need to freshen up my brake fluid....