Ok first off this wasnt my choice but i brought my car to a mechanic because i had to work and all that needed to be done was to change a hose going to the heater core and the mechanic changed it and flushed my radiator... after all was said and done charged 200 dollars.... it was like 175 in labor or something.... this all would have taken me 10 minutes to do what he did.... He took the hose and it is all hacked up and looks like he cut it with a butter knife first off.. and i dont even think he put the right hose on and i believe it is supposed to be a high pressure line.... but anyways i get my car back and notice there is 90 extra miles on it adn the clutch is loose.. and u coudl probably blow on it and it would go down.. I havnt had a chance to call him yet because i picked it up after work and had my g/f go pay for it and they were closed and it is sunday today so... Should i waste my time and be like what the hell did u do that was worth 175 in labor because i know it wasnt the 2 dollar piece of hose and the .75cents in clamps u put on the two ends and try to get my money back,, or should i just not even bother..

sorry if i spelt wront or bad puncuation.

Not to insult you, but are you for SURE they put 90 miles on it? If so, raise hell.

What company or who "fixed" it? I would do something about that.

yeah i reset the trip before the tow truck put it up on the bed and i got it back and there was 90 miles on it i usually write the miles down before it goes in but i knew a hose was just getting changed and they didnt need to test drive it or anything ot see what was wrong.. but the biggest thing is 200 dollars to change one hose and it was 175 for labor it is a 10-20 minute job what were they doing beating off and the best thing is it took two mechanics to do it.....

it was firestone up in burnsville i am going to go buy the parts tomarrow on my own drive up there bitch and say what the f is up with 175 in labor rip their part out and put it in in 2 minutes and get my money back because they did a crap job also

Doesn't sound like a bad plan.

I would ask why so much.

Did you ask how much it would be beforehand?

How much do thay charge per hour?

What is the book time for the job/work done?

Which hose did you change? Is it a DSM? Then I would assume its the one going from the coolant lines under the TB to the firewall?

yeah its that hose but it isnt a hard on to get to and certainly not worth 175 in labor and the hose they cut looks like they cut it with a plastic butter knife it just looks like crap

That shoud be maybe a 30-40 dollar job including parts. I would complain and talk to a manager.

90 MILES. What in God's name would they be doing driving your car after this work. They are smoking something not from this earth. I would raise hell. I am lucky if I drive my eclipse 90 miles in 2 weeks because of work.

Spread the word. Fuck them over as they obviously have done to you. :secret:

That is if secret negotiations go bad.

fer real dude sounds fucked up. id replace the hose myself, then id take their piece of shit back slap it on the counter with all the coolant shit still in it, and say all right i want a refund on this piece of shit!

that is what i am going to do i am going to go get an estimate from someone else go buy the parts and then go there and change the hose right in front of them and time it and tell them i want my money back

Nice! :thumbsup: make sure to let us know how it turns out..

Ill do it for 5 dollars! Just bring the hose and clamps :)

i know its ridiculous but i dont think i am going to get my money back or anything

i too think you were overcharged, but before you can say they overcharged you you have to prove it. You need to find out the Flat Rate labor time to replace the hose and do a coolant flush. yeah baybe it might only take 10 minutes or so to replace the hose but a shop should charge what the specified labor time is. If a Flat Rate time can not be found it would be best get more than one estimate and bring it to the managers attention. An estimate from a dealer is usually best. yopu will find parts prices high but the labor time should be acurate. as far as the 90 xtra miles thing, thats a whole new level. keep your cool! be patient yet stern. and let us know what happens. Oh, did they call you with an estimate for the repairs? Or did they just do them? If no ine ok'd them to do the work thats bad!!!! They should also be able to prove that someone ok'd the work. they should have documentation.
good luck.

Coolant flushes run about $50-60 at Firestones last I saw. Current mileage reimbursement allows for $.36 for each mile driven; multiply that by 90 and subtract that from the total bill. It would only be fair to have that amount refunded. Also bring the soft clutch to the attention of the manager, if needed work something out where you would supply a new clutch but they would have to supply the labor at no cost. I worked out a similar deal to that when I brought my car in for a tire balance since when I picked the car up the clutch was soft and the car stunk of burnt clutch. After a few days of driving the clutch firmed up and felt like-new again so I dropped the issue.

ok you say it was a firestone in burnsville. DO NOT GO BACK THERE ... here is my story..

i let my pads on my brakes wear down and needed new rotors. Instead of calling around i had them do the work and it cost me a total of close to $600 for new rotors and pads and all. After i finally got the call saying my car was done i got another call saying they needed to keep the car... After being confused i was told that SOMEHOW my passengerside window had shattered in the shop and they didnt know how it happened... They kept the car overnight and replaced the window free of charge but after i got my car back and 600$ later i had a window that didnt line up to the door and weatherstripping, a chip of paint above my wheel well knocked off and also i noticed my passengerside mirror was bent and they were going to charge me to fix that because "one of my friends must have leaned on it or something" according to them. STAY the fuck away from them...

edit: forgot that my passengerside door locks didnt work and sometimes i couldnt open the door at all or close it fully

sucks to hear that guys, i wont be going there in the future.

on a lighter note...
i just got raped too aswell, those guys at Holiday gas station charged me $2.20 for icecream!~ wtf? honestly


anyways, yeah that is alot of money and a ton of miles, this is somthing that cant go un-noticed

Did you sign anythnig prior to them fixing your car? Did they give you an estimate for the repairs needed?
they need an authorization before gonig to work on your car, and if they didnt have one, you shouldnt have to pay.

90 miles is odd. the most ive put on a car would be 15 or so...

They shouldn't ever need to drive it to for those reasons anyway, they could have let it idle in the lot if they wanted to warm it up and check for leaks. The 04 Chiltons labor guide gives a flat rate of .5 hours if it is normal and .7 if it is severe (not likeley). You should call and get there labor rate so they can't change it on you when you confront them. But I wouldn't let that kind of pricing sit either.

That sucks. I would go after them.

I have also been raped by a local shop, Jeff's Auto in Hopkins. My clutch went out and they quoted me $1200 for a new clutch. I didn't know it was a bad deal so I said ok. That is not the bad part though. I paid for the car and went out to drive it. The second gear synchro was gone. I drove it along with ghettostyle, remy and my mom. Everytime it grinds into second. I brought it back the next day. The smooth talker Craig at the desk said that it was taken for a long test drive and was fine but they will check it anyhow. They call me back and say that it will cost $1800 to fix the bad synchro. he said the mechanic who did the swap took it out and it was fine. Jeff himself took it out and it was fine. Later Jeff took it out and beat on it a bit and he notiled a little hessitation. I tried arguing with them that it was fine before and they said that they have no way of knowing that. I was fucked. Like I could prove that it was fine. The clutch went out 10 days after buying the car. I said I would never do business with them again.

A while later, while removing the t-belt cover, I noticed a groove running up the belt. I had a reciept saying that Jeff's put the new belts on along with replacing the water pump etc. I went back there asking them about it but they only warranty their work for 12 months or 12,000 miles. Even workmanship. Mine was 15,000 miles and 15 months old. I left and had Shindley put a new one on. They put the wrong length bolt in the oil pan which caused the groove. The balance shaft belt they put on was snapped due to over tightening and tore up my front axle while not knocking off the t-belt. Lesson to be learned here: NEVER GO TO JEFF'S AUTO IN HOPKINS. We should start a thread on bad shops. Seems like everyone has been getting fucked.

Bad shops = all of them. If they dont specialize in performance cars just automatically assume that they are going to rip you off AND wreck your shit.

CVD is totally right. If I cant sit there and watch them fix my car and wait for it to get done (balance tires or what not) then I wont let them do it.

As for tires, now I just bring in the actual tire/rim and they do the work on it by itself...

i know i brought my car in for an alignment and they wanted me to leave it there and, i was like its ok i can wait till u are done with it i hate bringing my car to the shop because everytime i get it back it seems like something is wrong after that shouldnt.. i just got my clutch replaced about 5 months ago and that mechanic was great, actually i had problems and i called him two months later. He was like "o just bring it down no problem we will throw it up and check it out." he fixed the problem and filled my tranny with synchro mesh.. and only charged me for the fluid... that was aamco in savage ... thats my only good shop experience



I called they guy that just worked on my car and he was like no one drove it out of the parking lot and another thing i noticed when i got my car is that it was parked in second gear and there wasnt even 30 feet from where the garage was and it was parked so i am thinking they took it out for sure...

and that price for ice cream is insane should have gone to DQ

that ice cream is almost as expensive as gas! :P

I took my dsm in to get a new half shaft(boot was toast)

they fucked up the first time and left the backplate loose so it squealed.


brought it back, went their to get it. It has 2.5 miles on it.


so I went back in and said they didn't need to drive it 2.5 miles to test the back plate.

so after a few minutes of telling them off, I got a free oil change and a 20oz of Sprite.

fuckers.

and i bet that sprite made it all better.

cock suckers.

:bounce: cock suckers :bounce: i swear im not gay i just think that sounds funny

it is as expenisive as gas here in AZ. 2.20 for the OH SO GREAT 91 octane stuff.

gas prices are redicules..FUCK FOSSIL FUEL