What should I do about a dealer that lied ? They handed me a report that stated I had a Burned out headlight ignitor/inverter and bulb. ($939.00 in parts and labor) When all I needed to do was replace the cracked bulb?

 

go to another dealer then.

 

A dealer once told me that the SRS light was on because the passenger seat unit was fried and needed to be replaced for about $1000. Turns out the people working on my car earlier forgot to connect the unit back and that's what triggered the light. Worst part is the dealer was asking me right then if they should go ahead and order the parts for my repairs. Bullshit dealer assholes.

 

im no expert, but cant you get them into some legal trouble,
they're alot of knowledgeable people here at az, someone ought to give you a better answer

 

I won't be able to help you much, but I was wondering what dealer it was? Maybe somone on here has already had issues with them, and might know a thing or two...

 

If it's an estimate & you choose to not do the work, then there's nothing you can do. It's done, move on.

If you paid for that work, then you signed the bill. There's nothing you can do except sue in small claims court.

You would need prove your case. All the dealer has to do is prove they did the work you ok'ed.

 

I don't know what to do. I am going to ask for my $105.00 back, that is what I was charged to tell me what was wrong. Oh yea they also said I had busted motor mounts. Has anyone need to replace there motor mounts on there car with less then 60,000 miles?

 

Yea I had to replace like one or two motor mounts before 60k, so yea that prob is no bs. Other than that man them tellin you 939 parts and labor, do they have the cost line to line on the estimate, or did you acutually have the work done?? Also about the 105 or whatever to get them to analize the situation, fuck that I never as long as I owned a car I think I had to pay to get someone to analize the problem, but maby that was their policy, I dont know, I wasnt there. But really on a serious note, you really made the mistake for not checking into the problem before you had them repair it!! You got played a fool it looks like

 

which dealer does not lie? that's pretty much how they make livings.

 

No I didn't have them do any work. They charged me $105.00 and handed me a quote "Related Repair Total" $1,571.57 with a note the $105 would be removed if they got the got the work order.
Parts: Inverter, bulb, front and side mounts.

I don't think the mounts are bad and I replaced the bulb with one off ebay for $35.00.

 

um.. not really. you don't know how service works and you're ignorant if you really think that.

 

While i agree that not "all" dealers lie - i wouldnt exactly call someone ignorant if they assume so --

"most" dealerships that ive been to have tried to rape me on something i never needed or tried to exaggerate a bill at one time or another ---

without giving too many examples i can say that out of the dozen or so car dealerships ive been to (not just acura dealerships) 1 (one) has been completely honest to my knowledge...

there are "decent" dealerships out there, but the majority of them (in my own experience) are out to misinform the consumer and make as many pennies as they can in any way possible, and that includes lying to the customer they assume is "ignorant"

Again just from my own experience, which is also why id rather take my car to a skilled and trusted indy than the dealership....

 

I couldnt agree more! It blows my mind knowing and hearing what dealers have tried to pull on me and friends. EVERY SINGLE time I took my car to Acura of Baton Rouge they fucked up two things for every one thing they fixed. Like clock work. I highly recomend staying away from there. They wont even budge on there pricing either. When something failed and they didnt feel like fixing it under warranty they would just blow it off as failing for some obscure reason like the planets werent lined up correctly and I had to pay for it or it wasnt covered. My experience with them has been horrible to say the least. I almost beat down one of the service guys because he told me I just made up things that were wrong with my car to try and get free shit. Believe me I caused a scene and the owner of the dealership had to come out. When in Birmingham they take care of me. Although still expensive, what great service. What I need to do is stop bitching and buy a car dealership. I really think I could make a difference while still making a ton of money. But the truth is that most of the work they do is warranty work these days and apperantly there is not that much money in it for some reason. That is just what I hear. Sorry for the rant, I just get so fing mad when dealers take advantage of people who dont have the luxury of being able to do it themselves.

 

I wonder how many dealer serviced only acura CL and TL typeS's have broken IMRC actuators. The unobservant consumer would never know, there is no check engine light for it, and most of the service techs I have asked about it at most of the dealers I have been to didnt even know what it was. Sorry, I just couldnt stop.

 

well, okay, the dealer's don't lie.

they didn't know the bulb jsut needed to be replaced, so had someone who didn't know what they were doing look at your car, and THINK that the other stuff needs to be replaced,

The service guy, just rings up the parts and labor and tells you, he has no idea whats actually broken.

Yes you should go back and bitch at them about your $105 but the problem is you didn't have another shop find the problem, and give you any kind of paper work saying that what the dealer said was wrong.

as for it being $900 for the inverter and stuff, yea thats a rip off, they are trying to charge you by the max.

as for the motor mounts, they probably do need to be replaced, check em out yourself, i'm sure if u search the forum you can find what to look for in checking a mount,...

 

I agree to some extent about dealers not always telling the truth. I have friends call me and ask if stuff is legit and its amazing how many times its stuff they don't need. Over a month ago I was told my back brakes had 2mm left and they should be replaced immediately and the rotors should be resurfaced. So last weekend, after about 1500 miles, I changed them and the inside pads were at about 5mm and the outsides were probably at 3-4mm. I don't even remember what they wanted to charge me, but I did the pads for $45 in less than an hour to get everything out, jack up the car and put it back together. They also had a laundry list of items too. Apparently I have 2 leaking mounts too. Looks like im going to Home Depot for roofing epoxy and saving about $500.

 

to further expand on my response ---

I dont pretend to like the prices car dealerships charge, however i dont complain... if the labor rate is 100$ an hour then fine that is what they charge and they have a right to make a living. However i dont like when they get overly greedy and either start charging for stuff that doesnt need to be fixed (i.e. not preventative maintenance, things like telling you you need X amount of things done when you only one or two would fix the problem. If that makes any sense.) or they just start charging you for work that they never have any intention of doing because it doesnt need to be done.

 

How about all the multi point VISUAL inspections they charge for. That may be my favorite for cars with less than 30000 miles especialy when I find something easily with my own VISUAL inspection right after paying them for theirs. What really did if for me was when I realized how much more I know about my car than the low level techs doing all the work on it.

 

Oh my, I dont think I can even look at this thread anymore. It makes my fricking blood boil. I want to have a good day today.

 

You were wondering why you get charged for work not really needed on your car? Please understand that at most (not all, but most) dealerships, the service writers who are usually your only contact there are paid on commission . Any other questions?

 

I trust a dealership way before someone who owns their own "shop" first of all, if something fucks up the dealership will replace it/fix it with a warranty of their product. If you take it to Joe Blow and he changes out your expansion tank and re-installs it wrong (not being a certified tech or your car) and your engine ends up overheating... you think Jow Blows auto's covering that? neg. do you think the dealership will warranty something done by Joe Blows Auto? neg.

a penny wise, a pound foolish.




yes he is ignorant. its like saying that his moms bakery is giving you back less change on purpose... theres procedures dealerships have to go through in replacing products to prevent them ripping stupid-ass customers off. anything warranty has to be sent back to the manufacturer where a more thorough inspection is done and what not. trust me, when advisors screw the custs knowingly,the get the big bad boot.

 

actually, we service writers get the bulk of our money on customer satisfaction inqueries. commission plays a smaller role in how I get paid. But thanks, want to try that again?

 

The Service manager called today; first he said that they tell everyone they need both parts even if only one is bad. So why did you have me bring it in and charge $105.00 to tell me I needed both if everyone needs both. This was the service manager not the service advisor that quoted the job (he was out of the office today) Anyway he started telling me how the ballast and bulb are a matched set. I still wanted to know what did I pay $105.00 for, and then he said he would have to look into this and call me back.
I know every business needs to charge for their service, but don't talk BULLSHIT to your customers. We are not STUPID morons and sure don't want to be treated as such.

 

$105 is to assess the problem. Sorry but dealers don't give free estimates. I don't blame them. Hell if they did, I would take it there to find out the problem (for free) then drive down the street to the local garage and have it fixed for half the price.

See the problem here?

 

The week of Thanksgiving 2006, my passenger side headlight started flickering. Some times it would stay on, some times it wouldn't. I called my dealer, and arranged to come by after work the day before Thanksgiving - around 3:30 in the afternoon. After about 45 minutes or so ... my SA came out and told me he had some good news and some bad news. The bad news, the inverter (singular, not plural) was bad - had to be replaced - and the cost was in the upper $800 region. The good news ... The service manager said put it in - gratis. Car had 124,275 miles on it at the time, so this definitely wasn't a warranty fix.

Sometimes the relationship you have with your SA, mechanic, and dealership go a long way in resolving some of these minor inconveniences - like treating them the way you'd like to be treated. Some dealers take care of their customers ... some dealers are out to screw you at every chance. Fortunately, I deal with one that falls into the category of the former.

 

Yes the dealer will give you a free 19 point inspection for FREE. The problem here is I paid the $105.00 to be told a lie, so If you think that is fair, you just maybe one of their best customers.

 

Nope. I'll stand by what I said. As long as there is an incentive for extracting the most out of customers, there will be many who attempt to pad the bill. In many cases it's sanctioned by the dealers themselves.

 

Problem is what's asked to be checked doesn't fall into the 19 point inspection.


And no, I'm one of their worst customers because I work on my car myself. The ONLY time I take my car in is for warranty work and when my tranny took a dump.

 

True, I didn't ask for or want the 19 point inspection. What I asked to be checked was the headlight and I paid $105.00 for that with no problem. The problem is they lied about what was needed to repair it, it only needed a bulb not the $450.00 igniter they say I needed and you think that's fair and they should charge for the lie.

 

This is on you man. YOU ok'd the 105$ to check it out. YOU decided to go to a dealer, YOU did not do your research in finding out your problem.

Then you complain that dealer said you needed this & that to fix your problems when all you needed was a new bulb?

The fact that the dealer said you needed all that crap suggests that either it wants to screw people & take their $, or they do not know what they are doing.
In either case your better off not dealing with them.
Is it fair,of course not. Learn from it

BTW how did you find out all you needed was a new bulb?

 

wow.

 

That's why it's called the stealership!

 

Ok i'm 50/50 when it comes to dealerships. I have had and know many people that have gotten screwed by dealerships..but there is some (very few) good ones. Like stated before it does help if you have a history with the dealership.
I recently took my car to the dealership because of potential wheel bearing failure (my own assesment) I take it to them they give me a free loaner for the day so I don't have to miss work and call me back later in the afternoon and let me know all my wheel bearings were fine and suspension is fine...they could have taken me to the cleaners if they wanted to (i won't get into the detail why it was making noise...pointless) In all the inspection cost $50 which I was more in happy to pay knowing the "professionals" looked at it. I guess I'm getting at....yes be careful but not all dealerships are stealerships.
Also I personally think the $105 should be there's. They did do the work...sort of..ha. Not everyone is perfect.
Just do your research and play it safe.

 

This is what I think is shady. I agree you shouldn't go to the dealer (esp with a bulb issue) without knowing what it might be. If it's happened to a TL, it's somewhere on this site. Basically he used your ignorance (no offense) to get an extra $105.

You can get him back. Give him the worst survey in the history of mankind.

 

Someone (perhaps a mod?) Should start to make a thread of all the bad dealerships we have all encountered, and all of the decent ones. Maybe make it "a sticky" like the noob help guides? I think it would be interesting to see the places that may be local to you . . . . .

 

Acura Dealers

 

i had a dealer here tell me my tranny wasnt under warranty(01 cls). he straight lied to me on other issues too, but to help you out i called the claims(and laso in this case the recall dept) number out in california and they had a liason handle the entire thing . the dealer around here is the only ac dealer for 300 miles so he is a dick and a liar. they may not all l ie, but the ones with no close competition sure do try to steal and pull fast ones.

i hope you can figure this out but call the claims number(google it) and speak to a rep(i talked to liz, if you cant find the number i can give itto you if you PM me)



good luck

 

UPDATE: The dealer sent me a check for the $105.00 and said after reviewing this issue. They found that the service tech don't check the headlight as I requested.
Anyone need a NEW never opened igniter?

 

Good for you. Take that bad dealer!

 

Im confused, how did you end up with a extra ignitor?