Dealer Warning in SOUTH JERSEY
09-11-2006, 05:03 PM
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Dealer Warning in SOUTH JERSEY
Be wary of Acura of Turnersville, NJ 
I took my 2001 Acura CL -P showing 58,446 miles on its odometer to the Acura Dealer in Turnersville, SOUTH Jersey. It needed an oil change and the drivers seat reclining mechanism stopped working.
Oil change went off without a hitch - and $17.94 seemed fair in a Dealers World for oil and filter. My problem was with the diagnosis that the seat recline “motor” was shot and required replacement to the tune of $450!
Whoa,
this did not sound right since the seat back moved some distance, then simply hung up with a clicking sound, and refused to go any further. You could HEAR the motor working. Something was interfering with it. I declined the repair due to the high cost of the motor and a healthy suspicion they were wrong about what was broken.
Car gets driven with a fixed position seat.
As my wife bitched about my inaction, my eighteen year old son took the seat back off in an attempt to identify the actual problem. He had no luck. I posted to this forum, and right off no one had an answer. Now the seat backs won't stay put on the seats!
Acura starting to look pretty ghetto
So, I started searching local scrap yards for a seat. I expected that to be a cheaper source for the motor than the Dealer.
No luck. Ebay - too far away, steady on watch - NO LUCK.
In the meanwhile I happened upon the post by TOPHER33884 MY SEAT WON’T RECLINE. Alas, I wasn’t alone here. Several others had the same problem and when I read OneFlyCL ‘s “hit it with hammer solution” , decided to give it a try.
I like to hit things with a hammer
I unbolted the seat, flipped her over and searched for the source of the clicking sound. It wasn’t underneath. Neither motor there had a problem.
Zeroing in on the sound, I removed the plastic left side cover, and observed the source of the dead end clicking sound. The recline motor spun a gear on the seat back frame. I removed the three screws which held the motor gear engaged to the seat back gear. A quick flip of the switch revealed the motor spun free with zero trouble.
Hmmm, following OneFlyCL’s advise I hit the center of the seat back gear once and replaced the motor. IT WORKED!
Thanks to OneFlyCL and of course THIS LIST for offering a solution to a problem the dealer wanted $450 to fix. The nutty thing is you do not even have to remove the seat to access that recline mechanism. It’s an easy fix.
So, the long way around the block to the point of this post.
BEWARE Acura of Turnersville, especially if JOHN GAINES
is writing the work order!
They (apparently) do NOT know what they are doing. (Unless the goal is to fleece the paying customer)!!! The motor is fine, always was fine, and I suspect since about 100 attempts at getting it to work did NOT burn it out, will always be fine!
Go figure - - -
Driving On in SOUTH JERSEY
Tony Pace
Williamstown, N.J.
PS: The real kick here is The Stealer charged me $112.94 LABOR to tell me I needed a new motor! I am toying with a complaint to the BBB, what do you guys think?
I took my 2001 Acura CL -P showing 58,446 miles on its odometer to the Acura Dealer in Turnersville, SOUTH Jersey. It needed an oil change and the drivers seat reclining mechanism stopped working.
Oil change went off without a hitch - and $17.94 seemed fair in a Dealers World for oil and filter. My problem was with the diagnosis that the seat recline “motor” was shot and required replacement to the tune of $450!
Whoa,
this did not sound right since the seat back moved some distance, then simply hung up with a clicking sound, and refused to go any further. You could HEAR the motor working. Something was interfering with it. I declined the repair due to the high cost of the motor and a healthy suspicion they were wrong about what was broken.Car gets driven with a fixed position seat.
As my wife bitched about my inaction, my eighteen year old son took the seat back off in an attempt to identify the actual problem. He had no luck. I posted to this forum, and right off no one had an answer. Now the seat backs won't stay put on the seats!
Acura starting to look pretty ghetto
So, I started searching local scrap yards for a seat. I expected that to be a cheaper source for the motor than the Dealer.
No luck. Ebay - too far away, steady on watch - NO LUCK.
In the meanwhile I happened upon the post by TOPHER33884 MY SEAT WON’T RECLINE. Alas, I wasn’t alone here. Several others had the same problem and when I read OneFlyCL ‘s “hit it with hammer solution” , decided to give it a try.
I like to hit things with a hammer
I unbolted the seat, flipped her over and searched for the source of the clicking sound. It wasn’t underneath. Neither motor there had a problem.
Zeroing in on the sound, I removed the plastic left side cover, and observed the source of the dead end clicking sound. The recline motor spun a gear on the seat back frame. I removed the three screws which held the motor gear engaged to the seat back gear. A quick flip of the switch revealed the motor spun free with zero trouble.
Hmmm, following OneFlyCL’s advise I hit the center of the seat back gear once and replaced the motor. IT WORKED!
Thanks to OneFlyCL and of course THIS LIST for offering a solution to a problem the dealer wanted $450 to fix. The nutty thing is you do not even have to remove the seat to access that recline mechanism. It’s an easy fix.
So, the long way around the block to the point of this post.
BEWARE Acura of Turnersville, especially if JOHN GAINES
is writing the work order!They (apparently) do NOT know what they are doing. (Unless the goal is to fleece the paying customer)!!! The motor is fine, always was fine, and I suspect since about 100 attempts at getting it to work did NOT burn it out, will always be fine!
Go figure - - -
Driving On in SOUTH JERSEY
Tony Pace
Williamstown, N.J.
PS: The real kick here is The Stealer charged me $112.94 LABOR to tell me I needed a new motor! I am toying with a complaint to the BBB, what do you guys think?
09-11-2006, 05:45 PM
#2
They should have been upfront in the cost of looking at the seat. You should have signed a paper that said you gave them the right to charge you $$ to look at it. They can't just charge you without you knowing. If that did happen then you have a case.
If not your SOL.
Dealers are like this. It's not just that 1 & it's not just Acura. Your going to pay at a dealer for anything. They have a PC that has an alldata program setup that gives book labor rates. They follow that. You need a new motor cause the old one has a probelm & you can only replace it. The book labor rates is likely 1.somthing hours. Times that by $90 labor rate + the retail part price & tax & there's your $450. Your "fix" may be ok now, but who knows how long.
Since you seem to know how to acces the motor you may want to try an online parts place & see what the motor will cost & replace it yourself.
If not your SOL.
Dealers are like this. It's not just that 1 & it's not just Acura. Your going to pay at a dealer for anything. They have a PC that has an alldata program setup that gives book labor rates. They follow that. You need a new motor cause the old one has a probelm & you can only replace it. The book labor rates is likely 1.somthing hours. Times that by $90 labor rate + the retail part price & tax & there's your $450. Your "fix" may be ok now, but who knows how long.
Since you seem to know how to acces the motor you may want to try an online parts place & see what the motor will cost & replace it yourself.
09-11-2006, 07:09 PM
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yeah,
and today, I went to Devan Acura here in Westport, CT, and check this out:
THey'll charge $45 for oil change by using their oil (non synthetic), and...here is the funny part
They're charging $48.50 if you bring your OWN oil. Pretty pathetic
and today, I went to Devan Acura here in Westport, CT, and check this out:
THey'll charge $45 for oil change by using their oil (non synthetic), and...here is the funny part
They're charging $48.50 if you bring your OWN oil. Pretty pathetic
09-11-2006, 10:41 PM
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fuzzy02CLS you are probably right. I am aware its top dollar and by the book at the Steal, errr...DEALER, but - even if I signed the pre-work order with 70 paragraphs of legal-ease in size 2 font . . .the man said the motor was bad, and it is not. If anything is bad-its the alignment of the gear attached to the seatback frame. This may be semantics, and I maybe a big cry baby, but I do not feel they were honest, not do I feel the $100plus troubleshoot fair.
I'd like to say I'll get over it...but I doubt it. I'll let you know how this works out in the end. I plan on going up there and asking for an explanation of the shake down,err finders fee, err troubleshoot labor.
I'd like to say I'll get over it...but I doubt it. I'll let you know how this works out in the end. I plan on going up there and asking for an explanation of the shake down,err finders fee, err troubleshoot labor.
09-12-2006, 02:15 AM
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Originally Posted by bim6180
THey'll charge $45 for oil change by using their oil (non synthetic), and...here is the funny part
They're charging $48.50 if you bring your OWN oil. Pretty pathetic
They're charging $48.50 if you bring your OWN oil. Pretty pathetic
09-12-2006, 08:43 AM
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Originally Posted by MinimalFear
fuzzy02CLS you are probably right. I am aware its top dollar and by the book at the Steal, errr...DEALER, but - even if I signed the pre-work order with 70 paragraphs of legal-ease in size 2 font . . .the man said the motor was bad, and it is not. If anything is bad-its the alignment of the gear attached to the seatback frame. This may be semantics, and I maybe a big cry baby, but I do not feel they were honest, not do I feel the $100plus troubleshoot fair.
I'd like to say I'll get over it...but I doubt it. I'll let you know how this works out in the end. I plan on going up there and asking for an explanation of the shake down,err finders fee, err troubleshoot labor.
I'd like to say I'll get over it...but I doubt it. I'll let you know how this works out in the end. I plan on going up there and asking for an explanation of the shake down,err finders fee, err troubleshoot labor.
Good luck.
09-15-2006, 10:18 AM
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The problem as I see it is NOT that they charge for time spent on a diagnosis, but that they charge for time spent MISdiagnosing the problem.
If, for your $112 you got an accurate analysis of the problem, then maybe they could feel justified for their bill. But to charge $112 for the WRONG diagnosis is negligent. It would have been worse still had you spent $450 to replace a motor that wasn't really bad.
Had you allowed them to replace your seat motor, they would ultimately have discovered the misaligned seatback gear. You can bet they wouldn't bring it up later when you came in to pick up the car. They'd just let you drive off with a new seat motor you didn't need and keep the misspent money.
If, for your $112 you got an accurate analysis of the problem, then maybe they could feel justified for their bill. But to charge $112 for the WRONG diagnosis is negligent. It would have been worse still had you spent $450 to replace a motor that wasn't really bad.
Had you allowed them to replace your seat motor, they would ultimately have discovered the misaligned seatback gear. You can bet they wouldn't bring it up later when you came in to pick up the car. They'd just let you drive off with a new seat motor you didn't need and keep the misspent money.
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09-15-2006, 10:41 AM
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Back in the 90's, my father brought his Chrysler Concorde to the dealer for a few issues to be fixed, one of them being a driver's seat motor which didn't appear to be working any longer, symptoms very similar to yours.
They called him later that day to let him know that they fixed the seat free of charge by removing all of the loose change which had emptied out of his pockets over the years and jammed up the motor and track. They even gave him back the change.
Don't see that much any more...
They called him later that day to let him know that they fixed the seat free of charge by removing all of the loose change which had emptied out of his pockets over the years and jammed up the motor and track. They even gave him back the change.
Don't see that much any more...
09-15-2006, 10:51 AM
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While I am on the subject of Turnersville Acura, my engine light repeatedly came on and went off about a year ago. I had it checked with a 3rd party and found I was getting "lean" codes.
I took it to Turnersville Acura and reported the lean codes and although they were suspicious, they said they would check it out. When I picked it up, they told me they replaced the O2 sensor.
However, the engine light continued to go on and off as before. So I got on the internet and found that there are two O2 sensors, so I took it back in and reported that I was still having the problem. I pointedly asked if they had replaced BOTH sensors. They wouldn't answer the question, but took the car back in for the 2nd time. When I picked it up, they told me they had replaced both O2 sensors.
Nevertheless, after all of that, the engine light issues continued. So, I took the car in a 3rd time and complained that I was still getting lean codes and that I was on my 3rd visit. They then suggested that the replacement O2 sensors they put in on the previous visit must have been bad. (Right.) So for the 3rd time, they took the car in to replace O2 sensors.
After the 3rd visit, the engine light stopped coming on.
I suspect that on the first and second visits, they just reset the engine light to see if the problem would go away. Since it was a warranty repair, I have no idea if Acura USA got charged for O2 sensors on all three visits or not.
If someone could recommend a different Acura dealer in South Jersey that they had confidence in, I would be inclined to switch dealers.
I took it to Turnersville Acura and reported the lean codes and although they were suspicious, they said they would check it out. When I picked it up, they told me they replaced the O2 sensor.
However, the engine light continued to go on and off as before. So I got on the internet and found that there are two O2 sensors, so I took it back in and reported that I was still having the problem. I pointedly asked if they had replaced BOTH sensors. They wouldn't answer the question, but took the car back in for the 2nd time. When I picked it up, they told me they had replaced both O2 sensors.
Nevertheless, after all of that, the engine light issues continued. So, I took the car in a 3rd time and complained that I was still getting lean codes and that I was on my 3rd visit. They then suggested that the replacement O2 sensors they put in on the previous visit must have been bad. (Right.) So for the 3rd time, they took the car in to replace O2 sensors.
After the 3rd visit, the engine light stopped coming on.
I suspect that on the first and second visits, they just reset the engine light to see if the problem would go away. Since it was a warranty repair, I have no idea if Acura USA got charged for O2 sensors on all three visits or not.
If someone could recommend a different Acura dealer in South Jersey that they had confidence in, I would be inclined to switch dealers.
09-16-2006, 11:03 AM
#10
Racer
Come over to Sussman Acura 538 route 38 East Maple Shade New Jersey where I work. See Deanna Clancy, She's The best Advisor we have. Tell her Dave Whittingham - me sent you.
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