Hi all, I would like to get a fair judgement on this issue from all of you.
This may be an old topic, but I have finally ran into this issue. Maybe a month or more ago, I lost "original" oil cap in gas station. I drove the car for a while wihtout the gas cap, and no light came on. So I went back, but mine was gone, so i just picked up one and screwed it on. The next 1.5 months or so, no light or anything ever came on.
Yesterday, the Malfunciton light came on, so i immediately want to bring it to Acura. So i did. Of course, they began to ask when was last time i filled up gas, and maybe the cap was not properly screwed on. I honestly told them that I had lost the original cap. They did not say much, took the key, and i left.
I went back, and was told that its the oil cap thats causing the trouble. Told me I now owe them $55 bucks, because losing oil cap and using after market oil cap is not under the comprehensive warranty. And ask if i want to order an original cap. Me and my friend got kind of ticked off, I was not expecting to pay anything. Here are few things that I think he did not an should not have done:

1. Should have told me I may be charged under certain condition.
2. Threatened me that he would leave some remark on my car's data base if I refuse to pay.
3. Did not have a spare "99 CL 3.0 Original" oil cap to test it out see if this is the cause.
4. He sounded totally like he does not really care whether i pay or not.

We end up with this, I gave him my imprint of credit card with no sig, and I will bring my car again tomorrow when they have a cap, and if they put the new cap on the light goes away, i have to pay both the cap and the $55. But, if the light does not go away, then I get my $55 back.

What should I do ? I am thinking of writting Acura a letter, please any comment would be appreciated. $55 seems a bit steep, and I think that dealership was being stingy because i did not buy the car there.

 

Go with the agreement made. It the light goes off, they pay. If not, it's up to you. IMHO you should be glad you got away with this deal.

The cap didn't leap off the car, and it didn't fall off due to a defect. You gapped, plain and simple.

You should have had the cap replaced with an original immediately. I beleive that even if the light stays on today, you should be responsible for any and all costs.



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Alrite... so can someone explain or someone know why the light did not come on for the past few weeks ?? You see, the problem is.. if I had known that I would incur charges under this condition, I would have gone somewhere else or maybe even reset by resetting the battery myself.

 

The writing a letter doesn't really help that much. I've tried that a couple times with things that really pissed me off. Basically, a manager will call you, and they will then also harass you for the money instead of trying to make you happy. I'm sure you can go above the heads of the dealership to the corporate office but, again, I tried that too. Here is their response to my letter: "We have recieved your comments, and apologize for your experience. We appreciate your input." And that was it!! I was like WTF?? Honduh can kiss my ***!

I'm a bit confused, is it the oil cap or the gas cap you are missing?

Have them prove it is the cap.

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Northern Cali Meet, June 10. BBBQ!!! - Click Here

 

It was the gas cap. Not many pepole seem to give a damn, but give some of you an update.

I went to another acura dealership. The dealer ship felt like a Mercedes Benz dealer ship. They have someone park car for you, the interior and the waiting area is just amazing.
I told them the exactly same thing as i did to the first dealership. The service supervisor automatically said that he would do something special for me because he just need to reset and replace the oil cap. He quoted me $25 for resetting, and 17 for the gas cap. Total comes to 50 with gas cap included. I saved about $25. Its not really the money, its about the way they make you feel.
Without letting me know that I may have to pay under certain situation, and also the rough figure that I may have to pay, how am i suppose to know whether i could afford such service or not ? If they had quoted me $50 bucks for something they already had suspected, I would just go fix this problem myself.
The point is, what if they handed me a bill of $100 for testing and shit, am i suppose ot just pay for however much amount of money they claimed that i owe them ?

 

This is why the consumer always gets screwed. At least I feel that way, since I have been screwed several times by Acura.

Spiro

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[This message has been edited by spiroh (edited 05-16-2001).]

 

Heres my take on this. Sounds like a similar system on a BMW. If you don't screw the cap on right the 'Check engine' light comes on. HOWEVER!!!! If you change put the cap on the correctly a little later, the engine light STILL stays lit. The guys at the dealer told me that it resets itself after a couple days.

Given that, I don't know if Acuras system is similar where it resets after a couple days. You might want to check into that because if you get a new cap and the light is still on, you may just have to wait a couple days for it to just reset itself (free!!!). Just my 2 cents.

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Another update for any of you that paid some attention to this matter

After careful consideration, I have decided to call the first acura that I delt with up before they charge the credit card imprint that has no signature which I have to dispuate and all that shit. I told them that I have fixed the problem at another dealership and paid much less and much better service experience, so guess what ? He said I was still responsible for the $55 dollar.
I refused to pay, I told them to just go ahead and attempt to charge the imprint, and he was like.. how can i ? there is no signature, so I replied on the phone: "There you go !" Ha ha.. feels good to screw those bastards. So the manager picked up the phone, and started caling me a cheater, and how i cheated them, and then hangup. I felt kind of stupid, and I was tempted to actually pay them the $55 bucks because I really don't like to be considered a cheater.
But I have finally decided not to pay them at all after a careful consideration from my good moral standard

1. He never quoted me any price, or possible charges I may have to pay.
2. I was never clearly told that this work MAY NOT be under warranty, the whole time I was assuming that this kind of check ups would be under warranty.
3. They did not fix the problem that day I was there because they don't even have a proper gas cap to test or replace it with. The OBDII computer is not 100% all the time. They did not even fix the problem.
4. They may have done the work, but did they do the work that my car needed to be done ? keep on telling me he did some 6 points check. Well, I DO'NT CARE HOW MANY POINT CHECK U DID... Even though he was saying that how would he know how much to quote me if he was not sure the problem.. i replied "So if you the certified tech don't know.. how would i know that I have may to pay ?"
End of the story, there are clearly mis communications happening in the case, but I think as a dealership, they should be able to at least work out a deal on the charges or maybe even absort this minute amount of money in order to keep a customer come back. What they did resulted them losing at least ONE customer, and possibly many many more of my friends who drive acura.

Thank you for reading, and screw those bad dealers. For those who live in BC ! GO Burrad Acura ! Feel like a benz dealer !

 

Screw the first dealer. He figured out your problem in the first 10 seconds of your conversation. He should have told you you need a new gas cap, maybe do a check of the ECU to be sure, and reset your light. How he would get off charging $55 for that is beyond me.

BTW, the "check engine" light does not go off on its own. It has to be reset.

 

Its a shame that some dealers still don't get it. I see you are in BC so I don't know if the same laws apply but, where I am, you are entitled to know beforehand and must approve all possible charges. This doesn't seem to be the case here. Yes, you should have replaced the cap right away with the proper one. The emissions systems on these cars depend on and check proper fuel tank pressure and the loose or wrong cap can cause a chek engine lite to come on. The light will not go out right after the cap is secured properly- it could take quite a few ignition cycles to reset it unless the dealer resets it with the proper tool. My guess is that you may see the light again and find that other things may be involved. I would not go back to the first dealer- they have poor business practices and that is probably a reflection of their entire operation.
Just my .02


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Wayne Gruen
Service Manager
Park Ave Acura
*** The opinons expressed above are my own and I in no way speak for American Honda or Acura. ***

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We all are reading and following...although it's a bit hard to keep up with all the he said she said pieces. It sounds to me like a perception issue, the way I was told, the miscommunication, the impression I got, sort of instance(s), so it is hard to comment....sorry.

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* 2001 Acura CL Type S * Blk/Blk * Navigator * Spoiler * Moonroof Visor * V1 *
* Since 3/31/2000 *
* Road Warrior *

 

hi all,
Thanx for all the comments, I appreciated. Whether the light cause the problem or not isn't really the conflict here. The biggest problem is that i guess they assumed that as an rich acura owner, I would absorb any charge they wnat to charge me. This is the wrong assumption they made.
And I am glad the light is off, and I am using the 1000000% original gas cap now. HA ha... I am planning to take this to the Better Business Beareu here in Canada. I really do not like to be called a cheater, its a matter of integrity. I really don't feel that I was being cheap, but rather, I felt that they were treating me as a dummie.

Thank you !

Al

 

The $55 could be the flat rate diagnostic cost. Like others said, they could have mentioned this before hand, but I know of no shop that will diagnose a car for free. If the problem happened to be under warrenty, then it is absorbed by the warrenty. If it is not, you pay for the diagnostic cost even if NO repair is done at that time, or with that shop. There is probably a sign on their wall with the diagnostic cost. So I think the $55 is just that, and you probably owe that to them if that was what it was for, since you did take the car in for diagnostics. With that aside, it would have been nice, or good customer relations to tell you all that up front. Good Service Writers usually tell you the plan of attack, and the approximate charges that will occur, and that includes the diagnostic charge. They would also explain that if it is not covered under warranty, you pay for it. So it really just sounds like bad comunications on their part. If they told you up front, you could have decided NOT to get your car diagnosed, and saved the $55, or taken it to another shop that may be cheaper. So by that mistake they made, you lost out on options, and you can fight the charge under that case I guess.

By the way, I'm not saying it is your fault, and you should pay them, as thatis up to you. I was just trying to be objective, and not let emotions talk.

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Chris K.

 

I have had bad experiences with one particular ACURA dealer. And to tell you the truth a lot of it depends on customer relations and attitude. I know for a fact, just by talking to several dealers its a customer service issue. Some dealers treat their customers like your bothering them, while others will bend over backwards to help you. I just depends. I say if you know there buttheads just avoid that dealer. I personally don't like to talk shit about a dealer, but on the other hand i would like to warn others of my experiences and save them some grief. I know it could be considered slander , but it would be nice to have a forum that would include these type of issues.

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