Type RC

Oh, I have a story about dealer schemes. I bought HID headlights on Ebay and when I tried to change them (with the helpful advice of AcuraZine) I found it to be much MUCH more dificult cuz those damn thinks didnt twist. So I call aThe Acura Dealership I got my car from and figured that it would be like $50-80 to change em out...a lot, but I'd pay it to avoid the head ache. We to my suprise they quoted me $180!!!! Now in my head iI'm in shock but almost willing to pay it to avoid screwing up my headlights. So I ask why it was so expensive for somthing comparitivly simple. I expected a logical response, IE, dangerous, we may damage your bulbs, it's difficult...no I got the BS excuse that they have to remove the bumper. When they told me this I asked if they know that I mean the Bulbs only. aND Not the headlight assembly. And the service manager said that to removed the lightbulbs they have to remove the bumpger. Now I'm not a complete idiot when it comes to cars, I used to do maintence on my Civic back in the day, I just didnt wanna deal with that stuff anymore when I moved up to an acura. I told the manager that I was very knoldgable about car (especially hondas) and it was completly nonsensicla that the bumper required to be removed to chang HID bulb. He then clumsily blamed the mechanics for telling him that the bumper needed to be removed. Upset I said "Bull Sh*t!! I dont appreciate being made a fool of and am greatly concerned about my once great dealership has sunk to lying to customers, but he's lying to someone who knows mechanichs and lyins not gonna fly" He nervously hung up. I then pulled my TL into my garage put a heater on and worked for 2 hours on changing them. I DON'T SEE HOW THE BUMPER HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE HEADLIGHT BULBS!!!!!! Now that I know how to do itI don't see the job taking more then 30 min. topps. I'm seriously thinking of emailing Honda Motor Co a strongly worded letter about this corrupt person. On the positive side this same dealership switched out my Tranny even though it was over 100,000 miles and almost 8 years old for no charge. I probably dealt with a douche bag with the headlights. Is that common?

Hockeyman

pep boys will do it for 10 bucks...had a friend do that once.

Razzi

i found out you only go to the dealership when you need them to pay for something. screwed up mirrors, bad tranny. for everything, else fuck you faster than a pornstar on steroids

fsttyms1

Not all dealers are like that.

Aman

i've yet to hear of a great dealership out of Houston.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

^^ You yet to have a license.




OP - are you sure they weren't quoting you for parts and labor? Maybe they thought you meant getting new bulbs as well.

Type RC

Nope, I made it clear that I purchased the headlights and it proved more difficult then expected to change. Just frustrating, I'll still bring it in for engine and tranny work, and would of paid th $180 for the headlight change, as they prolly would of adjusted them too, had I not been completely lied to. Now I have to figure out how to adjust them so I don't blind SUV drivers.

MarbleGT

Ive changed mine out before....It is a pain in the ass to do. I can see that if you didnt have the patience how it would be easier to take off the front bumper.

fsttyms1

^ not to mention only would add 5 minutes to the labor

WillrunifChased

Taking the bumper off is easy, the first time I took mine off it only took 15 min.

03aspec

you dont need to remove the bumper to change out a bulb..its easy as cake to do..just make sure you dont touch the glass on the bulb cause the oils from your fingers will get on it and soak in while that things heated up and CRACK..bye bye bulb

AcuraBuddy

lol it had to be Paragon Acura right? Heck their own parts guy cheats on them. Just do the lights yourself and save yourself the headache of idiots lying to you.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Oh, and to the OP -- PLEASE use paragraphs next time or I'm suing you when I have a brain aneurysm.

acuratech239

iTrader: (2)

In defense to the service manager, he may have thought that you were talking about an 04+ TL, in which case you do have to remove the bumper.

On the other hand, if you clearly stated it was an older one, then he was pulling a fast one on you. Changing the bulbs in the older style is very easy, 10 mins max each side. Having a tamperproof T20 torx will def help.

Last, not all dealerships deserve the term "stealership". While I have read some horror stories on here, there are ones out there that won't rip you off, and will help you out when you need it.

Sorry again to hear about your bad experience with them.

-- Kevin

fsttyms1

100%

Aman

what i meant was ive seen plenty of stories about people having bad experiences with dealers on here, but only one good story, and that was John Eagle i think it was in houston.

Deity711

They used to be pretty good but ever since they moved to the brand new location they're doing the same shit all the other bad dealers do. $50 oil changes. $100 wheel alignments. $30 or something for nitrogen air in the tires. Slick service writers. All nonsense.

I'll only ever go for warranty work. The last time I was in John Eagle with my TSX, I told him the sunroof was rattling - this is completely typical and an easy fix. I even told the writer when my old TL had the exact same rattle, they put some tape around the outside frame and it fixed it completely. Guy doesn't want to listen to me, and has me describe the noise! I tell him again to just put on some tape like I'm sure some TSB says to do. I get the car back - no tape, but just a fuckton of white lithium grease all over the sunroof tracks. I mean huge gobs of it building up. Took me half an hour trying to wipe that mess up, and I still didn't get it all. Like I said - last time.

I learned the hard way these "XX,000 mile Service" things are the hugest ripoff. I take my car over to the Firestone shop and they'll do a general inspection for $20.

Type RC

I did make sure that I was talking about the 2nd Gen TL. And bumper still had to come off. It may of just been that one douche, like I said, the same dealership replaced my Tranny no charge despite being at 107,000 miles and the car is almost 8 years old (it's a 1999). So not everyone at the dealership sucks.

NightRider

U think the general training program or whatever it is the managers base their subordinates SOP's off of are fucked up. I have talked to dealers in other states that are not much different from here in CO. As unintentional as it could be /(which I don't totally believe), it is just part of an automotive service provider's conduct to in a way evaluate what you know and take advantage of you if you don't know enough or seem to be misinformed/uneducated. The main job of a service writer is to get as much money from you as possible, albeit through the most pertinent of methods. For example, if you are anywhere close to needing a certain mileage service they are going to recommend it to you. In your situation if you specifically stated you have a 2G and not a 3G which requires different procedures, they may be trying to justify charging you extra money in the most justifiable ways possible. As long as anything they say is partially relevant in their eyes, it is justifiable and chargeable.

Awhile back my local dealership replaced my transmisssion for free yet told me I had 2 busted motor mounts and 1 busted tranny mount. I told them that since the motor mounts had been previously replaced within the past 10k miles, it must have had something more to do with just normal wear and tear. They refused to acknowledge that an improperly operating tranny could have anything to do with the tranny mounts OR motor mounts failling...whoops I forgot the tranny has no powertrain relation to the motor or how it puts power to the ground through the drivetrain
Needless to say I stopped going to that dealership. I also contacted ACS about that and they also denied any monetary responsibility and stated it was all a product of driving habits...Yes they are right, I should keep rpms between 1-3K at all times and never downshift to slow down or accelerate, and never press the throttle past 60% of maximum...yeah right

proudacuraownr

There was a recall on the trannys, They had to replace the tranny if the car had over 15,000 miles on it.