Nabooly

I didn't even know there was such a thing.

I took me TL in because of the thud that comes from the back when I go over bumps/curbs (I guess it's a known issue based on threads here). They didn't hear anything with my car.

I also told them the subwoofer rattles when the bass hits, he said I have it turned up to high and that the stock subwoofer isn't the "best". Well duh but it shouldn't be rattling at volume 10 when im playing a song that doesn't have a lot of low bass.

So he's like you're welcome to come and take a ride with the tech, but we don't want to charge you any more than what we're charging you if we don't find anything. It's not about the money, it's just the principle. There's something not right with my car, but they're charging me for diagnostic time. LOL that extended warranty is paying off alright!!!

This was my first time taking it in since I bought it in July. Am I in the wrong? Even Ford never charged me for diagnostic time when they didn't find anything.

potmilkz

i would have spoken to the manager.

did they ever confirm what was wrong? did they find anything?

Pseudomaniac

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, I'd of been driving out with that $45 in my pocket.

Don't ask, tell. I'm not paying you anything for the nothing that you did, so fix my issue under warranty, or I'll be going elsewhere.

beautybydivine

Sorry to hear about the crappy service from the dealer.
As far as the rattle from the subwoofer, I had the same issue.

Took my car in, and the tech found that the metal around the mounting points for the subwoofer was cracked.

Even at low volume (10-15) it would rattle like crazy.

Maybe this is the issue that you are experiencing.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

think about if everybody who turns their stereo up to loud complains about a rattle and brings their car in for a tech to look at it.

Nothing would ever get done in the service department.

I think the charge is more of a deterrent that they would waive if work was done.

dwest1023

If your car was under warranty, you should not have been charged any money. I understand the need to pay a tech, but your car should have been looked at as a courtesy. Seems to me you were charged a nuisance fee.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

yes, and yes.

Nabooly

Nope. Nothing. And I couldn't go on a ride because I was headed to work right after picking my car up. He told me to bring it in some time so i could go on a drive with a tech but If he didn't find anything they would charge me even more of this "diagnostic fee".

Is it really normal for there to be rattling from the subwoofer? I'm assuming that some piece of plastic is hitting the rear window when the bass hits. Keep in mind that I'm not listening to rap at volume 20.

Actually it was $52.79. I will be returning next week and going for a drive. If they don;t want to fix the rattling and the thud, then at that point I will speak to the service manager.

My problem is the salesman I went through is no longer working there anymore. I could have had him work it out for me.

Apparently they drove it around and didn't hair a thing.

See I wouldn't have brought it in solely for the subwoofer rattle, but because of the thud when I go over bumps I thought I might as well tell them to look at it. I think the thud has to do with the struts or shocks (wild guess). I just got home little bit ago and I noticed for the first time that when I got out of my car and my body weight was no longer in the driver's seat, there was a creaking noise that came out. So I sat back in and got out again and I heard it again.
I only weigh 125lbs so I dont think I'm weighing the car down that much.

I guess next time I have an issue I will just tell them about it when I get an oil change done, that way Ill save $52.

HeartTLs

iTrader: (5)

Would be hard to drive off considering thy usually hold the keys till you settle your debt with the cashier. But I totally agree.

They didn't find anything wrong because they didn't inspect it properly. I've been complaining to Curry Acura for the past year (went in 4 times) about the prop shaft making a whistling noise, they could never duplicate it and yet DCH Heart Acura was able to in minutes on the first visit. It's much easier telling a customer "it's your fault you put the music on too loud", oh and heres a bill for $45. Than properly diagnosing, calling warranty, getting the okay, ordering parts, doing the repair and possibly giving a loaner. Instead of doing 5 overpriced oil changes in that same hour.




Edit: bro, im super passionate about hurting businesses that give bad customer service, go to a different dealer; save yourself time and money, period.

SeismicGuy

This will probably date my old-fartdom but I recall the days when I would drive my car into the mechanic if something was wrong and as I was driving in (or maybe shortly after) he would instinctively know what needed to be fixed.

These days the typical dealer mechanics don't know anything except how to hook up a diagnostic reader to (hopefully) tell them what is wrong. My wife's boss just got through struggling with his few year old 6-series BMW. Car would overheat and drop dead. He brought it to the dealer who couldn't find anything wrong so gave him the car back. Of course it kept overheating and dropping dead. Still the dealer couldn't find anything so they changed some parts but did not solve the problem. I think they finally stumbled onto a proper fix but this is typical.

The computerized engine and drivetrain management systems are a double-edged sword. The computer successfully compensates for impending problems up to a point which makes it harder to discover them.

Rocket_man

At my Acura and Honda dealer they charge a fee if they look at your car and find nothing. If there is an issue then the fee is waived but of course you pay to fix the problem. This started maybe 2 years ago. So far I've never paid it since there has always been some sort of maintenance done at the same time. If you take the car in for a scheduled maintenance, and ask them to look at something, you won't get charged the fee.

I have mixed feelings about this. Yes it takes a tech a certain amount of time to look at your car, but often problems are not obvious, or only happen under certain circumstances, so you can be charged and they don't find the problem.

Nabooly

To be fair though, back in 2009 when I bough my TSX brand new from the same dealer, service was amazing! Literally they helped me out with any little thing I had an issue with. So I was expecting the same service...guess not. They pretty much revamped their whole department, a bunch of salesman quit/fired (idk?). A different dealer is another hour away, is it worth it? Maybe, we'll see.

I'm just baffled how they've changed so much! They we're so accommodating when I had my TSX! Even Ford was surprisingly very well with their service, and they checked everything I asked them too, never charging me bogus fees.

Nabooly

The guy mad eme come on at 9:30am to drop my car off because they're supposedly not busy at the time. He told me he'll call me in an hour and let me know what's going on. I waited till 3pm and called because I needed to know what was going on. It itook him from 9:30 to 3pm to look at my car?

mdxsilversurfer

It it safe to assume that you went to McGrath Acura? If so, Yeah I had the same issue with them, and after that never went back to them.