HondaGuy347

So I bought both of our Acuras when we lived about 20 miles west of where we do now. 10 miles west of us is the dealer where we bought our cars (“dealer A”). In our town (hint hint) is another Acura dealer, dealer B. A long time ago I went to dealer B when looking at a car, but they had a pushy scuzzy vibe so we ended up at dealer A where we’ve been reasonably happy.

Well for whatever reason, dealer B sent me a $20 off coupon for service. Couple that with a 10 minute ride instead of 20-25, and I decide to give them another shot. Service manager is fairly pleasant blah blah, but I brought in the $20 coupon and he said wel that’s not for oil changes. Hmm, doesn’t say that anywhere, but okay...I said well when you inevitably want to change my air and cabin filters will it count towards that? Sure! Okay then no biggie.

So I’m sitting in the service lounge (after perusing a new RDX and a white NSX) and they bring in the two filters (this part is important). He starts his spiel, and I say sure whatever, replace them. Now normally you can get them for like $10-15 each online, or $20-25 ea in the dealer, so I know I’m blowing an extra $20-30 but fine, whatever. Dealer A always charges me the $40 or so for two of them but not a big deal, and hey, $20 off.

Then they want to do a bunch of other service, like an AT fluid change because they recommend it every 25k miles (Acura recommends 60k I think). I do agree to a brake fluid flush. So then they agree to give me a car and I’ll come back later.

Get the call later, and the service manager says oh just go to the cashier. Okay fine. Get up there and it’s $380. Oil/filter/rotate tires, brake fluid flush, 2x wiper blades and the two air filters. Seems high by about $80 to me. I get the bill and flip through it while they process my card and then walk out to wait for my car.

Wait a tick. Air filter. $40 + $25 labor. Cabin filter $40 + 35 labor. $80 for two filters that should be $30 total, and $60 of labor. Never paid labor at Dealer A for this crap.

Go back inside to see service manager. “Did you charge me $60 to put two filters in?” Well, no, that’s the price of the filter. Why is is listed on the invoice twice? Okay, yeah there’s some labor too. We’ll wait, you took the filters out of my car, brought them into the lounge to show them to me, and then charged me to put new ones back in, which you had to do whether I bought new ones or not? Well... If I said no would you have charged me $60 to put the old filters back in? Well...

Ffers. I was literally just thinking how convenient this dealer is and maybe I’d get my next car there. NOPE. Way to through away a potential long time customer for $60, idiots.

Hope I get the survey call tomorrow. Only reason I didn’t fight back harder was that I had already paid and I knew it was too late.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

$35 for labor on the cabin filter

It literally LITERALLY! takes 5 minutes. Or less! Pop it out of the glove box, put the new one in, pop it back in. Clicks right in place. As far as difficulty, it falls somewhere in the range of removing food from the microwave and emptying the canister on a vacuum cleaner.

$35?!?! :gheylaugh:

Sorry, not meaning to laugh at your misfortune. Just the joke that is a car dealership - regardless of the vehicle.

crxb

If you can open a drawer, you can change the cabin filter yourself

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Ah, I just remembered - you sometimes have to remove the items from the glove box before replacing the filter. Maybe that was it. Maybe he had really heavy things in there, or a ton of bunched up papers and stuff that the tech had to take out then stuff back in after the 2 minute filter install.

Terdbath

Something similar happened to my wife a few months ago when she went in to our local Honda to get an oil change for our 2015 Pilot before our spring break to Atlanta. Rep coms back with over $1000 worth of things that needed replaced including 4 new tires, transmission flush, new rotors, cabin filters etc with the pitch that we want to be as safe as possible on our trip. She texted while waiting in the lobby and I said no to everything but the oil change. They ended up doing the transmission flush anyway and charged her $350 for that and the oil change. I feel like they took advantage of her general car ignorance. She wasn't able to figure out at the dealer what all the charges were for and probably didn't feel comfortable following up on why so high of a bill for what she thought was only an oil change.

So do I go in and make a scene over $300 worth of service I didn't ask for? I was pretty fired up but after a few hours of thought I simply decided to never go there for any reason ever again. We are on our second Pilot from there and probably would have at least looked at another one in a couple years but F that and F them going forward.

I've been pushing that XC90 for her next ride anyway.....

HondaGuy347

Engine air filter is even more egregious IMO, that's like 5 clips and 15 seconds.

But the killer for me is that they fricking took them out of the car, walked them over to show them to me, and then charged me $60 to put them (new ones) back in!

thoiboi

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

That helped them validate the price they charged. They probably considered it a customer consultation.

thunderbt3

I'm pretty sure I bought my TSX from Dealer A. I contacted Dealer B for the exact combo I was looking for and they said that they had it in stock. I called Dealer B to confirm the car was there and ready for me to come in and sign the paper work, but they gave me the run around saying they have the keys but not the car? They also told me that they get sent the keys before they get the cars and that I could put a $2K dibs on the car when it finally rolls off the transporter. No thanks. I contacted Dealer A and they confirmed they had my combo in stock and all I needed to do was give them the go ahead for PDI and final detailing. Since they 2G TSX just hit US soil, chances at a discount were slim, but they threw me a bone after explaining the troubles I had with other Acura dealers.

I do my own service so I've only been back to Dealer A for a headlight and door actuator warranty repair along with airbag recall. They were great with everything and even let me keep the fully loaded MDX loaner an extra couple of days even though the airbag recall only takes about an hour to do. I only have 2 gripes with Dealer A. One was they forgot to re-aim my headlight after warranty replacement causing me to blind a ton of people. The other was they were getting some concrete work done and the contractor was jack hammering a curb and sidewalk right where service parks cars ready to be picked up. The jack hammering happened to be right next to my car. My car was covered in concrete dust and dirt. They moved other customer/loaner cars after I brought it up to them, they apologized, and gave the car a wash again.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

I have to throw this in. I fully understand that mechanics and dealers need to make money. I get that. I used to run a small business building, repairing and servicing PC's and often encountered this. Some customers would question why I'd charge anything over basic retail to upgrade their PC. I usually charged 10-15% over retail on parts and $40 an hour for install. Usually this didn't amount to much. On an $80 RAM upgrade and $100 CPU upgrade they'd be looking at about $200 on parts ($20 more than retail) and $15 on labor (about 20 minutes). That's $35 over what they'd pay to order the parts themselves, wait for them to arrive, install them on their own and hope everything worked. Once I explained this they were happy to pay $35 to get an immediate upgrade (no waiting - I kept parts in stock), have me install it and make sure it worked as well as back up my work if something went wrong. Sometimes an SSD upgrade or motherboard replacement could take 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on what needed to be done (such as software reinstallation or data migration). I'd inform they up front that they'd be paying up to $100 plus parts for the service and explain why then leave it up to them to decide. They were usually fine with that since that kind of stuff is over most peoples heads.

What I have a problem with is when shops ramp up the price of parts well above the normal price OR charge an exuberant amount for labor. In this case, I think it would have been perfectly reasonable to charge an extra 20% over cost on parts and $10-$15 to install (for the cabin filter that is). You have to take into account what's involved with those services such as ordering, stocking, inventory, etc. That's reasonable. What I've seen however, is a HUGE markup on parts and labor that's often completely ridiculous. For example - I was quoted around $230 for spark plugs. You can get the NGK iridiums for around $7 a piece if you look around. I just changed mine with a new set of 6 for $39. Even from the dealer they're only $16. And at Autozone they're $12. But $230 for 6? That's nearly $40 each. That's just stupid. And while a lot of people might not know anything about replacing an air filter, I still think it would do more good to explain that it will only take a few minutes and either charge a straight $9.99 for install or even do it for free as an "investment" in the customer. My customers really appreciated when they'd ask me how much the upgrade would cost and I'd explain that I'd only charge them for parts since install took me less than 5 minutes. I had a ton of repeat business and referrals when I was honest with people. I even occasionally did some pro-bono work that wasn't all that difficult. The mechanic I've gone to when something is over my skill level does this. And they are MAD busy all the time. People know they're honest and word of mouth is the best advertising. But most dealers and many mechanics refuse to do this since they're looking at the short term instead of a long term investment in themselves and their customers. The OP's experience is a prime example.

crxb

would have to charge an additional labor fee for above

HondaGuy347

Yup, I'm cool with paying a small increase over list to get it done for me right then and there. $50 in parts instead of $25 ordering it myself from a discount site on the internet, no problem. But $140 for parts/installation? Aww hell no.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Well, lesson learned. Remember, there are a ton of technical resources here on Azine. And if you have trouble finding something, just google the subject along with acurazine in the search and it will likely pop up. Between that and the service manual, I've always been able to find what I'm looking for when it comes to any repair or maintenance item.

HondaGuy347

I've replaced both of those filters (and done plenty of other DIY work) a zillion times on various cars. It was literally just a case of being too lazy/busy to order the parts myself and deal with it later. Lesson learned.

cu2wagon

You may have had an incorrect assumption that they actually removed *your* filters to show you. They may have had some "results typical" "demo" filters that they brought to show you, and they hadn't actually removed yours from the car. Hence, rendering your pushback on the install labor moot since they had yet to do the work. /sarcasm.

But really. I had that shit happen once. They brought me "my dirty filters" and I was like, nah, those aren't mine. And I knew because I: 1) replace my own filters, 2) replaced them right before taking the truck in, and 3) write the date on them with sharpie when I replace them so I: A) remember when I did it, and B) know if they're trying to fuck me with no Vaseline.

YMMV.

kixo

The markup on the filters seem excessive, but not so much on the labor. My dealer charges $100 for both filter replacements. Each dealer seems to have services they command a premium price for, and others they perform as a loss leader. The trick for me has been to provide coupons from a competing dealer, which they will always match.

TSX1012m6

I'm in the Schaumburg area. I was thinking how this sounded like the Acura dealer in Schaumburg! Then I saw you are in Arlington Heights. The good dealership in Palatine right? I've never been there.

The Schaumburg Acura dealer blows. Building is nice but I am always treated like I am inconveniencing them by being there. Prices are very high for service, especially when compared to the Honda dealer down the street on Golf Rd.

HondaGuy347

You know how I know you've never replaced either of these on the TSX? I would struggle to spend 3 minutes on both. If you think $58 is fair for three minutes...

HondaGuy347

LOL, other way around. I've always been treated very nicely (including buying 2 cars there, maybe that's why) at Muller's Woodfield or whatever the hell it's called in Schaumburg or Hoffman or wherever it is.

Arlington Acura blows goats for quarters.

FLYGUY31

Richie Roads

Youtube is a great resource for do it yourself jobs. Before I pay a mechanic to do a job, I always go online to see how easy it can be done, then I make a decision. Air filters are easy.

HondaGuy347

Extremely easy. So easy that every reputable dealer I've ever used has done it for me for free in exchange for paying the slight markup of buying the filter from them instead of sourcing it from the internet. Kinda like the wiper blades they did do for free for me.

Shame on me for not verifying that that would be the case with this scummy dealer.

But shame on them for absolutely bending me over with neither lube nor reacharound on both the parts cost and the labor charge.

HondaGuy347

I've never had a problem, and I thought $12.50/blade was pretty cheap

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Heck yeah. I owe YouTube about $1500 in labor. I've changed my timing belt and replaced a head gasket with info between youtube and the factory service manual.

davidg4781

FLYGUY31

All I know is I had them replace my wipers and they were junk. They were thin and didn't last 4 months. Never cleared the window well. I now use Bosch. They are expensive, but I get a full year, if not more out of them. Streak free and last.

Sheefo2k

Since we are all venting about our dealership experiences.

I brought the car in December to get a few major services done, and while the car was there I had them do an alignment. I picked up the car after hours and the car continued to pull. They blamed it on everything possible other than the fact that they didn't actually perform an alignment on all 4 corners. After a whole week, I finally received my alignment spec printout sheet proving that they did perform an aliment on 3 corners. When I asked how come they didn't touch the 4th corner they said it was within spec (despite being at the upper or lower limit) and it couldn't move any further. I did not like that answer, but I made a promise to never return. Fast forward to this weekend (July 28th), I went to install my new rear SPC control arms, I found out they stripped one of the bolts on one of the arms which explains to me why they didn't align it. I am more than pissed for several reasons. They have the capital to repair the damaged bolt and give me a proper alignment like I asked and paid for.

I now go to the other dealership in town but I am definitely searching for a new place to bring my business to.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

PIAA FTW. They're about $30-$35 each but they last forever

mayanhippy

Service at stealerships are the worst. They scratched up my car when i went in for the passager airbag recall