BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

So the local "hot rod" shop here in Roxborough, Philadelphia more than likely ripped me off. Here's the story...

I was putting Pacesetter long tubes on my car, along with prothane motor mounts and an offroad y pipe. I tore the entire stock exhaust out on my own at home. I put the driver's side mount in. I couldn't get the passenger side off for the life of me. So I had it towed up there so they could finish it. Mind you, all they had to do was one mount and bolt up the headers and Y pipe.

What was my bill? $1008 and change!! I am completely beside myself right now and ready to flip out. Most of the quotes I got were in the $500 range for a start-to-finish header install (without motor mounts).

Thoughts?

RogueFab

Scan of the bill? Was it itemized?

Off just the numbers, I would say that is pretty outrageuous. Probably $100 in misc materials in there, but that is still over 12 hours of laber at 75/hr. Let us know what the line charges were.

M4N14C

iTrader: (3)

My God, did they also change your clutch for that much?

That price is absolutely outrageous...

BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

The only parts on it were one header gasket for $19 and they added a quart of oil and topped off the coolant (none of which I asked for). I don't have a copy of it yet cuz I cursed the guy out and walked out. Basically, it was $900 for labor (labor was $90/hour).

BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

Oh, and I forgot they picked up 3 band clamps for like $40. It was about $81 for materials.

RogueFab

Hmmm. About $100 in material like I thought. They usually have a "shop rags" and "misc shop disposal" line too.

Cursing them out was a bad move. They may not want to talk to you about anything related to your bill. Water under the bridge at this point I guess.

You need to get a bill from them and ask if you can go over it with a manager. Do you have your request on the car in writing? Like "Replace header, install Y pipe" or something? Do you have an estimate from them? Does it say "exhaust work and 25 point inspection?" any fine print about safety?

Look at their side, if they work on the public's cars, many of them will sue if their car overheats from something simple after leaving their shop. That may be why they topped your coolant.

I would go over the bill with the manager and maybe see if they went off book rate or actual time, and see if they can negotiate on the hours on the stuff you didn't ask for. they are saving you some time by doing the general maintenance for you, but you didn't ask for it and they should have called you. they REALLY should have called you.

I am not trying to be an ***, just a little advice and some devil's advocate to keep this productive. I think they ripped you : (

BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

I got a little hot under the collar cuz I told the guy that his price was outrageous and his reply was "Oh well, we spent a day and a half on it. This is what it is." There is no mention of any shop fees at all, just a list of labor performed. I told him I knew what labor they did since I did all the removal for them. There shouldn't be any disposal fees since they left the old rusty/greasy parts on my custom leather seats!

They did call about changing the oil and I told them not to cuz I would do it at home.

Don't worry about playing devil's advocate. I need some advice, and getting a mechanics/experienced car persons opinion is part of that. Thanks for the time.

ToxicWS6

they probably charged you how long it took them to do it, not how long it should of taken, at this point the best thing you can do is accept it as what it is and hope they didnt half *** it on top of it all, most old "hot rod" shops or "SBC" guys are not the best to take ls1 cars too cause they try to relate everything to SBC and not an ls1 and usually this ends bad

no offense to any old school dudes on here

this has happened enough to me that i dont take my car anywhere except for an allignment and im there the whole time cause ive had enough mechs go "have fun" in my car also, i end up doing all my own work and in the long run it feels good knowing you've done it all yourself, took awhile and weeks on this site and others learning on what i was about to attempt but enough prep and reading ive done anything ive ever tryed, engine builds to swaps, next thing i plan is tranny rebuild

now im not bashing any shops at all, as i have found one good performance shop local that was honest, fair priced and very friendly/helpful and actually knew what they where doing, just found them alittle to late and i just do everything my self now to save money

one of my first tasks on my ls1 car was engine mounts, it took a friend and i 16 hrs to do poly mounts : \ i now can pull and engine and put new engine in in a day so you learn a ton as you go and do yourself

more you do the more confident you are on trying something else

MonmouthCtyLS7

iTrader: (6)

Dude there's a lot of reputable shops in this area...stick to the guys that are here....

BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

I guess my flaw is impatience. I could have finished the mounts if I waited for my new compressor and air tools. I should've enlisted some help as well, but I don't have a lot of mechanically inclined pals hanging around my garage.

Call me an egomaniac, I may be, but the thought of someone screwing me over makes me irate. The thought of dishonesty and opportunistic thugs really chaps my @ss! I'd just love to get some payback.


Help me find some of those shops! lol

MonmouthCtyLS7

iTrader: (6)

pm me man...i have a list

OSU Football Fan

iTrader: (23)

It's probably a stupid question, but didn't you ask this particular shop for an estimate before having them do the work?

What I always do whenever I take my car in to get it worked on is ask for an estimate and tell them to call me before moving forward if anything comes up to exceed the estimate. That way you don't get surprised with a bill that's twice what you were expecting.

Unless they had do some custom fabrication to get the y-pipe to fit (which happens sometimes) $1k is too much for a header install.

BigCityFire

iTrader: (10)

He just said they'd sneak it in during the afternoon. He said it wouldn't be too long and it'd be done the following morning. Made it sound like a super easy thing, so I was cool with it. Bad move I guess...

ThatOneKid

Jesus christ! $90 dollars an hour?!?

At my friends body shop, rack time is less than that!

CamaroZ28_LS1

iTrader: (5)

yeah I would have done it for the quoted price of $500, that stuff is easy. I have done a full exhaust swap less then three hours. Motor mounts being difficult to drill out the old rivets and realign the engine mounts to the stands is a pain. Have to remove the alternator on the drivers side to get to the through bolt. Passenger side is not as bad. Usually have to unbolt the a/c compressor but I had pulled out my a/c long before that. I can see that being the hard part. But all in all it shouldn't have been more then $500 and if that's what they quoted you, then they should have contacted you with the adjusted price by law I believe. If you are saying they didn't do that and didn't approve the work then it could be a small claims suit.

blackbirdls1

iTrader: (5)

I wouldn't pay, that sounds outrageous.

JDEP162

not sure about other states, but in ohio, if u refuse to pay, the shop owner can simply go to the local municipal court, file a claim for your title, and he will own your car if you dont pay in 90 days. you have to go to court and convince the judge to let you pay the bill and get your car before then. not worth it. ive seen it happen.

demonspeed

iTrader: (7)

I'd surmise what happened was they simply had to spend more time on it than another shop that normally works on LS1 Camaro would. It sucks, but you dropped off a car for them to pick up the pieces in the middle of an install. I'd have personally tried to get an estimate on it (I'm surprised they didn't call you before tearing into it to at least give you a heads up that it could end up taking quite a bit more time than they had thought), but there is nothing you can do about the "coulda, woulda, shoulda" at this point.

If it were me, I'd just get a couple written estimates from reputable shops in your area for a header and motor mount install (you really need to be sure the estimate includes the mounts). I'd then diplomatically speak with the shop manager/owner about them accepting what other shops would normally charge for the full install (let's assume $500). Taking this angle would represent you acknowledging that your car may have taken longer than it normally should while also letting them acknowledge they only had to do half the amount of work it normally would be to do a full install.

At the very least, try to get them to meet you halfway between the cost of a full install at a normal shop and their outrageous price. It's not your fault that they were not experienced enough with LS1 fbody header/mount installs; however, it is your fault for choosing a shop with minimal experience.

ToxicWS6

i agree with demonspeed, u might be able to get them to meet u half way but tbh if they start causing an issue with it after all that at this point so ur not wasting a ton of time and *** pain just pay to get ur car back and wash ur hands of there bs, as said above they can also screw u on it even more

RogueFab

Guys I think he has his car back and paid already... Is that the case BigCity?

And yes, in most states, you don't pay and he gets a lein. Then he can own your car.

I would try to negotiate a little and remind him how much worse a bad review is than 10 good ones. If he can't see the value in eating $200 to turn you around than he deserves the bad review.

Saying "we'll sneak it in this afternoon and have it wrapped up by morning" is almost like saying it will take 4 hours, not 10.

I have never heard of $90 an hour. I made my first guess at the total time at $75/hr because that was the highest I figured any shop would charge that works on domestic cars without a national reputation.