First,please forgive any potential highjack & the personal reference to myself. It is the best way to make my point in this case. Before somebody hollers "bullshit" remember the topic is about overcharging not me or anything i've done etc. Second,the fact that I own all or part of 2 totally different business may give me a unique outlook. I have been in the Investment Bus. for 30 yr's. First as an employee/branch mgr. for 2 NYSE co's & later my own co. I sold my co. at 50 & started a new one (I now operate) at 52. I am also part owner(1/3) of a Racing Eng. & specialty welding/machine shop. One might be called a "white collar" business & the other might be called 'blue collar". The attitude of the customers are often totally different.ONE THING is constant. If a person feels there has been a lack of progress in their own career they always complain about something. People from "academic" professions are often "fee adverse" about everything. An Aerospace Scientist or an M.D. might complain about the fee charged to repair a screwed up Financial Plan they did with "expert" advice fron a 22 yr. old rookie at a discount broker. The same person may feel fine about charging thousands for a routine med. procedure. The aerospace scientist might feel fine about spending thousands telling their co. the landing lights should be changed on an airplane. My office wall says I have an MBA. Does that mean I should get a special deal on anything? NO it does not. Sometimes some person will ask how much a "little welding job" will cost. Based on the description it sounds simple,when they get to the shop the job might be welding magnesium bungs for EFI on 8 magnesium throttle bodies. I said earlier in this thread I thought you were overcharged. Then in POST #50 you finally revealed they estimated the cost at somewhere around 300$. That would indicate there might have been more to the original dealer contact like " I can't find the problem & neither has anyone else. Would you take a shot at it". You later said you ended up paying 300. BTW... If you were leaning over the Tech's shoulder bugging him,giving advice etc. that does not help you when it comes time to pay. I revise my judgement. You probably got out cheap.

 

I will say this, most Doctors are the ones who complain about why they have to pay for a diagnostic fee. Case in point, one day we had a Doctor bring in his vehicle for a roaring,whining sound coming from the vehicle. Technician was behind his Service Writer, who told him at write up there will be a $81 diagnostic and the Doctor replied" Why do I have to pay for that?"

Man instantly the Master Tech before the writer can explain stated " Sir, I have bills and a family just like you do. I also realize that when I come to you for a problem you charge me to look me over. High costs and all, I might get lucky and have the equivolent of a warranty better known as Medical Insurance and I still pay a Co-Pay. So just like you, I charge as well for that look over. Either pay me to look at it and fix your car, or find some one else"

Man We all were speechless.

 

My brother was a service manager for several dealerships for many years before he went insane and became a cop. One of my best friends owns three shops - so although I don't work in the business, I know a little about it. We all know how working on cars goes. Sometimes the job is cake, sometimes you get stumped and spend hours trying to figure the problem out. Sometimes stuff happens and the job ends up taking 3 times longer than it should. Flat rate exists to even out the inevitable variables between jobs. A well-run shop will try to balance out the variables involved in a given job and be fair to the customer.

 

Exactly the point. Thats why our eng./machine shop is by referral only,no advertising. We just politely send those people away. I once got a Dr. bill & returned a bill for 250$ for the 2&1/2 hours I sat past my appt. time waiting. I deducted his charge (about115$) from the 250$. The bill he got from me was 135$. Boy,was he pissed!! I no longer accept. new acct.s or transfers from M.D.'s or (especially) lawyers. 95% of the time they are high maintenance ********.

 

I guess your a know it all. Techs tell the writer what they found and the writer makes up the EST by using ALLDATA or whatever else they use. I cannt tell the writers at my job I want X amount for a job.What, where u some kind of shitty writer and the dealership let u go did all the techs break your ***** and thats why u have problem with them. I went to school to make more money instead of being a lube tech i wanted more So instead of 8.00 and hour i could make 24 an hour.

 

Can someone tell me where the TPS Sensor is located, Im assuming the TB.

 

i just looked it up for tps install take .5 of an hour flat rate so you got raped