So, took my xj to the dealership to have em put on a new harmonic balancer on the 25th, said it was gonna be $140. They call me the next day, and leave a voicemail saying the threads on the crank are stripped (makes sense, the autozone tool didn't fit...), and that they were "missing hardware", and it's gonna cost just over $400 to fix. When i wake up and call em back, (I work the late shift, so this is around 1pm.) they say they went ahead with the work and did it even though i didn't give them the OK because "we needed the rack"...call me crazy, but you CAN push a car!!!

So we go to pick it up, and since we were going to tell them to do the work anyways, we were going to pay for the crank work. We get there, and they show us a bill for over $550!!! My good ol' mother who was paying for the repair (bless her!) had a short argument with the rep and we ended up paying $427.

I get the jeep home, and i take it to work today, on the way back, i hear the serp belt squealing, and what sounds like the fan hitting the HB (which was the original reason i had it replaced) so, i pull over, shut it down, and i hear this Ka-BAM! from the engine, and then the flow of water... They didn't tighten down the fan pulley, so the nuts came off the pulley and now i've got a fan through my radiator!! The thing didn't even last me an entire day!

This is my rant. and why i try to do ALL the work on my cars with the one mechanic i can trust, MYSELF.

I plan on having them tow it and fix it for free, or they're getting the BBB all up in their *****!!

 

It is ok to rant but try not to use words you know will be censored. Also I agree with you dealerships stink.

 

Sorry, censored it myself, didn't think was a huge deal. Next time I'll be cleaner.

 

Be sure to add the rental car to their bill! Unfortunately there's good people, and bad people in every profession. Sorry to hear in your case, You found the bad. Hopefully you'll get a new radiator, not used.

 

sounds like a bad tech worked on it. That sucks

 

holly crap man! i feel for you big time...id definitely take they butts to court if they even have to think about fixing it for free instead of you telling them to jump and they say how high....ive had my fair share of not just dealers but other mechanics doing that kinda stuff to me...a few years ago i started hanging out with a group of friends that know how to tear down and rebuild a 4.0 in half a day..lol...so ive learned a LOT from them over the years and ever since i starting hanging out with them, i never went back to the dealer or garages...and if i cant do it, one of them has me bring it over, and they go thru it with me, like last summer i had to replace a clutch, never even tried to take a tranny out before...well one of them had me bring it over and helped me out with it...and now i can do that on my own too....it pays to know how to do your own work

again man, sorry to hear about that. i sure know i woulda called them from my cell right then and there and ripped them a new one...good luck man

 

have them cover the tow and the repair. the damage was caused by their mistake.


FYI.....the BBB wont do anything about it.

 

Dealers stink but so do some mechanic shops... I wont name names because I dont know who works for who around here or in the Nashville area. I paid $300 to a shop to fix a coolant leak and locate my evap leak. They did some work and replaced some parts but did not do a good job and I ended re-doing all of it. I did get a refund for a portion... but its just amazing the level of work you get these days. I think some of the mechanics are not used to looking at these 4.0l engines.

 

Thanks for understanding about the censoring stuff. It just bugs me sometimes. Anyway people dont care about working because the gov will take care of them even if they stop working. It is disgusting.

 

i work for a dealership so i was going to stick up for a dealer but...... they did wrong they shouldnt have did any thing till they got the ok. if they have any kind of rep for good work they should fix every thing at no charge to you cht happens sometimes but they need to fix there mistakes we had a tec forget to tighten the lugs on a newer F250 the wheel fell off a couple miles down the street, screwed up the rim, rotor, caliper,a couple wheel studs, and hub,it was a couple grand in parts alone all on the service internal bill customer didnt pay a cent from the tow till he got it back, he had a rental and everything that is how your dealer should fix your problem if not spread the word of bad service

 

They've had it towed back to their shop today, but said "we'll have to see what's wrong before we can say whether we'll do it or not". I think that translates to, "It's memorial day weekend. nothing is getting done till tuesday." I'm almost positive they're gonna do the work for free. it was a pulley that they put on, and now it's in my radiator. I don't think i mentioned this before, but right on the invoice, they put "DID NOT TEST DRIVE VEHICLE"....really? You're gonna spend 5 hours on a car and not test drive it?

Although, this does make sense why the rep said "If i were you, i would drive it home and not touch it till you sell it." Almost like they KNEW it was going to happen!!"

Blegh. I guess time will tell. Till then, i'm driving the good ol' 92 exploder... hello 6 mpg, good-bye gas money!

Sucks to hear about all these stories of shop's work falling through! There's no such thing as a perfect tech, but sometimes i think it happens way too often.

 

Where can i find ME some of these friends?!

 

Dealerships are one of the worst places IMO to have repairs done.
The mechanics are paid "book rate" for their work. If the book says a head gasket job on a 4.0 should take 5 hrs, thats what the mechanic gets paid wether he can do it in 4, or it takes 7.
On the tougher jobs some will take shortcuts or hurry thru and not do quality work trying to finish the job in the hours they are getting paid to do it in.
Some general repair shops go by book rate but most just pay their guys hourly.

Worst dealership rip off n story i know came from my brother and a 300Z nissan about 10 years ago. It was mildly overheating and he took it in to the dealership. To the tune of about $900 they replaced his radiator and said it was fixed. He picked it up , paid cash, and didnt make it 4 miles down the road before it was doing just as before.

Called the dealer, they towed it back, called a couple of days later and told him sorry, must not have been a radiator problem. We never drove it after replacing the radiator and it must need a water pump.
ya owe us for the tow and we arent refunding anything on our misdiagnosis on it needing the radiator replaced.

What a rip.

 

In MI, dealerships/repair facilities have to be licensed through the state. I would file a complaint with your state about this. Even if they fix the issues, they should not have done the original work until you said yes. That is against the law. (In MI at least) Then they didn't test drive it??? They need to fix everything up front that is broken due to their incompetence and pay for the tow.

 

In California that would have been against the law and you would not have had to pay more than the quoted price of $140. Now they should eat the cost and refund you the extra they charged. Not all dealerships are bad, but thet do tend to upsale things that are not needed. Chrysler warrany book time really sucks and it is hard for the tech to make a living purely on warranty repair work alone. I worked at four different dealerships in my career, and have seen it first hand. I would not recomend working at a dealership to anybody. Fleet repair is where it is at.