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rip-off mechanic repairer
 

what do you do if you think a garage/mechanic has way overcharged you?

Are chargebacks even possible in these instances...

I would go back and "spray them with bullets" to coin your phrase.

Funny enough though I had my gearbox 5th gear fail on my 4X4. The car has only done 23000 miles but I am 2 months out of warranty.

They charged me £780 to fix the thing and I was quite angry, so I rang customer services twice and they said "sorry out of warranty" So I went to the garage and explained the car has only done such low mileage and they knocked off 2.5 hours labour which equated to about £200 give or take.

Then after getting the discount I wrote to Toyota Customer services and complained and they offered me £100 as a "goodwill gesture" and "without predujice"

Still an expensive repair but my actions took the sting out of it.

Always worth writing a letter though, thats best I think.

A chargeback would be a problem as they have given you you service, expensive or not.

Write a nice articulate letter to the customer service dept of the manufacturer. Use the main points of your arguament well. (Ie: my complaint was that my vehicle had only done so few miles)

If you want the template for ideas I will send you mine.

yes I didnt think chargeback would be ok

no its nothing to do with manufacturer, it was a service and all the brake pads and discs...for a 4x4, done about 250000, what do you think that should cost?

it wasnt at a main dealership, just a small repair shop place....they gave lower estimate, but bumped up price up upon collection, saying estimates are same as exact end price !!

How much did you pay? Every shop is different, some worse then others. :p

I either work on my vehicles myself or hire friends to do the job. I try to stay way from local repair shops if I can.

Brake pads and discs are usually pretty cheap, usually under a $100 per wheel.

Remember, different market different price. Usually everything in the UK is more expensive then Canada or USA. :yar:

I used to work at a shop when I was younger. All shops rob you. You have to go to a shade tree mechanic that's good and stay with him for a long time. Good one's never give you a brake but they are a little more honest.

Will depend on the vehicle and if they are OEM or the genuine parts. 4x4 in the UK will be pricey even with OEM parts. In Australia I could pay about US$650 without labor included for brake pads,discs, break wear sensors for the BMW. They are nice though, I can get a free tube of anti-squeal grease:rolleyes:

I bet that free tube of anti-squeal grease must be really nice.

@Jbuntz. Verrry;)

I always either look for coupons for discounts on certain places or just do it myself. My step-dad is a Ford Dealership Mechanic so that is really nice :) But those prices seem pretty high.

this place was somewhere I had used a few years ago, but found out later it was under new management

The 3 year service, which is just basic really plus all pads and discs cost equiv of $1120 !!

My neighbours son did a few things with our cars, but he moved away, err I cant see me servicing my own cars, can you?? It would be handy to know practical skills like that...

problem is now cars are computerised, alot of services need to be done by specialists with correct equipment

That is only the computerized stuff. Breaks don't really use any computerized/electrical stuff at all.

brake - thats a good one !!!

my service indicator tells me I have to get it done, it has a count down and a wrench symbol, you can ignore it, but I was wondering, does it take a specialist to turn that off, or does a service anywhere trigger it to go off...

You need money, when you buy your next car you look at the preventive maintenace schedule for the year, call around get some quotes, add up the total for the year throw in an extra few hundred and add enough for a weeks worth of a car rental, divide that number by 12 and take that out of your ebay sales each month and you'll be good to go.

^^ hey with what I spend on ebay, I barely BRAKE (get it) even

but living with a millionaire helps..................

If you know which plug to pull that helps :)

yeah, years ago on my first car, the alarm kept going off, so I was like arrggghh in the middle of the night, popped the bonnet and yanked the whole thing until it stopped - did alot of damage.......mechanics were like wth happened to your car when they checked it!!!

Usually with cars like that I like to just drive them off cliffs, jump out before the edge of the cliff of course, watch them explode and then go buy another one with nothing but cold hard cash.

I have a couple cars I would like to drive off a cliff.

I find it's hard getting rid of a car with transmission problems. :(

For that I think you might need a tow truck and the tow truck driver to help you push it off a cliff.