Getting even with shops who overcharge, do work without authorization and perform bad

Well, Walters is short on details, but - let's say that it's a Freightliner dealership. It's possible that he's signed a settlement agreement that contains fine print that bars him ever doing business with Freightliner again. He may find himself in a position in the future where Freightliner is the best or only option available to him, yet he's already shot himself in the foot over a few hundred dollars on a service bill.

Just an example.

 

Ouch!
He made a valid point of you not being able to use a certain franchise of dealer etc. IMHO.
And yes, I have owned my own equipment for @20yrs, before I get the flaming too.
Unfortunately though, this type of deal goes on 1000's of miles from home, and cannot be easily fought in court.
The offer of free work is a viable one in my book, so long as you can get to the dealer again. Two sides to that coin, yes they will be ticked off at having to do free work, but they also know who NOT to screw with in the future.
It happens to us all, and so long as an agreement is reached, it's all good in my book. Life's too short to get hung up on this stuff.

Martin

 

I had an issue with a Freightliner dealership that I won't name that I felt was warranty work. My truck was down for a week, and the whole time they kept me updated on what was going on, not once did they indicate this wasn't warranty work. I did request, while they were on my truck, to replace a few things with new, rather than putting old parts on. This was agreed, and I told them to bill me for those parts (they agreed, parts only, since the old was being pulled anyways).

Late at night, I'm still sitting at the shop after giving up my hotel, so I can get in my truck and save a night's rent. I get a bill for almost $3k. Claimed it wasn't under warrantly. Also, they changed some things on their own without my permission. I had them write up the bill into two components: work agreed, and disputed. The work agreed was about $300 total for the parts. The rest was put on the disputed bill. I paid for it with a credit card (two separate ones, actually).

Got in my truck, slept in their lot, and in the AM, went in to talk to the manager. Now, the mechanic notes on my order showed that there was damage to the part that was under warranty. But, I didn't tell him this. He claimed it wasn't damaged, so no warranty work. Even bringing out a copy of my work order that showed the notes missing those few key lines. I argued with him and stated he changed the comments. He said I wasn't correct. I went and got the paperwork to show him where it said the part was damaged. I refused to give him my copy.

I also pointed out on the bill where work was performed that I didn't agree to (changing my water filter? really?). He agreed this wasn't ok'd by me, so it was removed. I then took the original bill, the split bill, the bill he showed me that morning, and the corrected bill after he removed a few hundred dollars of 'unapproved work', and left.

Then, went to my credit card, and told them I was disputing the charge. Wrote a letter stating what happened, and included the paperwork (about 20 pages worth by now). The lady at the credit card called and told me the charge would be removed from my account. She said she called the shop and asked, "Was there a warranty on this part with Freightliner?" The shop manager said there was, and she replied, "Then it's under warranty and no payment was necessary."

I'd never do business with this shop again. I won't name them. But, I'd rather tow my truck 500 miles then drop it in that shop ever again.

 

I wouldn't expect you to compromise your settlement.

What I meant was: What type of repair, what was the dispute over, and the value of the difference? I'm more interested in your decision to sue, not so much who did the work. In the example I gave, it was an EGR cooler with a split seam you could throw a cat through. It got overlooked in favor of replacing just the exhaust manifold that had easily visible, but very small cracks. Cracks too small to justify the acres of soot on the opposite side of the manifold. It was obvious to any tech that was actually interested in fixing the problem.

The service manager agreed. The labor to tear down the hot side of the engine the second time was roughly equal in value to two PM services. Since I was likely to be able to use that offer (frequently near that dealer), I accepted and later used the discount. They have some good techs that are human and screw up now and then. I follow their work and ask lots of questions. I don't use them all the time, but they are a go-to for certain things. When I do, I watch them closely.

 

OUCH.!!!!!

 

No worries. From his viewpoint, he sees a typical company driver with zero life experience outside of fast food and manual labor jobs trying to act like he knows everything about the trucking business. Why he's trying to attack me for posting my experiences here in the forums is anyone's guess. It takes more than baseless comments from a forum newb to get under my skin.

I'm sure I could learn a lot from Walters. I'll be waiting to see what he has to contribute that may be of value. So far I haven't seen much that I can use...

 

You have to forgive WALTERS.He is still working through alot of anger about coming out of the closet.He is almost there......I had too....

 

Maybe he's not really a forum newb. Since he seems to know everything about me, he must have been a member here for at least a few months to have read through all 3500 of my posts...

In any event, Walters - Welcome to TTR!