Shop trying to charge me more labor after I've paid the invoice?

I operated an auto repair business for 12 years. Most repairs were estimated and billed at "flat rate" or "book" time, those times coming from a flat rate guide. That same guide is published for medium and heavy duty repairs. The things I did not quote by book time were things like welding up exhausts, or jobs that because of the rust we have here, I already knew would take much more than the book time. In general, the customer is not responsible for the mechanics "clock time" if he takes longer, the same as the customer is not entitled to a refund if the mechanic finishes the job faster. They are average times, and it all averages out. As far as labor having already been paid, it is possible that there were two labor charges, sublet labor (sending parts out for machine work etc) and mechanic labor..... The O.P. should have received an estimate with these charges. Contrary to popular belief (and practice) it IS possible to provide an accurate estimate before doing work. If you find something additional while taking things apart, you add that to the estimate and inform the customer. Then they say yes or no and can have the job finished, or pay for the work done so far and have the vehicle towed out. Each state will have laws regarding estimates, and the amount that the final bill can be above the estimate without verbal approval, although I do not know if this would apply to heavy truck repair.

 

Do you think that a clerical error of not putting on the invoice a legitimate amount of labor time, then reflecting on it later and requesting the customer to pay for it is justified?

 

Some years ago in my youth, I was working on a Kawasaki KX250 dirt bike I had purchased from a buddy that couldn't get it to run well. After I got it running tip top, wasn't long before the jug nickel plate wore thru and the top end was toast. I found a local mom and pop shop that was able to sleeve the jug for me with a Weisco sleeve that saved me some coin vs buying a new jug.

I was verbally quoted X.XX when I dropped it off for repair. I picked it up when it was done and paid the bill with a hand scratched paper receipt. I remember leaving thinking that was cheaper than we talked about but was happy with the finished product. Payed in cash and was on my way.

Half way home I got a call from the owner who indicated that he had forgotten to charge me for his techs time of reassembling the jug after the machining was done and he had shorted me his labor and that he needed to be paid. My initial reaction was to tell him to pound sand, but then I realized it was a simple oversight and they deserved to be paid for their services despite the mistake. I turned around and gave him the addition money.

The purpose of this story is to show as I stated before, only the OP knows if he truly owes the money to the shop despite the billing error that was made. There are other factors to consider. Do you plan to go back? Do you use the vendor on a regular basis? Communicating with the shop to resolve the situation is best. If you stiff them, don't plan on going back.

I would be surprised that the shop would be attempting to collect on a service that they didn't legitimately perform. No business can survive long doing this.But they also need to own up to the fact that they screwed up. From the repairer side, its well worth a call to see if they can collect on it. Anything past one attempt to collect payment would be borderline harassing.

 

It definitely weighs less on conscience to say pound sand to TA/Loves and the likes- who themselves are not the saintest- than a ma and pa shop . Fact is that any time there @TA to do anything, a rip off alert is on.

 

Sirscrapntruckalot - If you watch forum arguments on two monitors it's like watching tennis.

 

wish there was a list of bad mechanic shops to stay away from on here....

....and good ones to give a call

 

Your story brought back a lot of memories from when I was a kid. My 94 yz 80 and a 95 cr125 I had later in. Doing top ends, reeds, power valves, etc. Of course sleeves and wiseco piston kits. Barnett clutches.

They were so easy to work on that even a 12 yr old could do it. Later on with the 4 strokes that went out the window for me personally.

What ended up being the problem? Bad reeds? Stuck power valve or something?

 

The bike was one of Nick Wey’s old Pro Circuit bikes. I Imagine it got run on the jagged edge of lean it’s whole life. The power valve may have contributed to the failure and that was the area of the plating failure. Sold it not long after I fixed it. Wife didn’t want to raise the kids without a daddy. It was just fast enough for me to get hurt.

 

Paid invoices are final. If they weren't, any business could go back to any customer or customers from the past and get a little extra cash to help them through hard times just by claiming the invoice was incorrect.

 

Was at a tire shop this morning.
As I paid the bill, asked the guy.
If you have made a mistake, or just felt like charging me more for this job, would you just bill me more tomorrow.
He looked confused by my question, so I gave him the brief version of this thread, and then asked him again.
His reply " Of course not ". Then he went on further to say that it would actually be illegal for him to do so, not to mention ethically wrong.
He was astonished that any shop would even consider doing so.
You make up the bill, it gets paid, end of that transaction, period.