Has the dealer stiffed me? 15K service £1230.19

[BorderHooner]

I was quoted £340 for a 15,000 mile service (hayabusa), this included tappet inspection and adjust as required also to replace front and rear sprockets (which I privided) and replace chain.

In addition to the £340 I was to pay for oil, plugs and chain.

I was expecting a bill around £450 including VAT.

I have a bill for £978 labour - £197.71 parts + vat = £1230.19

During the service I called in with a warranty issue with my other bike - I asked if the brake calipers could be resprayed. Obviously I was willing to pay additional to have this done.

I have been charged 7 hours general service labour.

In addition I have been charged;

3 hours to grease head bearings,
2 hours to replace fork oil,
3.5 hrs to clean, strip, paint, rebuild calipers,
1.5 hrs to lubricate rear suspension
1.5 hours to fit chain and sprockets.

+ I have been charged £45.92 to replace a battery - I BOUGHT a new battery from them 6 weeks ago!

That's an additional 11.5 hours for work that should be included in a service - accepted is an additional charge to paint calipers.

I have also been charged £18.87 for 3 litres of coolant.

I would very much like you opinions on this as I'm heading into see the service manager tomorrow.

Seems to me I have been charged far too much labour.

Cheers
____________________
Benelli. Happy as a pig in cacky.

[Barry_M2]

[.....]

Did he have the decency to give you a reach around?

[ian789]

I hope you haven't paid it. They can only charge you for agreed work, and where you cannot agree a price beforehand, you are only expected to pay a "reasonable amount".

That is clearly unacceptable. Refuse to pay, they have no right to make you pay that much, offer them the £450, if they refuse tell them to take you to court.

[Itchy]

They don't call them stealers for nothing!

The coolant is a particular pish take, it should cost £1 for 3 litres of coolant and takes 30 seconds to put it in and 2 minutes to drain out.

I reckon all of the labour hours he has added +1 hour on top.

Remember this RULE!

Past consideration, i.e. he can't do work you did not agree to and charge you what was not quoted as it is past the consideration stage such laws prevent me from mowing your lawn without asking you and demanding £1000.
____________________
Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Pete.]

Yes some of those charges are outrageous.

An hour and a half to change fork oil? Pisstake, you don't even have to remove the forks to drain them, drop the wheel and drain them from the bottom allen bolt holes and re-fill them from the top. Even if the forks were stripped out and oil poured out of the top it isn't that much work and it would have tied in with the greasing of the head bearings anyway.

The rear suspension doesn't take long to grease up, unless they had trouble getting the bolts out of the dogbones which CAN happen. They would have done that in conjunction with doing the chain and sprockets though, both of which I could easily have in half the time with typical workshop facilities.

Engine coolant should be changed every two years, regardless of mileage or service schedule.

Here's an idea - go to a main dealer and tell them you want all the work done that you've been charged for. Ask for a quote and a breakdown. That way you'll get a second opinion on the costings.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[.....]

Name and shame the dealer.

I love a good witch hunt.

[Clanger]

This is exactly why I don't go to dealers for a service!!! My car and bike service usually cost me the parts plus £25. And that's because I have a mate who will do it for me in just over an hour.
____________________
Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[Frost]

[Pete.]

As a matter of fact, since the rear suspension and headstock bearings are marked as 'I' in the schedule, and the legend says 'I' means 'Inspect and adjust, clean, lubricate and replace as necessary' you could very well argue that the work they did is part of the service schedule (which they gave you a fixed price for) and the only thing they should charge you for is the grease and shop sundries.
____________________
a.k.a 'Geri'

132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good

[DrDonnyBrago]

That is horrendous!!!

I did a chain and sprocket swap last weekend, 1st time I've ever done one and using budget tools it took me little over an hour - BUT!!! that included cleaning under the sprocket covers, polishing up the rear sprocket carrier and cleaning the swingarm whilst the wheel was out.


Refuse to pay for a start, then get your old battery put back in whilst inserting the "new one" into the managers rectum. As above, a litre of coolant even from a rip off merchant such as halfords costs just over a quid and takes 10 minutes to change and IIRC should form part of the 16k service anyway. If the general service items such as fork oil and head bearings dont sit under the 7 hours servicing time WTF does?

Valves and plugs would realistically take a mechanic less than two hours, me and my brother did it on our first go in about 3. Add to that an oil change (15 mins), coolant change (10 mins), head stock bearings and fork oil (2 hours) and torquing all the bolts I reckon 7-8 hours should have been the lot except perhaps the caliper, of which most of that 3.5 hours would have been sat watching the paint dry!


Name and shame my good man!

[Andy C]

You could buy a fair decent bike for that money!!

Crazy, theres no way you should pay that!
____________________
99 RS125 --> 02 SV650s --> 03 Speed Four --> 92 RXS100 --> 93 CB400sf --> 01 CB600f Hornet

[c_dug]

[Ciar?n]

C+S kit is 1 Hour.
Depending on the bike rear suspension is 1 - 1.5 hours.
but 3 HOURS for headraces?
It's an 1 - 1.5 to replace the bloody things.

Have they replaced fork seals?
____________________
22/8/08 A2 Passed! Full License Biatch!
Past: Suzuki CS50, Gilera Ice 50, Gilera Runner 125SP, CBR 600 F2, CBR600 F4i, CBR 600RR5,

[Wafer_Thin_Ham]

You've been done son. That's taking the mick.
____________________
My Flickr

[Rob W]

You have been savagely, savagely rimmed there mate. I'd be refusing to pay any more than about £500 for what's been done there, even then that would break my heart.

As others have said, this is yet another example of why I never take a vehicle to a garage.
____________________
TS50 > Senda 125 > ZXR400 > CB-1 > GSX-R1000 > Bandit 600 > ZXR750 H1 > GSX-R750 SRAD > '98 RR-W Fireblade > T595 Daytona > Hornet 900 > '04 Fireblade > GSX-S1000F (x2) > '23 XSR900

[27cows]

Fuck. Me. Backwards. Forwards. Sideways. On a trapeze. On a space hopper. In an inflatable dinghy. In Ann Widdecombe's back garden. And on the grassy knoll.



I suddenly remember why I do my own maintenance and avoid dealers when humanly possible.
____________________
The RXS100: vehicle of choice for Chuck Norris

[MarJay]

Put it this way: I've just had a top end rebuild on my Buell which cost £890 inc parts. This includes exhaust removal, engine removal, top end strip, bore re hone, valve grinding and re assembly...

I'd say you were ripped off.
____________________
British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[jdm]

Bejesus! Unless his good looking young blonde niece comes to suck your plums as a wake up alarm every morning for life as part of the price i'd tell him to get to f@@K! Cheeky gits!!!
____________________
Good women make me happy, bad one's even happier!
Current Bike = '97 YZF600R Thundercat

[everyreasonto]

Holy shit. That is all.

[Paulington]

Refuse to pay it.

If I recall correctly, unless you were TOLD it would come out above the quoted price, you are only obligated to pay the quoted price.

Give him £450 and demand the keys to your bike. .
____________________
"Four wheels move the body, two wheels move the soul."
Current Vehicles: '89 Kawasaki KDX200, '99 Yamaha XV535, '00 Honda ST1100 Pan-European, '08 Suzuki GSX-R1000, '08 Mitsubishi Lancer GS4 2.0 TDCi, '15 BMW 1 Series 116d Sport Turbo.
CBT: 27/08/08. Theory: 04/09/09. Module 1: 16/09/09. Module 2: 01/10/09.

[Freaky_1]

You got the ROYAL "treatment" alright!

[stinkwheel]

[Pete.]

The plastics on a 'busa come off very easily. Pull the mirrors, un-bolt the side panels, lift the tank (1 bolt) to un-plug the trim panels and once the side panels are off there's nothing holding the nosecone so pull it off the ram-air tubes and un-plug the lights. Less than 10 mins work.

Doing the grease and fork oil is a simple task too. Drop the calipers and wheel (calipers were coming off anyway). 4 bolts to remove the top-plate which carries the bars and all the controls, pull off the top yoke then all you have to do is drop the front assembly far enough to re-grease the bearings. Fork oil as I said is as simple as changing engine oil - you even set the level by measuring the distance from the top. If you prefer to drop the forks and yokes out it's no more than 6 bolts to remove the mudguard (easy ones to get at too) un-do the clamps and slide out the forks.

It does look like they have quoted times for doing individual jobs which have shared tasks. At least 2 on the front and 2 on the rear. The only thing which is quoted even half-way fairly is the calipers, as they are a sonofabitch to bleed and get a good lever on sometimes.

Something else:

[swiftb]

I used to work in a dealer so this doesn't surprise me.What did surprise me is the amount of people who just gladly accepted and paid the prices.

The important thing here is did you sign anything which agreed to extra work to be carried out without needing to contact you? Or did they contact you and did you AGREE to this extra work?

If not then tell them to fuk off as they are not allowed to perform extra work without your consent and giving you a price breakdown . Go in and kick up an absolute stink, start shouting in front of other customers, they will soon shephard you out the way. Point blank refuse to pay for the work carried out and threaten legal action.

My 2 anyways.