Overcharging?

My girlfriend got a full service in MSL on a VW.

Before the service she indicated that there was an issue with the airbag light that needed to be looked at as well as a wing mirror needing to be replaced.

Upon collection of the car we were presented with a bill for €951.

The breakdown was concise, the service had been done the wing mirror had been replaced.

The Airbag sensor however had not been fixed. Upon querying this we were told that they ordered the part for it (which we were billed for) but it would take some time to come in. We were told that as it was a safety issue they were obliged by law to get the part and shouldnt really let the car out of the garage.

We agreed the bill, settled in full. When we queried how much it would cost extra when the part came in they said another €115.

My cousin is a mechanic and said that this should take no longer than 1 hour to fix, especially as they had already run the diagnostics, identified the problem and identified which part is necessary.

The car was dropped in this morning, at which point nothing was said about how long it would take. They said they would ring when it was done.

I rang them this afternoon to enquire and the guy on the phone said that it had just gone in and it had been booked in for 3 hours to do the job which would cost €320 + VAT. I went beserk! Most garages if they had done the above job and were missing a part and you had paid for it in advance would throw in the extra hour or so labour for free.

This makes their labour at over €100 per hour!!!!!

I asked him what if it only take an hour he said we would still be charged the full amount as that is what it was booked in for on their system.

Does anyone else think that this is extortionate. I told them to stop work on the car immediately and that I was not paying for 3 hours work. they tried to tell me it takes this long becasue its behind the bumper etc but I cant see how a specialised garage with full diagnostics equipment would take 3 hours to fit this part.

My cousin confirmed that it should only take an hour?

What should I do?

Update!

Just had a major blow out with them over the phone.

Turns out they overcharged us for the orignal part. Part should have cost €20. They charged us €130

After checking with his Warrnaty department and Service manager it transpires that VW have a 5 year warranty on parts and labour on all airbag parts. The bloody thing shouldnt have cost us a penny in the first place.

Result-part and labour now being done for free and being refunded €130

Goes to show you you really need to query everything. I bet this sort of thing has happened to loads of people

Fair play to you....great result!!

Well done,

I bet this is not the first time they did this.
As a token of good will they could at least give some extra mone back to you, etc
You should ask them for a written report of exactly how this mistake was made.
lets hope they dont make any mistake repairing this car.

a letter to VW (a company very concerned about their quality image) might be an idea.

I agree. that is an excellent idea, write to VW,

Lots of info. on MSL servicing on the web. They are extremely pricey.

RS2K said:

Lots of info. on MSL servicing on the web. They are extremely pricey.

Click to expand...

This crowd have a main-dealership and don't know what the manufacturer's warranty covers? Write to VW and demand some action, like educating their dealers.

Main stealers.

They get away with what they are allowed get away with. Well done to OP for querying even if the original bill was still frightening for a service and a wing mirror. You would nearly get a reasonable car for that money!!!!

In a bizarre twist of fate after waiting half an hour for the car to be finished when I went to pick it up......

The couldnt get the roof back up-convertible (they did something to the electrics)...

at ten to 6 they had to rush through organising me a rental until the next day!

In fairness to them the guy I eventually was dealing with was very helpfull.

However that being said, I will never use a main dealer, particulalry this one, Ever again.

The prices are outrageous, they dont seem to know what parts are covered under what warranty. They get aggresive when you query things and it appears that it takes them 3 times longer to do something than the average joe!

I would much rather give my cash to a small garage-at least one that appreciates your business

never trust a mechanic with clean hands......

Best of luck writing to MDL the distributors because they own MSL the garage!!

To be honest im not going to bother writing in. I made my complaints loud and clear to them directly. I will just never use their service again, Nor will I be recommending them to anyone.

Try this.

Frank Hogan, main Merc, VW and Audi dealer in Limerick City.

Some nice folks stole my 05 New shape Fog lights. Considering my car needed a service anyway I booked it in.

€950 later the fogs still did not work. They said as they were not electricians they wont fix them and they could offer to get a elec for me at a charge(of course).

I took it up the road to a local sparky(favoured by all) and for €10 he put in the new fuse.

They never replaced the window washer jet because they were out of stock. I said when it comes in would they do it. She said of course and she will book it back in. I enquired about the price.....................wait for it.............................

€2.50 for the jet
€120 for the labour

Thats right, up to one hour is the minimum charge. I drove to Ennis bought it for €1.75 and pushed it in in around 10 seconds.


Point of my story devoid of anything to do with this post.


DO NOT GO TO MAIN DEALER UNLESS NO OTHER CHOICE.

Imo, no intelligent person with full knowledge of what they are getting (i.e. an itemised breakdown) would pay the high prices demanded by main car franchises. The problem is people do not query enough, do not check sufficiently well, do not compare and contrast prices across a number of service providers.
If money doesn't matter to you then just carry on but if you are forced to seek value for money as most people must then carry out the comparison checks and you will not be disappointed. My one regret is that I paid out a lot needlessly before I applied some serious thought to what was taking place.

Right, an aul update for you.

Went to drop back the loaner and pick up the car. The roof was fixed but wait for it....they then informed me that after fixing the drivers airbag sensor the passenger side sensor suddenly went. Now on any other day I would have put this down to complete coincidence but Im just not sure about this......

Have to wait another week for the part to come in.

On top of that when I picked it up the inside of the car was filthy and there was a horrible chemical smell.

When I got home I found a crap load of rubbish, a screwdriver and an old rag that stank of chemical cleaner or brake fluid or something......

Complete Jokeshop