$500.00 repair???

[tim71]

I let a friend use my b2400 for a day and he noticed a hydraulic fluid leak under the tractor. Not real bad but he lives right near the Kubota dealer so he dropped it off for me. The service manager called and said it was just a loose steering column that needed to be tightened up. No real parts, just some labor and Hydro fluid. I gave my buddy the credit card and asked him to pay for it when he picked it up and brought it home. He shows up with a look of fear on his face and shows me the bill. $27.07 for parts, $451.00 for labor ??? I almost had a stroke. It was dropped off thursday at 2:00 pm and picked up at 2:00 pm friday. My buddy checked in at the dealer personally /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif and said they only worked on it for 2 hours tops. They were closed when I got the bill and I,m going down Monday to complain. Please tell me theres just a billing error here.Or is the going labor rate $200.00 an hour. I need some advice before I loose my grip at the dealer.

 

[RoyJackson]

Whatever you do, don't lose it until you talk to your dealer. More then likely, it's a billing error.

If not a billing error, your dealer is going to have to justify those costs.

If the dealer holds to that $500, well...you might be stuck. But I doubt if that's the case.

I know it's tough, but don't get excited until you find out the correct story.

 

[TonyV]

Welcome to the forum Tim. This has GOT to be a mistake. I would think that labor for 2 hours of work would be no more than $150 or so. Let us know what happens when you speak with the dealer. If he really did charge that much is highway robbery. We'll have plenty of ideas for you if that were the case. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif...call the Kubota regional rep, the Better Business Bureau, contest payment with your credit card company, etc.etc.

...Tony

 

[AntrimMan]

There may be a book they use to determine the time needed for the repair. If there is it will be hard to argue. You can appeal to the dealers good nature but it is a lot easier to spend money than get it back. Maybe he can offer a dealer credit for future purchases, that would share the burden.
Be prepared, be reasonable and offer suggestions as to how they may compensate and don't lose your temper.
All in all it's one of lifes lessons.
Good luck.
Martin

 

[AntrimMan]

Here's another thought....
whose name did your buddy sign on the credit slip?
See where I'm going here?

All the best,
Martin

 

[RoyJackson]

So, it's been a week. How did you make out with that $500.00 billing?

 

[HGM]

It may be a little late, but you can dispute a credit card charge. If they didnt call you with an estimate and you think they overcharged you, you could call the credit card company and have it stopped. Did they have an answer for you?? Sometimes like was mentioned in another reply, they will use a flat rate book. In that case they can charge you 10hrs for something that took them 2hrs or charge you 2hrs for something that took 10. That is the service industry standard from my experience. Either way they should have called you with the estimate. As far as the idea of someone else signing the reciept, he could get in deep ^%$#. I wouldnt put a friend in that situation.

 

[tim71]

Well, the service manager said it took 6.5 hours to tighten the bolts on the steering column. He said that it was quite a project and very time consuming. Any kubota mechanics want to chime in on that figure? My buddy who picked it up and dropped it off thought they were full of it, so he said he would talk to the owner for me since I was never there and never saw the work being done. I dont think theres much else I can do, but suck it up and find a new service dept. The thing that really irks me is that when he called to tell me the problem, he said the steering column was only loose and they needed to tighten it up. From this conversation I sort of thought,Whew, no big deal! I think it was disengenous not to tell me it was $460.00 in labor at that time, before they fixed it.I guess it was partially my fault for not demanding a quote, but like I said, I thought it was no big deal from what the service guy said. Painful learning experience huh? :

 

[HGM]

Maybe you could go with your buddy and get all the parties in one room to get to the bottom of what happened. In the end it sounds like you may have to eat it, but I think the hard head in me would be more satisfied if they knew I caught them. At least it didnt have another 0 on the end...

 

[nasdaqsam]

Crappy situation to say the least. It doesn't sound right to me but I was not there and they well could have put the time in.

However, A good service dept. should have called you as soon as they saw there were issues with the repair but if no limit was discussed then...... Also keep in mind a $500 bill to a tractor repair shop is really small, all things considered. Most of these shops deal with large equipment that get thousands for simple service. Sometimes they loose site of the small numbers.

In situations like this and in all fairness the bill should be split. You take a little hit and they take a little hit. Everybody walks away with out getting too hurt and they may get future business. For the little bit of difference it isn't worth the bad rep you could give them. A happy customer tells four people about their experience a mad one tells 12. Not good for business.

Good Luck