What makes a service bulletin different than a recall?

[Capricious]

"...It doesn't matter what the manufacturer decided to cover under warranty, the point of sale, where the work/parts etc. were performed is at the dealer..."


Correct.




"...If you paid for it with your credit card; dispute the charge, in writing, and let the dealer sort it out with your card company..."

Your advice. If the work was performed in a workmanlike manner, if the charges were consistent with the estimate, and if the customer was aware that the charges were for his account, then exactly why would there be cause to dispute the charge as you have suggested? On what basis could the customer dispute the charge and have any chance of "winning?" Answer that, please.

And if the "consumer" does not pay the credit card company, and the credit card company does not pay the dealer, do you think the dealer is just going to say, "Oh, well- win some, lose some?"

I would not. I would go to court and get a judgment. Once I had the judgment, then I would examine my options for collection:
http://www.mobar.org/uploadedFiles/..._Course_Materials/Palmer - How to Collect.pdf


Depending upon the circumstances, I might just sell the judgment to a third party debt collector and recover whatever amount I can :
Civil Judgment | Collection | Buy | Sell | Trade

Either way, expect the judgment to show up on the credit report.



"Disputing" is not the same as "resolving" or "eliminating."

And "disputing" a charge to company "A", when your beef is with company "B", is not going to gain you anything.

 

[phiferpharm]

Well, all's well that ends well. The total was $220, which in addition to changing out the wiring and lights, included replacing the radiator cap, replacing low coolant, checking the cooling system for leaks, and replacing some missing fasteners from the dealer light "inspection" that were lost, and I have working headlights. Quite a difference from the $400 the dealer said it would cost.

As was discussed, the problem was not the dealers fault, but the excessive charges were. I didn't add in my original post that they charged me $103 dollars for diagnosing the problem, which was done at the same time they did recall servicing for the airbag. The total time they worked on the car was an hour (I waited for it at the dealership) , yet I was charged their full hourly rate ($95), which included the recall work. Needless to say, I won't be visiting that dealer again any time soon.

 

[crashz]

Glad to hear that you have it resolved and have working headlights Doug!

And thanks to Coyote, Capricious and ultrarunner for the knowledge. It is good to know that there is some consumer protection out there when needed. Was it needed in my case? I don't know, but I do know that its not worth my time fighting it. The actual part that failed was about 20% of the total bill with installation, so I'll just be on my way. My anger in this stems from the fact that I did not fully understand that the TSB is not a recall (Thanks ModMech), it wasn't covered under powertrain, and the extended warranty I bought was totally worthless.

BTW - the dipstick tube was a clean break on a new looking part. There wasn't even a hint of corrosion on the part or the failed metal. Fractured jagged edges at the support where it bolts to the upper bellhousing. The new one vibrates at idle and I'm convinced that it too will fail.

 

[ultrarunner]

One word about extended warranties...

Lots of confusion can happen when the Dealer sells a third party warranty...

If a person is interested in an extended warranty be sure you know what you are buying and who is backing it up with the manufacturer being the best in my experience.