This is ridiculous. Service bill from dealership.

[lonesoldier84]

Tires = $400

....ok

Cost to install tires = $100

....ok

Brake pads = ~$50 or so

....ok


Stebel horn install. (I supply the horn)
Remove sheared bleed screw from caliper.
Install brake pads.
Properly fasten my upper fairing to the bike so it doesn't rattle (was missing a bracket and some stuff when dropped the bike off).

The guy just left a voicemail telling me that tomorrow when I come in, I will owe:

$1,700.

10 hours of labour? That seems way high.......

Labour is $100/hour by the way.

They charged me $1200 for doing a list of things the length of my arm and a 30,000km service. $1,700 for the short list above (albeit with $400 included for tires) is definitely astounding.

I am sitting here feeling like I just got hit in the chest by a sack of bricks.

wtf.

P.S. They also took off my rims, then put them back on (also having to take off the brake discs and everything so I could get JUST the rims from them to give to the rim repair guy)

 

[Kazza]

10 hours labour seems excessive. Did they give you a quote before hand?

I'd be in trouble if Mike charged me for all the work he did I don't think I'll fire him for a while

 

[lonesoldier84]

They didn't give me a quote before no. No indication of how much this would cost until just now.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Lone, you should have had it done here in Vegas. There is a great shop that I take my bike to, you could have gotten the tires repalced and installed under $300 (Pilot 2Ct's)

Actually, not too far off the strip, you'll be here for a couple of days anyways.

Plus the labor rate is very reasonable.

 

[jwhelan]

I would just refuse to pay it. I once brought my atv to a dealer to have a recall done, while it was there I asked them to have a look at the belt. When I went in to pick it up they tried to charge me 500$ for looking at the belt. I simply refused to pay. I told them the max i would pay is 1hour. They tried to charge me 5hrs :spank:

I ended up leaving with my atv without having to pay anything cause of the stink I kicked up.

 

[jody.adams]

What do you think is a fair price to pay for the work that was done? Negotiate to the price that is fair for both parties. Always set a "not to exceed" limit when asking for open ended work like that.

Otherwise, you get surprises like this. Every time.

 

[Shamus McFeeley]

There's no substitute for doing the work yourself. I've not taken a vehicle to a dealership in years.

 

[Goop]

10 hours for labor? I think you're being taken for the proverbial "ride".

 

[FizzySix]

Cars or bikes, I usually tell them they're free to do what they think is right up to $X and to call me for approval beyond that. That guidance is in a written note with the keys. Gave me a leg to stand on when a lawnmower repair place was doing some work I wasn't up to, and wanted to charge more than the price of a new mower.

 

[Evitzee]

Seems to me that 10 hours of labor might not be that excessive:

- Install Stebel horn
- Replace sheared bleed screw + brake pads
- Fairing missing brackets

These are labor intensive items that can rack up extra time if they run into problems or aren't familiar with the work. I can't say 10 hours was way out of line. What did you think the labor component was, 1 hr, 2 hrs, 5 hrs, 7 hrs? Quiz them about it and see what took so long. Maybe you can negotiate it down a bit, but I'll bet they spent most of that 10 hours on your bike.

I would have tackled the horn and missing fairing brackets myself, and maybe have let them do the brake work. I'd never leave it and tell them to do the work without getting an estimate and a 'do not exceed' value agreed up front.

 

[Norbert]

wow! that exceeds the value of your bike.
talk about white elephants!!!

You can do tires yourself.
All you need is a bud to swap the tires off the wheel.
Plus you can do all the little things that the dealer never does, like re-greasing your swingarm and lower shock.
Cut that tire bill in half!!


Anyways, instead of saying "shoulda woulda coulda," what can lone do now?
They have your bike, but they want your money....
Maybe if you say that all you can only afford is $1000, they can cut you a break. Make it look like a binary decision. They either get $1000 or they get nothing. It all depends on if $1000 is a reasonable number and if they could care less about selling your bike to cover the costs. I'm thinking they wouldn't want to sell it.

Also, I know in some states, if the cost exceeds the mechanic's estimate by a certain percentage, they need to have your permission to work on your vehicle.

 

[lonesoldier84]

i should have done that do not exceed note.

good posts here. thanks.

will be going in tomorrow and i'll be sitting down for 15 minutes with the guy at a desk going over the work-order with a fine toothed comb.

Why didn't I do the horn and other stuff myself? What kind of silly question is that? Because I'm Lone from Super Tech Auto, that's why.

@OMG, the tires had to be done there because they had to take them off to get the rims off and that had to be done there because both had to come off and the bike hung up for a week while the rims were getting fixed.

 

[krid80]

Ask to speak to the general manager. tell him you never would have authorized such an astronomical bill to do such menial tasks had you been called beforehand and that you are extremely concerned by this kind of business practice.

Even if they pay the tech 10h for the job, he may make $5-10 per hour with the rest going to profitability of the shop. They can 1/2 rate the labor easily charging $100 per hour.

 

[Kriswithak]

First off 100$ an hour? That really is astronimical. If they are charging a fair hours rate (ie appropriate to the job, instead of totally over what is required) then maybe, but honestly 10 hours work?
Brake pads should be like 15-20 mins work, thats how long it took me to remove and clean all of mine.
Tyre change anything over 30$ is a total ripoff, with the price of the tyres I'd honestly expect it to be included.
Its MAYBE 30 mins work at most (thats a big most) I would definately argue with this one.
Changing a bracket? Honestly, get them to price the bracket and then show you exactly what they had to do, I just can't see it being that kind of $$$.
Even with the bleed screw this sounds like a total joke.

I suggest you go in and tell them you want a written document saying EXACTLY what each component cost, as well as a break down of the hours spent on each job.
Question them at length about every single minute spent on a job, if they got a apprentice to do the work and it took him 3x as long thats their problem not yours, esp since an apprentices 10 hours work is probably worth $100 ALL UP.
If they aren't willing to be reasonable, refuse to pay and take the document with you, visit other dealers (particularly any good ones other FZ6 owners know about near you) and get them to write up a quote on what they would say the entire job would cost, and the hours required.
Go back and give them a few quotes that should probably be about half what they are trying to charge you, and tell them thats what you will pay.

If they are still argueing get in contact with whatever regulatory body is in charge where you live.
Here I'm pretty sure there is actually a law which states they need to ring you and check if the price of work is going to exceed a certain amount (normally $1000~) I'm pretty sure it even applies to mechanics (I know it applies to most tradies)
Even if there isn't a law, then its just good practice.

If they are really problematic, choose their busiest period and turn up and make a huge scene, prospective customers seeing their terrible service first hand, and probably leaving should get their attention, afterall you can come back in all the peak periods when your free.

 

[Drinky]

hah for 100 usd an hour I demand a massage from a hot swedish blond with a happy ending while they fix my bike. I believe its 50-60 euros here which is about 65 USD.
still pricy, but 100! wtf, are those mechanics supermodels? are they all female and doing the maintenance nude?? you get a free BJ with every visit??

good luck tho.

 

[Norbert]

I wonder if you can get Yamaha involved.
They wouldn't want their dealerships screwing over their customers.

Not sure what their response would be, but it may help turn the screws on the dealer.

 

[Tailgate]

You have to take into account that the service manager might have HUGE boat payments. You may not know it but, it is extremely expensive to maintain, say, a 25-30 foot (7-8 meter) boat. Just the monthly rent in a marina is easily $200-400 per month. You add maintanance, FUEL, insurance, beer, etc., and it all quickly adds up. Boats are expensive!

No, seriously, Lone, it does sound pricey, alright. Didn't the shop have to remove/replace tires anyway so wouldn't that have been included in the tire replacement cost? I wonder how much it cost to fix your rims. I'm surprised that no estimate was cited on the work order. Often, as others have said, shops can't exceed by too much w/o calling for authorization. Too bad you didn't get a breakdown on the work order! For example, if shop cited $400 or some outrageous amount for Stebel horn installation, you could have declined that service? At any rate, yeah, be sure and get a breakdown in labor costs. Sorry to hear about your pain!

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Didn't the shop have to remove/replace tires anyway so wouldn't that have been included in the tire replacement cost? I wonder how much it cost to fix your rims.

I agree, you have to make sure that you don't get double dipped. I needed and had my steering head bearings replaced. But I also decided to get my front springs and oil replaced since they had to take the forks off anyways. It was actually cheaper than having them do it two separate times.

So by getting your rims fixed, you shouldn't have to pay the install for the new tire, and they would have to balance the tire anyways if they installed your old tire back. The fact that you purchased new tires and had your brakes worked on is another area that you might even be charged, when you shouldn't.

 

[Dennis in NH]

For tires, a local shop here in Southern NH charges $50 per tire to swap them if you bring then on the bike. If you bring just the wheels without the bike, it's $30 per tire.

Bringing your own tires in or having a vendor ship new tires to the dealer is much cheaper too.

I hope things work out.

Dennis

 

[lonesoldier84]

Hmm. Very good info all. I will act on all of this advice.