My sister has just picked up her Corsa from a main delaers after a service and MOT.
They have billed her for inflating an under pressure tyre.
Not only is this petty , they charged her £2.50 for sundries and £36 labour for this task.
Guess where I will be Monday morning when there service dept reopens.
£36 - half hour labour. minimum charge? £2.50 sundries........errrr......umm....... oh i got it! a bit of rag to wipe the valve clean?
If this is true it has to be the best example of a garage taking the p**s I have seen in a long time.
Beats the great washer fluid scam, I take mine in full to the brim just so I can argue the toss at payment time. A mate took his in to BMW and they still charged him, when he complained they said "yes we know, there's a full bottle of fluid in the boot sir...."
I might take an empty bottle in with me and say the sundie air was faulty and can I have the money back
Gits
Shes a single mum (not her fault) and they have abused her knowledge (well lack of knowledge) of cars.
Brian,
This is soo wrong. Get her to send a letter into the Customer Service Manager of the dealer or manufactor.
Keep in mind that they have to advise of you of doing any work before they can go ahead with it (so they may have required authorisation before going ahead).
In message , Tim S Kemp writes
Exactly the same happened to me at a Rover dealer some years ago. I brimmed the washer tank and there was a full bottle of washer fluid sitting on the passenger seat after the service. They seemed to be quite put out when I stormed back in for my refund. I asked them where they drew the line.... "Sorry sir, your tyres weren't quite worn out but we've taken the liberty of putting four new ones in the boot and billed you for them"
It doesn't seem to happen these days with fixed price services.
not that i want to defend the dealer
did they not replace a dust cap or anything, TBH i wouldt argue the toss over 2-50 time and stress versus nett gain?
To be honest, not their problem, and unless you can prove the charged/treated her different because of this irrelevent.
did the £36 not cover other things???
and at the endo fo the day the main dealer my refund you as a good will guesture or offer credit note/vouchers. but as she has paid in full for the work done litle can be done.
Ask to see the service schedule. If a tyre pressure check is on the schedule, then this should be included in the bill. While they should never have charged for this, we would have been hearing a whole different moan had they given the car back with a soft tyre.
I'd examine the receipt carefully to see if you're mistaken. Are you certain it wasn't to fix the fault that caused the tyre to be underinflated - like a puncture?
Every service I've seen includes checking tyre pressures - my dealer even puts a dated sticker on the spare to say it's been done.
If the charge was for pumping up a tyre it is inexcusable but there might be another reason.
I would ring up the Service Manager and discuss it with him.
If it is for this I would insist on a refund and take it up with Vauxhall Customer Care if they refuse. If they are no help talk to Trading Standards.
If it is for something else, did they call and ask for authorisation?
I believe that you must go to the main dealer for the service if you want to keep your warrantee, but you can go where you like for the MOT.
At most garages you could replace the tyre for something similar to what you could have paid to the main dealer for air.
Btw, if you really wanted to get upset the dealer you could have talked about the VAT.
Thanks for sharing your tale :)
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.