I think I just got screwed. Advice?

[bluex]

I don't think in this case you could assume they would've found a simple valve body issue and restructured the bill accordingly. I didn't want to get into it as its a rather long story.
My assumption was that they (the dealer) have this national database with my specific vehicle history and they're the ones most qualified to access that database and then do the repairs. Shame on me.

To quote Paul Harvey..."And now, the rest of the story".....


I did have the second dealer diagnose the issue. They said all the wiring and everything outside the tranny was good but there was definitely something wrong in the tranny. It cost me $125 for that diagnosis.
If I wanted to do T&M to try and fix it they would do that but they insisted that their standard operation for anything more than 100k miles is to remove it and open it up before quoting me a price to repair. That would be 8 hours labor at $100/hr to get me that quote plus the associated T&M to repair. If I decided I was not going to proceed it was still going to cost me a minimum of $800.
I specifically asked about just dropping the valve body to inspect based on the national repair records being a known issue before and was refused. Again, their reasoning was it had over 100k miles and not their standard operating procedure.

This is the point where I was totally pissed. No matter what I did, it had already cost me $125 for them to tell me there is a problem in the tranny.
So I could give them another $800 for them to tell me what was wrong and how much above and beyond that price would be to repair.
Or just give them $2700 to R&R the tranny.

After I removed the valve body and saw the problem I took it over to a good friend who's a Chrysler mechanic who specializes in trannies. I knew that there was no way that he would know a Ford tranny or if that was the problem for sure but he did confirm that it could certainly be a problem or a part of the problem.
I told him what the dealer had told me as far as the discovery process and he said....in the dealers defense....that any Chrysler dealer would probably do the exact same thing with any vehicle over 100k miles. That's the way our society and bigger businesses have evolved.

I have to assume going to an independent shop would've been a much more pleasant experience. I'm sure explaining this story they would've easy dropped the valve body and found the issue in a few minutes as I did. You just don't assume they have a Ford certified tranny tech on staff and your only option is a dealer.

So you're absolutely correct. Our culture has changed. People would rather spend $600 monthly to ensure they have a warranty then worry about dealing with these kinds of issues. Vehicles are more throw away now then "drive until the wheels fall off". Most people don't know what it really takes to repair these cars today and they don't want to know. They just want it to work and when it doesn't they feel they're going to get screwed before they even come into the shop.

Its also a problem when you only hear about the bad examples like this one. I have several more that I could get into. I also have some fantastic success stories from dealers as well as independent shops that really took care of a customer the right way. Unfortunately, you don't hear much about those.

You're exactly right because the service advisor sold you a new a trans an thats the work order the tech would have gotten. They only do whats on the work order so they probably wouldn't have even dropped the pan.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

You know what has been eye opening to me since starting a shop? People I only considered acquaintances at best before have no problem supporting me an the shop and are glad to pay for work or parts without dickering over prices. A large portion of my "friends" want a deal, keep mentioning how so an so is cheaper, can you match that, ya but whats "my price" etc.

That honestly was a shocker to me an kinda a rough pill to swallow. They will support a large company no problem but one of their friends is trying to follow their passion an dreams an they nit-pick it to death.

Yeah, that's kinda messed up.

 

[TravisB]

You know what has been eye opening to me since starting a shop? People I only considered acquaintances at best before have no problem supporting me an the shop and are glad to pay for work or parts without dickering over prices. A large portion of my "friends" want a deal, keep mentioning how so an so is cheaper, can you match that, ya but whats "my price" etc.

That honestly was a shocker to me an kinda a rough pill to swallow. They will support a large company no problem but one of their friends is trying to follow their passion an dreams an they nit-pick it to death.

I ran into something almost the opposite of this. I have/had a friend local who started a shop. I had always done all my own work and never took anything to a shop but when he went into business I thought I had the ticket now. I ended up with a suv on a trade that needed a transmission. I got one from a local wrecking yard and took it to my buddy and dropped it off. I asked him to just swap it out and he quoted me a price of $150. I just said do it.

6 months down the road I haven't spoke to him since trying to not be a jerk but getting to where I really need to sell this thing as it was getting into colder weather and the 4x4 I thought would sell good with the threat of snow. I called and asked about it, he said he would get it that week and did the week after. I go get it, the price was now 250 because he forgot what he quoted I guess or it was a bigger job than expected but being a friend I let it go and paid it with no argument. It was fixed right?

Drove it home, the first person comes to look at it and it won't move from it's tracks... I panic thinking my junkyard trans was bad. Nope, no transmission fluid. Murder scene under it. He didn't buy a gasket to go between the transfer and the trans. All the fluid gone and I call to ask wtf, he tells me he doesn't have time to fix it now. I ended up taking out that transfer and putting in a gasket on a job I had paid $100 over the quote to have done. I guess I should have provided a gasket too, or told him how to do the repair? Who knows.

Now I do all my own work again or take it to the dealer where they will stand behind it. My lesson was friends and business don't always work well together.

I would bet both prices were good for the job but I ended up doing it again in my drive which left me pretty salty.

 

[varmit86]

Yeah
It’s kinda frustrating when you know they get the parts at a steep discount and then mark em up 100%
And charge $110 and hour and “misc shop fee”

Poor mechanic is Probabaly getting $12 an hour

My son was doing hvac repair and the biz charged the customers $90 hr and paid him $12 hr

There is a benefit of owning a business but all the insurance and liability cost the business alot of the $110 per hour. and if there is a ******** lawsuit the cost are astronomical. Just like in economics all the cost are taken in to account.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

Well this was interesting to read...

So this shop you trust had helped you (and your family) a lot before right?
I believe that’s what I read.. and now that shop charges you one time what you believe to be too expensive. As a result you want to hang them out to dry and stop going there??
Seems kinda one sided no? My pops owns a housing remodel business and we “help” people a lot and sometimes on the third or fourth job it’s time to recoup some of those favor loans... it all comes out in the wash ... it’s also risky because we have given people breaks with promise of future jobs. Drive past the house later and they got another cat in there working on it probably with the same promise of recouping costs on the next one..
I dunno man seems like the shop isn’t the problem here

Well I mean wouldn't you be a bit pissed if you got screwed out of 1000$ bucks. I'm glad it's fixed, but just a bit dissapointed they used the cheapest parts possible. Not only had they claimed they would use Moog beforehand, but my friend at advance Auto parts said that this place buys from advance and he said they would use Moog. Maybe it is just a name on a box, but it's more of a trust issue. They didn't even let me know they decided to go with a different brand or give us a discount because they went with cheaper parts. When they gave me the estimate and said they'd use Moog, it was the same price my parents ended up paying. Maybe I care too much about my parents wallet or something but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative of what they did for me. Not only that but they couldn't even tell me where that extra loose nut came from which really makes me uncomfortable to drive around.

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[Frankenchevy]

I’d crawl around under the front end and make sure no nuts are missing. Good thing about these trucks is their simplicity. There are only so many nuts in the front end and you can see them all in about 5 minutes.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

Deez nuts.

 

[thecantaloupeman]

I’d crawl around under the front end and make sure no nuts are missing. Good thing about these trucks is their simplicity. There are only so many nuts in the front end and you can see them all in about 5 minutes.

I did bring it back and they guy said he didn't see anything that was missing. I looked quite a long time too and couldn't find anything. He said it looked like a frame nut. I find it weird that it was just resting on the control arm if it was a frame bolt. Does anyone know whether or not the oem control arms wouldve had an extra nut? And if so I'm confused why there was only an extra nut on one side.

 

[eskimomann209]

You know what has been eye opening to me since starting a shop? People I only considered acquaintances at best before have no problem supporting me an the shop and are glad to pay for work or parts without dickering over prices. A large portion of my "friends" want a deal, keep mentioning how so an so is cheaper, can you match that, ya but whats "my price" etc.

That honestly was a shocker to me an kinda a rough pill to swallow. They will support a large company no problem but one of their friends is trying to follow their passion an dreams an they nit-pick it to death.

Yep I worked at a large winery and a fellow mechanic left to pursue his dream as a shop owner. I heard all our co workers ( he worked there 15+ years ) swear how they’d use him exclusively. I went in to help install his lifts and wrench when he was short staffed ( free labor just got lunch : beer after) it was sad to see all the people he knew ask him for cut rates all day long. And I looked at the invoices he got from his delivered parts and i scoffed at the shamefully petty discount he got.
I wouldn’t make the plunge
This guy went for broke and I give him my best wishes everyday that his dream doesn’t crumble around him.

Well I mean wouldn't you be a bit pissed if you got screwed out of 1000$ bucks. I'm glad it's fixed, but just a bit dissapointed they used the cheapest parts possible. Not only had they claimed they would use Moog beforehand, but my friend at advance Auto parts said that this place buys from advance and he said they would use Moog. Maybe it is just a name on a box, but it's more of a trust issue. They didn't even let me know they decided to go with a different brand or give us a discount because they went with cheaper parts. When they gave me the estimate and said they'd use Moog, it was the same price my parents ended up paying. Maybe I care too much about my parents wallet or something but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative of what they did for me. Not only that but they couldn't even tell me where that extra loose nut came from which really makes me uncomfortable to drive around.

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And here my good man is where your point of view is skewed you did NOT get screwed out of 1000
As it was broken down for you, you got in your opinion marked up for 400 extra.
The dealer chose precision (was the brand written in the estimate?) Did your parents even specify/ care? (or did they say knock it out as fast as you can, with what you have on hand cuz my baby boy will be home soon and I want to surprise
Him?) According to you it was a surprise and they probably didn’t really care what was in there as long as it was in there. In there correctly and would last.
In the end moog or precision they will warranty it if you get premature failure so the only people who suffer is that shop
Because that little bit of extra mark up will get eaten when / if they have to warranty it out.

But In closing my dear fellow your original question was “ did I get screwed?” Answer is no you didn’t and neither did your parents
You requested a service
Received said service and can drive for three years and or 36k miles without worrying about your control arms..
but my recommendation for you is to do the projects yourself so the only garage you can be mad at is your own.
Don’t mark up your own prices tho I have a feeling you’d complain to yourself about yourself here on the inter webs

 

[bucket]

Well I mean wouldn't you be a bit pissed if you got screwed out of 1000$ bucks. I'm glad it's fixed, but just a bit dissapointed they used the cheapest parts possible. Not only had they claimed they would use Moog beforehand, but my friend at advance Auto parts said that this place buys from advance and he said they would use Moog. Maybe it is just a name on a box, but it's more of a trust issue. They didn't even let me know they decided to go with a different brand or give us a discount because they went with cheaper parts. When they gave me the estimate and said they'd use Moog, it was the same price my parents ended up paying. Maybe I care too much about my parents wallet or something but that doesn't mean I'm not appreciative of what they did for me. Not only that but they couldn't even tell me where that extra loose nut came from which really makes me uncomfortable to drive around.

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Are you just assuming they didn't use Moog? Just because they buy from Advance doesn't mean they don't also buy from other places on a regular basis too.

If they did use cheaper parts than what was on the estimate, why not just ask them why the bill wasn't a little bit cheaper?

 

[thecantaloupeman]

Are you just assuming they didn't use Moog? Just because they buy from Advance doesn't mean they don't also buy from other places on a regular basis too.

If they did use cheaper parts than what was on the estimate, why not just ask them why the bill wasn't a little bit cheaper?

I don't think they put down a particular part down on the estimate but they told me they used Moog parts for control arms replacements.

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[Big Chip]

How does the truck drive now?

 

[DoubleDingo]

Just let it go, I'm sure you have much bigger things to worry about now. As other's have stated, it's under warranty, so drive the piss out of it, use the truck as a truck, get your money's-worth out of the parts, and then complain if they fail. And why haven't you posted any pics of these supposed substandard parts that your parents got bent over for? Or the nut/bolt you speak of?

 

[bluex]

Ya post some pics of the extra nut an I'm sure we can help you figure out where it came from.

 

[donnieray]

Ya post some pics of the extra nut an I'm sure we can help you figure out where it came from.

I've been reading this thread since day one. I respect everybody's opinions but was most enlightened by the shop owners and ones who are in the know. My conclusions are, the op couldn't have possibly gotten screwed, it didn't cost him a cent. His parents blessed him. The mystery nut came about when the mechanic picked up his impact wrench and a nut from a previous job was left jammed in the socket. He smacked the socket with a small pry bar, nut fell out, he caught the nut, placed it on the control arm and finished the job. He forgot about the nut.