So, I'm quite upset with the mechanic that I've chosen to do the work on the Durango. But, I don't usually take my vehicle to the mechanic so maybe I just have unrealistic expectations. Let me run the situation by the forum members and get a poll of whether or not the forum members think the situation is "normal" or if I should even be upset.

Took the D in on January 12th to have them spend 1 hour inspecting the diff, ball joints, u-joints, tie rods to see if they need to be replaced. They did not call me back; I had to call them. Required repairs were pretty much as I expected: needs rear diff, needs ball joints, u-joints fine, tie rods fine. I gave them a writen list of what to do. They said should be done Friday and that they would call me. I paid them $3,100 some dollars.

Friday evening rolls around. They don't call so I call them. Mechanic says they're having trouble with the drivers side Axle; it's not coming free from the bearing hub. He said they have it on the shop press, sprayed it with rust eater and will leave it under pressue on the shop press over the weekend to see if the axle will come out. I said "Okay, call me and let me know what happens". Mechanic says we'd talk Tuesday because Monday is a holiday.

Tuesday evenening rolls around, that's January 20th, and the mechanic says "Well, the axle wouldn't break free from the hub so we fixed the ball joints and put the old axle and bearing back on". I told them I wish they had called me because I do not want a siezed axle to have to deal with when I am hunting or something. They said they'd put a new axle and bearing onto it but it would cost an additional $680. I said to go ahead and do it. Mechanic said it should be done Friday, January 23rd.

Friday afternoon the mechanic calls to ask me what color I want the diff cover to be; he likes to paint the diff cover for his customers and wants to know what color I'd like. He also informs me that he had not exchanged the spare tire rim for a matching rim so I can rotate the spare tire through the rotation; he didn't think that's what I had wanted. He said if I wanted a matching rim then he knew where to get one and would put that on. I told him I wanted a matching rim. He said okay, we'll probably be done next Monday, maybe Tuesday. He'd call me.

Here it is, 3:00 pm. on Monday, January 26th, waiting for the mechanic to call me.

The only time the mechanic called me was when he wanted to know the color of the diff cover; he never called when a big decision needed to be made or to tell me how things were going. He's fixing to charge me a total of $3700 some dollars ($3100 I already paid plus another $680). I calculated on my own an estimate of parts and labor (at the mechanics labor rate) and the $3100 is about right for the work that's been done, so is the $680. I also had the dealership quote me on the work and it came out to be around the same amount BUT they said they were charging for only 9 hours of labor!!

So, the dealership can do it in 9 hours but this mechanic needs two whole weeks? Why should I have to pay for the labor when they put the old axle back on? They never asked me or called me to tell me "hey, we couln't seperate the axle from the hub" even though I told them to call me.

I can do quite a bit of my own work, and do but I cannot do diffs nor do I have the tools to press out lower ball joints. I already had parts for the upper ball joints which I could have done myself but, since I was having the lowers done I thought it would be easier for them to just do the uppers at the same time. I had the diff problems repaired (new bearings, seals, pinion, and add in new axle bearings, seals out by the wheels), an auto locker installed also, plus a matching rim "mounted and balanced", include an alignment as well.

What gives? Should I be pissed or is this how the automotive service world is now?????

Please advise.

 

Sounds like you need to find a different mechanic. Good ones are hard to find.

Personally, I wouldn't have paid more than half up-front. A small shop should be cheaper than the dealer because they have less overhead.

It's terribly unprofessional of them to take an extra week or more, without giving you some updates along the way.

Painting the diff cover is a red flag - cute, but a waste of time and money.

I would ask them to go over the work in detail. Make sure you got what you paid for. Ask about why it took so long - maybe they have a legit reason. Ask about giving you a break on the labor since they did work twice (axle) that wasn't cleared with you beforehand. If the matching spare is holding up delivery, maybe you could get that item at a later date?

 

Thanks howie.

I did a little bing'ing and found this: http://www.atg.wa.gov/ConsumerIssues...utoRepair.aspx

Now, that's for Washington state but I'm pretty sure it applies "across the board". He has not given me any written labor or parts estimates, except for the 1 hour to go through the items on my list to find out what needs to be done. That is, he gave me an estimate of the one hour but that is supposed to be to generate the REAL estimate. I also did not see the "Customer Rights" posted anywhere in the office; I'll check again. And, like you said, he chose to put the old axle back on without consulting me which is basically the same thing as performing work I did not ask for.

So, I speculate there will be some ... contention ... getting things equal however I feel much better knowing what will and won't be held up in court; especially with respect to me saying I won't pay it and him saying he'll keep the keys. I especially like the part of the document that says he could end up paying three times as much as the original cost if it goes to court or arbitration.

So, he advertises in the Christian business directory, was featured on a TV show for Mom's, has BBB A+ and if I am not mistaken has won the Colorado Springs automotive business of the year award at least once. So, those things are encouraging and part of the reason I went there in the first place. Price for value is hard to judge sometimes; I don't mind paying a little more if I know what I am getting is reliable, worth it. I will mention to him though the quote from the dealer about price (with regard to what you said about lower overhead). I do know the dealer estimated at $125 per hour and this guy is at $114; not much lower but lower.

I'm wondering if he'll actually call today like he said ...

 

So, he called my wife to get permission to take the D for a drive to him home. I had originally asked him to get me a rim to replace the spare so I can rotate the spare through and not have problems from different tire sizes. Well, he charged me $260 for well used rim. The center cap wasn't even the right one for the rim; he used some type of tar to keep the cap in.
He also kept the rim I had as a spare saying it was a "core charge" even though he got the rim out of his own little junk yard; was not on the invoice either as a credit back to me.

So when I went to finalize things and he did try to charge me $161 for a mistake he had made. I told him I wasn't going to pay it and he zero'd it out. The total came to be $3,8xx dollars. Then he has the ***** to ask me to put in a 5 star rating for him on Google.

I speculate the $3,8xx is probably not too horrible for what he did but then again that's just a couple hundred less than the dealer quoted. It DEFINITELY WAS NOT worth it with respect to customer service, calling when something needs to be decided and trying to cheat little things here and there. I can only imagine what I am going to find in the future that he cut corners on or has done that wasn't on the "up and up".

The company name is lighthouse automotive in Colorado Springs. I think he's got some experienced techs working for him and he claims to have 30 years experience with Chrysler products. The problem is he doesn't have a mature, responsible, professional approach to what he is doing to make those years of experience valuable. Not to mention the little "tricks" he tried. I'm sure I'll find a couple more before this is all over.

core charge on a rim. puhleaze! I'm still contemplating filing a BBB complaint and maybe even having a lawyer send him a nice letter. I'm not real sure what "fair recompense" I would be entitled to. I mean, what would be my objective? He's probably not going to "change" just because of a few BBB complaints. I didn't need to rent a car so I can't claim that. Is there compensation for being stressed by him keeping the car too long, not calling and doing things without permission? The flip side is that he did A LOT of things wrong and I don't feel that was fair.

Any advice is welcomed.

 

As a point of reference, I bought a really nice matching 17" rim (with centercap) on ebay for $52 shipped. Bought a single used Duratrac tire on Craigslist for $50, had my mechanic mount and balance for $18. Sold my never-used spare and rim for $40. All told, $80 spent.

 

All said, I wouldn't bother pursuing any sort of campaign against the mechanic. He did some work and you paid him for it. That part is good. The problem lies with the intangibles, like being weird with the spare, no updates, taking way too long, not following instructions, etc.

I hate to sound pedantic, but maybe its time to count your blessings and move on. Hopefully the work he did won't come back to haunt you. I would completely skip the online review as well. Best of luck from here on, and avoid that shop. I will tell you about my wife's Volvo body shop horror story later, when I cool off.

Can't wait to hear about the locker!!!

 

I looked over the D a bit to make sure fluids were still full and look for signs of incorrect / less than new parts being installed, missing parts (he does have a D also). So far it looks okay from what I can tell except for the antifreeze leaking underneath of, or from the water pump which I knew about before I sent it off to get the other stuff done.

The D is MUCH quieter now. All along I thought I had tire noise but it has been those gears / bearings in the rear. There is still tiny bit of tire noise but so much less noise that the engine sounds louder now.

As far as the locker goes I can barely hear it with the radio off and windows closed. I can hear a very slight click, click, click when turning into a parking spot or doing a u-turn. I haven't had a chance to take it off road yet. Not that I am an avid off-roader or something but I'd like to at least find some spots where the locker would be tested.

We are getting light, wet snow now so it may be a bit icy in the morning; a great test to see how it drives different, if at all. I think it will probably be about the same since this is an AWD to begin with. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

The Lokka locker is really made by Aussie. Or at least it's their design. For $250 with free shipping I figured it is worth a shot and I'm not out much if it doesn't turn out to be decent for how I use and drive the D. Plus, I didn't have to buy new spider gears!

 

First, see my above post about the locker install. Then read below about what I found about what he charged me.
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UNBELIEVABLE!!

I decided to check the price on parts for the work I had done. Keep in mind this shop is Napa Auto Care center and uses Napa parts. Get this:

He charged $413.46 for a diff rebuild kit Napa price $144
He charged $110.50 per Lower ball joint Napa price $51.49
He charged $267.59 for a hub bearing Napa price $154
He charged $124.41 for a reman CV axle Napa price $62.49
The core charge on the axle is $80 but the invoice shows $84 and he has the old axle.
He charged $260.87 for a 17 inch rim and the online price less shipping is $135 average. Let's call shipping the amount to make it $200.
He charged $22 per quart amsoil Napa price $17.00
He charged $21.49 per tube of gear oil treatment which is sold at summit racing for $10.79
He charged $35.82 per rear wheel bearing Napa price $19.99
He charged $46.93 per rear wheel seal Napa price $24.99
He charged $8.87 per diff plug Napa price $2.99


Anyone see a pattern there?

Let me tally it up. That's $762.54 OVERCHARGE on parts!!! Now, even if his prices on these papers he gave me include tax (which it doesn't) that'd STILL be $701.54 at 8% sales tax. And you won't get me to believe it's shipping charges.

edit: It occurs to me that it could be his software is set up wrong. I'm going to contact him and see.

 

So I was not aware of the common practice of upcharging on parts by mechanics. Wow, what an eye opener this was!!! If nothing else I'll find a mechanic that will put the parts in and I'll buy them myself.

 

So there was no ice the other day to see how the locker performs on ice. Basically, so far, I can't tell that it is there except for the very slight click when turning.

Did you have any questions about it?