Overcharged By A Garage?

[E55BOF]

I'd not mind if I thought the original quote was reasonable.

That reminds me of my first E55K's front strut. It needed a new one, and I'd not started with Terry Gates then. There's a 'Mercedes & German Car' specialist not half a mile from me, so I took it up there. The quoted what I thought then (and still do) was reasonable, but when they rang me to tell me it was ready to go, they also told me that they noticed the MoT was due in a week, and there were a few things it needed. I asked how much; the answer was a long list of jobs - parts & labour £2500.

They were very persistent, and seemed rather surprised that I did not want them to do the work. Strangely, when I took the car in to be tested, it passed with no advisories...

 

[geoffus]

I’ve already guessed this is to do with a W123...

Classic restoration ?

 

[Screwdriver]

Quotes and estimates are exactly that though.

I could estimate £150 for a Brake Fluid change on a 20 year old car.
Rusty & Siezed calipers and nipples could soon shoot that estimate up.

You could. But if you charged me £1100 for that job after a written quote of £150, I'd react with a lot less reservation. Calipers aren't made of gold.

 

[pmcgsmurf]

You could. But if you charged me £1100 for that job after a written quote of £150, I'd react with a lot less reservation. Calipers aren't made of gold.

But I didn't give you a written "quote" it was an "estimate" that is the point being made.

Correct, calipers are not "gold" and if they were they would cost a lot more than £1100.
New calipers could easily push such an estimate up though but unlikely needed in most instances.
Would be the labour cost for getting the nipples out and getting new ones in that would push the "estimate" up.

 

[RChiv]

Hi. It's a very large amount, many thousands. I don't want to say anything that may identify me, or the garage, so I hope you'll understand that I'll keep my answers general, rather than specific.
I agreed in writing with the garage any "large item" would be costed and they would let me know. They didn't and have presented me with an eye watering bill. I've told them I'm unhappy and considering my next move. It's not paid for and they still have the car. It's an independent marque specialist, a very posh, high end one (it's not some back street garage). I'm in the UK. Their invoice was literally just a grand total - no breakdown of labour hours or cost of parts. I had to fight to even get a basic breakdown of costs, which showed what I had suspected - they have put a 100% mark up on the retail cost of the parts and they say have spent roughly double the amount of labour hours on the vehicle that I even generously think should have been spent. There are other aspects to - of frankly dodgy behaviour - but that's the main gist. Just to be clear, I'm happy to pay for the work, but I want to be sure what I am paying is fair and reasonable. I don't believe what they're asking me to pay is, that's why I want an independent third party to assess the invoice and the work carried out.

If the garage is that up market I cannot believe their accounts would not have a complete breakdown of all parts used. When I ran a garage many years ago we itemised each part used for the job. Every part used was cross referenced to the job in hand for stock recording purposes The cost off the parts were bought at trade and sold at retail There was and should not be an additional charge added to the retail. The labour charges relate to Mechanics time and Admin costs per hour plus their mark up (which is their profit) plus VAT.
How a company like this, being posh and high end, is not registered with the regulatory ombudsman tells me that they are not that professional and it is all just a front. In this instance the Office for Trade descriptions may be helpful.

Roger

 

[Darrell]

If the garage is that up market I cannot believe their accounts would not have a complete breakdown of all parts used. When I ran a garage many years ago we itemised each part used for the job. Every part used was cross referenced to the job in hand for stock recording purposes The cost off the parts were bought at trade and sold at retail There was and should not be an additional charge added to the retail. The labour charges relate to Mechanics time and Admin costs per hour plus their mark up (which is their profit) plus VAT.
How a company like this, being posh and high end, is not registered with the regulatory ombudsman tells me that they are not that professional and it is all just a front. In this instance the Office for Trade descriptions may be helpful.

Roger

Even my local garage gives an itemised bill.

 

[glojo]

I think we have now taken over this thread and most folk are putting forward hypothetical examples that have absolutely NO relevance to the question asked by the OP.

I believe the only thing that was asked was if we knew of anyone that could represent the op regarding a bill.

My own thoughts are it might be less painful if that person simply gave to a nice pot of money. At least that would be a 'one-off' payment with no strings and I would not try to squeeze anymore money out of them. Start taking litigation and it can easily find us out of pocket, BIG TIME but maybe the op does not even want to hear that.