01-30-2012, 04:27 PM
Dropped the car off this morning at Dulles Auto Clinic for an alignment. I chose them cold because they had good reviews on Google, seemed friendly on the phone and are only a couple minutes from AOL. I drop the car off and only feel better, mom and pop kind of place, everyone is full of smiles and nice to meet you's etc, etc. When the guy calls me to let me know it's ready he says they billed me for the "Standard Alignment" at $89, then another $120 for the "extra work" required on the rear of the car because one of the adjustment nuts was seized on and its "not OEM."
I informed them that the car has been "not OEM" for all 30k miles I've owned it, and I've personally seen and even helped guys take a torch to it to get the adjustment nuts loose, yet none of them had ever felt the need to charge me over twice the flat rate. I bitched enough to get them to knock $20 off, but I'm still pretty disappointed. I think my mistake was telling them I installed new suspension yesterday, so they thought they had it in the bag. What they didn't realize was I was actually raising the goddamn car, and I wasn't born yesterday.
All of that being said, business is business and if they can present a half baked argument as to how they spent billable time, I gotta pay them. Doesn't mean I have to agree with the way they conduct business, and it also means I can express myself all over that pretty little google page of theirs.
What's more concerning to me is I heard a clunk a few times after I picked it up. Its possible it was just my tools rolling around and I'm being hypersensitive, but I swear I didn't hear anything this morning. As soon as I get home I'm going to check/lock my rear shock mounts, empty out the trunk, drive it again and even jack it up and wiggle things around if I have to. When i first bought the car it had the right rear camber adjustment loose and produced a clunk, if it turns out they charged me double AND didn't even put it back together, I'm going on the goddamn warpath tomorrow.
I informed them that the car has been "not OEM" for all 30k miles I've owned it, and I've personally seen and even helped guys take a torch to it to get the adjustment nuts loose, yet none of them had ever felt the need to charge me over twice the flat rate. I bitched enough to get them to knock $20 off, but I'm still pretty disappointed. I think my mistake was telling them I installed new suspension yesterday, so they thought they had it in the bag. What they didn't realize was I was actually raising the goddamn car, and I wasn't born yesterday.
All of that being said, business is business and if they can present a half baked argument as to how they spent billable time, I gotta pay them. Doesn't mean I have to agree with the way they conduct business, and it also means I can express myself all over that pretty little google page of theirs.
What's more concerning to me is I heard a clunk a few times after I picked it up. Its possible it was just my tools rolling around and I'm being hypersensitive, but I swear I didn't hear anything this morning. As soon as I get home I'm going to check/lock my rear shock mounts, empty out the trunk, drive it again and even jack it up and wiggle things around if I have to. When i first bought the car it had the right rear camber adjustment loose and produced a clunk, if it turns out they charged me double AND didn't even put it back together, I'm going on the goddamn warpath tomorrow.
Now: 07 Porsche Cayman S | 18 VW Tiguan
Then: 18 VW GTI Autobahn | 95 BMW M3 | 15 VW GTI SE | 12 Kia Optima SX | 2009 VW GTI | 00 BMW 540i Sport | 90 Mazda Miata | 94 Yamaha FZR600R | 1993 Suzuki GS500E | 2003 BMW 325i | 95 Saab 900S