sjzking408

Once again, thanks for all the input guys! I picked up my car yesterday. The dealer had quoted me a whole lot more than what I actually ended paying walking out the dealership. I got a discount on the part, being a BMW CCA member...It dropped down the part's price to $116 and they charged me for 3 hours of labor work.

Now for the labor work... I realized something fishy after looking at my call log from yesterday. This is what I saw on my phone:

Outgoing call BMW Autobahn- 12:44
Incoming call BMW Autobahn- 01:27
Incoming call BMW Autobahn- 2:52

I called at 12:44 p.m., gave them the OK to do the job and only for the water pump, as the dealer said the belts did not have any wear 'n tear. (I had one or if not both belts changed about 20,000 miles ago.) So I will hold on to do the belts maybe until 100k. On this call, I also asked the dealer, when will my car be ready and also if I would get a discount since I am a BMW CCA member. The dealer said he would call me back shortly with the info.
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The dealer called me back at 01:27 p.m. and informed me that I am elgible to get a discount on the part being a BMW CCA member. And the dealer also mentioned there were cars ahead of me, they will try to get it finsihed today, if not, Monday for sure by noon. I asked the dealer generously if they could try to get it finished today it would be great. The conversation ended.
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I get a call from the dealer at 2:52 p.m., my service advisor informed me that my car was ready. I was like great! I went to go pick it up.
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I realized that at 01:27 p.m. they hadn't started working at the car, and at 2:52 p.m. they called me to inform me that my car was ready. Now, how did I get charged for 3 hours of labor?

Before giving the dealer the "OK" I had specifically asked if, the so called "1 hour" they took to look at my car will be applied towards the labor hours of my car. And the service advisor said yes, it would and if I didn't end up fixing my car at the dealership then I would have to pay at least $125 (for 1 hour charge). I agreed and thought it was fair.

I had called Autoscope in Dallas earlier and they gave me a much better rate than the dealer. But then I looked at the situation as If I do that, I'm still going to have to pay the dealer $125 (1 hour charge) and the towing and all the fuss wasn't worth saving $150. (BTW, free towing from AAA)

At the end of the day, it's only $125 but in the same token it's not fair.

And I did not change the belts because I would've had to pay more than $200 (parts+labor), the labor hours were added again, as someone mentioned in the earlier posts.

So, I didn't call them back or anything. Leaving it as it is.

@ Stoic1: It was at BMW Autobahn in downtown Ft. Worth.

v_therussian

You're much more generous than I am - I would've definitely addressed this charge and had it reimbursed - WTF, now all they have to do is say it's gonna be an "x" amount of hours and it doesn't matter if its true or false? This is a form of theft IMO.

stoic1

I would pay the Autobahn service manager a visit/call to find out where this hour appeared from or why the initial hour wasn't deducted. Sounds like they need to get their game together over there.

AAA sounds like a good deal.

Good to see your up and running !