+1, and that's what any good SA would have done. It's not that time isn't money, it's that people know when they're getting f***'d over on something that requires absolutely zero technical training, infrastructure, equipment, or whatever. "Warning light diagnosed" - is that a serious comment? For a brake bulb?

It's about keeping a customer happy. If they aren't interested in keeping a customer happy, they accomplished their goal, and bravo for them.

 

NO I was charged to get the bulb replaced. Invoice said "bulb replacement .....$39.95"
NO diagnostics of any sort were mentioned on the invoice. Service Manager told me it was their standard fee to replace the bulb.

BP

 

Try this, cut the single wire going to the bulb inside thewire harness, and bring the car to the dealer, see what they charge you.

 

Go to a Honda or Toyota dealer and see what they charge, most will still charge you something. If they don't, well you didn't buy a Honda did you?

 

glad he waived it after ur fussin. what a joke

 

I have no problem being charged for a service but I do however have a problem getting robbed. Like others have stated I should have been told that it would cost that much and told o do it myself. We are talking about a light bulb here, pop the truck, remove the panel, pull the bulb and replace and pop the panel back on. No tools needed but for a dime to use to turn the panel lock clip. Been there done it 2 min job not $40 job.

 

My brother in law lives in Newport and just as tight as I am, the car wash down there charges $30 for a basic hand wash. Down closer to me the same wash is $15. He only has taken the car to the $30 wash once in the last 3 or so years hes lived there. Is the eye candy better at the $30 wash? Yes. Do a lot of high end cars go to the $30 wash? Yes. Is the $15 wash just as good? Yes, sometimes better. Is there free coffee at the $15 wash? Yes. Is there free coffee at the $30 wash? No, but they do have high end coffee should you want to pay for it.

What I am trying to say is don't expect to go to a BMW dealer and get something for cheap, you rarely will.

 

The dealership I bring my wife's MB in for work charges $120 per hour for labor. The only reason I take it there is because I have a 3rd party warranty. If its not covered I do the work myself.

There is actually a job listing that states the time prescribed for performing work on a car - multiply this by a particular labor rate and you will get the estimated cost for repair. I've personally watched mechanics look up jobs in this listing when giving me an estimate. I'm pretty sure the time/rate is approved by law. So even though changing a light bulb takes only 5-10 minutes the listing may state .5 or 1 hour for the job - hence the outrageous (to you) labor cost. That money goes to the operational overhead costs to keep the dealership running.

 

I really don't understand your angle in this discussion, unless I'm missing a carryover from some other thread - why in God's name would I want to do that.

Nobody's trying to steal anything for free here, but for crying out loud, the car's not a frickin nuclear power plant. The thing blew a light bulb. It took them exactly 10 seconds to "diagnose", and probably less than 3 minutes to fix. My 7 year old nephew - heck, my cat - could have "diagnosed" and fixed this in 5 minutes.

 

But the fact is the customer chose not replace it, he had the dealer do it, and they have their standard charges. Look at what a oil change cost at the dealer, it is not anything close to what the jiffy lube would charge. Why would you expect a bulb replacement to be the same?