I'll give the short version as I'm still simmering, but Fred Grande Ford in Richmond, MI will NEVER see my money again.
Been going to this one for regular service since it's close to home. Yes, I know, do my own service work, yada yada, but after doing the oil/filter change for the first time on my truck I decided I didn't like doing it anymore so there. Anyway; I go in for another oil/filter change and get new brake pads put in. Show up at 8am like I'm told so they can get to it "right away". :
1030am rolls around and the truck's out front and I'm looking over the bill. $355 for oil/filter and pad change?!!? waitaminute...look closer and I see I'm charged 3 hours for labor on the brake pad change..? huh? "Excuse me, we have a problem here.." Service writer comes over, takes the bill and walks into the F&I corral to talk to the cashier. Service Manager comes over and tells me "yea, that's right, mechanic charged you the book recommended flat rate."
No where on my bill does it say anything about a flat rate, nor was I informed of this billing procedure when I called yesterday or rolled in this morning. I understand the concept of the flat rate, it's a money maker for the stealership in the long run, HOWEVER; I got charged 3hrs for LABOR. Trying to explain the difference to the SM was like living through a bad drug trip. He wouldn't see the how his reality didn't match up to the real world.
So, after pointing out to him, on the bill they wrote me, where it said "labor" and not "flat rate", he got his head out of the sand and adjusted the bill to match the real time of work. But that's not the point of this ; Why do I have to practically stand on your head to get you to see the error? And, why is it so hard to defer to the customer when you are clearly in error? It's not like I was a complete stranger, they've worked on my truck twice before. Those bills didn't have flat rate charges on them either (I checked).
Fred Grande Ford won't be seeing me ever again. Guess I'll be investing in a 4-ton truck jack...

 

That cracked me up. Same here.

So why do they continue to do it? Because for every one of you that takes the initiative to correct their thievery, there are dozens upon dozens who don't. That's why. So there.

 

I thought dealerships charged the book rate all the time. Mechanics I know live on beating the book time but get paid the full book hours. Did they tell you that they charged on actual time spent? What if the brake job took 3.5 hours or 4 hours for some reason. Wouldn't the pre-work estimate they gave you be based on the same book? Was the estimate much lower than the actual final price charged?

Not sure if they were doing all four corners with the pads but an oil change at my dealer on my 6.7L is $129. That leaves about $225 for pads, parts, tax and labor from a dealership. I don't think of a dealership as a low priced provider when it comes to brakes or any work for that matter. $225 doesn't seem bad to me and I wouldn't have been mad at all. Happy that they got done quick so I could get out of there. That's just me though.

It's very possible that they don't want your future business. I remember a post on FTE some time back where a dealer told a member not to return. Dealership service area is not for everyone. If you are handy and have time, enjoy. Plenty of tips here on how to maintain your truck.

 

It took my dealer two rebuild kits and finally a new turbo to get my 2005, now gone, fixed properly. Glad they were working on the book rate. You lose some and win some. That's the purpose of flat rate. Over the long haul it averages out and protects both sides. I'd suggest that you go back to doing your own work and if you should break an oil filter housing you'll see how much cheaper that exhorbitant price was.

 

heck I worked & got paid book time when I was a line mechanic at VW now more than 40 yrs ago. Nobody does wall clock time.

 

I think that was reasonable. Factory parts/techs I would say If it was done right it is worth the price.you could have gone to snappy lube and had them leave the filter lose too much oil not enough oil yada yada yada
Sorry I don't agree with you but I guess you have time to have santa drop a floor jack off this xmas

 

Hey I have had the dealer not fill the oil on my 6.0. Just because the dealer did work does not mean it done right.

355 does not sound bad for 4 pads turned rotors and a oil change.

 

Only reason mine goes to the dealer for work is because I still have visits and miles left on the maintenance plan I transferred from the original owner. Last visit cost me 100$ for the deductible on the ext warranty to change a tie rod and do an alignment.

 

Yea most likely that was just front pads and I doubt they turned the rotors if they weren't damaged. I wouldn't be scared of doing them yourself in the future they are pretty straight forward only took about an hour if you don't count the time that Oreillys was turning the rotors. I bought the OEM pads for $65 at the dealer. And the main reason I do my own oil changes is because it's about $80 to DIY and use T6 Rotella synthetic. With a fumoto valve it's pretty painless. I've had the dealer pull all sorts of shenanigans over the years. From the Techs perspective I can understand Book labor it's basically incentive based pay. I've learned over the years to get a ballpark quote before having any work done. That way nobody gets butthurt on the deal.

 

I was thinking the same thing.




In fact, if that bill has 3 hours labor tucked in there, that's some damn cheap labor rates compared to just about every dealer in my area. Most here charge well over $100/hr, so 3 hours leaves you with $55 in oil, filters, pads and tax best case.


Scratching my head trying to figure out what the OP is complaining about.


Hell, when technicians can't beat book time, they are the ones that typically get screwed in the end. Try being a tech and take 4 hours on a job that Ford says in a perfect world is supposed to take 2. Now you've just cut your pay in half. And yeah, book time on some repairs/installs make zero sense and some are flat out impossible.

 

Yup, I'm with everyone else, seems cheap to me for a dealer shop unless they quoted you something less beforehand.

 

Pissed off me wrote the first post. More rational me is typing now. I was never told I was getting charged a flat rate, or that the going rate was 3 hours to change out just the brake pads. I was told it would take "about an hour" and would be around $120. that was on top of the oil/filter change. This also wasn't the first time I'd had them do an oil change, it was the third, each priced at $145. The oil change wasn't a surprise, that was the charge this time too. My issue was the time listed for the pad change, which didn't match up to the actual amount of time I was there, and that it was the going "flat rate" for labor of this kind. I felt like they were trying to slip it by me, and when I called out the service manager on this his reaction was to absolutely deny there was anything wrong. Instead of "what seems to be the problem?" I got "that's what we charge around here, what we've always charged, why can't you just accept it?". Oh, and I provided the brake pads. The rotors spec'd out fine.

And yes, Santa does have the time to get me a 4-ton floor jack.

 

X2 1976 turning a wrench in a Livonia MI VW dealer @ 19 yrs old starving on flat rate watching and learning from the pros beat flat rate almost every time, but not always

I agree with the majority here, price is set regardless of how long it takes, god, bad or ugly. Same way I charge in my business.

 

i have had a few issues with my ford dealer with there pricing for there "expert" services.. since then i do all my own servicing to the truck. save a hell of a lot of money and i got to know these trucks better.

 

And if I had been told beforehand that I was going to be charged a flat rate of xx dollars, I probably wouldn't have issue with it.

Agreed.