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Consumer Advice: Service Shop of a Car Dealer...

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Dkin

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Yesterday morning I took my 2003 Acura RL in for service. Needed some brake work (pads?) and I asked if they could pound out a small dent. I've been having the car serviced there for years and the staff is always reliable and trustworthy. And...they almost always provide a nice loaner.

Yesterday afternoon they call to tell me the car is ready and it will be x dollars...exactly in line with my expectation. But at the end of the call, the guy told me that I probably need new shocks because the car is driving "very, very rough". I told him that's odd because it drove fine when I dropped it off. He then launched into a long story about how on rare occasions when a car is brought down from the lift, the struts get damaged. He made it out to sound like a function of old struts in hot weather, etc.

Today I picked up my car...brakes fixed and he did his best on the dent at no charge (I told him at the onset I didn't want to spend more than $100 on the dent given the car's age). But he handed me a quote on the new struts...$1500...in case I wanted them addressed in the near future. I got in the car and knew there was a problem before I got off the lot...incredibly rough ride. So I turned around.

I spoke with the service manager and told him the car clearly drives much worse than when it arrived and my items to be addressed had nothing to do with shocks/struts. In other words, it seems like Acura service damaged my car. He was sympathetic and asked if he could keep the car another day to look at it. He did try to get me to agree to new struts at half off...one of those, "Well, what if I could knock half off...am I in the ballpark?"

I don't know the first thing about struts, etc. Should I be digging my heels in on this one? Or work him down as far as he'll go and move on? RacerDeac? Others with car refs in their user name???
 
Sounds like they should pay for the damage they did to your car.
 
If you cannot settle this issue in an agreeable manner. Report him to the Department of Consumer Affairs in Raleigh. Believe all states have one. I have used the one in SC on several occasions. At the very least if you do not get the result desired, the dealership will be pissed with the amount of time it takes to complete the paperwork submitted by the state. Good Luck!
 
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sounds sketchy as fuck. i don't know much about cars but how in the hell can struts get damaged lowering a lift?
 
Good Luck on getting much help for a 12 YO vehicle. Stuff breaks, but they damaged the car in some way. They want too much for struts though. Even though the whole front steering and other pieces has to be dropped to get to the struts. A good independent garage can give you an idea as to what it might really cost. You may have to do the struts if you want to keep driving the car. BBB will make you feel good, but probably won't help you get much done
 
Lowering your car off a lift should not damage your shocks/struts (see edit below...appears to be a quality issue with Acura struts. The explanation makes sense. Bad design on their part). Then again, there's very little they could have done that would have damaged your shocks/struts. Seems strange all around. Are you sure it's not just all in your head because of the BS story he told you to try to get you to spend some $$? If your tire pressures were low and they topped them off, it's going to feel like it's riding a lot rougher. Could be a combination of higher tire pressures and you being hyper sensitive, and there's nothing actually wrong at all.

Good luck.

Edit: Seems to be legit, and some sort of weird Acura problem I've never heard of:
http://repairpal.com/dealer-says-front-struts-broke-when-on-lift-644
 
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RacerDeac said:
Lowering your car off a lift should not damage your shocks/struts (see edit below...appears to be a quality issue with Acura struts. The explanation makes sense. Bad design on their part). Then again, there's very little they could have done that would have damaged your shocks/struts. Seems strange all around. Are you sure it's not just all in your head because of the BS story he told you to try to get you to spend some $$? If your tire pressures were low and they topped them off, it's going to feel like it's riding a lot rougher. Could be a combination of higher tire pressures and you being hyper sensitive, and there's nothing actually wrong at all.

Good luck.

Edit: Seems to be legit, and some sort of weird Acura problem I've never heard of:
http://repairpal.com/dealer-says-front-struts-broke-when-on-lift-644
Click to expand...

Not the case. The only reason I still have this car is because it's still a smooth ride. Doesn't look great, but it's comfortable. I drove it in yesterday and it felt like a cozy sedan. I left the service center this morning and it felt like I was driving a very, very old pickup truck. Noticeable difference. As I drove at low speeds, I could see the hood bobbing up and down.
 
Real-time update: Acura service mgr just called. New struts have been ordered and will be installed tomorrow. No cost and he apologized for the hassle.
 
Good deal...nice of them to "make right" their mistake....guess they re-considered the alternatives.
 
Dkin said:
Real-time update: Acura service mgr just called. New struts have been ordered and will be installed tomorrow. No cost and he apologized for the hassle.
Click to expand...


Good ending but I would still be pissed in that it's obvious he knew they tore the shit out of your car and was trying to get you to pay at least half of the repair cost.
 
coredeac said:
Good ending but I would still be pissed in that it's obvious he knew they tore the shit out of your car and was trying to get you to pay at least half of the repair cost.
Click to expand...

such weird behavior for a car dealership
 
Dkin said:
Not the case. The only reason I still have this car is because it's still a smooth ride. Doesn't look great, but it's comfortable. I drove it in yesterday and it felt like a cozy sedan. I left the service center this morning and it felt like I was driving a very, very old pickup truck. Noticeable difference. As I drove at low speeds, I could see the hood bobbing up and down.
Click to expand...

Yeah, like I said, it didn't make sense and I'd never heard of anything like that happening, but its legit none the less. Sounds like Acura had a run of some really shittily designed struts.
 
They probably figured that anyone who was still taking a 12-year-old car to the dealership for minor service might be a sucker enough to pay for the dealership's mistake
 
Sounds like the dealer got Acura to agree to pay for this.
Dealer wants to sell you a new one.
 
Liquid Karma said:
The BBB is worthless.
Click to expand...

It's way worse than worthless.

It varies by some by the branch you're dealing with, but most of my experiences with them in the past 2 years have bordered on unabashed extortion.

One of our sites deals mostly in retail diabetic/medical sock sales. The BBB is the go-to threat for a scorned geriatric.
 
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