For the sake of a tenner...

[KFC]

I couldn't be bothered going back for a tenner.

If I trusted it was a mistake I'd hold onto the invoice and next time I used them for anything I'd show them it and tell them to take £10 off the price of whatever I was now paying for.

If I didn't trust them I'd just see it as a tenner well spent to know to never use them again. Plus badmouth them to anyone else asking about a garage to use.

[Mr2Mike]

noell35 said:

Who told you I thought that?

You did of course. Playing Devil's advocate to make the garage look bad, makes no sense at all.

[r11co]

Absolutely - go get the money and choose a time there's a big queue for collection at their service desk.

I questioned a fuel additive that wasn't part of the manufacturer's service that the dealer had put on the bill, plus that they'd listed the oil twice under two different names (10 litres of the stuff in total when the car only needed 4.5) at the front of a queue of about 10 people collecting their cars after work.

You could see the lightbulbs going on over all their heads, and the printed invoices being snatched out of the filing trays and being checked by the staff before the next customer complained, and the next, and the next.....

[crosseyedlion]

How much would it cost you to sort it out? ie. if it takes more than an hour of your life, do you normally get paid more than £10 an hour? Even less once fuel is taken into account.

What i'm saying is, these things can often be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Would you rather be getting stressed sorting it out for less than your normal hourly income or would you rather spend it relaxing enjoying your free time?

It would definitely affect my decision to use them again, it would be worth a phone call. If they can't sort it out by swiftly crediting your account, they'd lose my custom.

[xRIEx]

crosseyedlion said:

How much would it cost you to sort it out? ie. if it takes more than an hour of your life, do you normally get paid more than £10 an hour? Even less once fuel is taken into account.

What i'm saying is, these things can often be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Would you rather be getting stressed sorting it out for less than your normal hourly income or would you rather spend it relaxing enjoying your free time?

It would definitely affect my decision to use them again, it would be worth a phone call. If they can't sort it out by swiftly crediting your account, they'd lose my custom.

But if you have the choice of spending an hour on the Internet or an hour earning an extra tenner, what would you do?

[crosseyedlion]

xRIEx said:

crosseyedlion said:

How much would it cost you to sort it out? ie. if it takes more than an hour of your life, do you normally get paid more than £10 an hour? Even less once fuel is taken into account.

What i'm saying is, these things can often be a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. Would you rather be getting stressed sorting it out for less than your normal hourly income or would you rather spend it relaxing enjoying your free time?

It would definitely affect my decision to use them again, it would be worth a phone call. If they can't sort it out by swiftly crediting your account, they'd lose my custom.

But if you have the choice of spending an hour on the Internet or an hour earning an extra tenner, what would you do?

If I wasn't skint and usually earnt more than that, I'd enjoy my spare time.

It's because I'd consider myself pretty tight, but thats actually my reasoning.

For example, if it was 10 miles away (but no traffic) and wasted an hour of my day.

10 miles there (engine cold for most of it) - @30p/mile - £3
10 miles back - @25p/mile - £2.50

So in my hypothetical 10 mile away example, for me it would cost well over £5 just to get there. So it would be a case of collecting less than £5 in my thinking. I'm never going to spend an hour of my life arguing with people for that little.

Of course this would be different if it could all be conducted over the phone, but they'll probably say 'come down for a chat'.

Or if it was en-route to somewhere else...

I should add - I'm commenting on whether I would do it, not necessarily the OP (nowhere is 2 minutes away here)

[xRIEx]

crosseyedlion said:

For example, if it was 10 miles away (but no traffic) and wasted an hour of my day.

10 miles there (engine cold for most of it) - @30p/mile - £3
10 miles back - @25p/mile - £2.50

So in my hypothetical 10 mile away example, for me it would cost well over £5 just to get there. So it would be a case of collecting less than £5 in my thinking. I'm never going to spend an hour of my life arguing with people for that little.

OP stated it's two minutes to drive, chances are he could walk it in 15-20 minutes. No need to start the car at all.

[crosseyedlion]

xRIEx said:

OP stated it's two minutes to drive, chances are he could walk it in 15-20 minutes. No need to start the car at all.

I was trying to make a point about thinking about the actual cost of pursuing these things and the opportunity cost (time for better things).

A point which was badly made...I accept

I still wouldn't pursue the £10. Lifes much too short for that. I simply wouldn't use them again and stop thinking about it, simple (I really don't accept crap workmanship, that includes if someones craft is invoicing.)

[Dusty964]

Balmoral said:

mygoldfishbowl said:

What's happened is they've called their parts suppliers & ordered the service parts by giving them your reg number unknowing at the time you had a K&N fitted. Mechanic hasn't informed anyone that the filter was not needed when he did the service, automated billing system has charged for the filter. Innocent mistake.

Dr Doofenshmirtz said:

I do wonder how some people manage to make it through the day? There is only one answer, and that is to politely question the bill.
Unbelievable.

Isn't it? And some of the responses, confrontational, aggressive with it, get trading standards onto them etc.

Simple mistake, go get your tenner, the end.

Very nicely put.

[80sMatchbox]

crosseyedlion said:

xRIEx said:

OP stated it's two minutes to drive, chances are he could walk it in 15-20 minutes. No need to start the car at all.

I was trying to make a point about thinking about the actual cost of pursuing these things and the opportunity cost (time for better things).

A point which was badly made...I accept

I still wouldn't pursue the £10. Lifes much too short for that. I simply wouldn't use them again and stop thinking about it, simple (I really don't accept crap workmanship, that includes if someones craft is invoicing.)

If the OP didn't use them again and the next nearest garage was 10 miles away, and the future cost in time and fuel using them instead of the one 2 minutes away.. Oh, this is so complicated!

[crosseyedlion]

80sMatchbox said:

If the OP didn't use them again and the next nearest garage was 10 miles away, and the future cost in time and fuel using them instead of the one 2 minutes away.. Oh, this is so complicated!

Well played

Generally if somewhere was made oversights on one area it would make me wonder what else they could miss though.

Having previously been a mechanic, I find it extremely hard to trust garages.

[crackthatoff]

nip out for an 8 pack of beer, en-route pick up the tenner and use it to pay for the beer ! thats what I'd do

[noell35]

Mr2Mike said:

You did of course. Playing Devil's advocate to make the garage look bad, makes no sense at all.

You misunderstand me, I meant that perhaps the OP should've told them it had a non-standard filter saving them the chance of making an error on the invoice. Either way I was simply suggesting a scenario and never said if I thought it was acceptable practice.
I'll try to be clearer next time.

[RB Will]

You should go back and at least talk to the service dept. Seeing what excuse they come up with and their attitude will show you if you want to keep using them or not.
If it was me and they were apologetic and refunded me the money explaining like some posters have suggested that it just went through as auto billing for that service and the mechanic must not have noted the cone filter on the paperwork then I would be happy to use them again. No need to then find an alternative garage which will probably cost more time/ money in the long run.

If however they are arsey and try telling you all sorts of crap then you know it was not an innocent mistake and you should find somewhere else.

[300bhp/ton]

TheBALDpuma said:

Andyjc86 said:

Maybe they charged you for cleaning the air filter instead of replacing it?

I thought of that but it's still very dusty, plus it's a item not labour price.

As for not trusting them, as I said this isn;t the issue, I think it was a genuine mistake - just wondering who would go back for the tenner.

If you have to ask, then it sounds like you have more money than sense

[TheBALDpuma]

300bhp/ton said:

If you have to ask, then it sounds like you have more money than sense

If only that were the case. I'm just lazy and feel like I'm making a fuss over 2% of a bill. I have however sorted it out now.

[mrmr96]

TheBALDpuma said:

If only that were the case. I'm just lazy and feel like I'm making a fuss over 2% of a bill. I have however sorted it out now.

What did you do?

[B5NXJ]

calibrax said:

Crashy said:

Can someone explain the frozen sausages to me please? I've seen it a few times but don't get it.

2 seconds on Google produced this... next time, why don't you try Google?




Big bag of frozen sausages from Asda. Other supermarkets are available but you're up north.
Hammer them into his lawn vertically.
Wait until thawed, and every bird/badger/hedgehog/dog/fox in the area has ripped his lawn a new one.
If it's a big enough lawn, words can be formed in Ardennes style trenches

That's excellent!

[BS75]

I've been a service advisor - this happens all the time and it was probably an honest mistake.

You went in for a x-thousand mile service on Car A, and there is a standard list of bits they'll bill for.
The workshop probably didn't bother to tell the service reception there was a K&N filter and that they didn't therefore fit an air filter. They might not have even told the Parts Dept they didn't fit one and you may find the filter is sitting in a toolbox or has just been chucked back on the Parts counter and nobody knows why.
The filter therefore didn't come off the bill and you paid for it. I'm sure they were absolutely fine about refunding it.

The sorts of people who posted about suspicions of wrong-doing, or timing their visit to loudly and arsily proclaim they'd been ripped off in front of as many other customers as possible are the reason doing that job is so fking soul destroying and why you end up getting st service.

[Pan Pan]

As Posted on another thread, I was charged a ridiculous price for `special lubricant' by a BMW dealership for doors, bonnet and boot lid locks, When I enquired what kind of special lubricant could possibly cost that much, they wouldn't tell me at first, but I told them I would stay in the show room until they did, turned out to be a circa £20 + can of .....wait for it WD40! which they promised to leave in the car at the next service!!!