£75 just to diagnose!?
Discussion
Heater fan switch is gone in my partner's Golf. Works on position 4, not 1, 2, 3.
She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
Ari said:
Heater fan switch is gone in my partner's Golf. Works on position 4, not 1, 2, 3.
She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
It doesn't need a new switch, it needs a new resistor pack.She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
That'll be £75 for now, please (surprise, surprise, I've got to order one in).
So, Ari, how much would it have cost you to buy and fit a switch? £75 to diagnose a fault will often save you money in fitting parts that are not needed.
It probably is the resistor BTW and if you can find a VW dealer that only charges £50 per hour they have fallen through a timewarp from the early 90s!
It probably is the resistor BTW and if you can find a VW dealer that only charges £50 per hour they have fallen through a timewarp from the early 90s!
This all came about because rakes of people were going in to main dealers and getting them to diagnose the problem for free, and then go and take it to an independent to repair.
Willing to bet dealerships were doing untold hours of unpaid work diagnosing people's problems for them, and then not being paid to fix it.
Willing to bet dealerships were doing untold hours of unpaid work diagnosing people's problems for them, and then not being paid to fix it.
Gotta love the world on general. Spend money buying something infinitely complex you know nothing about, then complain when the expert in the thing you bought charges you money to fix it.
Either do some research, learn the expertise and do it yourself or accept that your ignorance will be charged for.
Either do some research, learn the expertise and do it yourself or accept that your ignorance will be charged for.
Graebob said:
Gotta love the world on general. Spend money buying something infinitely complex you know nothing about, then complain when the expert in the thing you bought charges you money to fix it.
Either do some research, learn the expertise and do it yourself or accept that your ignorance will be charged for.
+1!Either do some research, learn the expertise and do it yourself or accept that your ignorance will be charged for.
Ari said:
Heater fan switch is gone in my partner's Golf. Works on position 4, not 1, 2, 3.
She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
Its way too much time, but it shouldn't be free.She called the VW dealer, they want £75 (hour and a half) to "diagnose" the problem. If they can fix it within that time all well and good, if they have to order a part then the repair will be on top.
Seems a lot to say "it needs a new switch".
Reasonable?
Diagnosis of electrical problems is the hard bit, fixing it is normaly quick. Its the other way round for mechanical problems.
Almost certainly the resister pack rather than the switch.
How much to diagnose depends on how hard it is to get at to stick an ohmmeter across it, I suppose. If it is a time-taking job to get to it, you'll end up paying for them to dismantle and reassemble the car twice if they don't have it in stock, too. Take it to an indi and explicitly ask if they have the resistor pack in stock before they start taking it to bits.
How much to diagnose depends on how hard it is to get at to stick an ohmmeter across it, I suppose. If it is a time-taking job to get to it, you'll end up paying for them to dismantle and reassemble the car twice if they don't have it in stock, too. Take it to an indi and explicitly ask if they have the resistor pack in stock before they start taking it to bits.
I went to my accountant / dentist / solicitor / to ask their advice on a matter and they gave me an invoice; cheeky buggers.
£75 to diagnose a problem seems like a fair charge to me. It used to be the case that the charge was waived if the work was carried out at the same garage, not sure if this is still the case.
£75 to diagnose a problem seems like a fair charge to me. It used to be the case that the charge was waived if the work was carried out at the same garage, not sure if this is still the case.
Here's a question then - how much do you think you should pay for it? As others have said, it can't be free because you'll find the problem, get the quote to fix it and do the rest on eBay yourself.
I think it probably does exactly what it's done; and that's deter people from just finding out the problem with the dealer to fix it elsewhere.
I think it probably does exactly what it's done; and that's deter people from just finding out the problem with the dealer to fix it elsewhere.
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