Quick Question

I took my bike to a local shop to see what they would charge to clean and resynchronize the carbs, and replace the clutch. They told me that the total bill would be $325. It seemed like a good price so I left it in their hands. I prepaid, and still have the receipt. The issue is that they called me this morning and told me they undercharged and need an additional $200 to cover labor. I'm a fair guy and all, but I'm also broke as all holy hell. So my question to you is what would you do? would you pay the extra, or make them stick by their original price?

 

I'd call b.s. and the BBB. Almost double the initial quote? Honestly you hear that story alot here :cry:

I'd raise holy hell and demand to talk to the owner. How the hell do you FORGET to include $200 labor?


$600 to do the carbs? I could re-buy my parts bike and all the parts needed to do the carbs myself... /shrug

 

That's the kicker the owner was the one who gave me the initial quote to begin with.

 

Not to mention the fact that they failed to say anything about valve clearances; if out of spec then the carbs can't get sync'ed properly.

Personally, I'd get the bike back asap and MAYBE split the difference, depending on how well they did the job. I'd also want to see all the old parts.

 

Do the clutch yourself - it's WAY easier than carb work.

Unless they know EVERYTHING there is to know about carbs, they'll prolly screw that up too or take shortcuts.

 

I'd say by pre-paying that they agreed the job would ONLY be that price unless they needed parts that were not in their original quote. Say the solid clutch plates were scorched and they had to replace them and they only included friction plates in the original price, for example.

Something like that would be worth the extra, but they should have called you and said "Hey......" before doing any additional work not in the original estimate.

I'd damn sure want to see the old parts too.

I'd get my bike back quickly, and maybe split the cost for extra parts/labor like Fitz said, IF it was needed.

I'm sure not getting bad advertising is worth more to the owner than a few greenbacks, but, there are some that just don't care.

 

"That's the kicker the owner was the one who gave me the initial quote to begin with."

Then he should be a big boy and stand behind his word, period. You didn't review his math as in a written estimate, he assembled his estimate presumably while you were on the phone with him so you had no control with how he arrived at his numbers. You also can't be expected to "know he was too low" since if you actually knew that much about them, you would have done your own work.

If he was a straight guy, he would surely tell you that he made the error, but stand behind his price anyway ensuring very good PR.

jeff

 

First: Get your Bike back.

Give them the Price you have a Signed W.O. for and recover your property.

Carb Cleaning & Sync; plus a New Clutch is going to be way over $325.00.

Get the Bike back before you do anything.

Gripes with Dealers and Mechanics are never a good thing. They'll hold your bike hostage forever unless you pay what they charge you.
Do NOT agree to let them adjust the estimate.

Get ... your ... bike ... back.