Auto Repair Shop Tried to Scam Me

[Hoof Hearted]

I needed a headlight bulb for my car.

I was too lazy to fix it myself so i went to the Garage figuring I'd be in and out in 20 minutes to the tune of around 30 bucks.

I explained the issue to the young mechanic at the depot to which he replied...

"Oh! That model of car?? I'll need to take off the whole front bumper to get at that headlight bulb. We're looking at 2 hours labour plus the part."

I told the guy I'd sit on it and get back to him. Anyhoo, the next day i dug up my old ratchet set and opened the hood. I took off two bolts...took the headlight assembly out...popped out the burnt out light...took me five minutes. I brought the part to Canadian Tire to match it up...it cost $29.00. I replaced the bulb in the parking lot of the store in....you guessed it...in 5 minutes.

So the whole job took me 10 minutes and cost me $29.00.

I'm going back to that Garage to speak with the owner about this mechanic who gave me the bum information. Trust in that industry is their currency. I want the owner to know if they have a bad apple on their hands. And if the owner is a dickwad with me, then I'll figure it's just top down behaviour.

 

[Jinentonix]

I needed a headlight bulb for my car.

I was too lazy to fix it myself so i went to the Garage figuring I'd be in and out in 20 minutes to the tune of around 30 bucks.

I explained the issue to the young mechanic at the depot to which he replied...

"Oh! That model of car?? I'll need to take off the whole front bumper to get at that headlight bulb. We're looking at 2 hours labour plus the part."

I told the guy I'd sit on it and get back to him. Anyhoo, the next day i dug up my old ratchet set and opened the hood. I took off two bolts...took the headlight assembly out...popped out the burnt out light...took me five minutes. I brought the part to Canadian Tire to match it up...it cost $29.00. I replaced the bulb in the parking lot of the store in....you guessed it...in 5 minutes.

So the whole job took me 10 minutes and cost me $29.00.

I'm going back to that Garage to speak with the owner about this mechanic who gave me the bum information. Trust in that industry is their currency. I want the owner to know if they have a bad apple on their hands. And if the owner is a dickwad with me, then I'll figure it's just top down behaviour.

Funny, because until you said you bought a replacement bulb at CT I was thinking, "that sounds like the work of a CT garage."

 

[Hoof Hearted]

I've had run-ins at Canadian Tire in the past.

Every time I ended up moonwalking out of the store with both guns blazing. Their automotive department clerks are all sketchy.

 

[taxslave]

That is a time honoured method of getting rid of jobs you don't want to do. It is also possible he was just mistaken about the model because some are that difficult.

 

[Hoof Hearted]

At age 55,, I've owned a slew of cars over the past 35 years...and I have NEVER heard of the front end of the car having to be removed to change a headlight bulb. Obviously, the young mechanic sized me up as some ignorant sap and tried to railroad me into paying $250.00 for a $30.00-$40.00 job.

 

[Nick Danger]

That is a time honoured method of getting rid of jobs you don't want to do. It is also possible he was just mistaken about the model because some are that difficult.

Or perhaps he was thinking "Here's a guy who can't do a five minute light bulb change" so decided to take him for a ride. I'd get busy on local social media and make sure others don't fall for it.

 

[Hoof Hearted]

I can do a 5 minute bulb change on the car...and ended up doing just so.

I just didn't feel like digging out the tools....getting under the hood....driving to Canadian Tire to get the part. I figure I'd just go to the Garage, pay a bit more and have it all done faster.

Today I stopped in to discuss this matter with the owner of the repair shop, but he's off till next Monday. maybe the boss ia away and the employees are taking advantage and playing games with the company's reputation.

I'll post the upshot of my talk with the owner on this thread when I see him next week.

 

[Decapoda]

Possible the guy simply didn't know how to change a light bulb.

I saw something similar a couple of weeks ago at the quick lube place, watched the shenanigans in the next bay over. The woman had a burned out bulb so the attendant changing the oil in her car asked her if she would like them to replace it. She agreed. I watched the guy try and figure out how to remove the old bulb for the next 10 minutes, even calling a couple more attendants over to help him figure it out. He finally waved the white flag, approached her and told her they couldn't replace that type of bulb there and she would have to go to her dealership to have it done.

 

[Nick Danger]

I can do a 5 minute bulb change on the car...and ended up doing just so.

I just didn't feel like digging out the tools....getting under the hood....driving to Canadian Tire to get the part. I figure I'd just go to the Garage, pay a bit more and have it all done faster.

I wasn't trying to insult, just suggesting a possible intent on the mechanic's part. I get what you're saying, sometimes it's worth a twenty not to have to go to the bother yourself. I went through something similar recently, basically being lied to by a the front end guy to cover up shoddy work that ended up costing me more than it should have. I think in this case they were just handing work down to an apprentice who wasn't quite up to it. I'm not going to kick up a fuss with the business, I just won't be going back.

 

[Durry]

On fixes like this I usually google what I want to fix and then watch the YouTube to see how it is done.

I just recently did this to find out how to replace my hard wired smoke detectors. After watching YouTube, I realized I did not want all smoke detectors to alarm all at the same time if only one detector senses smoke.
This lead me to choosing a certain type of detector and wiring it as shown on YouTube.

 

[taxslave]

Be careful using Utube to fix anything. We have been lead down the garden path several times by following some video that turns out the guy had no clue what he was doing.

 

[DaSleeper]

I prefer written instructions myself.
I hate having to rewind several times for something I missed