On Wednesday 29th December, we took our car for repairs. The sign on the wall, as required by the State of Virginia, clearly stated a "flat labor rate of $74.90." We were told that it would cost $2300 to fix the car. Of course, having seen the advertised rate, we just knew that the car had a lot of things that needed fixing. The car remained at the dealership less than eight hours. Imagine our shock when we got the itemized bill with labor charges of $1572.90 - this is 67% of the bill and works out to 21 "flat rate hours."
The service manager Russel Brown could not furnish any policies regarding their billing practices or a definition of "flat rate per hour." Instead he explained that the state required that notice be posted; they could not make any profit if they charged a flat rate of $74.90; and moreover, they billed depending on the amount of persons assigned to do the work. This conflicts with the advertized amount on the wall. The owner Michael Lindsay stated that he was complying with state requirements and "industry practice."
As consumers, we require proper disclosure so that we could make an informed choice and take our business elsewhere. We would like the difference in our money back!
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