A recent radiator repair at my local All Tune and Lube ended up costing $700. That was after they wanted to charge me $1200 for that, and a water pump, and a fan clutch, and on and on. What a mistake — and what dummy I was. These are hard times - we all know that. So far the repair/replacement seems OK, but it's only been a couple of hours and about 10 miles of driving - so we'll see.
What really got to me was the labor part of the invoice. $ 80 to "diagnose" the problem. You don't need a college degree to see that the radiator was leaking coolant. $ 75 labor to replace the thermostat? I'm not a mechanic, but I do know that thermostat replacement couldn't have taken 15 minutes. But Wait! This is no BS: $ 15 labor to "Remove and replace radiator cap". Serious. I'm in the wrong career field.
I do not know if these are company-wide pricing policies, or just my local franchise trying to squeeze me for every dime (Or every $700). Either way, I would seriously recommend to anyone seeking service with this company to seriously reconsider — at least have them itemize the repairs in advance, to avoid losing your first born son.
To top it all off, I could not find a place on their web site to register a complaint. The "Contact Us" icon sends you to a link to become a franchise dealer with an initial investment of anywhere from $0 to $ 1,000, 000.
I will never use them again.
0 comments