Nickels and dimes

madar

Contributor
:
2016.5 CX 5 Touring AWD, 2015 SCION XB
I spent an unsatisfying 2 hours at the Mazda dealers on Monday trying to get a seat heater repaired. I left a little miffed and didn't really notice the charges on the bill. Looked at it today and saw this charge, $4.50 shop charge for a repair order?? Talk about nickel and dimeing you.
e
mazda.jpg
 
Absolutely disgusting behavior of that dealer. I would never go back after they declined your clear, in warranty, seat heater issue. In fact you should file a complaint with the AG on that dealer for unscrupulous and deceptive business practices and put them in facebook, twitter and tik tok blast. See how fast they wisen up when their name is called out.
 
It's a work in progress. I was able to get a hold of Mazda Extended Confidence and they told me it was covered. Called the dealer back and after a little chat he said he had to do a little research and get his boss involved, so we'll see. Mazda got back to me fairly quickly after I sent them an email.
Originally, the dealer submitted the part number of the seat cushion and Mazda rejected it as a covered part so I don't know who's to blame.
 
I spent an unsatisfying 2 hours at the Mazda dealers on Monday trying to get a seat heater repaired. I left a little miffed and didn't really notice the charges on the bill. Looked at it today and saw this charge, $4.50 shop charge for a repair order?? Talk about nickel and dimeing you.
e
View attachment 314816
Actually I have seen this “shop charge” often in recent years. I’ve been told it covers any bolts、washers、and any hardwares the tech used for the job. These things, even if the tech actually used them, won’t get charged in the old days.

My recent experiences with dealership all were unpleasant ones. The Toyota dealer in Oakland did the rear door fixed quarter window glass replacement on my daughter’s 2022 Corolla Hatchback which got shattered while parked in front of friend’s house. The SA simply was trying to rip off my daughter for $155 on glass and 4 hours of labor for $420, although the initial quote on the phone was $50 and $210. After I talked to the SA he brought down to original estimate. I still feel the price is a rip off as I replaced the same fixed window glass on my 1998 Honda CR-V due to a break-in, and the job is not difficult. One hour labor should be sufficient for a capable Toyota tech.

The other incident is by another Toyota dealer in San Bruno. It’s a simple oil change covered by Toyota’s 2-year free new car maintenance but the tech apparently didn’t tighten up the drain plug properly, the oil was leaking slowly all the way from San Jose to LA!
 
Yes, we all probably have ou own favorite collection of stealership stories. I've always done all the work on our family vehicles, so my personal experience with this has always been less than most others.

However, last year my 38 year old daughter finally bought her first new vehicle - a Kia Rio. She was making plans to move to a location that was way too far away to drive (1300 miles), which was going to eliminate future DIY. So I very painfully told her that she would be going to Kia for oil changes and maintenance. As much as I hate the stealerships, I also didn't want her to go to random, unknown shops, and potentially ruin the 10/10 Kia powertrain warranty.

So along comes the first oil change, and I asked her how much the bill was. She whispered $250, hoping I wouldn't hear her. Even though my blood pressure was skyrocketing, I tried to remain calm, and explained to her how to use the owners manual to remind the criminals exactly what "required" was. So when the next oil change rolled around, and I asked her what that one cost her, she whispered "more".

I can't fight this battle for her, and for the sake of my health and well-being, we've decided to not discuss this subject in the future. So I now get to live with the knowledge that she is going to be a victim of these criminals for the remainder of her life. It's the pits.
 
Last edited:
Yes, we all probably have ou own favorite collection of stealership stories. I've always done all the work on our family vehicles, so my personal experience with this has always been less than most others.

However, last year my 38 year old daughter finally bought her first new vehicle - a Kia Rio. She was making plans to move to a location that was way too far away to drive (1300 miles), which was going to eliminate future DIY. So I very painfully told her that she would be going to Kia for oil changes and maintenance. As much as I hate the stealerships, I also didn't want her to go to random, unknown shops, and potentially ruin the 10/10 Kia powertrain warranty.

So along comes the first oil change, and I asked her how much the bill was. She whispered $250, hoping I wouldn't hear her. Even though my blood pressure was skyrocketing, I tried to remain calm, and explained to her how to use the owners manual to remind the criminals exactly what "required" was. So when the next oil change rolled around, and I asked her what that one cost her, she whispered "more".

I can't fight this battle for her, and for the sake of my health and well-being, we've decided to not discuss this subject in the future. So I now get to live with the knowledge that she is going to be a victim of these criminals for the remainder of her life. It's the pits.

Do you really think that you'll be able to keep your mouth shut? Good luck with that. ;)
 
My stepdaughter is the same way. Now she calls me first. I tell her just stick with x,y, and z of what you want done. forget the rest of the alphabet. These service departments are as bad as the car salesmen, and they wonder why they can't draw business away from the independent shops. Making money on unneeded services is no way to stay in business.
 
Last edited:
I spent an unsatisfying 2 hours at the Mazda dealers on Monday trying to get a seat heater repaired. I left a little miffed and didn't really notice the charges on the bill. Looked at it today and saw this charge, $4.50 shop charge for a repair order?? Talk about nickel and dimeing you.
e
View attachment 314816
My cars never see the dealer after purchase unless it a clear warranty issue. Do it yourself or take it to amechanic you can trust.
 
I must be one of the lucky ones, my dealer never tries to sell anything that isn't really needed.
If I want an oil change/tire rotation that's what I get. Rear brakes replaced - $200.00. Better price than the indys. I guess that's why they've been in business for 40+ years.
 
got dignged too with hazardous material charge $3.00 :) whatever that means.
Seems common nowadays , $3 here $4 there.
Would feel better if its in the total price so I dont see it at least. Guess the free coffee in the waiting room is not free after all.
 
got dignged too with hazardous material charge $3.00 :) whatever that means.
Seems common nowadays , $3 here $4 there.
Would feel better if its in the total price so I dont see it at least. Guess the free coffee in the waiting room is not free after all.
I'll have to help myself to a few cups next time to offset my bill...
Checking on some previous bills in the past it was a miscellaneous charge of 2 dollars and change. Now it's a service report charge....
Our city charges a service fee of 5 to 15 dollars to pay a utility or tax bill online with a credit card, ridiculous.
 
Last edited:
I blame the MBAs that are now tainting almost every industry. To them, everything is a cost that needs to be accounted for and minimized
 
I blame the MBAs that are now tainting almost every industry. To them, everything is a cost that needs to be accounted for and minimized
Along this line, the new President of Costco said they were losing too much money on their famous $1.50 hot dog. The founder and former CEO sent him an open letter that said, and I'm not kidding, "If you raise the price of the hot dog, I will find you, and I will f*****g kill you".


They didn't raise the price!
 
Yes, we all probably have ou own favorite collection of stealership stories. I've always done all the work on our family vehicles, so my personal experience with this has always been less than most others.

However, last year my 38 year old daughter finally bought her first new vehicle - a Kia Rio. She was making plans to move to a location that was way too far away to drive (1300 miles), which was going to eliminate future DIY. So I very painfully told her that she would be going to Kia for oil changes and maintenance. As much as I hate the stealerships, I also didn't want her to go to random, unknown shops, and potentially ruin the 10/10 Kia powertrain warranty.

So along comes the first oil change, and I asked her how much the bill was. She whispered $250, hoping I wouldn't hear her. Even though my blood pressure was skyrocketing, I tried to remain calm, and explained to her how to use the owners manual to remind the criminals exactly what "required" was. So when the next oil change rolled around, and I asked her what that one cost her, she whispered "more".

I can't fight this battle for her, and for the sake of my health and well-being, we've decided to not discuss this subject in the future. So I now get to live with the knowledge that she is going to be a victim of these criminals for the remainder of her life. It's the pits.
Your post is exactly what I want to say about these Toyota dealers that my daughter and son experienced! I can use every word and sentence of yours except replacing the “oil change” to “rear door fixed quarter window glass”!
 
They try to find any and every way to screw you out of more money for things you don't need, whether that is padding the hours of labor for a given job much more than it actually is, or else coming up with ridiculous "x mile services" that don't align with what you actually need per the maintenance schedule.

I just hit 120k miles on my 2014 CX-5 and am shopping for engine coolant replacement job. Its cold out, just snowed almost a foot, and frankly I have never done it before so I feel like just having someone else do this one.

I remember when I asked for a quote for spark plug replacements once as I was just starting to learn DIY, and they quoted something ridiculous like $450 or something. I laughed and did it myself and it took like 20 minutes and was $100 (with Mazda branded plugs), or $50 with the same exact NGK plugs. I think prices are a little more these days, but that's what it was then. Then only other thing I needed was an extension and metric spark plug socket.
 
Our city charges a service fee of 5 to 15 dollars to pay a utility or tax bill online with a credit card,
You know why, right? Anybody who accepts a credit card has to pay a fee to the credit card company. These fees typically range from 1.5 - 3.5%, scaled by volume of transactions with variation from card to card.

Why are utilities different from most everybody else? Because they are not subject to competition. And this is not just municipalities. My natural gas and electricity delivery companies are publicly traded corporations and they don't accept credit card payments.. They have a monopoly on delivery and the pass-through billing for electricity generation or the gas supplier's charges.

Of course I would prefer to pay by CC and get my 2% cash back but I understand why they do it so I don't have a problem with it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Our city charges a service fee of 5 to 15 dollars to pay a utility or tax bill online with a credit card, ridiculous.
Even though I’d cut down a bunch of tree limbs near the street of my house at least 14” high as requested by our city, but I still received a certified letter from my city fining me $150 for not trimming the tree. Worse, there’s an additional “Administration Fee” for $250 for the fine! 😧
 
Even though I’d cut down a bunch of tree limbs near the street of my house at least 14” high as requested by our city, but I still received a certified letter from my city fining me $150 for not trimming the tree. Worse, there’s an additional “Administration Fee” for $250 for the fine! 😧
So the fee is bigger than the fine. Ah yes, government....
You know why, right? Anybody who accepts a credit card has to pay a fee to the credit card company. These fees typically range from 1.5 - 3.5%, scaled by volume of transactions with variation from card to card.

Why are utilities different from most everybody else? Because they are not subject to competition. And this is not just municipalities. My natural gas and electricity delivery companies are publicly traded corporations and they don't accept credit card payments.. They have a monopoly on delivery and the pass-through billing for electricity generation or the gas supplier's charges.

Of course I would prefer to pay by CC and get my 2% cash back but I understand why they do it so I don't have a problem with it.
And also it's because they're using a third party go-between for credit card collections, their website says as much, still find it ludicrous.
 
Back