Dispute with auto repair facility

[derekm]

So last week I finally swapped my long tubes for shortys on my explorer motor. The great news is I no longer have bashed in pipes on the inner driver side and no plug issues at all. So after talking to the closest place to have the gap left from the swap from a long to a shorty, a meineke, I get a call after a bit that the driver side flange is too close to the frame rail and it can't fit due to the angle. They suggest removing the shorty, chopping the flange and adding a bit of pipe to relocate the flange away from the frame. We negotiate a price (it's Friday afternoon and I cannot get away to make the modification myself). So around 4 I get a call that their welder is broken and they've only tacked the extension. This car is my only transportation mind you. I tell them I will weld the extension completely at my shop, after I drive to pick it up, return and install it then they can finish the extension. So I drive back over to grab it, weld it all up, bring it back and install it since I told him I would and didn't mind at this point as I was getting aggravated, especially after I saw the markings on the brand new remflex gaskets I had just installed. I had asked about replacing the patch pipe I had for an H pipe with an actual welded in piece and after I looked they had some goofy pipe bowed down causing the mufflers to taper inward... I made sure to tell the guy(owner) that wasn't correct and the mufflers should be parallel with the ground.... Not pointing downward at it. I get back to work to pick up a coworker just to turn back around to pick up the car. We fire it up after 10-15 mins of him buttoning it up. I'm like fine at this point(h pipe now is a strait line... No longer a v) I go up to discuss the discount the owner offered me. The original quote was 150 for the patch in and escalated to 250 with header removal and completed work. After bickering back and forth I get him to 175 after he insulted me by telling me I was "looking to get something for nothing", "I should rent a car" and "I'm the guy in a hurry". He wrote on the RO the labor was for removing/installing header several times to fit even though I watched the guy remove it in literally 6 minutes since when I came to pick up the header to weld it they were under the impression I would take the car to remove it then reinstall after and bring it back???
Anyway I'm curious if anyone has had a similar issue and if you disputed the charge... Which I'm planning on trying.


So essentially what I got was
-a header removed
-flange cut off and a 5" extension tacked in place with the orig flange tacked on
-a single patch pipe on the driver side bolted at flange and slipped over existing pipe where the old 3 bolt header flange was
-2 pipes connecting the pass side flange down and slipped over existing pipe where 3 bolt header flange was
- 7-8" H pipe welded in place of flex patch pipe

[teamextreme]

All that for $175 doesn't seem unreasonable. You have to remember shop labor is approaching $100/hr. I'd say you're biggest mistake was taking it to a Meineke (or Midas, or... any of those chain places). Can't offer any assistance on disputing the charges.

[WolFeYeZ]

So is the dispute over $25?

[bulldog]

I went to a muffler shop to get a HFC on my car; remove old cat, add two flanges, assemble......they quoted me about $150. When I questioned it, I was told similar to what was said above; standard is about $100 a hour. Really does not seem that bad for what you got compared to my quote.

Hell I've seen a shop struggle for a hour just to get headers removed; those things can nearly weld themselves from all that heat. Seems easy, but not always.

[koop]

You call that a dispute?

I've got a client that went to a shop to have an exhaust system installed, headers to tailpipe. Client supplied the parts, shop was supposed to do the install for $600, client pays them up front. Client goes to pick up the car and the shop say it will be another $1500. Now that's a dispute.

[bulldog]

You call that a dispute?

I've got a client that went to a shop to have an exhaust system installed, headers to tailpipe. Client supplied the parts, shop was supposed to do the install for $600, client pays them up front. Client goes to pick up the car and the shop say it will be another $1500. Now that's a dispute. I bet they used the old "bolts took longer than we expected to remove" trick. As I said they sometimes take way longer than they think, but most reputable shops will stick with their initial quote; especially if you already paid.

Yeah that is bad!

[derekm]

Im just chalking it up to a life lesson. Not worth the headache and ill obviously finish It myself