dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

First off I would like to say that this is not bashing anyone. I am just posting my experience, this will probably get moved to the "Dealership and Shop Experiences" but I think it is more appropriate here, since most people deal with them in SoCal and not all over, it is SoCal's shop.

I had a LOUD vibrating bad wheel bearing sound coming from my 97 since I bought it. I was positive it was the wheel bearing, but took it to them to be sure. I get there and of course they are totally cool, my friend Andrew drove me there in his 5.0 and was going to have his looked at also (his back wheels were wobbling). I went in there expecting a FAIR price, since they are Maxima friendly and a first time business should be a good deal or FAIR, to earn more business. Justin confirms it was the wheel bearing, but says they are sold as a hub assembly, not just the bearing. Tommy told me it would be $225, I hesitated and thought for a second *a little high, but it will be nice to just get it done, especially since Finishline is another 50 miles away in the opposite direction of my house keep in mind I work 50 miles away so that is 100 miles from my house* So I say "Ok, how many hours to do it? about 1.5-2?" He replied "Yes, lets set up an appointment". I set one for Tuesday at 1pm. I drop it off and they said it would be done at 3pm. I called and spoke to Tommy at around 3:10pm and politely asked "hows it going dude? ready for pick up yet?" He replies "Hey bro, we got ya, no worries call us back at 4:30pm" I say "Cool, I get off at 5 so I need the car to go home, I have to pick up my lady and son, I will just show up at 5" He said "Cool"

So Andrew gives me a ride and we get there at around 5:45pm, they were pulling the car around and I went in and he said "Your Maxima is done bro". I thinking what a relief... He says "It is going to be $40 more though" I say "For what?" Steve says "We replaced your brake shim and a bolt in your strut" (which I had at home) I think to myself *I didnt ask for this ***** and then politely say "$40 for a shim and a bolt?" He said "If you dont agree, go talk to Justin" I think *This is BS it already seemed high, but I wanted to give you guys a try since you are local and a up and coming shop* I walk back and talk to Justin and he begins to tell me the fuel filter is bad (how can you tell I dont know?) and that it is in the gas tank (which it isnt) and the tranny and stuff needs to be service, just basic maintenence. I go back to pay Steve thinking I want to go home after a long day...then he hits me with another $20 tax, so $285 for a Hub assembly installed.

Today I decided to call a random Nissan dealer to see what the part cost. I called Douglas Nissan of Orange and Jerry said "Yup, we have that in stock and it is $110.15" I really didnt want to post, but after talking to another member he suggested I do just to get my experience out there. It is illegal to jack up a price like that without a call. At this point I am counting it as a lose and will just simply not go back. Justin, Steve and Tommy are VERY cool people, but I guess they just decided to take me through the ringer.

Once again, please do not move this it is a SoCal related shop and only SoCal people use this. I really WAS NOT going to post this cause I hate people that sound like whiny biches and now I guess I sound like one of them, but I dont appreciate being ganked like that. Frank and Hoon I know you are close to them and this has absolutely NOTHING to do with you guys, I am sure you will agree that the $40 was a LITTLE uncalled for without asking and I hope this does not effect our relationship cause I consider you guys good .org members to me.

Please post your thoughts all after reading this and tell me if I am overboard for posting this and I will delete it with some reasoning.

HNDA ETR

iTrader: (10)

You're right... charging you for work you did not AUTHORIZE is illegal.

I don't know these guys or the shop, but in all fairness, maybe they were lookin' out for you by fixing something that they found that was wrong...

Or maybe you were chewing on some hay when you met them...? just playin'...

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

Yeah, they could of been looking out. But shims cost $7 and are not something life threatening. The bolt is like $15 from Nissan and has been off the car for 1-2 years, I have it at home, just need to slap it in. I REALLY wish they would of called. $40 might not sound like much, but to someone with a family to support and on a tight budget it is.

Also, no hay...just a "SUCKER" sign on my forehead I guess.

HNDA ETR

iTrader: (10)

I feel ya'... and trust me, $40 is a lot to me too... probably to a bunch of other .org'ers too..

Maybe you can take your bolt to them, and have them refund you back what they charged you for it...

KLOOGY

iTrader: (12)

Humm, interesting....I know if a shop is looking out for ya, they will do stuff like that . But at that kind of an expense, I too If they charge you a % for a CC transaction, oh well....but if your story is accurate, doesnt sound good. I cant imagine Justin doing that. I hope this isnt true ....

LithiuMax

That's no good.. hope RPM has an explanation or something along the lines of an apology, if this is what happened. Hate to see something like this happen among org pals...

HNDA ETR

iTrader: (10)

Maybe someone should mention to Frank and suggest that he talk to the guys at RPM to see what they have to say...

Larrio

iTrader: (10)

sorry to hear what happened to you, although I find it hard to image justin jacking up prices.

i dunno what to say, i'm pretty chill with them

MrDicks95SE

iTrader: (23)

yeah that wasnt good but in a way they did try to help you out with replacing the bolt and shim. but yeah that is pricey.
try to sort things out and possibly something good will come out of it. just my 2 cents.

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

naw that was an axle coming out of the hub.

this bolt was like a top rear strut bolt, one of 3 there. actually it is there, John just broke the head off in the strut.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

it IS ILLEGAL to charge for service unless they have prior authorization to do so. Report the shop to BAR (Bureau of Automotive Repair)

nummaonenutsaq

That's a little bit extreme. The whole deal went down in front of my eyes, and the guys at the shop were cool enough.. just seems like maybe they're trying to pinch pennies / pad the deal or something. They even charge the 3% credit card fee that the processing services take from each transaction.

Nismo

iTrader: (18)

well yea it may be a little on the extreme side but by law they just cant do that without authorization beforehand

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

hmmmmmm didn't know about the 40 extra dollars. ill ask about it tomorrow.

cc transactions are regular things at performance shops. i usually have to pay them 3% to charge as well.

tax there is nothing around that. justin claims all his work. tax is a given unless otherwise negotiated that is governments money.

JdoubleOe703

iTrader: (6)

for me, performance shops never charge tax, unless you use a credit card, once I ask to pay with credit you get the 8%.... next time pay with cash and save 8%....

carnal_c30

iTrader: (38)

225 is a great price for doing wheel bearings... its an absolute pain in the butt I dont know if RPM had a bearing press yet do they??

wheel bearing job on my lex is gonna be about 300- with only 50 bucks labor... its expensive

the 40 bucks?? hmmmm i duno I dont think they were trying to cheat you... talk to them about... just lookin out maybe

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

You also have a Lexus

Finishline quoted me $160 and Big O quote me $175

I just went with RPM because they are close and they are cool guys.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

that dose not mean that when you do go to a shop that charges tax they are ripping you off. businesses are suppose to charge tax. unless its a out of state purchase but then you have to show the IRS that you have a shipping invoice other wise guess what the shop owner has to pay the tax.


th extra $40 dollar fine. speculating right now maybe as they were taking apart the rear hub they seen that the extra parts were needed. the only think i agree with is don sould have knew before hand. like i said i will talk to them later see what happened. but really if don wants to talk to justin he can do that as well.

sometimes you pay for convinence. i know i did. thats why rpm did my 5spd shop. instead of me trying to ***** around with it.

carnal_c30

iTrader: (38)

tax is required... necessary even on out of state purchases... legally they are supposed to report the out of state purchase and pay a CA State 'Use' tax of 7.75% ehehe

how is the bearing job? is the car nice now??

but seriously if Finishline quoted you 160... you should take it to them

RPM is a good shop and they try to hook us up as much as possible... even if sometimes there is some lag

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

I agree with the tax, I am in sales and I charge it myself, no problem there.

The car is good, although the rear still wobbles a bit, I dont know what that is from. I am going to pull the wheel this weekend and inspect the work. Finishline was too far at the time, I cant make it there during the week and this weekend is going to be busy and I live 100+ miles from them.

with the lag.

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

....

maximadave

iTrader: (10)

if a shop is just charging you labor and no parts, there is no tax. When they installed my Tein springs, it was $75 and no tax.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

ok i just talk to justin.

don did you say at anytime if there is anything else that needs to be fixed go ahead and fix it. or anything similar to that effect. or did he ask if you wanted the problem fixed??? and you answered yes. if you did then thats exactly what he did. extra parts cost money. you did not have any brake shims justin put those in for you. bolts striped or missing he replaced those. but if you assummed that anything extra was gonna be free or included in the original quote that is not correct.
that is autorizing the work to be done. the quote was to change out the hub assembly with the bearing.

yeah the tranny is bad you know this already that sound you told me to listen to guess what even you said. tranny is going you said the same thing happened on the 3rd gen. alfonso told me about your sound maybe you described it to him or something. same thing happened to alfonsos tranny guess what. rear main sel is busted. bad diff bearing. yes tranny is going out you know that.

fuel filter could have been a mistake. he has did regular maintnence on hoons car mostly 5th gen. fuel filter is in the tank. so he may have figured the same.

same thing when people say maxima struts are a head ache. they apply the 3rd gen rear suspesion to all generation maximas. mistakes are made.

really you sould have talk to justin and had everything ironed out with an understanding.

don if your wheels still wobble take it back.

derrick

iTrader: (23)

don sorry to hear about what happened... i would personally be pretty ****ed.. but it's your call. hopefully it is all a misunderstanding.. but definetely do something about it.. at least have a talk with justin and see what he thinks or says. good luck and let me know how things go

irvine78

iTrader: (2)

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....&highlight=rpm

When you authorize a shop to fix a problem extra cost may apply. RPM is not a nonprofit orginization. Justin/Steve/Tommy do try there best to take care of people from the .org. But there time is not free. People that expect free work to be performed really sould not bother going to RPM and save everyone the headache. What ever you were unhappy about you sould have talk to justin before you left.

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

honest to god I did not tell him to go ahead and fix whatever is wrong, I do not have that kind of money.. The only thing we discussed was the wheel bearing and Andrew was right there with me.

I dont know if the wobbling has to do with the wheel bearing, it could be something else, I am going to have my guy at Big O by my house look at the car this weekend, he will let me know what it is, it could just be the wheel balancing.

Usually when I take it to Big O for example. He will not charge me a dime to look at the car, but he will no do anything to it without showing me the problem, explaining it and then giving me a price and I make the decision.

Once again, Justin is cool, Steve and Tommy as well...nothing personal, just business and I did not like suddenly being hit with the extra $40 when I planned on only $225 and had $300 in my account until tommorrow.

I hope you understand Frank, I know you are close to the shop, we are still cool.

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

maybe just a random bad situation... no shop is flawless, but it sucks to get reamed.

Don, they should've mentioned something in one of your many calls to them.

I dunno, maybe they had a clearance for it... there was still some shop irresponsibility and lack of communication between the two parties. I've only taken my car to shops to install tires and balance and all that... but for repairs, you bet i'm going to explicitly state that only quoted repairs be done and if anything else needs to be done then to call me ASAP before proceeding. What if you would've been paying cash and you only had an exact amount or slightly a bit more than that?

HNDA ETR

iTrader: (10)

I don't think Don was saying that he expected the extra work done to have been done for free.

I think what he's saying is that he DIDN'T authorize any extra work and therefore, it shouldn't have been done and he shouldn't have been charged.

However if he did say, or agree to, and you said Yes, then that's another issue...

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

Hi Hoon,

I understand business, I told a few people I am not mad about the $225 people need to make money to stay in business that is why people irritate me when they try and low ball. BUT the bottom line is I DID NOT authorize any extra work. I DID NOT get a call for this bolt and shim. So it made me upset. Having no shim is not a big deal. I would of REALLY liked if Tommy would of called and said "Hey Donald, Justin found that your rear brake has no shim and your strut has no bolt" I could of said "Thanks for checking it out, I have the bolt at hom eand the shim is no biggie, dont worry about it, thanks though".

once again, nothing personal, just business...

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

Also, as you can see in this thread, I posted way before I went there, I am a honest guy and DO NOT try and take advantage of anyone, I pay the full pop and expect a fair business dealing. Ask the guys at the shop, I did not try and work the price AT ALL.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....&highlight=rpm

And the thread got moved as I expected it would

"Hi everyone from New York, what do you think?"

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

well... now you can link it can't you?

unlike other RPM threads which are still in west coast

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

yeah, kind of irritating.

I should put it in my sig.

But, my whole purpose of the thread was not to bash them, just bring some light to the fact of "lack of communication".

I would still recommend them, they are great. But make sure you communicate EVERY THING FIRST!

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

maybe he just got tired of hearing people complaining after the fact instead of sorting the misunderstandings out before you picked the car up. though not to many people had very many complaints about them.

misunderstandings yes that will be the whole issue. the way you posted it made it seem like they (RPM) are out to jack people for there money.

well thread got moved not locked. so you can still talk about it.

and being a smart @ss about it is going to do **** but make you look stupid.

you said what needed to be said. i posted the other side of the story down. let it be and move on and stay away from RPM if you feel they ripped you of.

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

That is what i am doing, the money has been taken out of my account, I asked about the $40 while there and they did not make the effort to lowr the price. It irritates me that he would put words in my mouth and flip it like I said to do anything that needs to be done. I dont think anyone in their right mind would do that, unless they are rich...cause I know everyone has some problem with their car they know needs to be fixed. I shouldnt of listened to the member who told me to post and just not said a word, cause I knew the supporters of RPM would get upset and throw it all back on me. I had a witness and did not try to get ANY free work out of this, I paid MORE than a fair price and stll got worked.

...no hard feelings Frank.

HNDA ETR

iTrader: (10)

Hey Frank,

I didn't think he was bashing RPM, or saying they ripped him off, he said in the beginning of the thread that he wasn't trying to bad mouth them...

O/T - Did you get the injectors put in yet and/or fixed the lean issue?

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

i agree with you Donald...businesses should not do something you did not authorize. if that really is the case then you shouldnt have to pay. I juss think there was some kind of miscommunication like they thought you needed some problem taken care of and they went ahead and did it cause they thought you wanted it fixed...

anyways, it is the shops responsibility to contact the customer before additional work is performed, and if the customer didnt authorize the work then he/she is not responsible for additional charges. Its the shops responsibilty to either remove the installed parts or eat the cost and learn a lesson from it.

jdmmax

iTrader: (6)

naw no hard feelings...........

from what i get its a big misunderstanding.

dmontzsta

iTrader: (8)

Thanks Matt. I REALLY am not trying to be a dik about this. I did talk to my friend at Big O and he looked up RPM and they are not registered or licensed with BAR. He said when you drop off your car, the shop MUST have you sign a paper releasing liability and with the price of the quote, if they do not it is either a $10,000-$15,000 fine from BAR and an automatic investigation. Second, even IF they did call you for the work, they cannot do it without a signature and another form. Third if ANY shop charges you more than the quoted price it is a penalty with BAR. And they must reverse the work. He said at this point if I wanted to I could report it and get my full refund, then investigation and fines. BUT I AM NOT that kind of person.

This thread really is a GOOD lesson to all of us. If you take your car to a shop, keep these rules in mind and make sure the shop follows them, it is best for all parties. And then there is no miscommunication between anyone and the work is done with no problems.

Remember your rights...

Another good thing to do is make sure the shop you go to is registered with BAR, here is a link to the website to search for any shop in your area. http://smogcheck.ca.gov/stdhome.asp
My friend said all reputable shops are registered through BAR. If there was ever a complaint you can view it on this site, also they grade each shop.

I have learned ALOT from this experience and will make sure IF I take my car to a shop for work, it will not happen again.

thnikkamax

iTrader: (2)

have a tape recorder too so you won't get

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

but the thing is....majority of the consumers out there dont know much and its really up to the shop to follow the rules or let you aware of the rules. i kno RPM knows their stuff, they do good work and great prices, but they do lack a bit on the customer service side....