My son and I have been doing rather extensive body work in an effort to restore a pickup. It’s been quite a bit of work, but rather fun, as well. Anyway, we replaced the front bumper a while ago with a painted one, and then decided that it didn’t look quite right, so we decided to replace that one with a chrome one. I ordered the new bumper, but in the process of removing the old one, a bolt which the bumper fastens to on the passenger side was broken off. Unable to remove the bolt and therefore unable to mount the bumper, I decided to take it to an auto body shop for an estimate. I took it in today, and after looking at it for about a minute, the guy at the shop gave me a verbal and then at my insistence, written estimate (no parts, just labor) of (I kid you not) $812.50, calculating that it would take 12 and a half hours to repair. He told me that in order to mount the bumper, he would need to remove the fenders, radiator mount, and all of the engine components. I know, having previously replaced the bumper myself, that this is patently false. Mounting a bumper is a relatively simple task. It’s a bit awkward, but it doesn’t involve (for the truck in question, at least. I’ve never tried with any other vehicle) removing anything other than the bumper mounted lights and the grill, which isn’t attached at the moment anyway. I took it to another shop afterwards, and now have an appointment to have the bolt removed and replaced and the bumper mounted Friday for a grand total of $60. My question is what can I do about the dishonesty of the person at the first shop? It galls me to no end that someone would so blatantly attempt to take advantage of someone’s supposed gullibility. If I hadn’t done so much to this truck already, I would have undoubtedly assumed the guy was being truthful and paid. Do I report this to the Better Business Bureau or is there some place more appropriate? Thanks for your help!
How do you know it is dishonesty and not incompetence.
For example, it might take ME twelve hours to do it. If I tell you that up front, I’m not being dishonest. Of course I don’t recommend that you bring your truck in to NBIT Garage, Inc.
Rather than assume it’s dishonesty, I would also like to believe that the person writing the estimate was possibly incompetent. Perhaps reading 1.2 hours and 12 hours?
My thought would be to contact the manager/owner of the first body shop to express your displeasure. Depending on the reaction that you get, you can then decide if you want to pursue it further.
As an insurance adjuster, I work with body shops on a daily basis. My experience is that most body shops are in business to remain in business.
Well, I assume it’s dishonesty because the man told me that in order to mount a bumper he needs to take off the fenders, radiator support mount, etc. when they don’t need taken off. When I tried telling him that I was pretty certain it wasn’t necessary, he informed me that he’d been running the garage for seventeen years and knew what he was talking about, so I’m assuming, having been in business for 17 years, that he’s not incompetent. When I took it to the second shop, they were amazed that anyone would quote more than 2 hours at the very most, which was, in their opinion, extremely generous. It did take my son and I about 45 minutes to replace the bumper the first time, but the two of us had absolutely no prior experience doing so. Neither one of us is particularly mechanically inclined, which has made rebuilding the truck a real challenge. At the second shop, the guy felt extremely confident that he could have the whole thing done, bolt removed and replaced, bumper mounted, and lights attached, in less than an hour. He didn’t see any possible reasoning for someone to insist that the fenders needed to come up, pointing out that it was impossible to reattach those if the bumper were in place as the bumper fits OVER the fenders.
What are you going to report? He suggested a price and you rejected it. No agreement was made and no damage was done. Believe me, I hate shysters, but personal integrity is not required in business. You could report it to the BBB, but they’re really in the mediation business and you don’t have anything to mediate.
Personally, I would tell everyone I met about this and let it do whatever little damage it does to their word of mouth business.
Some people choose to do business in large, screwing-the-other-guy increments, rather than many small, honest jobs which provide more small honest jobs. It’s their prerogative, however perverted and inefficient it might seem. Not immoral, but definately “ammoral”.