[sdubfid]

Originally Posted by AzNightmare

I went to Quiet Muffler & Brake for a simple exhaust install because after calling a few places, they gave me the cheapest hourly rate at $80.

Before going in, I was already expecting to get charged the minimum 1 hour rate. But when it came to payment time, he charged me $120, even though he took about 1 hour to get the job done.

I was actually there in the office from start to end, watching my car being serviced, and took a picture when my car was being hoisted up on the car lift in the beginning (so I had a time stamp).

My car was up in the air for about 15 mins before any actual work began. Later, the boss tells my technician to order pizza for the staff for lunch. Then he kills more time chatting with the other staff working on the adjacent car. Felt like this guy had ADD or something. Just couldn't focus working on my car for more than 5 mins at a time before going off doing something miscellaneous. It was pretty obvious he was milking time.

I was checking the clock thinking, it is a minimum of 1 hour charge. I figured he will dick around to use at least a full hour. And I was right. After using up 45 mins to remove my OEM exhaust (which he did in about 15 mins), he took the last 15-20 mins with full focus to put on my aftermarket exhaust. I thought it was fine, at least it was done in about an hour.

When he came back to the office to give me the price, he caught me off guard as I was quoted for $120. Technically, the full start to end took about 1 hr 10 mins (estimate). I have already waited for a long time (3-hr "line up") to get my car serviced, and I didn't want to start a shit-storm and bring up the fact he was dicking around in the beginning, so I just paid it. Plus I was pretty excited about the new exhaust and really just wanted take my car and go.

But now thinking in hindsight, should I have caused a commotion? My car was hoisted up in the air for about 15 mins before it even began to be worked on. Does this count? He wasn't diligent in the first 3/4 of the time. Not to mention, I was there watching the whole process. He knew I was there, and still ripped me off in front of my face. Imagine if I dropped off the car and came back later, like what most people would do.

Or is this pretty much how it is for any car shop and something like this should have been expected? This is my first time dealing with a shop where it's open access and I can actually see what the techs are doing.

Service wise, everything was alright. I figured you couldn't really mess up a basic exhaust job, and I would have done it myself if I had all the tools. The people there were friendly and I didn't have any other issues other than the price.

Next time you should set up a camera and record the whole process to the millisecond. Also bring a megaphone to remind the employee that he is to have no social contact with anyone. Being charged for 1.5 hours instead of 1.166667 is unacceptable. Have you considered contacting Steele on your side?