'Do whatever you need to do': Car dealership maliciously complies with maintenance order, inflates prices, then learns they have to foot the bill

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  • 01
    Automotive parking light - "But you have to pay first!"
  • 02
    Font - Car dealer tried to rip me off, ended up having to pay inflated maintenance bill themselves M OC Not a native speaker or writer: This happened about 17 years ago in a major city in the very south of the Netherlands with a Renault dealership.
  • 03
    Font - I had a new job and we needed a second car. We bought a new Twingo, a car that went for about €12.000. There were 2 stipulations in the contract when we bought the car. #1 was that we had to get financing through Renault. And #2 was that 3 years maintenance was included. We financed a minor part for 3 years at 0% interest.
  • 04
    Font - After the first year, I took the car for its first service. I had about 12,000km on the odometer. When I dropped the car off I was asked if there was anything that needed attention. I think I answered something like, "Do whatever you need to do...".
  • 05
    Font - In the late afternoon when I picked up the car 3 rather bulky men were standing behind the service desk. I remember they were really focused on me when I was presented with the bill. The bill was for about €1000. And for a 1-year- old car with just 12k km! I immediately understood what had happened.. They must have figured that they could inflate the bill with all kinds of nonsense maintenance actions since I gave them carte blanche, and to avoid any troubles they made sure that I could b
  • 06
    Font - I just very friendly asked for my car key.. "But you have to pay first!", "No I don't, please may I have my car keys?¨. Instead of enlightening them straight away, I kept going like this for a bit longer.
  • 07
    Font - When things started to get a bit unfriendly I reminded the rep that I had bought the car at this dealership including 3 years of maintenance.... All 3 guys turned a few shades lighter.... frantically searching for the contract.. whispering, moving away to the office out of earshot... It took about 10 minutes before the rep came back out and handed me my keys..
  • 08
    Font - I ended up getting its 3rd service just before the 3 years had elapsed, and as soon as I got the title to the car, I traded it in for a car of a different brand. And as you would expect the bill for the second and third services was less than €300 to €400.
  • 09
    Font - Not sure if this is the right reddit, the compliance part is that did everything they were supposed to do and way more, and I complied as well by reminding them that they were responsible for all costs.
  • 10
    Font - Skoteleven 22 hr. ago I have a very similar experience. I purchased a first generation GMC Sierra Hybrid pickup truck, with 6 years of scheduled maintenance included. I'm glad I did, because this truck was pretty terrible. About 4 years and 30K miles in I went for new tires, and the tire shop says my whole front end suspension is ruined.
  • 11
    Font - I went back to the dealership to have them check it out, and sure enough all of the ball joints had failed. The dealership says it's going to be something like $7K to fix, and that it was because "wherever I was taking it for oil changes wasn't lubricating the suspension joints".
  • 12
    Font - I went out to the car and got 4 years of perfectly on time receipts from when they did all of the oil changes, and informed them that since it was their fault, they would be fixing it. amazingly they did fix it.
  • 13
    Font - -By the end of my nine years, and only 60K miles with that truck, the warranty work was more than the sticker price. I paid about $25k in 2005 for the truck, it had over $40K in warranty work done. A starter-alternator for a 2005 GMC hybrid apparently costs over $12K ?!? -
  • 14
    Font - DaBooba 23 hr. ago Not your typical MC, but I love it. Dealership maliciously complies with your request to "do whatever they need to" and don't realize that they have to foot the bill for it. Brilliant.
  • 15
    Font - Wildcatb 21 hr. ago . I have a 2013 truck with 293,000 miles on it. I still have the paperwork from when I bought it with a 'lifetime warranty' on the engine. I'm looking forward to the day I walk into the dealership with that in my hand. I doubt it will end up being honored, but it's going to be a fun conversation either way.
  • 16
    Font - bobbane 22 hr. ago Definitely qualifies. I have a similar situation with a company that protects my house from termites. I pay them quarterly, they come by and check their bait stations. Their contract includes an up- to-$100,000 insurance policy on termite damage for my house, as long as they get their quarterly fee.
  • 17
    Font - Once, a few years in, a guy came by and said the house also needed stuff sprayed around the foundation, for an additional charge. I mentioned the original contract and said, "if you think this is appropriate to reduce your risk of paying on your insurance policy, go spray and pay for it yourself". For some reason, they didn't think it was worth that.

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