My girlfriend just went into a Big O Tires and had them look at her car. She called before she went and asked if they could look at something for her and if there would be any charge. The guy said yes and no charge. She was there and specifically told the guy to not do any work and just to look at it. She again asked if it would be free. He said yes. He checked her car and said he couldn't find anything wrong with it. He said that it might be about a pint low on coolant and topped that off. The manager then proceeded to charge her 48 dollars. She had to put it on her credit card and she called me upset. She said that she did tell him that the other guy had said that there would be no charge. He said "Company policy ma'am. I can remove the charge if you come in and get the problem fixed." She said "What problem?" The service guy hadn't told her about any problems. The problem in question was a suggestion to get one of the coolant hoses replaced.

All that leads to my question. She couldn't just walk out without paying the guy and she didn't have the money on her. She had to put it on her credit card and she doesn't agree with having to pay it. What options does she have? BBB? Dispute the charge with her credit card provider? Be more assertive?

that's easy, sorta.
first off I would suggest you call and speak to them, if that doesn't seem to be getting anywhere: ask them for the phone number of the B.A.R. (bureau of automotive repair, 800-952-5210).
just asking them for the number should fill them with fear. if they so much as suggest that they don't have the number handy, remind them that it's the LAW that it MUST be displayed inside the customer waiting area of their shop.

bottom line- she didn't sign anything? no need to pay.

the deal is that the b.a.r. will assume the customer is in the right and the shop will have a very nasty time from there on out. even if the customer is in the wrong.

shops know this.

so why was the car in for service anyhow?

/shop owner.

Awesome. I'll work on that, then.

She took it in because she got an intermittent flashing light. She doesn't have her owner's manual and I haven't been with her when it occurred. She called Saturn and they said it's the coolant light which might indicate a leak somewhere in the coolant system. She called Big O to see if they'd look at it for free. You know the rest from there.

She said the manager said some sort of work had to be done to check the coolant system. "They had to go through the coolant system to see if there was any leaks" are her words.

The invoice states

Quote:
Flashing red light on dash, was told that it was coolant light.

Added coolant. Gave est.

46.50 for diagnostics. 1.40 for shop supplies

That's from her reading it to me. The "est" is how it is on the invoice.

did they say exactly what / where the coolant leak was? is it stated on the repair order?

There was no leak found. The only thing the service guy told her to her face was that it might need a new cap in the future.
The suggested future work on the invoice is :

Quote:
Radiator cap
Thermostat
Lower hose
Cooling system flush
$407.00

Is the BAR national or a CA only thing?

Edit : I should note that we are in AZ.

I'm in California, I'm sorry I don't know if it's the same in other states.
if there is no BAR in your state, try the dept. of consumer affairs.

if you like, reply with as much info about the car as you can get (year, model, engine, trans) and I'll let you know all that I can.

the estimate you noted of $400.00 seems WAY over the top. way way way over.

I agree. And none of that is work that I couldn't do in a few hours time, anyway. $407 is outrageous.. I'll try calling them.
The car is a 1996 Saturn SC1 AT. I'm assuming 1.9 liter, she doesn't know.

at $88.00 per/hr, and dealer list prices, all of the above would cost ~$300.00. (see attachment sc1.pdf, if I can figure out how to attach to this post).

odds are that it has a small leak some place, and doesn't require everything listed. but a new thermostat is nice to have.

note: no cap, flush chem or coolant on the attachment.

I called him and convinced him to reverse the charges (people sure are motivated when faced with potential loss of kneecaps. :P). Thanks for everything. My girlfriend thanks you as well.

As I understand it this could also have been dealt with via the credit card company. If you had told the credit card company what the garage did then they probably would have reversed the charge and let the garage to argue the toss.