Auto Repair

On 7 17 08, my daughter and I took her Santa Fe to this facility, to have checked and repaired. We talked to Dan Million the manager who said they would look over the problem and do the repair. I had given my daughter a signed check so she could the fill in the total when she picked up the vehicle. I had asked her to call me when she picked it up, to let me know what was wrong and the amount. It ended up being the alternator, and the total repair came to $563.53. I thought this to be high, so I asked her to put Mr. Million on the phone. I asked him the price of the alternator and he quoted a price of $352.25. I told him this sounded way too high. I asked where he got the part, and he only said a place in down town Grand Rapids. So I then called two auto parts suppliers and got two different prices on new alternators, which were both around $200.00. I then called Mr. Million back and demanded to know where he bought the part. He finally relunctantly told me Auto Clinic Inc. in G.R. who quoted a price of $194.00. My daughter needed her car so I told her to pay them and I would try to get an explaination from Lentz at a later time. On 7 23 08 I emailed Lentz corporate office, explaining the situation with hopes of getting a reply. With no response, I emailed again on 7 25 08 and also gave them my phone number. On 7 30 08 I had still gotten no response, so I emailed one more time explaining the fact that I had not received a reply. I then contacted the BBB and after a few days received a reply stating that they didn't deal with that type of complaint. I think what bothered me the most on all of this, was the fact that Lentz USA just ignored me, and wouldn't answer any emails or call. It appears repair services can purchase a part and then charge the consumer what ever amount they choose. In this case $150.00 more. This to me is nothing more than raping the consumer and probably happens on a regular basis by other auto repairs. Just a heads up to all.

Comment On This

Just happened upon this item and want to respond. First off, the retail price of the alternator, part # 3730037405, is $402.64 and it takes about an hour to an hour and a half to replace it. Total should be in the $550.00 range for this repair and it appears that it was darn close. Please keep in mind that anyone can purchase the same part at a parts store for a less at wholesale. If you would have done that and installed it yourself, it would certainly have saved you some money. But then again you would not have the overhead expense of the building, land, taxes, insurance, utilities, employees, etc. We are sorry that you are not happy with the price that you paid, but hope that you are satisfied with the final results. If ever there is a problem let us know. We have no record of receivein an email from you, or we certainly would have replied. Thank you.

Comment On This

This happened to me once too. I thought that the price was to high as I could buy it at a parts store for less. The mechanic politely informed me that in order to make a profit to operate the business, they had to mark up the parts. He went on to compare it to paying $5 bucks or more for eggs, toast and bacon at the resturant when it only cost them about a buck for those items. That is when it made sense even better. My guess is that wherever this complaintant works, their business does not sell its products at their cost, as if they did, they would be out of business fairly quickly. JMHO