Villiage Pontiac, Naperville, IL - told must pay $ 1,000 for an extimate ($ 100 per hr. x 10 hours)

# 10 for September 17, 2003

Complaints.com received the following on September 16, 2003:

From:

RE: Villiage Pontiac, Naperville, IL - told must pay $ 1,000 for an extimate ($ 100 per hr. x 10 hours)

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to voice a complaint of what I consider unacceptable and unprofessional conduct by the Village Pontiac in Naperville, IL.

I had experienced mechanical trouble with my 1995 Pontiac Firebird. Currently living in Chicago, I had thought I could trust the dealership I had received service previously from--the Village Pontiac in Naperville, IL. I would later learn that I was sorely mistaken.

I had the car towed to Naperville. First, although I had notified the service station that the car would be towed there, I received no contact that they had received the car or what to do with it. I was forced to contact them and explain the trouble.

I had wanted an estimate of the cost to repair the mechanical damages. I never was told how much the estimate would cost or received anything in writing on the work to be done on my car. After they had discovered that the car's engine block had been involved, I was notified of the cost to repair.

Being more than the car's value, I discussed it with my father who decided the car was not worth repairing. However, the service station then stated that the cost of the estimate was $100/hour and that I had authorized 10 hours of work, totaling to a bill of $1000 simply for an estimate. I stated that I had never authorized such work and never received any documentation stating that I was being charged $100/hour and 10 hours of work for an estimate only.

Further, I have spoken to other mechanics that have stated to discover that an engine block was involved should take no longer than one hour. Therefore, either the mechanics at the dealership are extremely inefficient or the charges and hours were in error. After stating my case, I was told that I was a liar and my car would not be released without payment in full.

I would like others to know of this behavior and to let others know that the service station's behavior was enough to assure that I will never purchase another Pontiac vehicle.

Suneel M. Udani

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

MD/MPH Student; Class of 2004

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