Ridiculously expensive and sneaky
Ridiculously expensive and sneaky
I came with a relatively easy task - opening a locking wheel bolt, which had been tightened to hard and broken the key tool when I tried to open it. Even if you don't have the tools to open it, it should be possible to drill it out in max 20min for any mechanic.
Somehow I sensed that this would be an expensive visit already when entering the 'welcome area', greeted by two blonde girls in their 20s who's main task it seemed to look good and otherwise use their time on social media. I was asked to wait in the 'lounge' where I found another woman in front of an Italian coffee machine, offering me a coffee and newspapers. Also the light blue shirt guys, looking like the Goldman Sachs trading board in the back of the 'lounge' didn't help with my expensive gut feeling.
After an hour, another black-dressed blonde came to hand me the key to my car. She obviously had no idea what the invoiced amount would be, so one of the shirt-guys was consulted. He could not answer that very unexpected question either, so he had to use his headset to call the workshop. After 5min, he had found out that the wheel bolt they had to replace would cost some 150DKK incl. tax. Great, but what about the time they had used? Again, that was an unexpected question and another call to the workshop was needed and a worksheet had to be picked up. That worksheet showed 20min for the wheel bolt work, 15min because of late arrival and 15min to check for some oil leakage from the engine area.
20min for the bolt - ok, I guess. 15min for late arrival? I hadn't been late. 15min for oil leakage check? They had not even removed the plastic cover under the engine, so how on earth could they check the oil leak? Anyway, they claimed that it wasn't that bad and certainly not urgent. In another work shop, I later found out that the oil sump had a crack and had to be replaced. Catastrophic engine failure would have occurred if it had ruptured during operation.
So, 20min for the repair, 35min useless time spend or wrongly invoiced. Now, for this almost one hour incl the 150DKK for the bolt: 2.500 DKK. Seriously, I can hire a good lawyer for less than that hourly amount!!
Anyway, via email I told them I would like to see the work sheet again (I knew the actual repair had taken 20min) and an information about their hourly mechanic rates. I got the answer that it had taken one hour and no info regarding the rates.
I asked again but never got an answer. Instead, a debt collection lawyer now claimed 3000 DKK.
I have no idea how they can stay in business treating customers like that but I guess it's mainly company cars where the drivers don't care about the price but appreciate the blondes and the coffee.
Never again!!
29 November 2019
Unprompted review