Why not install the plugs yourself? I mean I get not everyone has time or knowledge to do so, just curious as to the why.
Mechanic Billed Customer, Did Not Do Any Work
- Thread starter Tkonrr
- Start date
Counterfeit plugs???
Many of them going around.
Shops are NOT responsible for the quality of parts, that a customer brings in.
This is a good point. Where were the plugs purchased? Counterfeit NGK Iridium plugs are all over ebay and Amazon. Lots of reports of these plugs working well at first, but wearing out very quickly.
edit: Just reread and saw that plugs were purchased at NAPA. If so, they should've been fine.
As someone already said, no. The only way to tell is with part number revision, for Chrysler all parts end in AA and every revision get the next letter, like AB and so on.
It is pretty easy to tell when a bolt has been touched recently or a harness disconnected, etc. Especially for something like a crank sensor which will almost certainly have a fine layer of oily dirt film on it like most engines get after a few years.
Sounds like this was a good year ago.
I would expect a large parts supplier such as Napa would order spark plugs direct from the manufacturer. Not saying you're wrong, I'll look closely at the plugs the dealership pulled out of the Jeep and share clear pictures of them here later today. Thank you for sharing that info.
Thank you for that insight. The indie shop was paid $171 just to replace the crank sensor less than 3 weeks ago. The OEM crank sensor is about $20 (cheap) and takes a few minutes to swap out under the engine. Boggles my mind how the shop charged $171 and didn't even swap the bad part. Funny how fiance didn't want me to swap the part myself because she wanted the indie shop to tackle the problem since she believed they would diagnose and fix the problem more accurately/ thoroughly than I would. She uses the Jeep 6 days a week for her job where taking off poses a huge hardship for their understaffed team. She missed over a week of work after the Jeep became barely drivable with severe misfiring. It barely made it to the Dealership.
Here is what COULD have happened: A customer goes to NAPA (or any other brick and mortar store) and purchases some spark plugs. The customer takes the factory plugs out of the box and swaps in some counterfeit plugs. The customer then takes the counterfeit plugs back to NAPA and gets his money back. Plugs are then put back on the shelf to given to the next customer. Far-fetched? Sure. But a NAPA counter jockey would just look at them, see that they are new and then put them back on the shelf only to be given to the next customer.
I would first wait and see if the dealership actually fixes the problem. There is no way a diagnostic computer could tell if a new sensor was installed, so that is a blatant lie from the dealer right there.
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Actually there are some car models that do have sensors that are paired with specific vehicles and the mfr scan tools can detect such things, BMW and Mercedes, but I doubt this is the case with the Jeep. So yes I am suspect with the dealer's claim, now perhaps the factory part will show parameters that identify the sensor as OEM and reveal others that aren't too, possible, however like most things in the automotive repair industry
there are few "good" apples in any case. I figure both the indy shop and the dealer are both shady
Because they are all not trustworthy.
And the dealer service writer will take every opportunity to trash on independent mechanics when the dealer has to re-do their work. The customer is already in a mental rage so they're quite likely to believe the dealer, especially when the dealer competently fixes the issue.I figure both the indy shop and the dealer are both shady
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Reality is you will not get a dime back from that independent mechanic. You could roast them online and with the BBB and so forth and see if they will exchange dropping the reviews for your money back, but not likely. I'd probably call them, give them a chance, and if they don't handle it the right way, spend an hour or so posting negative reviews and filing a BBB complaint. And if I used a CC, dispute the claim. But other than that... the dealer is not going to go to court with you or something. So move on with life.
Lesson learned, fiance got screwed, hopefully when she becomes Mrs. she'll trust you a little more to handle things. Mine does!
I have only ever asked for the return of the old spark plugs, since I was curious to see their condition after many years and miles of driving.
Any smart person takes online reviews with a grain of salt. If a place has 4.5/5 reviews, I always question the negative ones. You see things like "Happy with the quality and price of the brake work they did for me but 2 weeks later, my power steering pump failed and they won't repair as part of the brake job ! What kind of warranty or guarantee is that from them ?".
On some cars one or two of the spark plugs are difficult to reach. Even a mostly "reputable" shop might only change the easy ones. So yes it's not unusual to want to see the old ones, you may find that the change before this one left in a really old one.
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