A year ago i was killing the overtime at work and my wife comes to me saying "the hondas making a grinding noise" after a quick drive i observed the brakes needed attention asap, the car was already going to the dealership the next day for a recall and i told her i was simply to busy to do the reapir and just let the shop fix it.. well that was 11 months ago and 11,000 miles ago.
Monday, a 200 mile round trip to Indy and i noticed pulsating in the pedal.. I break out the cell and call the dealer, "Yes sir we warranty our work for 12 months or 12,000 miles" Perfect, im inside there standard, a appointment was made for 9:00 Thursday.
Thursday: I show up at 8:30am and they take the keys and have the car on the rack in about 3 minutes flat, within 17 minutes of arrival the service (desk man) appraches me with a list of what my car needs
You'r car rotors need to be resurfaced $90
You need a new rear hub assembly $275
you need new wiper blades $45
You need a allignment $120
We can do it all right now sir !
I stop him and explain, that the car is within there limits for brake service warranty and they did the work, im here for them to fix it, No thank you on the $45 dollar wiper blades, the shop across the street does the allignment and tire rotations and balance. And if i do need a new rear hub assembly... show me, let me hear it. So he walks me out to the car and the the mechanic spins the rear tire clockwise, i hear what sounds like pads on rotor.. and thats exactly what i say to them.. they say i obviously dont have to do anything with it, there just pointing out the problem. I retort, listen if you can prove to me i need a new hub assembly then so be it, but all i hear is brakes on rotors.. I tell tehm if they can prove there is a real problem ill let them fix it. they agree to dig deaper and prove it
about 7 minutes later the mechanic has it all tore apart and i am brought back out for a listen, he spins the bearing assembly and there is the faintest sount of something catching.. I lower my head in defeat.. "alright guys, go ahead" and i return to the waiting area.
I watch out the window and pay attention, the mechanic has a new assembly installed in about 5 minutes.. very fast, my car stays on the lift another hour with nobody touching it, when the rotors are done the mechanic returns and puts it all back together.. maybee another 10 minutes. He pulled the car off the lift and goes for a test drive, he's gone 25 minutes.. this is about 9:45am
I get a little steamy and go tell the desk, hey the mechanic pulled my car off the lift 25 minutes ago, where's my car ? Service man "He must be test driving it".
another 15 minutes go by and the service man comes and tells me im ready.
I pay $274.xx and exit Knowing i paid for a hour of "book work" and watched that man work on the rear hub for a totall of less than 20 minutes from dissasembly to reassembly.
I take the car across the street to my tire shop and they look over Hondas's allignment claims for me and tell me what i had already gathered.. nothing was wrong.. straight as a arrow.
The pont of this long winded Rant ? i went in for simple brake work under warranty and feel like i got took. did i need a new rear Hub ? (im assuming) the Rear hub assembly wasnt some trickery and i actually had a problem.. It was clear to me they were burning up some clock time with a 25 minute test drive.. I dont know. i have a gut feeling telling me they were going to make some $$ one way or another. Or this could have been a completely normall visit and the tech simply was being very picky and they did me a favor by finding the problem before it got bad.. Im not sure.. im just sharing my Honda visit.
p.s. my windshield wipers are just fine, clear the windshield just perfectly as a matter of fact.
Monday, a 200 mile round trip to Indy and i noticed pulsating in the pedal.. I break out the cell and call the dealer, "Yes sir we warranty our work for 12 months or 12,000 miles" Perfect, im inside there standard, a appointment was made for 9:00 Thursday.
Thursday: I show up at 8:30am and they take the keys and have the car on the rack in about 3 minutes flat, within 17 minutes of arrival the service (desk man) appraches me with a list of what my car needs
You'r car rotors need to be resurfaced $90
You need a new rear hub assembly $275
you need new wiper blades $45
You need a allignment $120
We can do it all right now sir !
I stop him and explain, that the car is within there limits for brake service warranty and they did the work, im here for them to fix it, No thank you on the $45 dollar wiper blades, the shop across the street does the allignment and tire rotations and balance. And if i do need a new rear hub assembly... show me, let me hear it. So he walks me out to the car and the the mechanic spins the rear tire clockwise, i hear what sounds like pads on rotor.. and thats exactly what i say to them.. they say i obviously dont have to do anything with it, there just pointing out the problem. I retort, listen if you can prove to me i need a new hub assembly then so be it, but all i hear is brakes on rotors.. I tell tehm if they can prove there is a real problem ill let them fix it. they agree to dig deaper and prove it
about 7 minutes later the mechanic has it all tore apart and i am brought back out for a listen, he spins the bearing assembly and there is the faintest sount of something catching.. I lower my head in defeat.. "alright guys, go ahead" and i return to the waiting area.
I watch out the window and pay attention, the mechanic has a new assembly installed in about 5 minutes.. very fast, my car stays on the lift another hour with nobody touching it, when the rotors are done the mechanic returns and puts it all back together.. maybee another 10 minutes. He pulled the car off the lift and goes for a test drive, he's gone 25 minutes.. this is about 9:45am
I get a little steamy and go tell the desk, hey the mechanic pulled my car off the lift 25 minutes ago, where's my car ? Service man "He must be test driving it".
another 15 minutes go by and the service man comes and tells me im ready.
I pay $274.xx and exit Knowing i paid for a hour of "book work" and watched that man work on the rear hub for a totall of less than 20 minutes from dissasembly to reassembly.
I take the car across the street to my tire shop and they look over Hondas's allignment claims for me and tell me what i had already gathered.. nothing was wrong.. straight as a arrow.
The pont of this long winded Rant ? i went in for simple brake work under warranty and feel like i got took. did i need a new rear Hub ? (im assuming) the Rear hub assembly wasnt some trickery and i actually had a problem.. It was clear to me they were burning up some clock time with a 25 minute test drive.. I dont know. i have a gut feeling telling me they were going to make some $$ one way or another. Or this could have been a completely normall visit and the tech simply was being very picky and they did me a favor by finding the problem before it got bad.. Im not sure.. im just sharing my Honda visit.
p.s. my windshield wipers are just fine, clear the windshield just perfectly as a matter of fact.
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