A reader of The Record newspaper, which serves Bergen County, NJ, wrote in complaining that he was charged for 4.5 hours of labor instead of the 2 hours he was expecting to be charged when he recently had his brakes serviced. How would you have handled this angry customer?
Below is the article as it appeared on the NorthJersey.com website.
DeMarrais: Book rate or by the clock?
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
By KEVIN DEMARRAIS
RECORD COLUMNIST
Should you pay for time actually spent on an auto repair or, as is commonly done, the book rate?
That’s a debate I’ve been having this past week with Elliot, a reader from Oradell.
"Is it OK for your local auto repair shop, or any service shop for that matter, to bill you for labor that a computer arbitrarily suggested the job should take?" Elliot wrote. "Is it OK for a mechanic to bill you for four hours of labor when the time he spent on your car was actually two hours?
"It is common practice at the service department of your car dealership, and now more and more at your local service station, to arbitrarily charge for labor based on whatever amount of time a computer says the job should take instead of the actual time spent working on your car."
Elliot was justifiably upset. He had just had a brake job done and expected to pay about $250, based on two hours at a rate of $90 an hour. (He supplied the parts.)
But when he picked up the car, "I learned that the computer thought it would take 4.5 hours to replace the rotors and brakes, and that the bill came to $405!!!
"When I squawked about paying for that amount of time instead of actual time spent, I was told, ‘That’s how we make our money.’ He said, ‘If I’m a qualified mechanic and I can do the job in less time, why shouldn’t I benefit from that?’ What!!!
"My jaw dropped," Elliot said. "He wanted me to pay for time that was not spent working on my car!! I refused to pay that amount of money and he then agreed to reduce the labor charge by one hour.
"Not happy, but somewhat compromised, I resigned. Instead of ripping me off for 2 1/2 hours of labor, he should begin fixing more cars! There is something that we can do. Write to our congressmen and tell them that health care isn’t the only place where we’re being robbed!"
Elliot raises a good point, but there is another side to this. With a book rate, you know in advance what the labor charges will be and won’t pay extra if the mechanic dawdles, knowing the longer he takes, the more he makes.
If that happens, the customer would be justifiably upset having to pay for three hours for a job that should take two. Also, it makes it easier to do comparison shopping.
It seems as if, in this case, the mechanic failed to provide a written estimate before the work was started, as required by law.
Also, businesses can charge whatever they wish for services, and consumers are free to pick and choose. What is illegal under the Consumer Fraud Act is misrepresenting the costs, quoting one price and then charging another.
I shared my thoughts with Elliot, but he was not convinced.
"I didn’t expect the response you gave me," he said. "Caveat emptor is not a law but the default when there is no law." And saying New Jersey law allows businesses to charge whatever they wish and for consumers to pick and choose," is tantamount to no law.
"I’m not one for unenforceable laws, but I do envision a time and a place where ethics play a larger role in the successes of our society," Elliot said.
"Sans ethics, we need laws."
Actually, we have laws, good laws, in New Jersey.
The Consumer Fraud Act prohibits "unconscionable business practices." That term is wide open for interpretation, but the courts have been very liberal in their interpretations.
As long as we ask and service providers tell us clearly what they charge, we won’t be shocked after the fact. And we retain the greatest weapon of all: to walk away.
To read this article on the NorthJersey.com website, visit http://www.northjersey.com/news/business/93550809_How_is_your_mechanic_figuring_labor_costs_.html?c=y&page=1.
