Fork seals changed for £306!

[saucysaunders]

Okay so little brother has a DR125sm 2009 which he uses for work.

The fork seals needed changing, so he got a quote for £125 ride in ride out there or there about.

He returns to pick the bike up and is slapped with a bill for £306!!!! WHAT!!!
Their explanation is that the front axle is bent and they therefore had a lot of trouble. But if he bought a new axle off them for a further £40 they would fit it for free.

The funny thing about this is that when the tyres were changed only a few weeks back, I personally removed the wheels and put them back on with no problems.
Another thing is that if the axle is bent, surely re-fitting it would cause damage to bearings or forks, so they should have left it out and shown him the bent axle am I right?

All this seems a bit dodgy to me, could I have some opinions on what to do please? I'm quite happy to go back there and cause a fuss if necessary. :p

[Bibio]

eermmm what happened to the phone call. your brother has just been bent over and shafted. it would have to be a very very bent axle. or you forgot to grease the axle before putting it back in a few weeks ago and it was a bit stiff. either way if they cant get an axle out a front wheel without hassle bent or not i would start going somewhere else.

[jambo]

It is incredibly difficult to interpret this 3rd hand, as we have it but I would say:

1) If a price has been agreed, then a customer should be phoned by the garage to confirm if they want to go ahead with any additional work, before that work is carried out.
2) It should be reasonable to show any parts that were replaced if they needed to be so.
3) Sometimes these things happen. If you take a bike to a garage they will quote you a price that allows them to cover costs and make a profit. If every bolt is seized and every part is bent and it takes them twice as long, they are going to pass that back to the customer in most cases. Again, this should not negate points 1 & 2.


Jambo

[saucysaunders]

Thanks for the replies both really good,
No actual extra work was carried out by the garage, and the 'bent' axle was put back in the bike and no phone call was ever made to my brother so they actually have nothing to show, as the part obviously went back in okay.
So I think the weak link in this case is my brother, they saw an idiot 19 year old come in and royally ripped him off, the really stupid thing he did is ask no questions and payed them, hes quite naive and seems to avoid confrontation.
One thing I like everyone really hates is being ripped off and am very careful etcetc, however it appears to have happened in this case.

[yorkie_chris]

1) ask for that in writing
2) take them up on the offer of fitting a new axle so long as they do it with you there and stick it between V blocks and clock it when they take it out

[SV650Racer]

Thats disgusting and as i run a service workshop myself i get peed off with places doing that.

If the axle was hard to remove because it went bent, thus incurring more time then they should not have put it back into the bike and should have called your brother.

[FG1]

Saucy, I have just noticed you are in Uxbridge. What garage did the work ?

[stuR]

How does over doubling the price cover their time to remove the axle?! Presumably a pair of forks seals is going to take an hour or so, and thats with parts in the price. So they are charging him for like 2 hours work just to get an axle out? Sounds dodgy, id not pay it in the first place but since he has, complain and then when you are refunded not go back.

[Kwally5]

I would be straight back there with a actual qualified and experienced mechanic and cause havoc.

:@

[saucysaunders]

I know it's absolutely rediculous, and makes it difficult for me to trust honest people like I'm sure you are racer. What makes my blood boil is that my idiot brother just let them push him into paying, it's a lot easier to resolve a problem before you pay the money. Afterwards they can just say, "Well you paid the money..." But still, garages shouldn't be taking advantage of experienced and possibly vulnerable people, they should instead pride themselves in helping people honestly and reaping the benefits of recommendations for their good work. I can think of many words for the people who think ripping people off is a good way to make money, fortunately most of these words aren't in the dictionary so I won't be mentioning them... As you can see I'm pretty wound up :P

FG1 The garage was Daytona motorcycles in Ruislip Manor. I have to say they are always quite friendly in there and I do buy a lot from there, but I wouldn't trust them to tie my shoelaces. About a year ago friend of mine had his sump cracked with air tools while ghey did a service which they tried to charge him for.

[FG1]

I thought it might be them. I have heard mixed reviews and only use them for my MOT as they are, in fairness, quite sensible when it comes to MOT time in my experience.

[Spanner Man]

Good morning all.


Daytona Motorcycles are a few miles from us, but we on occasion, hear of such similar stories.


Cheers.

[saucysaunders]

I thought it might be them. I have heard mixed reviews and only use them for my MOT as they are, in fairness, quite sensible when it comes to MOT time in my experience.

Personally I've not had many problems per say.
However every time I go in there they quote me a ridiculous price, I tell them where to stick it and all of a sudden the price divides by two.
A 'very' little knowledge goes a long way I guess. Or maybe people such as my brother need to grow a pair and dispute issues like this, there's no harm in trying after all.

So to conclude, can anyone recommend a bike shop more deserving of mine and my friends custom in future? I like in Ickenham :)

[yorkie_chris]

I wouldn't deal with the cnuts on the general principle if that's their tactics.

My method is "what do you want doing, this is how much it will costs" "I'm not paying that" ... "ok, see ya"

Get over to Spanner Man, at least he knows what he's doing.

[savage86]

So to conclude, can anyone recommend a bike shop more deserving of mine and my friends custom in future? I like in Ickenham :)

Get a haynes manual or the like and give it a go much easier than many think to do general service malarky changing parts etc

And you'll save a bomb.

[muzikill]

Do what I do .... ask a million questions on this forum. Read some manuals, buy stuff to diy.

Brakes ... so many people scared to work on them due to safety scares but most of the work was taking my time doing it right. Easiest thing to do now.

Im sure every one of us has had a rip off bill. This is the point where you either keep going back or take a leap of faith and realise that when you do it yourself most things get done right and cheaper. Every days a school day!

[saucysaunders]

Get a haynes manual or the like and give it a go much easier than many think to do general service malarky changing parts etc

And you'll save a bomb.

Unfortunately a Haynes manual or the likes doesn't exist for the DR125SM. I've looked everywhere, if you find one let me know. :(

I do 'most' of my own work (Can't warrant paying someone to do work i can do and i'm an engineer so find it interesting.) I have been doing all of my brothers, but it's gotten to the stage now where he needs to learn or pay the price, so hopefully next time he gets a quote he can double it in his head and actually get off his bum to avoid being raped!