Beware of Seatco in Baileys Crossroads, VA

[Immo]

They do good work, BUT negotiate the price up front. They did some work for me… The owner told me that he thought it would take 4 hours and his hourly rate was $85. I waited while they did the work. The work took 3 hours, but they charged me for 4 hours anyway. My car was in his shop for a total of 3.5 hours, but I watched the tech take several breaks to chat on his cell phone and also stopped to eat lunch. When I questioned it the owner started a screaming match with me. Complaining about his overhead, etc.

He stated that he told me four hours, so that was what I owed. I asked him if it took 6 hours, would he charge for four, and he said "no I would then charge you for six". So what is the difference?

I sent him a letter the next day:

Neal,

Why did you ignore your own policy yesterday? You have a sign on your wall that clearly states your hourly rate of $85.00 an hour. I agreed to pay that hourly rate. The job took 3 hours and yet you charged me for 4 hours. If your employee ran into issues installing my parts and the job took 6, I would have paid for 6 hours because I agreed to an hourly rate not knowing how long the job would take.

I am in the service business as well (and have been for almost 17 years). If I tell a client I think it will take 4 hours to complete a job and it takes 3, I bill them for 3. If I tell a client it will be $400.00 to fix their computer network, I charge them $400 regardless of how long it takes. That is how you perform ethical business with good customer service.

You kept referring to dealerships and how they have fixed pricing for a job. I don't pay for their employees to eat lunch, chat on their cell phone, or have extended conversations with others (which is exactly what happened yesterday). I pay for a job to be completed.

This should have been a Firm Fixed Price, or True Time and Materials. If your employee would have worked on the job non-stop, it would have been 3 hours (excluding that time that I paid for him to take a lunch break and to make personal calls on his cell phone). The car was pulled in at 10:00 am and was done at 1:30. If you take out 30 mins for the lunch break and phone calls, that is 3 hours. Why should I have to pay for his lunch and personal use phone time? As his employer, you were not willing to pay for that and I do not feel it is fair practice to have those charges and then some passed on to me.

[bob102386]

sounds crooked to me

[magnum05]

I'm in the Auto repair business and I have been for over 25 years so I know what you are going through. I told a client it would take about 3-4 hours to install headers on his Mustang but when it was all done we had problems with the bolt holes in the heads and it took 9 hours to get it done ( some days you get the bear and other days the bear gets you ) but I did stick to my estimate but after running MY BUSINESS for all these years I have a good idea what it takes to do a job and very few times does the job get finished in a lot less time then estimated. Most of the time the labor guides are accurate and that what you would used to quote a job. Now on custom work I do give a range for who much it is going to cost and in Md by law you can only be off by 10% with out get approval from the client. It sound to me like the owner just wants your money and he doesn't care where or not HIS employee is wasting your time or your money as long as he gets his. One thing is for sure you won't be back and everyone you tell won't do business with that shop. So is the owner coming out ahead I don't think so and unless he has a unlimited supply of new people wanting to do business with him over time he will go under. IF YOU LIVE BY THE PRICE YOU DIE BY PRICE So he got his price but in the long run he will never get anymore.

[Strykker]

You like many of us just experienced the lack of professionalism that has ruined many businesses in the auto industry. When you find a good place make friends with them and send them all your friends. The bad one's make it harder on the good people to make an honest dollar. And to be fair as a consumer be honest in your dealings as well, don't BS and you can avoid a lot of BS.

Whatever happened to taking pride in your work and honoring your agreements without all the drama.

No wonder quality is down and prices are up.