Brought my 2008 Hyundai Accent in because I had a flat tire and needed a scheduled oil change. I got the car originally from Zimbrick VW so I've always gone back for oil changes and any other needed repairs. The night before I took the car in, I noticed the steering was very stiff and upon further research, figured it was just because the power steering fluid was low. So I refilled the power steering fluid before I drove it in. Originally, the guy I was dealing with, Rob, goes, "we can probably patch the tire and with the oil change you're looking at around $55". I said fine, dropped the car off, and went to work. This is where the trouble started. I got a call later that day from Rob saying there were leaks in 2 of my power steering hoses, so they'd have to be replaced, 1 costing $250 and the other costing $350. That sounded like a lot of money but I said sure, do whatever you need to to get the car working again. Then I went online and saw that similar OEM hoses were going for between $35-65 while a brand new entire power steering system was going for $250. Now I know a dealership's a business and has to make money but I figured $400 more for something that required 1-2 hours worth of labor (it ended up taking a couple more hours than that but still) is a ridiculous mark-up. I got a call back at the end of the day saying that the car won't be ready until the next morning but not to worry, Rob would make sure it was done by 8 or 9am so I could pick it up anytime after that. I proceeded to plan my day around this, including telling my boss when I was going and getting his approval on it. Flash forward to the next day, it's 11am and I'm getting ready to leave to go pick it up and I still hadn't received a call. I called in and left a message and still didn't hear anything back. I called back again and another guy answered and said not to come in yet, the car won't be ready until 1:30pm. I told him that I planned my day around this and asked how I would've even known about this if I hadn't called in? He goes, "Sorry Rob was out of the shop, he would've been the one to call you". I then got a call back and a voicemail from Rob at 12:30. He stated that he had a family emergency come up. If that truly is the case, I'm sorry but managers are in place for a reason. At least in any competent company that's how it works. And I shouldn't be made to feel emotionally guilty because I was promised a call back and didn't get it. If I operated the same way at my job, I'd be fired within days. So I went back to my boss and he luckily gave me the rest of the day off to go get the car. So when I got to the dealership, I made my way to the counter and showed them a coupon that I had gotten from them in the mail a couple of days ago. It was a 15% off coupon and since everything total was over $700, it made a sizable difference. When I pulled out the coupon, the guy waiting on me goes, "why didn't you show that when you brought the car in? Now I have to go reprint all this paperwork. It's gonna take at least 10 minutes. Go sit over there and wait". All I could think was, "I'm sorry, are you trying to shame me for using a coupon you spam my mailbox with monthly?" I was so shocked that I didn't say anything and just went and sat down. Finally 15 or so minutes later, he called me over and said everything was ready to go. Not knowing too much about cars but knowing the massive price difference on what Zimbrick was charging me versus what I had found online, I was curious on what the salesman's reasoning for the difference would be. So I asked him, "I was doing some research online and found the same hoses going for $35-65 each. How did you guys come up with $250 and $350 each? What's factored into that?" Instead of calmly explaining what went into each price, he got defensive and said, "Well these are quality OEM parts, not some cheap parts from who knows where. And these come with a 12 month, 12,000 mile warranty. So sure you could get the cheaper parts and have someone else put them in but if anything goes wrong, you're gonna be bringing it back here and paying full price. So if that's what you want to do good luck." Again I was in shock. I didn't tell him where I found the parts or even get into any detail before he jumped on me and started defending himself. This explanation about the warranty may be accurate but the way he portrayed everything screamed "someone who's guilty and has been caught red-handed". I said fine, that makes sense, even though it didn't. He then made a couple other comments on how that 15% off was such a good deal, which is a great sales ploy (make someone spend $300 or $400 more than they should and then give them $100 back to make them feel like they won). I paid the $700+, was about to leave, said bye to the salesman, and received a blank shrug back. As you can tell by the time of this posting (6:17pm on a Friday), I'm still incredibly angry over all of this. I've brought my car in for the last 2+ years since I got it from Zimbrick and haven't questioned or done any research on any of their service at all. Now after this, I'm certain I've been ripped off numerous other times. Their defensive attitude ensures they know what they're doing and that they're incredibly happy to get away with it if they don't get called on it. I will never go back to Zimbrick and trust me, my whole office now knows, so good luck getting any of them as customers as well. Oh yeah, want to know my favorite part of the day? Seeing a $23 charge to reinstall (aka screw in) the spare in my trunk... Try explaining that one...
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