Jim Butler Chevrolet of suburban St. Louis is seeking $25,000 in damages after a customer claimed the dealership overcharged him for service done to his vehicle in February.
Dwayne Cooney, also of St. Louis, took his vehicle to the dealership for service on Jan. 31 because buttons on the key fob wouldn’t work and the tire pressure monitor and airbag warning light had illuminated. Automotive News reports the dealership told Cooney that General Motors had notified them of a possible fault in the wiring and that repairs to his Chevrolet Malibu could be extensive. Cooney approved for a maximum of four hours of work to be done on the car, took his rental car and left.
This is where things got a little awry, according to both Cooney and the dealer. Jim Butler Chevrolet called Cooney back and told him the repairs took 4.5 hours instead of the maximum 4 hours he had approved. Cooney of course was not okay with this. The dealer rebutted by saying it had it given him a good deal, charging for 4.5 hours of labor when the job took more than five, which reduced his bill to $553 from $674.
The dealer didn’t realize Cooney had a dash-mounted camera in his car which was recording while his vehicle was in for service. He later posted the video of the service to YouTube, which he also narrated over. According to him, the video is proof that the service actually took just an hour and a half instead of the five hours he was quoted.
Jim Butler Chevrolet says the video presents an inaccurate representation of what happened. According to them, the video has been edited and does not depict the entire time the car was in the service bay. Dash cameras often record on a loop, automatically taping over older footage and erasing it.
“The video shows only one afternoon of our tech working on his vehicle,” Brad Sowers, co-owner of Jim Butler Chevrolet, told AN. “He neglected to show any of the work done in the previous two days.”
Cooney argued this by saying he doesn’t deny they had worked on the car the day before, but if they did, he doesn’t know what work was performed as what needed to be fixed was done in the hour and a half which he recorded.
“I never disputed that they worked on it on any previous day,” said Cooney. “The question is, if you did, what did you do?”
Cooney’s video began to gather views and cause a bit of a stir online, prompting the dealer to worry about the negative impact it might have on the store. Sowers and Jim Butler Chevrolet filed a defamation lawsuit against Cooney demanding that he remove video. On Feb. 24 a judge ordered the video to be taken off YouTube, which she reversed eight days later citing his First Amendment protection of speech.
The suit against Cooney still remains. Sowers said he would drop the lawsuit if Cooney agreed to pay the $8,000 in legal fees Jim Butler Chevrolet has racked up as a result of the situation and remove the video from YouTube.
“I have been trying to meet with Mr. Cooney every day since this went up online,” Sowers said. “He has refused to meet with me.”
The dealership has since created a dash cam video of its own, which depicts a typical service day at Jim Butler Chevrolet for a vehicle. For each view the video receives, the dealer has vowed to donate $10 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis.
Comments
I am not a fan of dealers but this customer has too many holes in his case.
Like I said not sticking up for the dealer but if the video is not continuous there is a lot of time not accounted for in the video.
Having worked in shops the time on the car spent working is never going to be a continuous 4.5 hours.
Waiting for parts and techs often work on more than one car at a time so they have something going while waiting for parts. Then you have other down times etc.
When I had my Turbo upgrade put on by the dealer they charged me 1 hour and it took them closer to 2.5 because they had to take more off than expected. This was over 4 days and they had to get a new connector for the fuse box too. So the car was in for a good while and they even gave me a loaner at no charge since it was not my fault they did not have the part.
After seeing what they got in to I was glad I had them do it vs. myself. I only took it to them in the first place as the computer needed flashed by GM and I had no way to do that at home.
Changing the map in the front IC you have to remove the bumper and other parts.
Also did they quote him flat rate. As if they charge by the flat rate book they use these hours even if it takes longer or shorter. A good tech seldom takes the full flat rate time.
Finally even if the guy did get ripped off he may deserve something back but not $25K. The dealer loses this you and I end up paying this kind of money with increased prices.
There is a lot to consider here if you know how these shops work and how thing go in most dealerships. You have to understand how jobs are done along with the fact we are missing some video too.
I have no love for most dealers and hate many but I have to be fair when you see something like this. No one should get ripped off dealers or customer.
It is the Dealership that is asking for the $25k in damages. But you are correct about your experiences in the service department. I have experience as service manager and techs work on several cars at once to utilize their time productively. The dealership was wrong for trying to charge him an extra half hour of labor over what he had approved. They should have called him to get permission, or ate the extra labor. Not only that, for a half hour of labor, they have received thousands of dollars in negative publicity with this; not smart. This doesn’t sound like a Dealership who offers GM backed customer service, and GM should step in and lay down the law to the dealer principle.
I have excellent relationships as a customer with my GM dealers for over thirty years, but I know some dealers do overcharge. I saw the video, and listen to the conversation by radio between the technician (who did a good job) and the service rep in the office. She is the one who decided to charge more time, and the tech agrees to it. If the video is used in court, the dealer must explain why the service rep decided to charge more. As the customer, I would have my lawer grill that service rep until she admits who is to blame, her or the manager. I will assume that the manager will fire her for this. Lost business will hurt that dealer more than the legal cost, and the customer will win the lawsuit.
Raymondjrram,
What do you mean by conversation by radio? I looked for a recording of a radio conversation but cant find anything.
sgvtm
I’m willing to bet if you check the employment history of JB’s service rep who allegedly incorrectly billed Mr Cooney (woman on the phone) you would find an ironic discovery of where she worked prior to and why she was let go. Oh Mr Sowers, you opened a box that you cannot close.
The dealership has a tough row to hoe for a victory in a slander case, and their attorney should have advised him of that. In order to win, they have to prove the allegation was untrue, that the customer knew it was untrue when he released the video, that the customer released the video with malicious intent, and that they (the dealership) suffered monetary loss due to the video. Yeah, good luck proving ALL of that.