Please disclose costs to customers before the serv...

Please disclose costs to customers before the service!

I had brought my car in for an oil change and noticed a few weeks prior that my car was making a rattling noise, at low speeds when I turned the wheel. The short of this is it was warped heat shield. Instead of taking time out of my day to bring my car to my local mechanic to fix this, I went to Best to have them fix it while they were down there doing the oil change (costly mistake).

Now. I've had this exact problem with a Toyota in the past, Toyota in Hyannis fixed it for me and charged me $7 for the service about 5 years ago. I had called my mechanic he said he would just fix it for free, simple fix, easy, but I was pressed for time so I figured I would just have it done with Best, as they were doing the oil change anyhow. I assumed Best would charge me maybe $20, maybe a little more as, again, you're hammering back a piece of metal. Nope. Got to the register: $155 for their hour of service. Now, I get that service is expensive at dealerships. I get that they need to make a profit.

I was told that I authorized an hour of service. The way the representative worded this authorization to me was this-- "sure, we can fix that for you, if it takes more than an hour we will call you to authorize more". I'm thinking ok, the oil change doesn't take an hour, bending a piece of metal doesn't take more than maybe ten minutes? So I don't think they'll need more than an hour to do all that. Cool. Turns out, I authorized an hour of service for a ten-minute fix at the billing cost of $155, ON TOP of the oil change price. This price was never disclosed to me before I signed. Yes, I should have clarified, I should have asked. But having had the same issue with a car in the past, and having called a local mechanic who said he would do it for free--I didn't think there would be such a high price discrepancy. Best--I've never had one issue in the past with you all, you typically do a great job--but if you're going to charge a customer $155 please disclose this information before the service. My opinion of the service department has changed, and you had a very disappointed customer that day!