alexamparo

I'm from the GS forum but i just had to post this all over clublexus it's funny:I told you guys about the problems i was having with my alternator, so i have to replace it. soooo this morning i go to Midas (that's all their is here in Ruston, LA) anyway they tell me they want to diagnose the car so they do and nevertheless its the alternator...so the guy proceeds to get an estimate and he comes back like 10 minutes later with an estimate for get this...$745. hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. so i sarcastically ask "how much of that is labor?" so he says $70. So i'm like the alternator is $600 something. he says "yes $675 to be exact remember you drive a lexus". so I respectfully say " i don't know who you think i am but asking $745 to replace an alternator is an insult to my intellegence,Lexus or not, do i look stupid"?? so he says sir the alternator is $675 we are only charging $70 for labor, that seems kindof reasonable. I ask him what brand the alternator is and he says its "Worldwide" so i ask is this superior to OEM he says yes! so i call my lexus dealership back home in Rhode Island from my cell phone and ask how much for the alternator for a 1995 gs300 alternator and he looks it up and says it $270. This all happened with my cell on speaker phone in front of the midas guy. so at this point hes feelin pretty stupid. so i say " hey you said labor is $70" he says yes I say "so i'll get you the alternator you install it for $70" he says "well Ok". So i go to Advanced auto and buy the same "Worldwide" alternator he was gonna buy (which i don't believe; he was prob gonna get an ever cheaper one) and i pay guess what $270 minus an $80 core charge comes to $190 WOW. soo to finish the ridiculing of the midas place i'm gonna go back and have them install my alternator under my supervision and when i go to pay at the front desk in front of all the waiting customers i'm gonna very indescretley tell the guy "hey you guys should start buying parts from advanced they got me the same alternator you were gonna get for $485 less than whoever you were getting it from, or maybe you were getting it for that much too (or maybe less; at wholesale possibly) just you were gonna charge me an extra $485. then i'ma say "**** i wonder how many of you guys waiting here are getting raped by this guy" and then i'll walk out and say bye to the tech. that should be pretty funny.
Anyway i do this because i hate dishonest mechanics. I am used to dealing with family mechanics but now that i'm here in college i have to go to unknown places. luckily i'm no idiot and don't get ripped by a$$holes like this. It makes me feel bad because if it were some innocent uninformed girl who went to get her alternator fixed instead of me, they would've ripped her so bad and she would prob just think thats the going rate for an alternator; they don't know any better

///MDex

Why don't you just go to the nearest Toyota dealership and have them install one for you?

I'd be kinda twitchy getting someone to work on my car after I had antagonized them.

Or, you could go to Lexus Of Shreveport & Bossier City (318) 741-1578 which is about an hour away according to Yahoo Yellow Pages.

Just a thought.

RalAegidius

$675 for an alternator?? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! But I hear you about Midas.

Last time I had some brake work done on my Acura Integra, the shop called me and said, "Who worked on your brakes last?" I said, "Midas. Why?" He said, "They left out one of the parts in the caliper assembly on both sides of the car. The whole thing's flapping loose in the wind."

Daaaammmmnnnn.

Ral