Mobile Service Invoice - Full of Lies

[richguess]

Sort of like “customer requests new wiper blades” on a warranty visit. It’s a very minor infraction, but its dealer dishonesty. The OP should post the invoice. But regards the other comments, a mobile tech shouldn’t have his travel time billed as “test drive and tire inflation” if it wasn’t done. There’s an old repair shop term for this—a “Waller.” That’s a car that was just parked by the wall, nothing done for it, and a lot of stuff charged.

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[NY_Rob]

Even out of warranty, Tesla doesn’t charge for travel time. Last month, I had the 12V battery on my 3 that is EXTREMELY out of bumper to bumper warranty (6.5 years, 116k miles). They came to my house, did the battery swap in my garage in less than 10 minutes and were on their way. Total cost was $117.62 (parts: $85, labor: $23.40, tax: $9.22).

At those prices, it's clear Tesla made no profit on that out of warranty battery replacement. I guess they can afford to do that. As you mentioned and as we have seen, Rivian charges $800+ to replace the 12V batts in Gen 1 vehicles. Forum members have found similar spec replacement batts (actually with a bit higher Ah rating the the OEM batts) for under $100 each, so at $800 to replace both, Rivian has plenty of built in profit so no need to charge for mobile service/travel time for this particular service.
But, for an out of warranty repair like a loose grab handle that requires no parts to remedy and 5 min labor they will be looking for any and all methods to make the mobile service profitable. There has to be some way to differentiate the amount charged between a customer who's vehicle is 30 min (lets say they want the repair done while the vehicle is parked at work) from the SC and another customer who's 2.5hrs from the SC. The only fair way to do that is charge based on a flat rate "mobile service fee" plus travel time.

 

[Riviot]

All he did was pop a cover on the grab handle and tighten one torx screw after I described the problem

Overbilling serves you right for putting in a request for this basic-ass fix.

 

[AlanP]

For comparison, I pulled service records from my X3M and G63 and both say something along the lines of "performed test drive, confirmed issue resolved." Saying you drove for X amount of time when you in fact did not is bad record-keeping. I'll say it again, maybe if they had driven it for "tHiRtY mInUtEs ?" they'd have realized it still rode like shit.

It's wild that so many of you defend this kind of documentation. Next time you go to the doctor, see if you give them that same kind of grace if they bill you for an hour when you're only there for 20 minutes because your issue was one that they "learned from experience and memorize from repetition" on how to treat it.

I recently went to a Dermatologist and insurance ended up getting billed an average of $100 per MINUTE on 3 separate occasions. There were line item charges for things that weren’t done. The outcome was terrible but she still made thousands of dollars. It’s okay everyone because she told me how experienced she was and didn’t suffer with a large open wound for 8 weeks.

 

[AlanP]

Sort of like “customer requests new wiper blades” on a warranty visit. It’s a very minor infraction, but its dealer dishonesty. The OP should post the invoice. But regards the other comments, a mobile tech shouldn’t have his travel time billed as “test drive and tire inflation” if it wasn’t done. There’s an old repair shop term for this—a “Waller.” That’s a car that was just parked by the wall, nothing done for it, and a lot of stuff charged.

I had a refilled washer fluid charge for $60 (complimentary) which clearly wasn’t done because I had just filled it before taking it in for service. No, I didn’t get charged, but it’s still bothered me along with several other charges that I did get charged for and were ultimately removed.

 

[JonW716]

I had a similar experience with mobile service. Ordered an additional FOB & card, they billed like 30 minutes for each which he actually spent 90 seconds total programing both. He asked if there were any additional concerns and took a test drive with me for 5 minutes and did not bill for any test drive. Keys costed $388 for the pair, the dealer I bought my vehicle from misplaced the other keys so they reimbursed me. Most mechanics go by "flat book rate", which is the time it takes blind mechanic with 1 arm and shitty tools to complete the job, and an experienced mechanic who had previously done the job before does the job in a fraction of the time billed. Book time is usually ridiculous, my ram called for 8 hours for the ball joints and I did the job in my driveway in about 4-5, if I had a lift it would have been 90 minutes each side....

 

[R1TS]

You don't know how the services are supposed to be billed or how he's supposed to code his time. I've worked in a service field and many places have fixed book charges. They charge X dollars per task and have minimum times. Also travel time and setup time need to be put somewhere.

How this guy bills his time, assuming you aren't getting a bill, is between him and Rivian.

I love these type of clients who will just pay whatever is billed.

 

[NY_Rob]

I love these type of clients who will just pay whatever is billed.

Wait till Rivian starts actually charging owners for services because the vehicle is no longer covered by the B to B warranty. The nitpicking will start and the bogus line item stuff will stop. It has to because it would be a criminal offense to charge customers for something that clearly was not done when the vehicle never left the owner's driveway.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

I love these type of clients who will just pay whatever is billed.

I don't accept work on a T&M basis. I get a quoted price and if I'm good with that price, and the work I expected to be done was done, I pay the bill without dissecting it. I have better shit to do than watch drive cam footage to time test drives or match up every item on an invoice to see if it was done. If my problem was fixed, and it's at the price I agreed upon at the start why should I care?

 

[R1TS]

I don't accept work on a T&M basis. I get a quoted price and if I'm good with that price, and the work I expected to be done was done, I pay the bill without dissecting it. I have better shit to do than watch drive cam footage to time test drives or match up every item on an invoice to see if it was done. If my problem was fixed, and it's at the price I agreed upon at the start why should I care?

Lol. Read, bro.

OP got an invoice after the service was done with billing for things like a test drive that never happened.
He was never told that is what he will be charged for before the service began.
Had he known beforehand that he would be charged for silly things like that, petty sure he would’ve argued it.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Lol. Read, bro.

OP got an invoice after the service was done with billing for things like a test drive that never happened.
He was never told that is what he will be charged for before the service began.
Had he known beforehand that he would be charged for silly things like that, petty sure he would’ve argued it.

I think it's you who needs to read my guy. OP wasn't charged at all.

 

[Dark-Fx]

He was never told that is what he will be charged for before the service began.

ya, it was $0 before and $0 after.

 

[Redline]

Lol. Read, bro.

OP got an invoice after the service was done with billing for things like a test drive that never happened.
He was never told that is what he will be charged for before the service began.
Had he known beforehand that he would be charged for silly things like that, petty sure he would’ve argued it.

How do you get charged for warranty work?

Jesus people....

 

[Rutabaga]

You can't SERIOUSLY be comparing this to ripping off Medicare....surely you're kidding.

It’s the mindset stupid.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

It’s the mindset stupid.

Who are you calling stupid? That's not very nice.

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