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Re: AIR BAG LIGHT ON.
UPDATE: I contacted the assistant general manager at the dealership. He was very concerned about my experience and contacted the service manager who had convinced me to take the $570 package of services. The assistant manager was on vacation, but the assistant general manager was concerned enough to have him contact me from vacation. (I thought that showed sincere interest in my problem.)
Before he called me, the service manager called other Ford dealerships as I had done. He posed as a customer and received the same information I had -- the cost of repair was quoted at $200 to $250 instead of $580. However, the service manager informed me that the discrepancy lies in a piece of information on the estimate-software that all eight other Ford dealerships (and the four non-dealerships I had contacted) were overlooking. If they had scrolled further, as the service manager explained, they would have discovered an additional 1.5 hour charge for reprogramming the air bag once the clock spring was repaired. He indicated this reprogramming is unique to the T-Bird. (I thought he indicated the additional time was not required even on the sister-vehicle, the Lincoln LS.)
Thus, depending on the dealership (who's per-hour charge varies from $75 at two dealerships near me to $125 at the dealership with whom I was working), the total repair cost should have been quoted at about $485 plus the $95 for the diagnosis, which equals the $580 original estimate. He indicated that his quote was based on a discussion with the technician, who brought the additional charge to his attention before the original estimate was completed.
The service manager understood why I was upset and conceded that I probably would have been charged the lesser figure because of other dealerships' estimating mistake. He "got" the fact that the process could have looked like a pressure sale for an overpriced set of services. He apologized over and again.
Final result: the dealership will refund the extra several hundred dollars difference and give me five free full-service oil changes for my trouble and to re-establish trust. A reasonable result, I believe.
I hope my experience has been helpful to others and appreciate others' input.
UPDATE: I contacted the assistant general manager at the dealership. He was very concerned about my experience and contacted the service manager who had convinced me to take the $570 package of services. The assistant manager was on vacation, but the assistant general manager was concerned enough to have him contact me from vacation. (I thought that showed sincere interest in my problem.)
Before he called me, the service manager called other Ford dealerships as I had done. He posed as a customer and received the same information I had -- the cost of repair was quoted at $200 to $250 instead of $580. However, the service manager informed me that the discrepancy lies in a piece of information on the estimate-software that all eight other Ford dealerships (and the four non-dealerships I had contacted) were overlooking. If they had scrolled further, as the service manager explained, they would have discovered an additional 1.5 hour charge for reprogramming the air bag once the clock spring was repaired. He indicated this reprogramming is unique to the T-Bird. (I thought he indicated the additional time was not required even on the sister-vehicle, the Lincoln LS.)
Thus, depending on the dealership (who's per-hour charge varies from $75 at two dealerships near me to $125 at the dealership with whom I was working), the total repair cost should have been quoted at about $485 plus the $95 for the diagnosis, which equals the $580 original estimate. He indicated that his quote was based on a discussion with the technician, who brought the additional charge to his attention before the original estimate was completed.
The service manager understood why I was upset and conceded that I probably would have been charged the lesser figure because of other dealerships' estimating mistake. He "got" the fact that the process could have looked like a pressure sale for an overpriced set of services. He apologized over and again.
Final result: the dealership will refund the extra several hundred dollars difference and give me five free full-service oil changes for my trouble and to re-establish trust. A reasonable result, I believe.
I hope my experience has been helpful to others and appreciate others' input.
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