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Technical 1 Hours labour and bumper removed to replace headlight bulb?

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Technical 1 Hours labour and bumper removed to replace headlight bulb?

sledge said:
Dealers operate a business and are in it to make money, not provide a public service and like most businesses at the moment they will be desperate for work. An hours labour is a minimum charge, any less and it probably wont be worth them doing it. Anyway, why all the fuss? its not like you are being forced to pay it. If you are not happy with the quote do what everyone else does and vote with your feet.
This will put a perspective on it, I was dealing with an Engineering consultant last week who was charging my employers £180 an hour for his services. Thats £1 per 20 secs :eek:
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I'll put some of my own perspective on it now :devil:

The person starting this thread was in fact voting with his feet by walking away after the quote (well i assume he did anyway).

Secondly - it's a lightbulb... Every dealer I have come across has a standard fee for changing a lightbulb (which amazingly isn't an hour's labour). My local Vauxhall place charges a token fee for such things like bulbs, wiper blades, screenwash, etc.

Thirdly - they want to charge main dealer leabour rates (probably somewhere in the region of £80+ph) to change it - while the whole time remembering that this is still just a lightbulb. Even at worst case scenario - we've all learned about a new little trick the dealer network may have come up with to extort money out of customers.

Fourthly - as it's still a lightbulb, you therefore do not require a 'consultant' at £80+ an hour to change it - just a bloke at the shop who has probably changed a few more than you and has the 'knack'.

I got the lightbulb theme going there! :D
 
I remember when I was trying to do mine. Even swearing at it wouldn't do the trick :(
 
Garree001 said:
What a load of sh*te that dealer is feeding you! You should speak to FIAT about them as charging an hour at main dealer rates to replace a light bulb is daylight robbery
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errmmmm......and what good do you think this will do?
 
sledge said:
errmmmm......and what good do you think this will do?
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For one thing, if you have a franchise from a company you will almost certainly be expected to adhere to certain standards - so telling FIAT is not such a bad idea... Another thing it may do is alert FIAT to issues that are being found with certain models, etc!

The last time I checked, it was called customer feedback! It would also complement your "vote with your feet" assertion as how stupid does saying "I'm gonna vote with my feet and walk away and not tell anybody about it as I don't care if they don't care" sound? Things simply don't get done like that.

It's like having a bad meal/bad service in a restaurant and complimenting the meal, walking away and leaving a fat tip on the table. Just doesn't happen!

Just a thought of course...
 
Yes, this happened to me about 3 years ago.

I got given as a present some high brightness Philips headlamps and blue-ish side lamps. The latter were easy to fit but could I get the headlamps in? Could I F*&%$!

And once a small bit of the spring thing flew off I gave up and got the garage to do it, little realising they would be charging me an hour's labour (note to self: always get a quote first!). The dealer said they had had to remove the headlamps to do it. We'll see why that was boll***s later...

Anyway the high brightness bulbs didn't last more than a year and when one failed I wasn't going to go back to the dealer so I struggled. It was easy enough getting the clip off by gently compressing, pushing, pulling, teasing, swearing and finally it coming loose.

Easy enough to get the new bulb in and aligned. It was absolute murder getting the damn spring thing back in, mainly because I didn't know HOW it was supposed to be held in (there is NO way I can see inside my headlamps from the rear as the air-con is in the way one side and the washer-bottle and battery the other side). I can barely get half my hand in there.

Finally, after more compressing, jostling, squeezing, swearing, pleading it suddenly stayed in place. Happened to the other side a few months ago and that was a repeat performance.

All the while you have to be so careful not to touch the bulb itself which just adds to the fun element of the whole thing.

All I needed was a picture or description of how the spring thing was kept in place (even those pictures on the other thread mentioned don't make it crystal clear to me, not being a techy exactly!).

Why, oh why, are these bulbs just not drop in replacements for all makes and models of cars?

This one stupid thing almost put me off getting another Punto.
 
Obviously not the OP's garage though, eh T?

I did mine pretty quickly, the only problem i had was that the battery was in the way so it was a bit of a squeeze for the front passenger side!(y)

My mate changed His dads Renault Modus light bulbs and had to dismantle the front bumper just to change it!:eek:
 
Aresby said:
Yes, this happened to me about 3 years ago.

I got given as a present some high brightness Philips headlamps and blue-ish side lamps. The latter were easy to fit but could I get the headlamps in? Could I F*&%$!

And once a small bit of the spring thing flew off I gave up and got the garage to do it, little realising they would be charging me an hour's labour (note to self: always get a quote first!). The dealer said they had had to remove the headlamps to do it. We'll see why that was boll***s later...

Anyway the high brightness bulbs didn't last more than a year and when one failed I wasn't going to go back to the dealer so I struggled. It was easy enough getting the clip off by gently compressing, pushing, pulling, teasing, swearing and finally it coming loose.

Easy enough to get the new bulb in and aligned. It was absolute murder getting the damn spring thing back in, mainly because I didn't know HOW it was supposed to be held in (there is NO way I can see inside my headlamps from the rear as the air-con is in the way one side and the washer-bottle and battery the other side). I can barely get half my hand in there.

Finally, after more compressing, jostling, squeezing, swearing, pleading it suddenly stayed in place. Happened to the other side a few months ago and that was a repeat performance.

All the while you have to be so careful not to touch the bulb itself which just adds to the fun element of the whole thing.

All I needed was a picture or description of how the spring thing was kept in place (even those pictures on the other thread mentioned don't make it crystal clear to me, not being a techy exactly!).

Why, oh why, are these bulbs just not drop in replacements for all makes and models of cars?

This one stupid thing almost put me off getting another Punto.
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Fiver into my beer fund please :p
 
Andy Monty! You're too kind :p

I still can't get at mine though :( lol
 
Thanks Andy Monty. I still can't get at it without taking out the airbox. Called the same dealer in stafford again and thy still want to take the bumper off and charge 1 hours labour.

Sledge- I was not saying that dealers should do thigs for free! But as I was forking out £200+ at the time I expect it to be done at a reduced rate!
 
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