Motorcycle repair, and I got a bad shake.

[cynicaloptimist]

Mississippi.

I dropped a motorcycle off at a local shop to have a new starter relay installed, as well as a new headlight, plus I needed the carbs cleaned and synced.

LONG story short, they installed a new relay and they cleaned the carbs. They couldn't figure out how to sync my carbs, nor did they order a new headlight assembly. They had my bike for over 2 months.

I was charged $520, and I feel like I got a bad deal. Is it worth taking to small claims court? They could argue that they'd charge about $520 to clean carbs and install a relay (though most other places around here would say it's a $300 job).
Another problem is the motorcycle is my only transportation, so I had shell out cash for bus and cab fare, which added up to about $350 over 2 months. Most places would also agree that this job should have only taken a week at most (they quoted me 2-3 days on the phone).

Would I have any chance at trying to win some of my cash back, or did I just learn an expensive lesson about bike shops?

 

[Zigner]

How much were you quoted? If you paid what you were quoted, then you're out of gas (pun intended)

As for the transportation expenses - no.

 

[cynicaloptimist]

I was told it would take "about 3 hours" at $70/hr.

 

[Zigner]

Why did you pay $520? Did you make any sort of notes on the paperwork that you didn't agree to the $520?

 

[cynicaloptimist]

They said they had to do the carbs twice because they were very gunked up. There was no paperwork involved. Very unprofessional shop, as it turns out.

 

[Zigner]

You could make a complaint with your state's attorney general office: http://agjimhood.com/index.php/sections/consumer/complaints

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

The reason they could not be sync'd is they likely need rebuilt. I am guessing they advised you off that and you balked. Therefore, they proceeded according to your instructions, knowing it would not work and then charged you for the labor it took to do so.

 

[cynicaloptimist]

The reason they could not be sync'd is they likely need rebuilt. I am guessing they advised you off that and you balked. Therefore, they proceeded according to your instructions, knowing it would not work and then charged you for the labor it took to do so.

That's quite a guess. Entirely inaccurate, however.
They told me they cleaned the carbs and it was still running funny, and the owner said the tech wanted to clean them again, because the previous owner let it sit for a while with ethanol-blend gas in it. So he cleaned the carbs again (and a 3rd time, because the tech hadn't been cleaning anything in the bike itself).

Carbs don't need to be rebuilt - simply synced. If they said they needed them to be rebuilt, I'd have told them to go for it. The tech said the wiring was old and crappy, so I told him to rewire the bike, but he wasn't "familiar with wiring Jap bikes." I found out later that mine is wired about the same as any other cruiser. The tech was an idiot.

The owner told me they worked on the bike for 12 hours, but he was only going to charge me for 6 because it took so long.

Filed a complaint with the BBB, they already have an F rating, as it turns out.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

They also do not know crap about motorcycle carbs either apparently. An article by Ashley Benson for example. The build up itself causes them to be out of sync. In an ideal world, you would be able to clean them both 100% and they would both function. In the real world that seldom happens. They operate at different power curves, thus defeating synchronization. The same issue used to occur with the old six packs on v8's (aka The Triple Deuce).

Older motorcycles that have been sitting for a while will also need a good carb cleaning before they can be considered as good as new. If a motorcycle sits for a period of time with gasoline in its system, the lighter bases of the gasoline will evaporate leaving behind the heavier components of the gas. These heavier components will gunk up into a thick and annoying substance known as varnish that will keep your carburetor from doing its job. And if you do happen to be working on an older bike that hasn't gotten much attention in a while, chances are that varnish build up won't be your only problem. This is why so many people have to rebuild their carbs on older bikes.