$108 for factory radio programming??

[bans25]

I changed out my cd/tape in my 2003 silverado to a 6 disc head unit, I brought it into chevy dealership to program the new radio. They said it was a bear and that it
took them a couple times to get it right. They are charging me $108 for this
(I think this is 1.5 hours of labor) seems a little hight doesn't it? I heard most get charged $50 for this same procedure... what have you guys been charged?

-Bill

[slacker_53]

Call around to some other dealerships (there must be some within driving distance) and see what they charge. You could drive a ways for $50.

-slacker

[pacethis]

Originally Posted by bans25

I changed out my cd/tape in my 2003 silverado to a 6 disc head unit, I brought it into chevy dealership to program the new radio. They said it was a bear and that it
took them a couple times to get it right. They are charging me $108 for this
(I think this is 1.5 hours of labor) seems a little hight doesn't it? I heard most get charged $50 for this same procedure... what have you guys been charged?

-Bill

Bill,
That's crazy! They did mine twice in my 03 (two different radios)...took them about 60 seconds each time and didn't charge me anything either time...

[pacethis]

Originally Posted by pacethis

Bill,
That's crazy! They did mine twice in my 03 (two different radios)...took them about 60 seconds each time and didn't charge me anything either time...

At that kind of incompetence, it's almost worth it to spring the $1800 for the tech2...

Seriously, I'd call them and question them on the charge (sounds like it's already paid). Tell them other dealers seem to be able to do the same thing in a few minutes and charge 1/2 hour labor maximum. Tell them you're not willing to pay for their incompetant help...

[GMMerlin]

Originally Posted by pacethis

At that kind of incompetence, it's almost worth it to spring the $1800 for the tech2...

Seriously, I'd call them and question them on the charge (sounds like it's already paid). Tell them other dealers seem to be able to do the same thing in a few minutes and charge 1/2 hour labor maximum. Tell them you're not willing to pay for their incompetant help...

I don't know where you're buying Tech2s from, but the last time I purchased one it was well over 2700 dollars.
Secondly, everyone thinks that the dealer should do work for free..I would like you to do your job for free!
I do offer "minor" services ( reprogramming remotes, upfitted radios or module calibrations) to my customers for no charge as a "thank you" for their loyalty to me, If you just come in off the street wanting a reprogramming service, you will be charged.
Now on to the serious note...50 to 80 dollars for programming a radio or any other module is a fair price. Even if it takes a couple attempts to get it right (which could be caused by the dealer tech not properly following the prcedure, another module needed to be programmed to allow communication or just a failure during the reprogramming event)
100 is getting a little steep and I would not consider that fair to you the consumer.

[pacethis]

Originally Posted by GMMerlin

I don't know where you're buying Tech2s from, but the last time I purchased one it was well over 2700 dollars.
Secondly, everyone thinks that the dealer should do work for free..I would like you to do your job for free!
I do offer "minor" services ( reprogramming remotes, upfitted radios or module calibrations) to my customers for no charge as a "thank you" for their loyalty to me, If you just come in off the street wanting a reprogramming service, you will be charged.
Now on to the serious note...50 to 80 dollars for programming a radio or any other module is a fair price. Even if it takes a couple attempts to get it right (which could be caused by the dealer tech not properly following the prcedure, another module needed to be programmed to allow communication or just a failure during the reprogramming event)
100 is getting a little steep and I would not consider that fair to you the consumer.

Sounds like I was off a little on the tech 2, I was at one time offered one at that price...and rarely you can find one used at that price.

I NEVER said, mentioned, or otherwise implied that the dealer should do the work for free. I said that the dealer did mine for free. I've had several vettes into the dealership for service in the past year, and they know me. I watched them do it both times (they knew what they were doing) and it took less than 5 minutes both times.

We're both in agreement that the $108 charged was obnoxious and out of line for this service. I believe anything over 1 hr labor is absurd, and I really think that it's unfair to charge more than a half hour when it's very unlikely to even take this long.

There are many dealerships in this country (not my current one thankfully) which have untrained techs that don't know how to do their job. I ran into one a few years ago when I took my Corvette in to replace the transmission. I had called ahead and got a quote (by book hours, $430), and decided to bring it in. In the six months previous, I had spent $6000 on service in the dealership and should have been a very valuable customer.

I think it was a 6-7 hour job, and was told I could pick it up that night. It wasn't done. Nor was it done the next night. Finally, on the 3rd day, I was able to pick it up. When I spoke with the mechanic, he was all upset because it had taken so long and he would only get paid "book" hours. After reviewing his work, it was obvious that his attitude mirrored in his quality of work. He had ripped the seat covering, scratched my new 3 pc wheels, knicked my freshly painted calipers a dozen times, etc. He couldn't get the exhaust to fit right, so I had to take it to an exhaust shop to finish the job. There, once on the lift, I found one header bolt missing, the other turned a few turns. Half the transmission tunnel bolts were not present, several were not tight at all. In an nutshell, he'd hurried through the job and done a half-a&* job. I had to setup a meeting with the owner of the dealership to come to a resolution. I've never been back to that dealership.

Okay, so now that I've shared my long winded story, here's the point. If the tech that was put on this job of a radio program was inexperienced, it should not be the consumer's place to pay him a high hourly wage to learn how to use a tech2 tool. To charge over an hour's labor for something that shouldn't take near that is crazy. It seems like there should be a book rate for something similar (ie, what's the book rate on replacing/reprogramming the whole radio) that could keep them in line...

[tskerjance]

$ amount was too high // but i've worked in dealerships for over 20 years and found that most people don't want to pay for services and think that all there is to diagnosis is plugging a tech II into the vehicle // which is only about 27% of the work!!! people have no clue or concept!! you also seem to forget that at sometimes you have to call and recieve info from GM to unlock radios which can take quite some time before you can even gain access!! and the tect II does not work on all radios!! we charge anywhere from $50.00 to $85.00 all depends what kind of vehicle // and buy the way even when techIIs first came out they were more than $2,000.00 // and where are you going to get all the updates that have to be down loaded from GM // and any hardware that has to be used to communicate through your computer to GM. AGAIN MOST PEOPLE NO CLUE // OH BUY THE WAY ANYONE HEARD THE MEANING OF OVERHEAD// JUST MY BLUE CROSS BILL ALONE FOR MY TECHS RUN IN EXCESS OF $18,000.00 A MONTH!!! WHICH WE PAY 75% OF // PLUS ALL OTHER EXPENSES/ NOOOO CLUE