Ripped at Freightliner

I recently had a driveshaft parking brake issue.  Freightliner charge me almost $1400 for labor to change out the brake shoes  Also had to pay for a output shaft that wasn't leaking when I pulled in.

Is there anywhere I can find a specified labor rate for changing driveshaft brake shoes, similar to a Chilton Guide, except for diesel repair?  They also failed to give me an estimate of costs. They rape out of state RVers, and it's time to fight back.

Thank you for your time, Bob

Damn, almost as bad as going to a Harley dealer!

Labor rates are set by the individual service centers. The Chilton Labor Guides (formerly called "Flat Rate Manuals") specify typical completion hours for specific jobs, not the actual charges. I'm not aware of any for RV chassis. How many hours did they bill? $100-$150/hour for shop labor is not uncommon these days. An output shaft leak would have needed a new seal, but the shaft may have had more damage than a seal could fix. 10 or so man hours to replace an output shaft and drive shaft brake shoes on a DP doesn't look out of line to me.

Thanks for your thoughts.  It was just the seal they replaced on the output shaft. I know they didn't have more than 3, maybe 4 hours, at $160. Once they found the brake shoes they put it all back together in less than an hour. I was in and out of the service center on a regular basis for all four days they had it, constantly checking on it's status.

I asked to see their hour by hour labor breakdown, and they refused to show it to me. Everytime I pull in somewhere, I watch their eyes turn in to dollar signs cause they think everyone in a diesel pusher is loaded, but I'm not, especially with out of state plates.

A bit frustrated here.  Thanks again for responding Jim.

How many techs did they have working on it? The posted labor rate is per man-hour, not job hour. The work could be completed in 5 hours, but if two men were working on the job, then that's 10 labor hours.

It was never more than one tech. I was there, waiting patiently, each time it was worked on (3 times); when they took the driveshaft off, when they replaced the seal (didn't take much time at all), and when they put it back together. They did have another tech do a "completion inspection" before I could drive it off the lot.

I believe in gut feelings, and when I get a gut feeling that I have been ripped off (sits in my stomach like a piece of lead) or that something just ain't right, it usually isn't.

Ok, without an itemized breakdown and having seen the work done, I won't go any farther. I will say that in many years on the road with various RV's and having major repairs ranging from an engine replacement to a transmission replacement to a differential replacement, not once have I felt like they took advantage of me or treated me any differently because I was an out of state RV'er. On the contrary, I've had service shops go out of their way to accommodate our needs as RV'ers on the road.

Jeepinbob said:

I asked to see their hour by hour labor breakdown, and they refused to show it to me.

Click to expand...

I'd suggest repeating this request, in a professionally worded letter written to the shop owner. Explain your frustration as calmly as you can, and include the concerns you have of being overcharged and unable to see justification to the contrary. If you mail the letter, include a tracking # and place a follow-up call to the recipient after you see that it has been delivered. Provide your contact information for a return call after he/she has a chance to look into the matter.

I can't promise what the response may (or may not) be, but at least you will have tried dealing with this the right way and will hopefully at least get some answers.

I'm not clear on what this hour-by-hour breakdown would show. It's likely they used a flat rate table to determine the hours charged, but if not, it is just going to show that some number of techs clocked x hours against the job ticket.  You can ask the service manage why it took so many hours, but at the end of the day, it's whatever they logged against the job.

I'm not claiming that $1400 is not excessive for the work, but you didn't give much info about the work done.  Was it a driveshaft parking system (aka "auto-brake"), plus a tranny output shaft?  Anything else, e.g. a chassis lube or whatever?  Did you authorize the output shaft work or was that a surprise charge? Most states require that work be authorized in advance.

You just said "Freightliner", but it was just a franchised shop and free to charge whatever they want for their services.  Some of them charge higher hourly rates for motorhomes too, because they have to be more careful about getting dirt & grease in somebody's house, deal with extra plumbing and electric stuff in the way, etc.

I also note that you have an Alpine coach, so it's not a Freightliner chassis either.  Something they aren't familiar with (the Peak chassis), so maybe you paid for some extra hours because they had to figure out what to do and how to do it.
The Alpine Coach Association may have some info on this sort of repair and typical costs. They support each other pretty well.http://www.alpinecoachassociation.com/tech/tech.html

Thanks for your input Gary, and I appreciate all of everyone's suggestions on this post. I suspect that each time any tech even looked at the coach, they logged an hour on the time sheet, not unlike attorneys do.

The work was a simple brake shoe replacement on the driveshaft parking brake.  The shoes clamp down on the drum that is attached to the driveshaft. Pretty cool setup actually. The seal replacement was at the end of the driveshaft where it meets the transmission. I suspect it got damaged while they were working on it, cause it wasn't leaking when I drove in.

Water under the bridge I guess, and another frustration over repair work. Thanks to all, Bob

They may not have used a flat rate table, since your Peak chassis isn't covered in the Freightliner flat rate book and they probably did have some on-the-job training time in there.    And most of us don't pay enough attention to the up-front estimate, or we sign off on "time & materials" basis because the alternative is they won't do the job. Not much of an option!

So yeah, "water under the bridge" and time to move on. Life is too short to get bowels in an uproar over stuff like this.

I still think my suggestion above (contacting the shop owner in a professional manner) may have some effectiveness, if the owner cares about the reputation of his facility... he may not.

But, as Gary said, sometimes it's best to chalk it up to "lesson learned" and move on too, if you want to be emotionally and financially done with the experience.

Thank you Scotty, I just may do that, and then put this to rest.

NY_Dutch said:

How many techs did they have working on it? The posted labor rate is per man-hour, not job hour. The work could be completed in 5 hours, but if two men were working on the job, then that's 10 labor hours.

Click to expand...

are you a mechanic?

Rving is costly when it comes to repairs unless you can do it yourselves, I don't know of book time on a motorhome, I've checked, You are at their mercy, some are somewhat reasonable and some are just not. Some people don't fret about money spent and others like me value every hard earned dollar, like me and want to know every detail of what they did to justify the cost, that's only fair to the customer.

Deano2002 said:

are you a mechanic?

Click to expand...

I was part owner of a heavy duty (class 7 & 8 ) truck repair shop for about 7 years.

One of the things that really attracted me to the Super C Freightliner Chassis is the ease of maintenance.