Countryside Motors - The travelers Dealership Price gouging by Countryside Motors Wellington Kansas

While traveling from Texas too Minnesota on interstate 35 on June 3rd 2009. Passing a town called Wellington, Kansas. Dealership in this letter is Countryside Motors LLC. Here is the rip off. I broke down on the int.35 and made it to the exit ramp 50 feet from the turnpike pay booth. I called a tow truck to tow my truck to the nearest dodge dealer. To have my 2000 Dodge Ram fixed so that I may continue my trip to Minnesota. The tow truck driver took us to the dealer and dropped off the truck. After arriving at the dealership around 11:50 am, my son and I took a walk to get a soda due to the dealership service department going to lunch from 12:00 1:00. 15 minutes later my son and I came back to the dealer. I was chatting with the service write and saw they were charging me $106.00 for the tow truck company to tow me 3 miles. I could not believe this so I called the tow truck company (Strickland towing) and they informed me the cost from the turnpike I-35 was $85.00. I complained to the dealership service writer and he put it down to the $85.00 and said I was not there to pay the driver directly so they added $21.00 to the bill.

The dealership checked the issue and found I needed a fuel pump which is inside the top of the fuel tank. They informed me it was $397.59 for a new fuel pump and 2 hours to put it in. This would be due to having to drop the tank to replace it. Well, I found they did not have a pump in stock (which would be a genuine dodge part, not an aftermarket part witch is a lot cheaper to buy). Well here is a good rip off. The part was delivered by O'Reilly Auto Parts while I was standing there. O'Reilly Auto Parts had a few other items to deliver to the dealer and did not charge them to deliver my fuel pump. I walked outside and asked the driver if he had delivered the fuel pump, he stated yes and I asked him (if I walked into the store and bought the pump, how much it would cost me) he looked at the bill and stated $212.00 is their normal cost to the public and that is what they charge the dealer. So the dealer bought this aftermarket part at the same price I would pay in the store and added 87-88% markup from $212.00 to $397.59. I complained to the service writer about the cost and all I got was the dealer has to make money. Hmmm. The Mechanic took from 1:00pm to 2:30pm a total of 1 hour 30 minutes to troubleshoot the issue, replace the fuel pump and test it. They charged me 2.0 hours at $70.00 per hour. Well according to the Mitchell labor estimator it should take 2 hours to replace the fuel pump on this truck, so the dealer normally charge the 2 hours even if it only takes an hour. It took the mechanic 1 hour to replace the fuel pump and 15-25 minute to troubleshoot the issue. And the dealer charged me 2 hours. So this Countryside Motors dealer in Wellington Kansas charged me an extra $185.59 for the fuel pump and $35.00 extra for labor not performed which is a total extra rip off of $220.59. Also charged me for Materials of $9.80 for what I have no idea it's not itemized on the bill. Total bill including the towing is $632.30 and with tax was $679.40. What a total rip off.

Rick
Bagley, Minnesota
U.S.A.