Jim Kata

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum....but anyhow. I was going to put it in Tilted Motors, but figured it could fit here as well. Mods, move this as you see fit.

2 months ago, I had to take my car in for some work. It needed new brakes, and it was burning oil, and a handful of other problems. When I took the car in, I mentioned that it was burning oil and that it may be the valve seals that needed to be replaced or looked at in order to fix the problem (I came up with this after researching the symptoms on the internet). Anyways, they called me back later that afternoon telling me they think they found out the problem (which had nothing to do with the valve seals) and gave me the estimate to fix it. I said go ahead, so I could have my car run smooth for another 5 years.

I paid my $2000 bill, and drove my car home. Everything was great until last week. I noticed that I was burning oil again. I went home, and looked at my invoice to see what kind of service warranty there was. Luckily I still qualified. I called a local car radio show, and they told me that my car is known for valve seal problems (as I mentioned to the dealership when I took it in). So I took the car back again this weekend. And told them, again, that they may want to check out valve seals.

This morning they called me and told me they couldn't find any physical leaks, so they may need to run a 'leak-down test' to get in deeper to find out the problem and that it would cost me $90. I told them that I was just there and gave them $2000 not too long ago, and that my car is still under the service warranty. So I shouldn't have to pay the $90.

The guy said, "Oh yeah, I just saw that here in our paperwork, let me talk to my manager and we can try and work something out."
I told him I had a meeting later on in the day so to call me before or after so we can discuss what his manager said. He replied with "Don't worry about it, I'll get my manager to take care of this for ya."

Now my question is.....under my circumstances, being they 'fixed/replaced' the wrong thing for my problem originally...should I have to pay anything at all? Initially the work they did cost about $225 ($40 parts and $185 labor). If it is the valve seals it will cost anywhere between $600 - $1000 (at least that is what I've been told by people), with most of that being labor.

Should I just pay for the parts and tell them they shouldn't charge me for labor because they were supposed to fix the problem 2 months ago? Or should I tell them to deduct the original $300 from my new bill and I will pay the remainder? Or should I just tell them they need to fix it all for me, no charge?

I've never had to deal with a service warranty before so I'm a bit lost at what I should do.

Thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions.