do i have a premise to dispute this charge?
 

This morning I dropped of my car for an alignment to be done at the dealership. To make a long story short, I got there in the afternoon and was told that other work needed to be done. I told them I wanted my car back. I had to wait an hour to get my car back. They gave me a bill for the alignment which was not done. The bill had a note that said the alignment couldnt be done without other work being done first. I talked to the service manager for 10 minutes and he kept on giving me crap about what they did and such. It was getting late and I didn't have the time or energy to argue so I just paid the bill with my credit card.

Do I have a premise to dispute the charge? They weren't going to let me have my car back unless I paid it. I am completely dissatisfied with their service and I paid for an alignment that wasn't done.

That says it all right there.

Without knowing the long part of the story, it's hard to say. They are still going to bill your for service that was performed even though it was not the alignment. They are going to get you for the time it took them to assess your car and figure out what needed to be done before the alignment could be done.

I'm with Coppertop on this one.
They didn't do the alignment, yet they billed you for it. Not cool. If the bill said "assessment" that would be different.

If you paid it, thats essentially agreeing to their bill.

Call your credit card company. Some credit card companies, if you paid for a service and that service wasn't rendered, you are not obligated to pay for it... Better still, write the credit card company a letter, and send a copy to the better business bureau.

Call and dispute the bill with the credit card company, who will stop payment automatically. Then wait for the repair dealer to come after you, and make them take you to small claims court, where you should win.

Never, ever pay for something that might potentially be disputed with cash or checks. Credit cards are great for these kinds of things.

See, this is why you don't take your car to the dealership. Did you ask what was wrong? I think in this situation it would be good to call your credit card company, cancel payment, then take your car to an independent mechanic and have them assess the problems with your car. That way, you can get a written record of what mechanic A said was wrong versus what your dealership said. If mechanic A agrees with what your dealership said, then you need to get your car fixed somewhere other than the dealership. Your dealership was screwing with you- I'm pretty sure that unless you signed something that said "I authorize any and all work that needs to be done other than the thing I'm bringing the car in for" that your dealership couldn't do what they did.

Depends on the dealer, really. Your local Lexus or Auxi dealership won't pull this kind of shit because they know that pissing off their customers is a bad idea, because it will piss off management in a big way. Unfortunately, companies like VW, Honda, and GM don't seem to understand this very well, and have a very, er, 'relaxed' policy when it comes to dealer/customer relations.

Start by writing four letters of complaint: One to the service manager of the dealership, one to the general manager of the dealership, one to the auto manufacturer, and one to your local BBB. Also, contest the charge with your credit card company, and take your car SOMEWHERE ELSE to get the alignment done. When you write your letters to the dealership and auto manufacturer, be sure to stress that you will never go to that dealership again for service, and that your next auto purchase is likely to be of a competing make, unless they basically kiss your ass. Chances are, they will.

"Depends on the dealer, really. Your local Lexus or Auxi dealership won't pull this kind of shit because they know that pissing off their customers is a bad idea"

My local Lexus dealer charges me $116 to change my oil :|