Surprise at the Dealership

I went to the dealership Friday evening to pick up the car. They had agreed to fix a slight oil leak under warranty and a few other bits. Being a big labor job to dig that far into the engine, I asked them to replace the timing belt, pulleys, and water pump as preventive maintenance. It's a good idea to replace things run by the timing belt when the belt is replaced because a bad bearing in any of those parts could reduce the life on the new belt, break it, and bend lots of expensive parts in the engine. I arrived Friday and found the bill to be less than I had anticipated.

I scanned down through the work log to see what had been done. Air bag sensor replaced in rear seat - no charge. O2 sensor replaced - no charge. Cam seals replaced - no charge. Good so far. Timing belt and pulleys replaced - charge to customer.

I started shaking my head at that point because, as I had suspected, it looked like they had not replaced the water pump as I asked. I turned the page to find, "Water pump found leaking - replaced no charge."

Whoa. Let me get this straight. I asked for something to be replaced on my dime, and instead the dealer replaced it for free. They could have easily charged me and I would have happily paid never knowing the difference. How often do you see that sort of honesty at a garage, especially at a dealership?

So if you're an Audi owner in the Syracuse area, head on out to Roger Burdick Audi at the Drivers' Village in Cicero and feel confident that you're going to get an honest shake from the service department. Kudos to them for the great customer service!