DR Automotive Overcharging and charging for work not done

When Noel bought DR Automotive from a legend of the industry, who had serviced my car for decades, I retained the servicing of several of my vehicles there. I have not been happy with the pricing or the general explanations for work that is required, and in a recent incident, I queried a quote for a Corsa bakkie that had been sent in for a faulty transponder.

Along with the transponder repair, I was advised to replace the front brakes as well as service the vehicle as the oil was apparently "dirty", a total of R7740.00.

I had recently (December 2023) spent R28,310.00 repairing the vehicle from an overheating breakdown, that apparently needed the head reconditioned, cam belt changed and included oil and air filters, so I queried the need to re-service the vehicle so soon. The mechanic agreed and removed the service from the bill reducing it to R5320.00. I agreed for the front brakes to be done, but queried the cost of the transponder repair. I asked whether (according to the quote), and "new key chip and box" was necessary, to which I was told that the work had already been done. I asked that the cost of this item be reviewed as it seemed excessive and somewhat unnecessary. The voice note says this: "So on the key side of things, I had to get a new key, a new chip, and a new key reader box, and then all the programming to put in the new key". I then spoke to a company that deals with vehicle transponders, and watched some videos online, and worked out 2 things: 1) the box did not have to be "replaced", all that was required was that a chip had to be replaced in the key (approx R250.00), and the computer box then reprogrammed to accept the new chip. 2) I could have had someone come to my residence and repair this for approximately R1000.00. I spoke to JP about this, and he agreed to look into it for me. It turns out the original key and box remain with the vehicle. When I queried this, I was told by Noel, that he runs a business, he is not reviewing the price, that I had approved the quote, and that I should collect my vehicle and pay up. Noel later contacted me directly, and said that it had cost him R2200.00 to repair the transponder and he had only charged me R1000.00 on top of that, and he wasn't changing the bill. Noel was unreasonably assertive and rude, especially given the longstanding and expensive experience I have had with his business, and the fact that I had been deceived on the quote, invoice and voice notes from the company.

I need to be able to trust that my mechanic is not quoting for unnecessary work on my car in order to bulk up the bills (re-servicing a car that was serviced 2 months ago), and I need to trust that the work done is fairly charged for and necessary (quoting for and then invoicing for the replacement of a computer box was not true). I feel justified in being angry about this, especially as the mechanic admitted that the box was not replaced, and that it had not been accurately represented on the invoice or the quote.

The owner's reaction to this has been rude and dismissive, and he was quick to tell me to take my business elsewhere, which I have no hesitation in doing just that.

The owner has continued to harass me via text messages, threaten me with legal action, undermine me to a staff member who collected the vehicle from him, and threatened to retaliate with a report on my business. I hope that this review saves someone else from a similar experience at DR Automotive. .