There I was, on the way home from the airport Thursday night after a week
out of town on business when my 'check engine' light comes on (2000
Accord).... I immediately dial up the dealership, where they advise me to
bring it in asap. I tell them Ill drop it off that night at the key drop so
they could look at it the next day. When I arrive at the house from the
airport and exit the car, I smell gas fumes, so I pop the gas latch and the
gas cap is very loose, almost a quarter turn loose in fact. I tighten it up
and noticed (unbelievably for the first time) the written warning on the gas
cap that a loose cap will set off the engine light..... well, I think to
myself, there's the problem. But being a little paranoid, I decide to take
the car into the dealership in any case. When I drop off the keys, I write
on the form that the engine light came on but soon afterwards I noticed the
cap was loose.... This morning and the tech called me and told me that they
hooked the car up 'to the computers' and everything was cool, that it was
the gas cap that set off the engine light.

Fast forward to this evening when I go and pick the car up..... and to my
complete amazement, they charged me $86 dollars for the diagnostic test.
Mind you they did no actual work, just ran the test. I was livid. I
couldn't believe that they charged me almost a hundred dollars to tell me
that my gas cap was loose (note that I bought the car at this
dealership).... don't get me wrong, Im all about compensating someone for
their time, but I called an independent Honda shop where even they were
shocked at this price, and told me they would have probably not charged me
anything, maybe the standard $30.00 fee if I wasn't a regular customer (i.e.
didn't have anything else done).

Question: Am I off base to be upset here? I have calls into the tech that
did the 'test' and the manager of the service department for some kind of
explanation. It would seem that they could have reasoned that it was the
loose cap that tripped the light (since I wrote it down for them), reset the
light and fired up the car. No light = problem solved. Light comes back on
= a different problem, therefore testing required

Yes, I know, it was stupid to take it to the dealer and I have learned my
lesson, but it still stings pretty bad. I am a huge Honda fan, but this has
soured me a little.... funny thing is that we were going in to look at
Odysseys at that dealership this weekend, not now.

brian drake
charlotte, nc