How should I handle this repair issue?
I am the owner of a 2000 528i.
Around six months ago my speedometer stopped working. The town where I live has one speedometer shop and is managed by a friend of mine.
Since the car is due for inspection in September, and it will not pass inspection if the speedometer is inop, I decided to get it fixed.
After letting the mechanic have the car for two days, they called me to tell me it was fixed. When I went to pick the car up, they told me the problem was not with the speedomoter, but the left rear speed sensor.
After I paid the bill of $250 (for parts and labor) I got in the car and drove off the lot, and noticed the speedometer was still not working. I quickyly turned around and took it back. The mechanic told me he will then need to replace the right rear speed sensor.
Since I could not part with my car at this time, I told him I would call and setup a time when they could perform the additional work.
The next day I did some research and posted a message on a BMW message board. It turns out the problem was a bad ABS module.
I had the module replaced and like magic, the speedometer works fine now.
My issue is, I called my friend to tell him that his mechanic misdiagnosed the problem and replaced the speed sensor that wasn't necessary. I was expecting him to offer some kind of refund or credit for future work becasue of this mistake.
To much of my surprise, nothing was offered and I was told "This was a part of troubleshooting."
Should I feel cheated or does my mechanic have a valid point? I was told by other's that they should have put a volt meter on the sensor to see if it was bad or not. Instead it looks like they just took a guess and replaced it hoping it was the problem.
I might want to add the ABS module has been bad for several years. First the DSC did not work, then later the ABS stopped working, and of course the last straw was the Speedomter, which I did not know was caused by the ABS module.