My shops charge to diagnose anything, we will however wave that or credit that to your bill if you do the work which is probably what they would have done, since you opted to come back a different day you were charged.
Techs are not free and their time is very valuable, they are paid by the flag hour in most cases which means if they aren't wrenching they aren't earning, Not to mention the amount of money the dealership has in training and special tools for any given tech.

We get this complaint when people come in to get their car scanned for a light on, When we tell them how much is costs they don't want to pay. Usually saying well autozone doesn't charge, well autozone also doesn't have a factory specific scan tool that costs $20,000 with a factory trained tech running the tool that must be paid for his time and expertise. They may still credit that to your repair if you have them do the work.

I don't think they took advantage of you at 1 hour but I think their labor rate is a little high although I don't know your market.. Labor rates are going to continue to climb as less and less people enter the workforce to be a tech. We are already paying over $30 per flat rate hour for techs in the midwest and the master techs are aging out with very few people behind them to do the work. This is also the case in body shops and most other trades.

 

Unusual that bike was taken by mechanic without you first filling out some paperwork.
Most any dealer will not touch a bike until some papers are completed if they plan to charge unless people know you really really well.
It would seem like a calm face to face conversation with dealer management and not service department management would be required.
Sometimes things are not addressed correctly by employees...known of more than one person that resolved a sour situation to their satisfaction with some calm face time.
Again, unusual and probably not ideal process if all they said was that it was going to take about 1 hour and no papers were processed and charge was not discussed.

 

so in your next post is it gonna be 15 minutes?

 

This is a touchy subject. I get it. But in the case of the dealership I went to, they are trying to pull something. I just called another H-D dealership who quoted me HALF of what this dealership quoted regarding another service job. That's enough for me to know they're looking to overcharge customers. Just glad I have options.

 

You probably missed the post where I said the guy mentioned the tech was out on lunch.

 

The one time I had my bike at a HD dealership where I had to pay them, was to repair a stripped shift shaft.

Once they diagnosed the bike, they gave me a printed estimate of the repair- if I recall, it was $60 labor and about $60 for parts. I had to initial it before they'd do the work.
They had the problem figured out in about 2 minutes, so If there was any charge for diagnosis, it was possibly buried with the overall labor charge. They didn't itemize that.

The shift gave out when I was about 5 miles from the dealership. It was later in the day, but they still sent out their trailer and a couple guys to get the bike. Shop was busy as all get out, so they fixed it the next day.

Didn't charge me anything for the tow, though it took two guys out of the shop for an hour.

 

People around here are easily sidetracked, go off-topic almost immediately, and they really don't like it when folks complain or think for themselves.

Back to the topic, $400 to change an ignition cylinder seems very high. If asking a dealer to identify what's wrong comes with an inflated bill and a $121 hostage payment to get the bike back, folks should be suspicious of seeking service from Harley dealers.

Also, if an ignition cylinder needs to be replaced, that "diagnosis" from a professional Harley facility that works on no other bikes should take less than a minute, maybe two.

 

Well, you could get a job making pizza and then you would get your cut when that happens.

 

I'm a diesel mechanic I'll put my $.02 on why diagnosing requires charges.

The hard part of repairing equipment is not making the repair its having the knowledge and understanding of its systems to properly diagnose the issue.

Anyone can overhaul an engine or change out parts.

That is why driveability techs make higher salaries than engine overhaulers.

 

And I have no issue with being charged a diagnostic fee. Just don't agree with being charged the same as a "labor" fee.