Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Auto Repair Shop Does 1hr work; Charges for 4

I took my car into a dealership for diagnosis of a problem. They told me it would require a ''complete engine teardown'' requiring 8 hours at $74/hour.

I picked up the car today, 9/30/2003, to take it to another shop to do the required work.. The original shop charged me for an engine teardown requiring 4 hours @ $74/hour instead of the 8 hours.

The shop where I took the car said that the original shop never did any kind of engine teardown. They said the original shop merely dropped the oil pan and removed the oil screen, a job requiring no more than ''a generous 40 minutes.'' So, the original shop did 1 hour of work and charged me for 4 hours of work.

Is this kind of behavior illegal? Can I sue for punitive damages alone? If they did this to me, they must be doing it to others.

Do I need to get another source to document that only 1 hour of work was done?

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