Ok. so I took my 09 fit sport in to get new tires. I took it in knowing it would also need an alignment, and the shop said they were going to send it to another shop for the alignment. So I got the tires sent to the shop, and then the shop called me and said that 2 lug nuts were stripped, and they were going to have to tow it to this other shop to deal with the stripped nuts. So I went back to pick up the car and I had two bills, one from each shop, and I paid the first shop and called the other shop that dealt with the lug nuts, and I was told that I owed them 620 dollars, because they had to replace a wheel bearing. Reading an earlier thread about these wheel bearings, it seems like that is something that you notice needing.. the car was running fine to me.
a few questions then:

1.) I did not consent to a new wheel bearing. I feel like an ass weaseling out of paying for it, but it's really wrong to just spring this bill on me, right?

2.) Would I really notice if the wheel bearing needed to be replaced?

3.) who most likely stripped these nuts? Could that have happened when they were removing the tires? or was it when the tires were installed? I'm concerned about this because the mechanic kind of explained how the problem happened with a littttttttle too much detail and concern, with like a hint of frustration as if he had made the mistake of using the wrong torque before.

4.) Does a hub need to be replaced if a wheel bearing is replaced? (sorry if this question is dumb. I really don't know very much about cars.)

 

I don't know the entire story nor circumstances nor conditions, I've only read your side of it as posted.....but IMPO:

If a lug nut seized and/or stripped during removal, blame usually goes to the previous installer.

If it became a problem during assembly, blame usually goes to the immediate installer.

Who do you think should pay for it?


In the shop I work in, if a problem such as this arises and is known to have been caused by one of our own people, we take care of it. (good customer and regular service with us, nobody else touched the wheels since the last time one of our people touched it).


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If the problem occurred on the front, the hub has to be removed from the bearing using a hydraulic press, just to replace a wheel stud.
That means the bearing may be compromised because one race is stuck to the hub when it is pressed out, and to insure that the outcome of the job is good most shops would replace the bearing. So replacing the bearing would be just part of the job at hand.

A hub usually does not need replaced if it is separate and relatively undamaged, but SOME wheel bearing assemblies have the hub built in as part of the assembly.

The front uses a separate hub and bearing, both items are separate and are pressed into the steering knuckle to form the assembly.

The rear uses a hub-bearing assembly, both pieces come already assembled as a one piece unit.



Was a hub also replaced on your car? Which one?

 

You have to pull the hub to replace any damaged studs ( I found out the hard way-I damaged the threads on a couple of them on a front wheel rotating the tires) and that also requires replacing the bearing, although my mechanic was able to save the original bearing, but it was a near thing.

 

Usually, it's allowable to go over an estimate by 10% without contacting the owner first. Sounds to me like they went well beyond that without attempting to contact you. I'd be speaking with the owners of those shops and see what the heck happened and why no one tried to contact you with an estimate of cost.