Oh, just let me do it

[DRIVEN]

Funny you mention the oil change thing. I was more missed about thaat than anything else. I've had that car for 20 years and I'm the only one who's ever worked on it outside of tires and alignment. Oddly, when I saw him draining the oil I felt like I was watching someone hit on my wife. I know, wife > Neon. 🙄

 

[joesregalproject]

I get that you might have been upset about the price but I personally think there would have been a better way to handle it and maybe wait for the manager and work it out with him, and if the police did come who's side do you think they are going to take the place that provided the service but charged more than the customer thought it should be or the customer who took his wheels back without paying for the service.
As always this is only my opinion others will vary.

You are probably right. This was several years ago and I'd probably handle it differently now. Playing devil's advocate, (unbenownst to me at the time) this particular shop had been investigated several times by the BBB and had been in some trouble over charging for work they didn't do. Also, I did offer to pay $80, which they refused.

Anyways what's done is done. I don't regret handling it the way I did, but I probably wouldn't do it the same way again.

 

[pontiacgp]

Any time I get a shop to work on my vehicle it reminds me why don't bring the vehicle in and do the job myself.

 

[axisg]

meh I thought it was just me !! I had a near nuclear meltdown ( in my head of course ) last week when buying a used car for wifey. Agreement to purchase CHECK, pre-financing CHECK, Insurance Broker notified of Intent to Purchase and vehicle swap CHECK

Emails were sent, phone calls were made with messages left to each. 2 days I waited, follow up calls and emails were made with no replys. Stealer wasnt calling back, bank wasnt calling back, insurance co wasnt calling back. The afternoon of day 2 I got in my car and paid each one a visit for them to grace me with 5 minutes of their time. Each was quite surprised that I had arrived, in person, and it was obvious I was not leaving until I got what I needed. I was not pushy, or arrogant, just present with a situation which needed to be resolved at their earliest convenience ( but within the next 15 minutes will do thank you much ). In the end I picked up the car the very next morning but I feel as though it could have dragged on for a few more days.

People just do not care for some reason.

On point, I deal with 1 and only 1 garage. They are 200 feet from my shop. I look into the back of their shop from my dock. They are not inexpensive, but the owner is fair and stands up to the work that he and his techs do. They dont do great work, barely even good work. But the owner understands that if I am not satisfied that they will try again, and again if needed to get it done to where I am happy.

Case in point, 3 times to fix a new cat converter they replaced in my work van. First it was "dealer only $1200 thank you " that I called bullshit on! Then they welded in a universal cat which had an exhaust leak. Called the next day to say I can hear the exhaust leaking, and the welds look like a 12 year old did them, maybe you should not be releasing the vehicle back to the customer whilst holding your hand out expecting payment for your sub-par workmanship ?" Second time it leaked less but still leaked. 3rd time the owner apologized, dropped the ypipe and welded it up proper and changed my oil for free. I guess many people just wont bother to argue, its so much easier to give the shop a bad Yelp review LOL

 

[axisg]

oh and Neon FTW ! I loved my little green 1995 company delivery truck ( never called it a car ). I want to say I had 460 thousand kms ( 275 thousand miles roughly ) plus on it, orig motor and trans. It was the company wh*re for the first 3 years then mine from then on. It still ran like a top when I sold in 2005 or so. I used to pull a little 4x8 trailer with it,and/ or take out the back seats and throw up to 600 lbs of freight in it for long distance deliveries all before I bought my van. Lots of brakes n tires, 1 set of struts all way round, oil changed religiously and never ever had to touch the trans.

 

[Jeff L]

Like most of us on the forum, we have a good understanding how our cars work, how to fix them, or have done much of the repair work ourselves. What I think happens is that old saying that “doctors make the worst patients” applies to us car guys too. For what ever reasons maybe due to illness or time, bringing our car to someone else can be stressful because we know the right way to do a job. Not everyone shares our devotion in doing the job right the first time and it drives us crazy.

I remember when I was just out of high school and I needed money for college so for a few Summers I helped out friends in a local gas station/repair garage. I did the simple jobs like oil changes, shocks, spark plugs, etc. It freed up the mechanic to do the difficult repairs. One day a guy came in for an oil change and he stayed and watched me do the job. My thing was I treated all those cars like I was working on mine. Now this was at the time we still had oil cans and the spouts you had to stick through the can. Boy was I happy when twist bottles came out! lol Anyway when I was done the guy came up to me and handed me 5 bucks(which at that time would buy me a few days worth of big macs! lol) because he said I was the first one he saw use a rag to block the oil from coming out of the spout when the can was empty and get it all over the motor. Something that simple was important to that guy and he came back many times because he knew the guys at the station really took pride in doing a good job. Plus what made everything so difficult is this was a local garage in a small town so you knew all the locals who came in and one major screw up and no one would show up. It was a pleasure working there a few Summers because it turned out to also be the place people came to get their cars fixed that were screwed up by other places.

 

[Turbo Zach]

It all boils down to. Every one is selfish, some people more selfish than others and no one wants to take responsibility for there own actions. What happened to always try your best. Don't lie, cheet, or steel. Treat others how you want to be treated. I am a Heavy Equipment Service Mechanic. I tell my customers exactly how it is and what it is going to cost and cover my *ss in every way I can. No secrets.

 

[tc1959]

I got lucky, One of the kids I trained 20 years ago now has his own shop. He does good work and does it the way I taught him. I also have a Mobile oil change service the comes to my house and changes the oil in the El Camino and the wife's Impala.

 

[pontiacgp]

I got lucky, One of the kids I trained 20 years ago now has his own shop. He does good work and does it the way I taught him. I also have a Mobile oil change service the comes to my house and changes the oil in the El Camino and the wife's Impala.View attachment 73131

a picture with no dogs?????

 

[drogg1]

Just to add to the tire balance stories, I once had a Discount Tire (I know, my first mistake but they were only ones with tires that fit/I wanted) replace my rear tires. Mid way through they had me come out and tried to tell me a wheel was bent and that I should replace it (and of course the other 3). I've never used a balance machine and them trying to show me it was unable to be balanced meant nothing to me. I decided not to and have never had uneven wear or vibration at speed (due to that anyway) since. They even replaced that tire and didn't say the same thing again. I spose they saw I was driving a BMW ( a 98 that is beat to sh*t and has ~180k miles) and figured I was naive and had the money to replace all 4 wheels.