Im irate

[Tank69]

I'm irate

some of you may know I used to live in Washington State an moved to Arizona in May , before I left I took my jeep into a local mechanic to get work done to it ,#1 it had a short in the electrical ,#2 refab an update the AC (going to AZ in summer gonna need that) replace the leaking valve cover gasket an replace the door locks an make sure everything is AOK to go , also took the Red heads blazer in to the same place #1 new brakes ,tune up,update an refurbish the AC (going to AZ in the summer gonna need that )

the shop calls me says your jeep needs a new serpentine belt ....fine replace it ok thank you ....next call I get is your jeep is done ,I show up to get it the mechanic is showing me how cold the AC is blowing an going over everything that was done an the smoke starts coming out from under the dash ....uh oh turn it all off....hmmmmmm gonna have to look back into this I'll call you when its done .

shop calls again jeep is ready come an get it ,OK make this trip again everything seems OK ,they tell me the only thing they haven't done is replace the valve cover gasket ,an that I need to go steam clean everything drive it for 2-3 weeks an bring it back in so they can see where the leak really is .


mind you I'm moving outta state in less than 2 weeks at this point.

I say never mind I'll deal with the valve cover gasket when I hit AZ an take the jeep home .


take the Red Heads Blazer in they call 3 days later everything is good to go come get it ...2 days later we load my jeep on a trailer an off we go to AZ.......mind you the bill for both was a lil over $3,500.00
we get to Az the AC in the blazer dies after only an hours use , on the way down I had to adjust the rear brakes so she had brakes an the ebrake light wont go off since it came outta the shop......we unload my jeep drive the 7 miles to town an blew the water pump .....took it to a shop here they tell me the pump has been going out for awhile an the other shop had to have seen it an that all the hoses shoulda been changed to, so its been sitting since may waiting to get the money to fix it, go out the other night start it up turn on the lights ,the lights start to dim then go out an smoke starts billowing out from under the dash .

I called the place today an told them about everything an got the hmmmmmmmmmm oh my that shouldn't have happend ,sorry if you was here I would have the guys look at it but cant do anything since your there .

I'm frustrated as all get out ,I got screwed with my eyes wide open an now cant do a dang thing about it .

sorry my rant was so long ,I just needed to vent .

 

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[mojjax]

Re: I'm irate

Cash for Clunkers

 

[pygmy]

Re: I'm irate

This is so typical .I just wish mechanics were as honest as mcgearhead, a regular poster here.
My sons Toyota 1996 Hilux ute won't start so he borrowed my VW. I'm now wheelless and starting the day doing basic checks to see were the problem is.

 

[Blacksheep]

Re: I'm irate

I have more and more people asking me to verify repair orders for them, I cannot stress enough the importance of getting second opinions on large estimates. Shops are pushing their techs hard to upsell, never be afraid to question repairs that "need" to be done, ask your tech to prove it and always ask to inspect your old parts. (where appropriate )

Sorry to hear you had such a rough experience Tank, hope things work better for you in the future.

 

[Johnnysan]

Re: I'm irate

Unfortunately Tank, there ain't much you can do, since you now live in another state and you would have to sue them in their state.
One thing that might work though: tell them that you expect some sort of refund for the work that wasn't done properly, or you will post their business name on the internet along with the story. Send the repair bill from the shop in AZ as proof. If there is a local BBB in WA they might be able to help also.

 

[nova treasure]

Re: I'm irate

Sorry to hear the troubles,

I would say with the Blazer, there is a little rubber seal in the ac line connection that is bad and probably let all the freon leak out in the short time. The ebrake light is probably on because it works off the rear brakes and if you had to adjust them you will probably have to reset the system so it will go out. You can take the positive cable off the battery for about a minute and than reinstall the cable and hopefully the light will go out if the brakes are adjusted properly.

The Serpentine belt probably broke because the bearing was bad in the water pump and it's pulley messed it up. this they should have checked before installing the new belt and than you would have known the pump was bad.

The short under the dash could be from several things and i would remove the positive cable from the battery until this is profesionally tested.

$3500. sounds like robbery and I hope things are alot better for you in the future with these problems.

Nova Treasure

 

[truckinbutch]

Re: I'm irate

I share your fury . I once paid $5,600 to an International garage in Houston , TX for a clutch replacement in my KW when the only part that had failed was the throwout bearing . A week of downtime to boot .

 

[Arizona Bob]

Re: I'm irate

I called the place today an told them about everything an got the hmmmmmmmmmm oh my that shouldn't have happend ,sorry if you was here I would have the guys look at it but cant do anything since your there.

Hopefully, you didn't pay your bill with cash. If you feel the work was not done properly, you can always have your bank reverse the charges on your debit/credit card.

 

[Seamuss]

Re: I'm irate

Never tell a mechanic that your vehicle is going out of state. Let them think you just moved next door to them and your looking for a good mechanic. Then you would be treated right to get you to come back to them. Then you leave town.

Reminds me of the guy that says," Can I barrow twenty till I get back from Mexico"
"I'm sorry, I don't get paid myself till you come back"

 

[Tank69]

Re: I'm irate

thanks everyone ....I'm calmed down a lil but not much, sad part is I have dealt with this shop for years an they have allways been great to deal with .....guess the cash was more important to them this time .

 

[mrs.oroblanco]

Re: I'm irate

Boy, I sure do empathize with you - and I'm sure there are a lot of other people who do, too.

In 1990, we made a long trip to Alaska. (we left in May, came back the first part of September). Just to make sure, we brought the truck into the garage (a regular tranny shop) because the tranny was slipping - just a tad, from time to time. The guy says, hey, with a trip like that, and from what I see of the tranny (the tranny is now in 400 pieces), we better rebuild this. So, we did.

He calls and says its ready, with a written warranty, and we head for home to pack the truck up. First gear (automatic) goes into 2nd and then third before we barely start out, so its dogging. So, we speed up to highway speed, where is 4th? Oh, now 4th gear won't go in until about 80 miles per hour, and then it goes in overdrive, not 4th. Turn around, bring it back. He takes it for a test drive. Ok, he know what the problem is, he'll have it back to us by tomorrow after noon. We go to pick it up. We now have a 4th gear - but no third, and we never did find 5th (overdrive).

We bring it back a third time. I'm a big believer in "three times, you're out", no matter what it is. He says to give him a day, so his other mechanic can look at it (by now, we should be leaving for Alaska - we were making a stop in Colorado to see Army son, so he had taken a few days off to coincide with our coming out). 3 days later, I call him - it'll be ready in about an hour. We go pick it up. Now we have fourth gear at 80, and overdrive about 90 and first is running about 5000 rpms before it shifts into second - it stays there for a second and goes into 3rd.

We come right back, and I say - would YOU drive over 11,000 miles like this? And I make him drive it with me in the car. He gets all 5 gears, and we are going over 95 miles an hour. So, what's the problem? I'm seeing red by then. I said, I'm taking it home. When I get home, I cancel his check. I told him I'm going to a real tranny mechanic, and, if there is any money left over, it will go to him, and if not - too bad.

Go to a new mechanic (actually, a guy we have used several times). He doesn't really have the time, but he makes an exception. Here is a surprise - he calls me and says that this tranny is a little different from most Ford trannys. When you rebuild it, you have to drill out some special porting, and it will take him about 2 hours. He could drop the tranny and see if there is anything else, but that will take a whole lot longer.

We decide to let him do the porting, and then decide if we should drop the tranny. He ported it out, and low and behold, we had all 5 gears, hung just a tad long in first, but all the rest are perfect.
So, we pay him, and sent the balance to the first guy along with the bill I paid to the second guy. He agreed to that.

We went to Alaska, spent the entire summer, and then drove back. In Billings Montana, the tranny stops dead in its tracks, and the starter almost falls off.

Got to buy a new tranny in Billings - what had happened? The first guy who had rebuilt it never lined up the pins before he screwed the boldts in - he pulled the tranny in with the bolts instead of doing it right - when he did that, he broke off one of the bolt holes, and the rest were holding all the weight, and finally snapped off, and broke a huge piece of housing, which took part of the starter with it, because apparently the starter was not bolted back on tight. Luckily, it was still good, just needed to add a bolt to it and actually screw it in at the right torque. That took almost a week because we had a half year model - so they had to order one.

So, about 5 grand later, we had a new tranny, a summer in Alaska and a week in sunny Billings Montana. (we rented a car).

The b*tch? The guy was my sister-in-laws brother. Trust family. NOT!

So, if you are ever stuck in NE Pa, in Susquehanna or Wyoming County, and have a tranny problem, DON'T go to a station that is named C & E transmissions.
(they have 3 or 4 shops now)

I'll bet everyone knows a mechanic somewhere that isn't worth your time. Worse yet, the more difficult they make cars, the harder it is to work on them yourself - or even have the tools to trouble shoot the problem.

I would go back to that shop and show him how much his 'high quality work' cost you.

B

 

[nova treasure]

Re: I'm irate

It is ashame how the word "Quality" is so left out these days and the word "Quanity" takes it's place. If people would appreiciate there talents more and show there workmanship in a proper manner. Our Lives would be alot better in so many different ways.


Nova Treasure

 

[G.I.B.]

Re: I'm irate

I took my old '90 Ford F-150 into Firestone to get a quick brake job a year or so ago.

The guy hands me a sheet indicating I need new calipers, pads, rotors, drums, a couple of brake lines, master cylinder... basically an entire new brake system.

I say, okay, can you start now?

He said, sure, and had a big grin on his face. I guess I was about to make his quota for the quarter.

Then I hand him the 'brakes for life' Firestone warranty I got back in '94. Good for the life of the truck as long as I owned it.

Well, I still owned it.

He started shaking. It was funny as hell. He had to call corporate HQ, fax lots of stuff back and forth, try to get out of the master cylinder, blah blah.

I demanded all the removed parts be returned to me. (consumer law where I live)

It was great.

The regular guy finally won!

Oh yeah, then I gave the truck to my daughter and son-in-law. Brakes worked really great again.

 

[Blacksheep]

Re: I'm irate

I took my old '90 Ford F-150 into Firestone to get a quick brake job a year or so ago.

The guy hands me a sheet indicating I need new calipers, pads, rotors, drums, a couple of brake lines, master cylinder... basically an entire new brake system.

I say, okay, can you start now?

He said, sure, and had a big grin on his face. I guess I was about to make his quota for the quarter.

Then I hand him the 'brakes for life' Firestone warranty I got back in '94. Good for the life of the truck as long as I owned it.

Well, I still owned it.

He started shaking. It was funny as hell. He had to call corporate HQ, fax lots of stuff back and forth, try to get out of the master cylinder, blah blah.

I demanded all the removed parts be returned to me. (consumer law where I live)

It was great.

The regular guy finally won!

Oh yeah, then I gave the truck to my daughter and son-in-law. Brakes worked really great again.

GIB! Well done, especially with Firestone! (Almost every Firestone estimate claims the need for calipers)

Just went through this exact same scene on behalf of a neighbor of mine, they are elderly and without some additional assistance, would have been raked a second time in five years. Well done!

 

[boogeyman]

Re: I'm irate

Hey Tank!

That's exactly why I do ALL my maintenance & repairs on my vehicles! At least I know it's done right and I'm not buying parts that aren't needed etc.

Have you talked to the BBB in Washington? Have you talked to or visited the state consumer people? When I get shabby treatment from a service provider, I give em a chance to make things right to my satisfaction. If they don't, it's on to the BBB, every consumer website I can find. Then to every phonebook site that let's you provide input. At least if you can't get some of your money back, you've got the satisfaction of knowing you've warned others hopefully saving them the same grief you went through, and knowing that you've probably cost the guy some money/ business.

I guess most places these days don't bother to see tha fact that a large amount of their business is word of mouth. Sad to see that these days, the only way you can get things done is to get irate.

 

[Tank69]

Re: I'm irate

thanks for everyone thoughts an input........I really wish I coulda done most of this work myself but after my wreck I just cant do it an its very frustraiting ...I didnt think about the BBB but I sure am now .....the biggest problem now is not having the funds to take both somewhere now an getting the new bill n sending to the 1st shop an the BBB.


so I'm just trying to figure out what to do now .

 

[Siegfried Schlagrule]

Re: I'm irate

My wife likes to go to Car-X for her oil changes because it has a nice clean lounge with a TV set and a coffee pot and the sales people all treat her so nice. Twice she let them "upgrade" her to over $300 in extra repairs that I was expected to pay for without being consulted first because they were holding her car hostage basically. At our last discussion concerning this process she finally got the message and when she went in for her last oil change she had them give her a written description of whatever was wrong and an estimate of what it would cost to fix. I took that list - which i wrote out by hand - and my wife to my favorite tire dealer who also does mechanical work and asked him to check those items for me while he rotated my tires. Three of the four items there was absolutely nothing wrong. The fourth item it was wrong but no big deal. The estimated cost of repairs was almost $700. I did not repair the one thing that was wrong but am watching it and if it gets worse I'll fix it. It was caused by my wife finding a sale on those huge decorative brick building blocks and using her car trunk as a pickup truck and breaking one of the back springs. She didn't call me to haul them in the truck because she didn't want me to know how much she spent on them. Get a second opinion. An even cheaper second opinion is taking your car by a dealer and asking him how much he will allow in trade for your car. Believe me you will hear about every little thing that is wrong and some that aren't. siegfried schlagrule

 

[Monty]

Re: I'm irate

I was charged over $800.00 to fix my home AC. when I got to looking into it because it didn't work I found out that all it needed was some freon. I brought it to their attention and they more or less said so, too bad. I filed a complaint wit the Better Business Bureau and low and behold the Service Company phoned and offered me $750.00 to withdraw the complaint. I did and they did. First time I ever got any justice on something like that. Monty

 

[ivan salis]

Re: I'm irate

#1 they know your "leaving" thus will not be there to sue them in court and / or bad mouth them to other "locals" em when the slipshod "bubblegum" fix -they slapped on it gives out

#2 they stalled you on getting the vechiles back till just before your due to go * so you got no time to figger out how bad they hosed you * till your far away .

lessons learn ----never ever tell a repair shop that you need it fixed cuase your moving outta state * -- they then know you'll have no recourse against them ( gotta be local to sue em easily)

get someone who's honest and knows what their doing.(yes they do tend to cost more)

 

[allen]

Re: I'm irate

damn that sucks !!