Are There Any Honest Mechanics?

lethalwithasupra · 04-06-2006, 10:22 AM

Ok so all this " honest mechanic " crap ... sorry if it's too full of *itself* or long paragraphs ...

Customer comes in and asks what the dashlights on his van mean. Fuel, handbrake and altenator lights are on while it's runing. They had been comming on and off for a couple of days now, no other problems with the vehicle ( such as overheating from a missing fan belt ). Same-day service sort of thing cos he's a tourist and in a hurry. So I get the job of taking his van appart, the guy hangs out for a bit ( here the boss is fixing his 230V radio for free cos the guy seems cool. Couple other perks to getting his van fixed here. We're like that, multi-skilled and good guys ). Guy takes off on foot somewhere for the day. I take his altenator appart and notice the nice burnt diodes ( someone must've put the leads backwards when it was jump started for them all to go like that ). I take off in the work van to finish off a small mammoth job I started a couple days ago and my boss fixes the altenator and puts it beside the van. At the end of the day the guy comes back and I'm pulled off yet another job ( which was yet another walk-in, but a really good customer ) to put his alt back on. A very busy day or it would have been ready ages ago.

Stupid me doesn't put the belt on right and it flies off the pulley, gets crimped but not broken. Yea don't laugh too hard plz, I ain't happy with it. We can't find another belt for it same day, so we put the buggered belt back on temporary and ask him to come back tomorrow and appologise for all this *yet again*. He has to stay in town overnight. Next day he gets a new belt on URGENT delivery by nine the following am, supplied and fitted free of charge and with a another big fat appology.

Now here's the bit that slotts me off. He comes back, after telling me all is fine ( fuck I hate ppl who can't just say " this isn't good " ), he asks and asks to talk to my boss who was away on a callout. Apparently and you have to look at this from his " point of view " but, and he's " no mechanic, " but it seemed to him that my buggering his v-belt and the alt being buggered had the same symptoms. Therefore the alt was never faulty and the belt had smiply fallen off. And that was the only problem. Apparently I had missed the fact when I took the belt off to get the alt off .... And the boss also missed it when he did the diagnosis work. Right ...

Boss comes back in and tells me this arsehole told him *I* suggested the belt was the only thing wrong. Fucking retard. So I go and talk to him while the boss is hunting through the scrap for this guy's old rectifier and regulator, just to show the guy how visibly damaged they were. I end up explaining to him several times that both *his* fault and the one I caused had similar symptoms, but the guy just isn't listening. Keeps falling back to this stupid line " you have to look at this from my point of view, I'm no mechanic but it seems to me that ... " gist is that the altenator was fine, he isn't disputing that we put new parts in, or accusing us of ripping him off. Just wants to settle on the price, or he'll go get a second opinon and go to the cops if we have ripped him off. Single minded argumenting. Fuck the guy was pissing me off by the time the boss came back out to show him the old bits and point out that if he really wanted to rip the guy off he wouldn't have done a few other jobs for him for free or even taken the alt off the car cos that just took up time. If we really wanted to rip him off we're smart enough to do it well. plus the symptoms were different ( firstly the alt light only came on with the engine running, the other two lights were always on. With the belt being broken all lights were always on ).

Didn't come here intending to post this ... just saw the post and wondered if I'd gotten an answer for the AFM/TPS Q then got to thinking on how sometimes you're not actually being ripped off when you are. Or you're actually trying to rip off by accusing people of ripping you off. No acusations there, I'm just getting really angsty about people who want the earth but wont buy it.

Supratech's advice is good advice.
I'll add
6)only get your car worked on by a tradesman you think you can trust, and don't try to haggle, barter or browbeat after the damn job's done under quote. After all, half of the exchange is how we trust you. Give and take, or there's just no point helping you.

04-06-2006, 10:22 AM	#18
lethalwithasupra 3" Exhaust Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: south cantebury Posts: 112	Warning, Rant To Follow . . . Ok so all this " honest mechanic " crap ... sorry if it's too full of itself or long paragraphs ... Customer comes in and asks what the dashlights on his van mean. Fuel, handbrake and altenator lights are on while it's runing. They had been comming on and off for a couple of days now, no other problems with the vehicle ( such as overheating from a missing fan belt ). Same-day service sort of thing cos he's a tourist and in a hurry. So I get the job of taking his van appart, the guy hangs out for a bit ( here the boss is fixing his 230V radio for free cos the guy seems cool. Couple other perks to getting his van fixed here. We're like that, multi-skilled and good guys ). Guy takes off on foot somewhere for the day. I take his altenator appart and notice the nice burnt diodes ( someone must've put the leads backwards when it was jump started for them all to go like that ). I take off in the work van to finish off a small mammoth job I started a couple days ago and my boss fixes the altenator and puts it beside the van. At the end of the day the guy comes back and I'm pulled off yet another job ( which was yet another walk-in, but a really good customer ) to put his alt back on. A very busy day or it would have been ready ages ago. Stupid me doesn't put the belt on right and it flies off the pulley, gets crimped but not broken. Yea don't laugh too hard plz, I ain't happy with it. We can't find another belt for it same day, so we put the buggered belt back on temporary and ask him to come back tomorrow and appologise for all this yet again. He has to stay in town overnight. Next day he gets a new belt on URGENT delivery by nine the following am, supplied and fitted free of charge and with a another big fat appology. Now here's the bit that slotts me off. He comes back, after telling me all is fine ( fuck I hate ppl who can't just say " this isn't good " ), he asks and asks to talk to my boss who was away on a callout. Apparently and you have to look at this from his " point of view " but, and he's " no mechanic, " but it seemed to him that my buggering his v-belt and the alt being buggered had the same symptoms. Therefore the alt was never faulty and the belt had smiply fallen off. And that was the only problem. Apparently I had missed the fact when I took the belt off to get the alt off .... And the boss also missed it when he did the diagnosis work. Right ... Boss comes back in and tells me this arsehole told him I suggested the belt was the only thing wrong. Fucking retard. So I go and talk to him while the boss is hunting through the scrap for this guy's old rectifier and regulator, just to show the guy how visibly damaged they were. I end up explaining to him several times that both his fault and the one I caused had similar symptoms, but the guy just isn't listening. Keeps falling back to this stupid line " you have to look at this from my point of view, I'm no mechanic but it seems to me that ... " gist is that the altenator was fine, he isn't disputing that we put new parts in, or accusing us of ripping him off. Just wants to settle on the price, or he'll go get a second opinon and go to the cops if we have ripped him off. Single minded argumenting. Fuck the guy was pissing me off by the time the boss came back out to show him the old bits and point out that if he really wanted to rip the guy off he wouldn't have done a few other jobs for him for free or even taken the alt off the car cos that just took up time. If we really wanted to rip him off we're smart enough to do it well. plus the symptoms were different ( firstly the alt light only came on with the engine running, the other two lights were always on. With the belt being broken all lights were always on ). Didn't come here intending to post this ... just saw the post and wondered if I'd gotten an answer for the AFM/TPS Q then got to thinking on how sometimes you're not actually being ripped off when you are. Or you're actually trying to rip off by accusing people of ripping you off. No acusations there, I'm just getting really angsty about people who want the earth but wont buy it. Supratech's advice is good advice. I'll add 6)only get your car worked on by a tradesman you think you can trust, and don't try to haggle, barter or browbeat after the damn job's done under quote. After all, half of the exchange is how we trust you. Give and take, or there's just no point helping you. __________________ So I bought this old Honda bike, an NSR250. Bit of a street racer, I guess. I'm told they're fast. Delivering it home with a friend driving the Supra for the first time. I drop gears and make a scream from the twin pipes flowing down this pony's flanks and it takes off like it's tail's on fire. I look back when the Honda gets to its tap-out and the Supra's only two lengths behind. No one I've let ride my bike has told me its slow, they've all loved the thing. That car is a good thing indeed. Last edited by lethalwithasupra; 04-06-2006 at 10:44 AM.