Killed a con-artist repair shop big time!

Sounds pretty standard for the auto service industry, I wouldn't call the repair shop con-artists.

 

:TU: :TU: :TU:

 

I've been to good shops that treat you right, try and help you and give advice, and I've been to bad shops. Some of the dealerships can be horrible (not all). I've had shops repair things I didn't ask for and come it at tripple the estimate. I know that you sometimes don't know what you will find, but three times the estimate should get a phone call before work, and fixing a problem that I didn't come in for is just crooked. I've had shops mess up brakes, and try and charge me for new parts 1000 miles after they "fixed them". I had my wife take my Caddy into sears for a new battery and a new headlight bulb because I was working out of town. When I got home the new bulb was broken inside of the headlight assembly. All the wife did was drive the car home about 2 miles. Sears wouldn't even provide me with a new bulb that costs them about nothing, even if I installed it myself. There are some bad mechanics out there, but I've known some very good ones too. They don't try and make a days pay off of a small job, they try and help you with advice even if the advice is " if you keep this truck I'm going to make a lot of money, dump it!".
The big problem is we tend to remember the crooks the most.
Bust the bad ones, but promote the good ones. Ask around when you can, call a couple of shops to make sure the price is in line.
This is one reason I like older rigs. I know what everything under the hood is, what it does, and can fix most of it. My 05 Chevy and my 07 Dodge have to go to the shop for anything more than an oil change.

 

This story literally brought a tear to my eye...from laughing.

 

I bought my Silverado new in 07 from a local Dealer. Went to work the next morning at 3am, worked until noon. Went home, hooked up to my 18ft. American Hauler loaded up wih my Harley, 1 travel bag of clothes and 3/4 of Ambers wardrobe! Drove straight through to Florida for a week of RR, just me, her and sunshine. We pull into Holliday Inn the next morning and I park right in front of the main lobby to get the key to our room. I come out with the key, hop in the truck, it wont come out of park!!!:rant: I call the dealer where I bought my truck (it is now 10am saturday morning) I tell the lady that answers the phone about my problem and where I am. She says I need to call a dealer in Florida and hangs up on me!! Now I'm a little worked up! I call them back, get nowhere! I fool around under the dash pulling on wires and **** that I have no idea what the do while Amber is trying to pull it out of park. She finally gets it out and we go to our room. It did it again the next day and I notice that my tail lights come on, off as I mess with the wires. So I put a new brake switch on it, nothing, still does it. After we get back from our trip and before we even go home (not to her liking either) I go straight to the dealer and park broadside trailer and all right in front of the service bays. As I'm walking in a tech is comming out telling me I have to move my truck, I say go ahead if you can! He couldnt!! To sum it up, they never did fix my truck, it will only it comes out of park is via left foot only on the brake pedal....

 

Isn't that how it's supposed to work?

 

I guess mine is!!! left foot left side only.

 

doug ray, what point are you trying to make? are you upset that your dealer didn't come to florida to repair your truck? if your out of town and lose a filling on your tooth, do you expect your dentist to come from hundreds of miles away to fix your tooth? there are chevy dealers in florida.

 

haha!!! Now that would be awesome customer service! I would think after paying 36k cash 2 days prior that my dealer would have at least gave me some direction on a dealer that would do a Saturday service call o No: But hey, you're right, they got my money, done deal. I should have looked for a corner gas station to do the repair. What the hell was I thinking....

 

Still some excellent shops out there, you just need to find them.
In '91 or '92 ,our '89 Accord goes in for service at the selling dealer. This is the second new car we bought here.
5:00 I show up with my wife to pick-up the car. Service manager explains he tried in vain for most of the day to reach either of us, no luck.
He noticed the car needed " something" ( I forget what it was ) replaced & it was a total of about $75.00. He went ahead & did the work without authority to proceed.
He tells me what he did & explains that if I'm not happy about it I don't need to pay for it.
He didn't tell me that if I'm not happy he will take it back off the car.
I respected his approach, paid the bill & left.
We've returned many times for service on the 4 new cars we bought there since!