Repair shop experience. Need your opinions.

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They've already charged less than their first estimate; I think they deserve a chance to at least look at the car again.

The paranoia here runs high, and I understand why, I've had bad and incompetent and greedy service, especially from chain shops... but ruling out all "tire shops" for service is silly. One of the most trustworthy shops locally is a non-chain tire shop. They're not perfect but they've never, ever tried to gouge me, and their work has already come in at or under the estimate.
 
Originally Posted By: cashmoney
I'd go back in to the shop and be 100% honest about the noises I thought I was hearing now and ask them to take a look at it and see if anything may have happened while car was up on the lift or being serviced. In other words I'd assume they were 100% honest until proven otherwise in this specific case especially with a trivial $100 repair bill.

The only caveat to that was that if I felt beforehand that they were completely incompetent or thieves I would not go back at all for any reason and take the car to another shop and chalk up first experience and cost to lessons learned "tuition".

Most independent shops that have been around for a while are good at making a reasonable profit but they are also honest or they don't survive and prosper. I prefer to assume these small business are honest until proven otherwise and find that a sincere honest, open, and frank conversation in a situation like this is very powerful in terms of getting help and building a relationship with the business owner.

I suggest folks adapt an attitude that they want to be a repeat long term customer and initially seek to build a trust relationship with a small business instead of approaching a small transaction like this with a mood of suspicion and mistrust which the other person will most certainly pick up on and that mood will generally produce poor results both short term and long term. Develop the practice of having open, sincere conversations and generate a mood of trust and you will get way better results over time, not always because there are always some dirtbags in the world, but most of the time honesty and trust works out just fine.


Well put.




As for the recommendation to replace the whole sway bar- I believe they have good reason to. I've seen and replaced lots of GM sway bars because they're a tube that has been pinched together at the ends. The spot where it was pinched then rusts out and breaks. Dorman makes an over sized (really not over sized, just the biggest size that was an option), solid bar to replace the failure prone hollow one. The only problem is- just like all things Dorman, there will likely be an issue down the road. In this case, the bushings that they supply will probably rot out in a year or two. You should be able to find an equivalent replacement through whatever bushing line you or the shop prefers though.
 
Originally Posted By: HangFire
They've already charged less than their first estimate; I think they deserve a chance to at least look at the car again.


I agree with the above statement.
 
Thanks for all of the replies everyone. I'll be taking the car back to him tomorrow and explain to him the new noise and take it from there. Oddly enough I just found out my boss has used them before and had nothing negative to say about the experience.
 
Originally Posted By: RamFan
Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
They could have easily hosed you for more than one sensor and rotated the tires to get your bill higher.


This is my thought as well. I just can't wrap my mind around a shop that would be honest enough to not do a service but then intentionally cause or increase an existing problem on the vehicle. By the way the sensors all register perfectly and the high speed vibration is completely gone. So clearly the TPMS diagnosis/replacement and balance was done correctly.

It's just the timing of the whole thing that makes me suspect. I'm going to have to jack it up myself and take a look to see if there is something that clearly is out of the norm.


I agree with this. Sounds like a very honest shop to me. The noises likely coincidental. I would ask them about it, but I would also let them do the repairs. Their prices seem very fair.
 
Originally Posted By: zzyzzx
Originally Posted By: HangFire
They've already charged less than their first estimate; I think they deserve a chance to at least look at the car again.


I agree with the above statement.


+1.
 
The lower control arm front donut bushing are notorious on these and a few other GM cars.
just lifting them can and many times does finish them off. They are so bad Moog came out with a new style heim joint style for them. Replacing the originals with these is really worthwhile.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=4796937&cc=1440406&jnid=511&jpid=17

The sway bars as someone pointed out has a habit of breaking at the ends. I replace all of them (front and rear) on my Grand Prix's with GMPP replacements, they are thicker and heavier. I also did the trailing arms with tubular GMPP replacements which are another sore spot.

The garage didn't do you wrong IMO.
 
You already gave them a chance to rip you off and they didn't. I'd guess the sway bar bushings are shot and only got worse being moved around a little. I have had them crumble on me as soon as I touched them. Personally I would get under the car and have a look around. You will be able to see bad sway bar bushings right away. Check it out yourself!
 
Originally Posted By: 01rangerxl
I would look closely at the sway bar end link bolts and the bolts for the brackets. Loosening any of those could easily cause a pop, but would be unlikely to get them sued since it won't make you wreck the car.



This. One of my endlinks was loosened and it made a nasty clanking sound. Definitely worth checking out.
 
Originally Posted By: cashmoney
I'd go back in to the shop and be 100% honest about the noises I thought I was hearing now and ask them to take a look at it and see if anything may have happened while car was up on the lift or being serviced. In other words I'd assume they were 100% honest until proven otherwise in this specific case especially with a trivial $100 repair bill.

The only caveat to that was that if I felt beforehand that they were completely incompetent or thieves I would not go back at all for any reason and take the car to another shop and chalk up first experience and cost to lessons learned "tuition".

Most independent shops that have been around for a while are good at making a reasonable profit but they are also honest or they don't survive and prosper. I prefer to assume these small business are honest until proven otherwise and find that a sincere honest, open, and frank conversation in a situation like this is very powerful in terms of getting help and building a relationship with the business owner.

I suggest folks adapt an attitude that they want to be a repeat long term customer and initially seek to build a trust relationship with a small business instead of approaching a small transaction like this with a mood of suspicion and mistrust which the other person will most certainly pick up on and that mood will generally produce poor results both short term and long term. Develop the practice of having open, sincere conversations and generate a mood of trust and you will get way better results over time, not always because there are always some dirtbags in the world, but most of the time honesty and trust works out just fine.

I have just read and re read this reply and feel it is one of the best pieces of advice I have seen in a long time.
 
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