Mechanics and come backs

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk
I called a shop that I knew was good; I knew they were expensive.
The work was top notch; I am more than satisfied.
No one ever mentions that they chose the cheapest shop when they complain. My Dad always used cheap shops that were good for the first bit but once they knew they had your business they would start cutting corners.

Solutions:
1. Buy once, cry once you cheapskate!
2. If you want it done right, do it yourself you lazy couch potato!

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by demarpaint
Probably because 80% of the so called mechanics today are hacks. The same can be said for other tradesmen as well unfortunately. There are several good mechanics who reside on this board, Trav, clinebarger, and The Critic come to mind, as do a few others. If they were close to me I'd probably use or recommend them to people. Aside from that finding one can be a challenge, I got lucky and found great tech at a local Jeep dealership. He has been great handling recall and warranty work. He's a great guy, a neat worker and very knowledgeable. I make it a point to take care of him when he does work for me.


I think it's MORE than that, far more, and many of them are also fraudsters as well. Heck I bet that 50% or more of the time most work people pay for at most shops is NEVER actually done at all, with many jobs only being partially completed, with just enough done so the customer will never had a clue.

Fact is that the overwhelming majority of auto repair shops and mechanics are hacks and/or thieves.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Doublehaul
Also to the post above mine...there are great independant shops and bad ones...same to the dealerships.

In my area our dealerships are awful...sadly most of the indi guys are too. Its what i get for living where I live...and a the biggest reason i drive Toyotas


Absolutely!

It's no guarantee of better quality service because you use an independent shop, and many times if you go by internet reviews they are often times rigged too!
Even references aren't much of a guarantee today, I've noticed that a game many shops play today is that when you use them initially they will do the job well and the price is reasonable, but once you get comfortable or develop a "relationship" with them they go to work ripping you off increasingly the old "boiling the frog" tactic if you will.

Honestly if you can't do your own work, DON'T bother going for service, and just drive the wheels off the vehicle, and when it dies if anything more than a very simple
item like the battery, get rid of it and buy another one, new with a long factory warranty.

 

[The motor guy]

I think it would be a reasonable request to ask for a credit. Say if the job was $2,000 then after they have it all fixed, request for a $100 credit. Lets face it, they're wasting your time now, especially if you have to bring it back more than once.

 

[bbhero]

Originally Posted by Chris142
Your lumping us all together. I rarely have a comeback and if I do it's usually a failed part and not a mistake. I'm sure that critics work is as good if not better than mine since he likes to use OEM parts.



Exactly Chris142....

I have had a comeback on my former car Nissan Sentra... A hooptified "new" alternator failed in less than 14 miles.... That also happened with my alternator on my Ford Probe 2 times... Junk parts in all cases... The regular mechanics I see... Are really good guys... Thank the good Lord I have found them.

 

[Timmastertech]

Some of us actually do take pride in our work, use quality parts and do know what we are doing contrary to popular belief. Am I perfect, no. Unfortunately I am human and I do make mistakes from time to time and parts sometimes do fail prematurely. I stand behind what I do. Obviously I cant warranty parts that I dont replace but if something else fails shortly after I will work with you to make it right. Example is I put an engine in a car. Generally we would transfer engine management components like coils and sensors and injectors from the original engine to the replacement. A coil fails a month later. I would treat it as if I had replaced it when I did the engine, meaning you are just paying for the coil.

 

[wag123]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Probably because 80% of the so called mechanics today are hacks. The same can be said for other tradesmen as well unfortunately. There are several good mechanics who reside on this board, Trav, clinebarger, and The Critic come to mind, as do a few others. If they were close to me I'd probably use or recommend them to people. Aside from that finding one can be a challenge, I got lucky and found great tech at a local Jeep dealership. He has been great handling recall and warranty work. He's a great guy, a neat worker and very knowledgeable. I make it a point to take care of him when he does work for me.


I think it's MORE than that, far more, and many of them are also fraudsters as well. Heck I bet that 50% or more of the time most work people pay for at most shops is NEVER actually done at all, with many jobs only being partially completed, with just enough done so the customer will never had a clue.

Fact is that the overwhelming majority of auto repair shops and mechanics are hacks and/or thieves.
Nonsense!

 

[RooflessVW]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
It's no guarantee of better quality service because you use an independent shop, and many times if you go by internet reviews they are often times rigged too!
Even references aren't much of a guarantee today, I've noticed that a game many shops play today is that when you use them initially they will do the job well and the price is reasonable, but once you get comfortable or develop a "relationship" with them they go to work ripping you off increasingly the old "boiling the frog" tactic if you will.

Honestly if you can't do your own work, DON'T bother going for service, and just drive the wheels off the vehicle, and when it dies if anything more than a very simple
item like the battery, get rid of it and buy another one, new with a long factory warranty.

What a foolish statement to make and what a very sad mentality to have.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by wag123
Nonsense!


I've worked directly in this business at a number of shops and I've witnessed it first hand!

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by rooflessVW

What a foolish statement to make and what a very sad mentality to have.



So I've worked in the business at a number of shops for over 25 years and witnessed this activity first hand....nothing foolish about my statement, it's a FACT!

I'm an eyewitness .

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Probably because 80% of the so called mechanics today are hacks. The same can be said for other tradesmen as well unfortunately. There are several good mechanics who reside on this board, Trav, clinebarger, and The Critic come to mind, as do a few others. If they were close to me I'd probably use or recommend them to people. Aside from that finding one can be a challenge, I got lucky and found great tech at a local Jeep dealership. He has been great handling recall and warranty work. He's a great guy, a neat worker and very knowledgeable. I make it a point to take care of him when he does work for me.


I think it's MORE than that, far more, and many of them are also fraudsters as well. Heck I bet that 50% or more of the time most work people pay for at most shops is NEVER actually done at all, with many jobs only being partially completed, with just enough done so the customer will never had a clue.

Fact is that the overwhelming majority of auto repair shops and mechanics are hacks and/or thieves.


Like I said, they gamble on the customer not knowing any better. Sometimes they forget that it might be a mechanics car they're working on and maybe the mechanic is injured and can't do the work themselves atm, so they paid someone else.

I remember once I had some front end work done on my truck and they didn't put clamps back on the steering rack boots. I know they don't generally provide new stainless band clamps other than straight from the factory and you have to resort to using very large zip ties. Okay...… But atleast put those on and yes you can bet I brought the truck back for this. Funny thing is I think they remember the truck now and not a single nut or bolt has been forgotten since that first incident.

 

[HangFire]

Useless thread.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted by Doublehaul

Mechanics as a general rule dont know much about oil either and love to repeat myths...dont hold this against them. They are not trained in lube tech lol


That's funny and true. As an aircraft mechanic at a facility that overhauls commuter airliners, I've tried to strike up conversations with a few of the guys I work with about oil. There are a few who know a little bit, but most don't have the first clue about what makes a good motor oil, good, or vice-versa. In fact, I'd say most don't even change their own oil.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by demarpaint
Probably because 80% of the so called mechanics today are hacks. The same can be said for other tradesmen as well unfortunately. There are several good mechanics who reside on this board, Trav, clinebarger, and The Critic come to mind, as do a few others. If they were close to me I'd probably use or recommend them to people. Aside from that finding one can be a challenge, I got lucky and found great tech at a local Jeep dealership. He has been great handling recall and warranty work. He's a great guy, a neat worker and very knowledgeable. I make it a point to take care of him when he does work for me.


I think it's MORE than that, far more, and many of them are also fraudsters as well. Heck I bet that 50% or more of the time most work people pay for at most shops is NEVER actually done at all, with many jobs only being partially completed, with just enough done so the customer will never had a clue.

Fact is that the overwhelming majority of auto repair shops and mechanics are hacks and/or thieves.

I can't say I totally disagree with you. There's good and bad in every profession, and I like to try and give the benefit of the doubt to people. I worked in 5 different dealerships in sales over a three + year span. During that time I had dealings with service, and independent shops, a lot of dealings. I could write a book about botched jobs, damaged cars, and comebacks. People would often come back into the sales department screaming at the salesman about how incompetent the service department was. Once in a while I'd get threatened, I laughed those off. I already knew there were some real hack mechanics working in their own businesses and for dealerships, what surprised me was the percent of these hacks was higher than I thought.

I will say again, I know with 100% certainty the member mechanics I mentioned earlier in this thread are what I consider to be experts and craftsmen. I would have no problem using any of them. I had the opportunity to become friends with Trav, good friends in fact. I've seen him work on a car of mine a few years back. He is a truly gifted mechanic, in fact the best I've seen.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by demarpaint



I will say again, I know with 100% certainty the member mechanics I mentioned earlier in this thread are what I consider to be experts and craftsmen. I would have no problem using any of them. I had the opportunity to become friends with Trav, good friends in fact. I've seen him work on a car of mine a few years back. He is a truly gifted mechanic, in fact the best I've seen.


I totally agree on this aspect of things, our member mechanics are great. But they are literally the needle in the haystack, the rest of us aren't so lucky.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted by AC1DD
I totally agree on this aspect of things, our member mechanics are great. But they are literally the needle in the haystack, the rest of us aren't so lucky.

Sometimes it's the customer, you know?

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by AC1DD
I totally agree on this aspect of things, our member mechanics are great. But they are literally the needle in the haystack, the rest of us aren't so lucky.

Sometimes it's the customer, you know?


SOMETIMES, but I can personally attest to the fact that more often than not the mechanic or shop are 100% responsible for the issues.
I had one indy shop owner (which I had gone to for almost a decade which had a fairly good rep) out of the blue scream at me for looking under the hood of my car after he did work on it. I calmly explained how the car had been troublesome no matter who worked on it so I just wanted to be sure things were OK....the guy continued to bark at me
for almost 20 minutes as I took the high road....I gave him the benefit of the doubt at that point figuring that maybe he had some kind of personal calamity and that in a couple of weeks he would call me back and apologize for his outrageous outburst....he NEVER did, and I never went back and then told everyone I knew not to go there anymore.

 

[JeffKeryk]

My older brother owned Comprehensive Mechanics in Santa Cruz, CA.
He had a standing deal with customers; if you don't like the work, you only pay for parts, the labor is free and we never do business again.
Greg HATED come backs.
No one ever took him up on his warranty.

One post noted there are good and bad in every profession. I think he hit the nail on the head.
In my profession I can tell you there are far fewer producers than people who do the least. Or less.

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by JeffKeryk


One post noted there are good and bad in every profession. I think he hit the nail on the head.
In my profession I can tell you there are far fewer producers than people who do the least. Or less.


Unfortunately in this field most do the very least possible or just as likely nothing at all, since the customer isn't able to tell much of the time.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted by kschachn
Originally Posted by AC1DD
I totally agree on this aspect of things, our member mechanics are great. But they are literally the needle in the haystack, the rest of us aren't so lucky.

Sometimes it's the customer, you know?

There's a lot of truth in that statement too!