having to pay for a recall

This is off topic, but i sent in a GEM golf cart to have a saftey recall done. And the mechanic wants to charge me 300 bucks for labor. Apparently Gem pays for 1.1 hours of labor, and the mechanic went over that allowed time. The garage wont release it till i pay the balance. And GEM said that the garage should not charge anything because they took on the job knowing the time frame and he agreed to the 1.1 hours. What the heck do i do here? I am caught in the middle.

 

$300 over!!!! He must have gone way the hell over. I assume that is at least 4 hours over. That means it took him 5 hours to do something that should have taken 1. Either GEM is unrealistic in their allotted time or your mechanic is incompetent. Either way it sounds like you are screwed. That's bull....

 

My first reaction would be to grab my gun. Since we dont have guns , a KFC plastic knife is the only other attack weapon option we have.

Did you sign a work authorisation form before they started work? If not, you may have the right to call the cops for unlawful seizure of property and remove your buggy and have the garage take you to small claims court. Or you can pay up, remove the buggy and take them to small claims court.

I'm no expert on this matter. Maybe argm31i can shed some light on this matter.

 

Time to visit a lawyer...

 

?

 

I didnt sign any paper work. I just dropped off the gem and told him to just do the recall. I called GEM and they told me the same thing. As long as I didnt sign anything then he can't charge me that. I think GEM is going to call the garage tomorrow and try and settle it. If they cant then I will try the Better Business Bureau.

 

i think that technically...as for a recall, (and the way we handle recalls and warranty on our golf carts), you should not be obligated to pay anything. recall is a recall.....which means a manufacturers mess up!!

get rid of the gem( im not too fond of them myself....we had alot of trouble out of them when we sold them) and get a new yamaha drive 4 or 6 passenger or a club car.........i guarantee you that you will have less problems.

hopefully, everything will work out for you man!!

 

Excellent. BBB is a waste of time at this point. Your objective is to recover your asset ASAP. I have reason to believe the law is on your side. Call the police and have a chat. Let them know you took it in for a safety recall and now the garage is attempting to extort money. Dont involve lawyers unless its a cost free service. You'll be in a bigger hole than you are now.

If your buggy is leased, notify your leasing company in writing that you are going to discontinue lease payments as the buggy has been seized for no fault on your part. No creditor can seize leased equipment/property except the lessor. Technically, you cant do this (stop payment) however its for maximum impact. Your leasing company has ultimate jurisdiction (even over IRS) over its property. No question about it. If its leased, you can sit back and laugh your ass off.

In the mean time, start a campaign of your own to discredit the garage and the equipment manufacturer. Go after the equipment manufacturer as they have more clout and more to lose. Call the media etc. If you are a golf course operator you have an added advantage.

Please let me know how this goes. I hate it when ordinary people get screwed by businesses. I've alerted argm31i on this thread. Lets see what he has to say. He should be more conversant with US laws.

 

I do not have a lease on the cart. Im just a guy that wanted the cart for tooling around. GEM called me today and said that there is nothing they can do but they would call the garage and let him know that he "shouldnt" charge for any overage. thanks for the advice.

bill