1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

I prefer to be reliably unreliable

 

Nick, please keep your truck.

 

The gamble paid off

Im curious what the old crank gear looked like if he sent you any pictures

 

@eon_blue

 

This other mechanic is worse than I thought. I wouldn’t trust him to do an oil change. How the hell this guy has 4.9 stars I have no idea.

 

It's like Ben had said in his other post, just leave a negative review and maybe add that you took it to another mechanic where it was actually repaired.

Just keep all feelings aside and stick to facts.

 

Do I give him a chance to make it right and ask for a refund? I’m not only out $550 for the labor I paid him, but also the $900 for the new mechanic to clean up his mess and pay for the sensor he threw out. I’m even thinking of talking to a lawyer in this case..

 

If I were in your shoes, this is how I would present things.

Drive the repaired truck to the shop, preferably earlier than later in the day (maybe early in the week).

Bring the invoice you paid from the other shop; most times it'll state what the actual issue was (maybe in the DIAG box) as well as all that was repaired and/or replaced.

Talk to the mechanic that you had the issue with, hopefully inside the main office and not in the shop, and share what you were told regarding the initial repair and the issues it caused.

I would request partial if not a full refund for labor, his diagnostic fee even, but I wouldn't expect a refund on newly purchased parts. Be firm and state how you think this is more than fair since you had to deal with the vehicle being down for so long, not to mention getting it towed again elsewhere, and having it down even longer, on top of paying another diagnostic fee, as well as the added costs for parts and labor with the second mechanic.

Really, it comes down to a specific "number" in your head that you'll settle for. Whether it's $250, $500, or $1,000, stick to that number before going in and present everything as clear as possible.

 

My advice, just move on and be glad the truck runs. $1500 won't cover a lawyer.

 

So all I paid the original hack mechanic. was $550 for the labor of the (botched) timing job, compression test, diagnosis, etc. It's actually pretty cheap for all that, but of course you get what you pay for. He also threw out my functional OEM crank sensor, so I had to pay $150 for a new one. I'd at least like him to refund the cost of the new sensor, preferably the full $550 I owed him.

But the guy is also really shadetree, like he doesn't even have an office per se, it's just some shitty garage with a bunch of junk cars parked out front in the grass. He may just tell me to kick rocks, but I figure I should at least give him a chance to make things right.

What do I do if he tells me to take a hike? Take him to small claims maybe?

 

I thought you didn't need a lawyer for small claims, otherwise no one would do it. Still might not be worth the trouble though.

 

Gotcha.

I'd go in hoping for full labor cost, and expecting at least half of it back if I'm being realistic.

I wouldn't push it so hard; I'd chalk it up to like you said, you get what you pay for.

A small shop like that can get hurt by an honest negative review by you, especially if it's recent.

But don't push it, it isn't worth the time if you get nothing back in the end. What you've gained in return is having found a shop that actually knows what they're doing as they fixed your truck after another mechanic fucked it up and couldn't fix it.

 

Either way sounds like a massive pita to me. I’d go in professionally and calmly seeking a refund on the labor and diagnosis fee, and just eat the parts cost.

 

I would approach him like @Kwikvette said and hope that he’s agreeable to negotiating a partial refund at least.

If not, then for $550 I would just consider it a lesson learned. Taking it to small claims over such a small amount wouldn’t be worth the trouble at all. Probably cost you more in time and money after it’s all said and done.

i mentioned awhile back that I went through this same thing with a botched clutch job on my Tacoma several years ago. And there was wayyy more money into that whole fiasco than $500, in the end he just agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the parts provided and I just figured the rest was a few thousand dollar hard lesson learned.
Lesson being, do the work yourself if you can. If you can’t, remember you get what you pay for

 

Nailed it. Only thing I would say is ask for $250 (he still gets paid) and if you do what is above and something like "look to make me feel happy about all this, $250 would certainly make me feel better and not leave a negative review about all this" or something to that effect. He feels like he wins a bit, you get cash back in your pocket.

 

You chalk it up to a life lesson about how you don't take your shop to a shed surrounded by junk cars (presumably cars he failed to fix before you). Spend a little more and go to a well put together shop with good reviews, being cheap as you've learned, is expensive.

 

Aren't you sitting here trying to figure out how the washer was behind the crank gear but not installed???

 

Don't forget you can also file a claim with the better business bureau.
Go in with all your documents. Keep emotion out of it. Ask for all of it back except maybe half and be happy with that.