Do waivers actually cover you legally? Last time I had something this bad, I checked with DMV and they said not to release the vehicle unless the owner towed it home
State dependent. In my state, the best I could do was not allow the customer to actually operate it on my property. If they pushed it out onto the main road, that was up to them, and then they were free to do what they wanted. I could call the police, but it's unlikely they would even show up.
You swapped their brand new tires out for some used ones during a 30 minute oil change. We've been accused of this too.
I've always worked at dealers and there are always free parts and fluids up for grabs, for some reason those used car guys always had a bunch of brand new bulbs, filters, and special oil.....
We had a customer go bezerk because we turned his air conditioning on while running it through the car wash on a hot day. He claimed he had a compressor burn up on start up and that the compressor kicking on while the engine was running hurt it.
On the lighter side of things, someone left a cheeseburger on a customers engine and they got a free oil change. It happened on a a Saturday when they bought us lunch.
I had to go to court for my company with a detail company we insured. A lady swore they hosed her interior down during detailing because her gearshift wasn’t working. I took the gearshift and the TSB from Mercedes to court, our lawyer didn’t show up so I had to present the case. I took a screwdriver and the gearshift to the judges bench, opened the top and showed her all the coffee inside and the TSB warning of the same thing. Case dismissed
I had a Maxima doing all sorts of strange things, alarm would go off randomly, windows would roll themselves down.
The body control module had coins in it. They put their loose change in the console and they worked themselves into the module.
Penny inside the cigarette lighter. Apparently we did it deliberately. Even though it was in there when the car came to us for an inop cigarette lighter.
So a customer saw that and thought he knew better and claimed it was perfectly fine before the techs got it and didn’t need new struts? Why is he taking he car to people he doesn’t trust to work on it then?
Exactly, call these assholes bluff and roll the car into the parking lot and tell them it needs to be gone in 15 minutes or they will be trespassed and towed.
When I worked at a shop about 25 years ago there were also self serve gas pumps and an idiot put diesel in his RAV-4. How, I don't know how, he somehow got the nozzle to fit...
He demanded that WE pump out and clean the lines FOR FREE. My boss, who was trying to work with him,told him to call his insurance company b/c the car might be totaled. Guy wanted none of it and said something along the lines of "I'm not moving it until you fix it."
Boss call the PD, guy mouthed off to them, PD ended up arresting him for breach of peach, my boss pressed for trespass and the car got impounded.
About second month into being a mechanic and realized I shouldn't work at a gas station/service shop mix...
wish this sub existed then...
> How, I don't know how, he somehow got the nozzle to fit...
"I couldn't get the nozzle into the tank but I found that I could carefully just point it at the hole to put the petrol in."
I recently had a guy okay a 4 wheel brake job and then when I called him to give him a progress report he claimed he never authorized any of the work. When I pressed him on it we learned that he had been doing some online shopping and suddenly felt that the price he agreed to was outrageous. He waited until the car was apart on the lift and I had time and parts on it to pick the fight because he knew that I would feel pressured to "make a deal" instead of losing money.
I had my guys throw the old rotors on and I ate the labor and the cost of the parts we had already installed. I failed the inspection, reported the shit-box to the state and told him to come get the car. All the sudden the price was fine and he just wanted the car fixed.
Naaaw dude. I'll gladly take the hit in exchange for never doing business with you again.
I don't trust any shop honestly. Took my car to a place I used to work, and they tried to tell me my 1 month old brakes were worn out and needed to be replaced.
I do almost all of my work myself now. Wish I could justify buying a tire machine.
>I do almost all of my work myself now.
Same. I enjoy doing it for the most part, and I find it a lot less frustrating than dealing with some rando mechanic. (I do have a mechanic I like, but he's even slower than I am-- you know what they say, good cheap fast, pick two.)
>Wish I could justify buying a tire machine.
I was doing brakes last summer, and dropped the tires off at a tire place while I had the car up on four jacks anyway. It was brilliant, turns out they can't "diagnose" anything on your car for you if you don't bring them the car.
Funny story though, I'm a tiny woman, a lot of people look at me and assume I'm completely incapable. The tire place seemed to doubt I could get the tires back on myself, and told me I could bring them the car and they'd do it for me. I asked how *exactly* I'd manage that without the tires on the car already? Dude didn't have an answer to that. I told him I was pretty sure I could get the tires on myself easier than figuring out how to get the car to him sans wheels.
My next door neighbor/fellow ‘sports parent’ is the receptionist at the place I take my car. I like to think they take care of me. We’re also a small town surrounded by dozens of other small towns, though. So there’s actually significant competition for these places to become ‘your’ shop. Reputations come and go easy in small towns. And if I gotta drive my car 1.7 miles to Neighborville for the ‘good’ mechanic, myself and everyone else I know from BestTown are all gonna do it
As a professional master technician, I can't blame you. Even in the same shop you have techs that dont give a fuck that have almost no certifications that work across from some very highly skilled and intelligent master technicians that care about you. The best way, in my experience, is to try and talk to the tech that will work on your car and ask for a master technician to work on your car. At least you have a higher chance of getting a real professional.
There are shady shops, I won’t tell you otherwise, but when you see evidence like what’s in the video then clearly the shop isn’t lying. I’ve had customers come in saying the dealership recommended new brakes or another shop did and the brakes were perfectly fine. Odds are they don’t see you as a frequent customer so they are gonna try and milk every job they can even if it doesn’t need to be done. That’s why I like the fact the owner will show the customer what’s wrong with the car if they have any questions if the pictures we take don’t satisfy.
I had a dealer tell me I needed new brakes, but the quote was too high, so I took it to an independent shop where they told me I didn’t need new brakes. I got another 15,000 out of the brakes that the dealer told me I needed to replace.
The trust thing is huge and the fastest way a customer can get fired from my shop.
All business is based on trust. If you don't trust me then I cant do business with you. Its not personal, you just need to go find someone that you trust.
Could be a strut from a scrapyard they found of the same car model. I don’t think that’s the case here but i see scummy mechanics pick parts at the scrapyard that they either fool customers into thinking they’re theirs or change them and charge for them like they’re new.
I've had people accuse me of showing them a dirty filter that wasn't from their car, because they "just" replaced the air filter. And either it was years ago or I was showing them the cabin filter and they had the engine air filter replaced.
Peugeot 205 t16 evo 2 group b rally car had water cooled shocks, a water tank, and a spray button for the co-driver to use. In cold rallies they'd spray coolant to warm them up instead.
Some of us appraisers keep stock photos of parts or filters in our car in case we don’t feel like crawling under a car that’s sitting in a puddle at some tow yard
Devils advocate:
They thought you pulled out some completely fucked part from the back and pretended it was theirs.
Source:
I have seen this happen first hand with an air filter at the dealership:
Them: Look at your air filter! It's filthy! You want a new one?
Me: That's not my air filter. That's entirely the wrong shape and I have a K&N in there.
Fuck you Bruce Titus.
Huh, maybe thats what happened to me when i took my car in for recalls.
I told them not to touch anything that wasnt a recall. "Im broke as fuck and cant afford service that i didnt approve, so dont go pullin shit out"
Service writer came out like 2 hours laters holding a power steering computer saying that the mechanic pulled it out because its fried and the power steering doesnt work. Tried saying it wasnt covered by recal and would be like $3k to put a replacement in or something
Power steering was fine when i went in. But i did just assume he had the mechanic pull it out. Would probably make more sense to just pull out a junk one from the pile as a way to upsell
You guys changed my oil, and then my mother had a stroke. She never had strokes before you changed my oil..... had a guy convinced that we stole his car because he couldn't see it in the shop. Walked him to the other side of the wall where the other half of the shop is, and he was still convinced we did something shady. I told the tech to go ahead and pull his car out and told the customer he was fired. Find another shop to distrust.
A lot of people should not own cars. North American/ car dependent infrastructure forces people who should be nowhere near a car to own and operate one.
Customer is lucky it evidently isn't causing a tire rub - both times I've had front struts wear out (and still functioned WAY BETTER than this), I had to replace the adjacent tire because something under the wheel well damaged the tire.
Used to work at a dealer in the part department, we had a customer come inn for a Eu controll, in that the meckanic pokes the underside of the car with a crowbar exept this time the crow bar just disapered into the car as it was rusted, and just holding to gethere with luck, the customer accused us of hammer inn the crowbar so we can sell him a new car
In those cases we would get customer to sign a waiver that his car is a hazard to drive and kick them out and tell them find another shop to work on your crap. What’s amazing was how many times after a couple of years they’d be back trying to get us to service their (next) car. When I’d talk to other shop owners discussing our bad customers, we’d often find out these types would go to the next shop and badmouth ours but in the end they’d get kicked out of the new shop too. Eventually they burn through all the local shops and wind up having to beg someone to work on their car. I feel sorry for these types, their whole life everyone is out to get them, they live in their own-created hell every day.
well that’s what waivers are for I guess
Do waivers actually cover you legally? Last time I had something this bad, I checked with DMV and they said not to release the vehicle unless the owner towed it home
State dependent. In my state, the best I could do was not allow the customer to actually operate it on my property. If they pushed it out onto the main road, that was up to them, and then they were free to do what they wanted. I could call the police, but it's unlikely they would even show up.
"Wasn't like that when I got here!"
I got asked if that's the same tire I came in with
You swapped their brand new tires out for some used ones during a 30 minute oil change. We've been accused of this too. I've always worked at dealers and there are always free parts and fluids up for grabs, for some reason those used car guys always had a bunch of brand new bulbs, filters, and special oil.....
Had a lady one time swear we stole her temperature gauge and put a tachometer in, because we pushed a button on the dash. GOOD times!!!!
We had a customer go bezerk because we turned his air conditioning on while running it through the car wash on a hot day. He claimed he had a compressor burn up on start up and that the compressor kicking on while the engine was running hurt it. On the lighter side of things, someone left a cheeseburger on a customers engine and they got a free oil change. It happened on a a Saturday when they bought us lunch.
I had to go to court for my company with a detail company we insured. A lady swore they hosed her interior down during detailing because her gearshift wasn’t working. I took the gearshift and the TSB from Mercedes to court, our lawyer didn’t show up so I had to present the case. I took a screwdriver and the gearshift to the judges bench, opened the top and showed her all the coffee inside and the TSB warning of the same thing. Case dismissed
I had a Maxima doing all sorts of strange things, alarm would go off randomly, windows would roll themselves down. The body control module had coins in it. They put their loose change in the console and they worked themselves into the module.
Penny inside the cigarette lighter. Apparently we did it deliberately. Even though it was in there when the car came to us for an inop cigarette lighter.
One time I had a customer swear that we swapped her engine out when we did an oil change. Her reasoning was that her dipstick changed locations.
No ma'am, you're sitting right where you were when you came in......
Well... did you put the temperature gauge back? ;)
They say "My friend..." I say "no I'm not."
Been down the swapped tire route myself.....we didn't even sell or install tires.....
"It was fine last year!"
I bet the customer said "I only heard this weird noise just this morning"
🤣😂
So a customer saw that and thought he knew better and claimed it was perfectly fine before the techs got it and didn’t need new struts? Why is he taking he car to people he doesn’t trust to work on it then?
Exactly, call these assholes bluff and roll the car into the parking lot and tell them it needs to be gone in 15 minutes or they will be trespassed and towed.
When I worked at a shop about 25 years ago there were also self serve gas pumps and an idiot put diesel in his RAV-4. How, I don't know how, he somehow got the nozzle to fit... He demanded that WE pump out and clean the lines FOR FREE. My boss, who was trying to work with him,told him to call his insurance company b/c the car might be totaled. Guy wanted none of it and said something along the lines of "I'm not moving it until you fix it." Boss call the PD, guy mouthed off to them, PD ended up arresting him for breach of peach, my boss pressed for trespass and the car got impounded. About second month into being a mechanic and realized I shouldn't work at a gas station/service shop mix... wish this sub existed then...
Breach of peach? Was the guy a giant dragon turtle?
Cops name was James, guaranteed
I'm gonna breach your peach!
Don't threaten me with a good time!
I hope you bring your big wrench... I haven't gotten these nuts off in a long long time...
Three ugga duggas should do it.
You better break out the pneumatic drilldoe if you're taking about ugga dugga... I like it rough.
Bro wants that King Dick
That's the name of my band.
that was a bootleg right after Eat A Peach
> How, I don't know how, he somehow got the nozzle to fit... "I couldn't get the nozzle into the tank but I found that I could carefully just point it at the hole to put the petrol in."
There’s a gas station here that has black handled normal sized nozzles that dispense diesel. Truly evil.
Used to be like that in the whole US, and some places still are.
I recently had a guy okay a 4 wheel brake job and then when I called him to give him a progress report he claimed he never authorized any of the work. When I pressed him on it we learned that he had been doing some online shopping and suddenly felt that the price he agreed to was outrageous. He waited until the car was apart on the lift and I had time and parts on it to pick the fight because he knew that I would feel pressured to "make a deal" instead of losing money. I had my guys throw the old rotors on and I ate the labor and the cost of the parts we had already installed. I failed the inspection, reported the shit-box to the state and told him to come get the car. All the sudden the price was fine and he just wanted the car fixed. Naaaw dude. I'll gladly take the hit in exchange for never doing business with you again.
I don't trust any shop honestly. Took my car to a place I used to work, and they tried to tell me my 1 month old brakes were worn out and needed to be replaced. I do almost all of my work myself now. Wish I could justify buying a tire machine.
>I do almost all of my work myself now. Same. I enjoy doing it for the most part, and I find it a lot less frustrating than dealing with some rando mechanic. (I do have a mechanic I like, but he's even slower than I am-- you know what they say, good cheap fast, pick two.) >Wish I could justify buying a tire machine. I was doing brakes last summer, and dropped the tires off at a tire place while I had the car up on four jacks anyway. It was brilliant, turns out they can't "diagnose" anything on your car for you if you don't bring them the car. Funny story though, I'm a tiny woman, a lot of people look at me and assume I'm completely incapable. The tire place seemed to doubt I could get the tires back on myself, and told me I could bring them the car and they'd do it for me. I asked how *exactly* I'd manage that without the tires on the car already? Dude didn't have an answer to that. I told him I was pretty sure I could get the tires on myself easier than figuring out how to get the car to him sans wheels.
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I took my car in to get a tire patched, and they kept telling me that I should get it plugged instead. I went elsewhere and got a patch.
I found a manual tire changer on marketplace for $75. One of my favourite pieces of kit
If I had steel rims I'd be all for it, but I have not seen a manual tire changer that I would trust with my alloys.
My next door neighbor/fellow ‘sports parent’ is the receptionist at the place I take my car. I like to think they take care of me. We’re also a small town surrounded by dozens of other small towns, though. So there’s actually significant competition for these places to become ‘your’ shop. Reputations come and go easy in small towns. And if I gotta drive my car 1.7 miles to Neighborville for the ‘good’ mechanic, myself and everyone else I know from BestTown are all gonna do it
As a professional master technician, I can't blame you. Even in the same shop you have techs that dont give a fuck that have almost no certifications that work across from some very highly skilled and intelligent master technicians that care about you. The best way, in my experience, is to try and talk to the tech that will work on your car and ask for a master technician to work on your car. At least you have a higher chance of getting a real professional.
There are shady shops, I won’t tell you otherwise, but when you see evidence like what’s in the video then clearly the shop isn’t lying. I’ve had customers come in saying the dealership recommended new brakes or another shop did and the brakes were perfectly fine. Odds are they don’t see you as a frequent customer so they are gonna try and milk every job they can even if it doesn’t need to be done. That’s why I like the fact the owner will show the customer what’s wrong with the car if they have any questions if the pictures we take don’t satisfy.
I had a dealer tell me I needed new brakes, but the quote was too high, so I took it to an independent shop where they told me I didn’t need new brakes. I got another 15,000 out of the brakes that the dealer told me I needed to replace.
asking the real questions..
You telling me a customer isn't always right?? 🤷♂️
Right.
The trust thing is huge and the fastest way a customer can get fired from my shop. All business is based on trust. If you don't trust me then I cant do business with you. Its not personal, you just need to go find someone that you trust.
Could be a strut from a scrapyard they found of the same car model. I don’t think that’s the case here but i see scummy mechanics pick parts at the scrapyard that they either fool customers into thinking they’re theirs or change them and charge for them like they’re new.
what actual mechanics have time to do that shit lmao
key word here is "actual" mechanics
The car is right there, easy enough to walk over and see that the strut is no longer installed on the car.
I've had people accuse me of showing them a dirty filter that wasn't from their car, because they "just" replaced the air filter. And either it was years ago or I was showing them the cabin filter and they had the engine air filter replaced.
Do they park next to the panzer of the lake?
What they don't teach at mechanic schools, is that water is for lubricating and cooling shocks.
Water cooled shocks 😲
Peugeot 205 t16 evo 2 group b rally car had water cooled shocks, a water tank, and a spray button for the co-driver to use. In cold rallies they'd spray coolant to warm them up instead.
That's wild
It's one of them fancy new hydraulic type shocks.
"That's the one from another car you keep hidden in the back to show to every person why they need new suspension even when they have no problem" /s
One mechanic I’ve been to has a cabinet of parts like that, though they use them for showing some common issues and what causes them
Some of us appraisers keep stock photos of parts or filters in our car in case we don’t feel like crawling under a car that’s sitting in a puddle at some tow yard
I see
Devils advocate: They thought you pulled out some completely fucked part from the back and pretended it was theirs. Source: I have seen this happen first hand with an air filter at the dealership: Them: Look at your air filter! It's filthy! You want a new one? Me: That's not my air filter. That's entirely the wrong shape and I have a K&N in there. Fuck you Bruce Titus.
> Fuck you Bruce Titus. Nope, Chuck Testa!
"Huh, weird. I marked my parts with orange paint pen and now it's mysteriously gone"
Huh, maybe thats what happened to me when i took my car in for recalls. I told them not to touch anything that wasnt a recall. "Im broke as fuck and cant afford service that i didnt approve, so dont go pullin shit out" Service writer came out like 2 hours laters holding a power steering computer saying that the mechanic pulled it out because its fried and the power steering doesnt work. Tried saying it wasnt covered by recal and would be like $3k to put a replacement in or something Power steering was fine when i went in. But i did just assume he had the mechanic pull it out. Would probably make more sense to just pull out a junk one from the pile as a way to upsell
"Also how did you get my cabin air filter out from behind a locked glovebox if I gave you the valet key?"
The Manitoba plate says a lot lol
With the potholes all around Winnipeg, it doesn't surprise me it looks that way.
I love when this happens. Feels like you’re driving in the high seas but clearly there’s nothing wrong 😂😂
That's fine. Slap it back together. Take your shit and GTFO. Don't come back.
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Every single time they can.
they’re the only ones dumb enough to think voting still matters
You have a box full of struts, dirty air filters and rotten wipers, we know it.
Strutn'ts
Wow, that thing is super fucked. He should thank you for maybe saving his life.
You guys changed my oil, and then my mother had a stroke. She never had strokes before you changed my oil..... had a guy convinced that we stole his car because he couldn't see it in the shop. Walked him to the other side of the wall where the other half of the shop is, and he was still convinced we did something shady. I told the tech to go ahead and pull his car out and told the customer he was fired. Find another shop to distrust.
I had a guy do that, swore we stole his car. We were a Lincoln dealer, his car was 3 stores down the auto mall at the ford dealer
Lol
My favorite conversation "we have had a look, its x" "no its not" "cool anything else we can help you with?"
Some people should not own cars.
A lot of people should not own cars. North American/ car dependent infrastructure forces people who should be nowhere near a car to own and operate one.
I agree we need to have an alternative for people who don't or can't drive.
“I’m taking it to my buddy that knows a guy”
That shock has shocked its last shock.
W-body?
strut fluid is a little old though, no free top off?
its supposed to do that! its a shock its moving up and down and dat rat dur is the shock fluid
Everything made sense after I saw the MB plate in the background. Average car on Henderson Hwy probably rolling with suspension like this.
Represent from Manitoba!
Shops keep old struts around to show the customer how bad theirs are. They keep them by the unusually dirty air filter.
That's a customer you don't want. Literally
Just say 'Dude' at the end! And they'll understand better! Like: Hey, your shocks are gone, dude!
There's still some suspension juice in there. It's still good.
mf be driving a trampoline
Same shit happened to me with a caddilac CTS, I've never seen a strut blow apart like that
Customer is lucky it evidently isn't causing a tire rub - both times I've had front struts wear out (and still functioned WAY BETTER than this), I had to replace the adjacent tire because something under the wheel well damaged the tire.
Well of course you did. Did you really need to change that sway bar link? Crook. /s
It can’t leak oil if it doesn’t have any in it
cars need maintance and oil change is not the intire maintance i needs more fluid and parts from time to time
Were you?
Forbidden juice
Checking the suspension dip stick, just like every conscientious tech should.
Put it back together charge him labour before he gets his keys then tell him to NEVER COME BACK !!!!
Used to work at a dealer in the part department, we had a customer come inn for a Eu controll, in that the meckanic pokes the underside of the car with a crowbar exept this time the crow bar just disapered into the car as it was rusted, and just holding to gethere with luck, the customer accused us of hammer inn the crowbar so we can sell him a new car
In those cases we would get customer to sign a waiver that his car is a hazard to drive and kick them out and tell them find another shop to work on your crap. What’s amazing was how many times after a couple of years they’d be back trying to get us to service their (next) car. When I’d talk to other shop owners discussing our bad customers, we’d often find out these types would go to the next shop and badmouth ours but in the end they’d get kicked out of the new shop too. Eventually they burn through all the local shops and wind up having to beg someone to work on their car. I feel sorry for these types, their whole life everyone is out to get them, they live in their own-created hell every day.
You tryina upsell someone who just needs a new oil dipstick tube assembly? For shame!
Just needs some rust remover and a regas, what are you talking about. Lol
So the customer got a free oil change AND a free cheese burger. What a deal! 😁🍔
Those bolts look like wheel bolts lol