The Repair Shop Employees' Day From Hell (A Little Long)

[HawaiianShirts]

Yesterday, I went down to have my car's oil and filter changed and to have an odd noise looked at. I've gone to this car shop for about three years now, and they've always treated me well. If the other customers there with me yesterday are a fair sample, I just might be the ONLY person happy with this shop's service.

Just Do It
After I checked in my car, a woman came in to ask about a repair. She already had the part; she just wanted the shop to install it. They refused, saying something about not being able to guarantee it and unwilling to take liability for a part that wasn't theirs. She didn't get it. The summary is a conversation (which kept me from enjoying my book) that sounded like this. The last line is nearly verbatim.

SC1: I want you to install this part.
Shop Guy: I can't. This is why. (explain)
SC1: But I want you to install this part.
Shop Guy: I won't. This is why. (explain)
SC1: I don't get it. I just want you to install this part!
Shop Guy: Not gonna do it. This is why. (explain) Here are your other options.
SC1: Look, I don't care what you can or can't do. I'm your customer. I pay your wages. You install this part!

Shop Guy finally convinced her to let them install their own part and see if she could return the other one to the store she got it from. She took a seat in the waiting area near me, watching Judge Judy, and proceeded to grumble to herself about the blankety blank service she was getting.

Laws Are Ridiculous
The next guy (SC2) came in for his annual state safety inspection. No big deal, right? Wrong.

Turns out he's friends with SC1. They sat together, grumbling about having to pay for car stuff and laughing at idiots on TV. SC2's inspection was done rather quickly, but the mechanic who performed it had some bad news. His tires failed the inspection. The tread was too worn. He would need new tires before he could pass inspection and get his renewed registration tags.

That was "unacceptable" for SC2. He didn't want new tires, no matter what kind of a deal the car shop could offer. He wanted to pass his inspection. Of course, for the mechanics to say that he passed when he actually failed would be illegal. They had to either put new tires on the car or have SC2 sign a waiver that stated he was aware of the problem and that the shop was not liable for any problems caused by it.

SC2: No! That's unacceptable! You need to just mark on the form that I've passed and let me go.
Mechanic: I can't do that. It's illegal. You and I both could get in big trouble for it.
SC2: You don't know that! Besides, if you could see that my tires wouldn't pass inspection, you should have come and told me that BEFORE you did the paperwork.
Mechanic: It wouldn't have made any difference, sir. I can't let any car leave this shop if I know it's unsafe without having the owner sign the liability wavier.
SC2: *expletive expletive*! You know, if I took this to my friend at Other Shop, he would have passed my tires!
Mechanic: Sir, I...
SC2: No, you know what? Gimme that wavier. I'll sign it. Then I'll take my car to my buddy, and he'll change it so that I pass.
Mechanic: Sir, if you take your car to your friend, and he passes your tires after we have failed them, you'll be a part of fraud.
SC2: Shut up! I don't care what you say! Give me the *expletive* wavier so I can get out of here!

The mechanic let the guy sign off on his failed car. On paper, he's taken full responsibility. I can't help wondering, though, if the mechanic can't call somebody to report this guy...

I'm Old! Gimme Gimme Gimme!
As one mechanic was pulling my car out of the shop, and I was paying and getting ready to go, an Old Man SC came in with a complaint.

OMSC: I need to talk to the manager! Now!
Manager: (standing up from his desk behind the counter) What's the problem, sir?
OMSC: I don't appreciate being LIED to by those IDIOTS you had messing around with my Cadillac! And I demand to know just what you're going to DO about it for me!

Turns out that OMSC brought his car in to have some problem looked at. The mechanics said they thought it was Reason X. He didn't believe them. He took his car to another shop, and they said they thought it was Reason Y. He believed them and had the repair done. It at least seemed to fix the problem. He smelled a scam and felt he needed to come do some yelling.

Fortunately, the manager was able to diffuse that situation by explaining that had his guys tried to fix it based on Reason X and found that Reason X was not the culprit, they would not have charged OMSC for that work and would have made further investigations and repairs until they got it right. That calmed the guy down, but I was amazed. "How dare you make an incorrect diagnosis! I demand an apology for the incorrect work you didn't do anyway!"


What a day! I was out of the house for not even two hours and got three SC sightings, all in one place! Glad I wasn't working that day.

[tollbaby]

hehe the guys at my garage love me I was so happy to have my car back, I was all smiles and dancing around the office when I picked it up LOL

[Jack7957]

They had to either put new tires on the car or have SC2 sign a waiver that stated he was aware of the problem and that the shop was not liable for any problems caused by it.

In New York, you can't sign a waiver, it's either get it fixed or you're driving illegally, since the first step in an inspection is to pull off the previous years inspection sticker.

[RetailWorkhorse]

I don't have to do any inspections (TN law doesn't require it). All I need are new tires.

Ya know, I'm really glad I don't work in the auto-industry. It really sounds horrific. People yellin' at ya for the damage THEY'VE inflicted on their wheels. Sheesh. I know I'm not the best person to drive my car (She needs a tune-up still), and the Salesman who had her first babied her to hell and back (probably the only reason why I have 254,000+ miles on it and it still runs), but I still really appreciate the people who fix her when she's sick.

[Kittish]

I was almost that first SC lady one time. I knew what needed to be fixed on my car, found out how much the part cost and where I could get it, then had a rush of brains to the head and called the repair shop I used to find out if they could install the part if I brought it in, and just charge for the labor. Nope, for a variety of reasons, which I didn't argue with since they made sense to me once the guy explained it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

In Virginia if your car fails inspection, they put a temporary sticker on it and you have 15 days to get it fixed and have it reinspected.

[Anakah]

This is the first time I've heard anything about getting a car inspection... I guess I've never lived anywhere that required it.

[Ironclad Alibi]

This is the first time I've heard anything about getting a car inspection... I guess I've never lived anywhere that required it.

It varies from state to state. I only know about three states. When Florida started having vehicle safety inspections it was twice a year. They quickly changed to once a year. From what I found on Google, Florida no longer has a safety inspection. Virginia is once a year. Maryland is whenever a used car is sold.

Regarding Florida's bygone vehicle safety inspection program: The last time I had a car inspected, it passed. But as I was leaving the service station, the muffler fell off.

[digilight]

Wow and to think that California only has smog checks (you take your gas hog to a shop and they check the emission levels) this gets done every two years (occasionally you have to do a test only center which is a little more stringent).

If you pass you are good for 2 more years, if you fail you have to get it fixed and retested to pass. Oh yeah the results even if you fail get sent electronically to the DMV, so there is no faking it.

If you buy a new car you get, I believe, 5 years before you have to do a smog check.

Which reminds me, I still gotta get the car smogged...

[protege]

Here in PA, we have annual inspections. However, some counties also make you get an emissions test each year.

I actually got rid of a car after it failed the emissions test twice. Where I live, if you fail that test, it won't pass the other test either. Annoying, since the car passed the safety test just fine According to the garage, both oxygen sensors (which are part of the emissions system) had failed, meaning the car couldn't pass the emissions test. Got those fixed, car failed again.

Yep, I was pissed. Not at the garage, since it wasn't their fault...but because I'd just spent several hundred on that blankety-blank Mazda, and it was going to require several hundred *more* just to get it to pass Needless to say, that wasn't going to happen--I wasn't about to put more into that heap. Traded it in on a new car, and let some other sucker fix it. Didn't get as much as it was worth, but I didn't care. It's gone, and no longer my problem

Now the MG is exempt from emissions testing, mainly because it was built in late 1969 (as a '70), and arrived before the 1970 Clean Air Act. It also has 'classic' plates on it, meaning its mileage is limited to 3,000 per year, IIRC. I still have to get it inspected every year, but the test is to 1969 standards instead of today's more stringent tests. That's not to say that it can't fail--inoperative windshield washer jets (easily fixed) held things up one year.