If you are not there and you cannot look at what he says is wrong, then
you really do not know.
My younger son is an automotive tech. Red Seal, licenced etc.
He does good work very quickly as that is a required part of the job.
I think the thing that upsets him the most is people who do not want him
to do the job right.
If he thinks it needs something and you don't want to have it repaired,
then he would prefer not to work on it.
What more can I say?
Not all shops are bad.
Randy
On 29/07/2014 2:10 PM, Rich Thomas via Mercedes wrote:
The boy in DC has been driving the 98 Cad. Calls me the other day and
says the brake light has come on, brakes are a bit mushy, so I tell
him to take it to a shop. He does that today. They give him a quote
of $703. I call and talk to the guy. $80 for rear pads (I put new
ones on the front not that long ago, they are like $20 a set). $88x2
for rear rotors which may be sorta reasonable, fluid and flush for
$139, and $227 for labor. Their labor rate was for 1.7hr. $48 for
"shop fees" which includes rags and brake cleaner, a standard charge.
Total BS. I guess that sorta adds up with taxes and such.
Reluctantly after going over the fluid/flush number (how hard is
that?) I tell them to go ahead since he needs the car and has no time
to deal with this stuff and the car has not required a lot of work
over the years, so whatever.
So then they call him and say there is a problem with the a brake line
leaking. I am thinking maybe a flex line. I call them back, the guy
says a front hard line is cracked or something and is leaking, which
is why the pedal was soft. I ask what that will cost, he tells me the
total is now $1228. Over $500 to replace a hard line? WTF??? So I
tell the guy that seems quite excessive, a line is maybe $30 and how
long to replace it? $500 labor to replace a line? Then he tells me,
well, you know, we have to do flairs, and those are hard to get right,
then there is blahblahblah.... I tell him to move the car out, my son
will come get it and take it somewhere else. Then he starts in, "Well
if you don't want quality work done that's your choice...." and I hang
up.
I am just so angry at these guys trying to screw over customers who
are sorta over a barrel. The brake line thing is probably BS too but
what are you gonna do? My wife had a patient who worked for a dealer
as a mech, and then for an indy, he would tell her these stories about
how they would "find" problems and jack the prices up, then do nothing
to the car but charge for it. He said it was just standard behavior
on all these guys he had ever run across. He finally quit and does
work for people on the side, cash, and said he was making OK money and
happy he was doing the right thing.
So anyway I told him to go find a Sears or a Midas or something to do
the brake job, how hard can that be and it won't be anywhere near
$1200. I know, Midas and Sears, but.... Hell I could ship my tools
and fly up there and still be like $800 ahead.
--R
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