Dat moment when...(update with full story)

"R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet" (r-saldana) 12/05/2014 at 13:57 • Filed to: None

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A local independent repair shop that is well known for ripping people off chooses to rip you off and then finds out you are related to a board member of the State Motor Vehicle Commission. Justice against scummy business practices feels great.

If you Oppos will recall, my wife in her haste to get our Land Rover registered in our new home (Nashville area, requires inspection) took the Land Rover to a locally owned independent, small franchise european specified repair shop. In my humble opinion, they genuinely took advantage of her when she took the Disco in. (This is truly my fault because due to my work schedule I have not been able to fix any of the lingering issues that needed repair before inspection) The have a policy (as most of these kinds of places do) to charge for a diagnostic; even if you know precisely what is wrong on the car. In this case, the Disco needed a MAF and a new O2 sensor. They then recommended a repair to the "leaking" power steering high pressure hose ($845.36) and a MAF replacement ($704.50). For reference, a brand new high pressure power steering hose is $160.00 and a brand new MAF was an astounding $60.00. At this point, they also advised her that they needed to clean the engine bay as oil and other fluids were everywhere and made it impossible to determine the source of leaks. (Hmm, then how did you determine that it needed power steering lines?) All in, their assessment and recommendation cost us $230.oo.

So then we order the necessary parts: $145.00 for O2 and MAF, $191.00 high pressure power steering hose brand new OEM tax included. We then take the vehicle to a dealership that belongs to my wife's company. Her company is the finance arm of a regional wholesale dealership network that includes several major wholesale auto auctions, two large volume used dealerships (one of which I worked at last year and this is how I met my wife), several repair shops, two automotive finance companies, a construction company, and two separate corporate office facilities. The organization is easily a $150-200 million per year profit entity. I have been in and around this organization and its' leadership since I was seven years old (am 29 now, so connect them dots Oppos). My father was a wholesaler with them for several years, as well as the founder of one of their detail and body shops back in the mid 90s. So needless to say, this company, and the fact that I worked for my father as a child and teenager, was a key component in my upbringing as a contributing member of society. (They assisted my father in covering family living expenses when he pulled major political strings to get himself back on active duty Marine Corps for the invasion of Iraq)

So, we have these new parts for the repairs and take it to my wife's company dealership that is about 45 minutes away from our home and offices. The mechanic who begins to do our work (great guy, I totally respect and trust him - for real) realizes almost immediately that none of the power steering lines are leaking. (Oh wait, that is because he also replaced my power steering pump earlier this year) And calls to inform me I brought him the incorrect line. So jet over to the Land Rover dealer. (Freaking awesome facilities, they are in the middle of a remodel adding Jag to their services. The quickly hook me up with my part and I am off on my way to the mechanic 45 minutes away. When I get their, my mechanic and I talk for awhile about the rig because yet again I have the incorrect hose. Instead of a power steering line it appears that a transmission oil cooling line could be leaking, but it is too difficult to tell as there is still hydraulic fluid from the faulty ACE pump I removed myself earlier this year. So, then I realize that the euro-repair shop did not do any cleaning at all, but still charged me. He also finds in his exhaustive diagnostic with the Disco on the rack that it is not a power steering fluid leak, but that there are some OIL leaks on the crankcase. Also, I attempted to get the technician notes from the Euro shop to my mechanic, they put me on hold for 15 minutes only to tell me that their syste is down and that they will call me back when it comes back. Take a wild guess what doesn't happen.....

My mechanic links me up with a detail company to get the engine bay steam cleaned to pinpoint leaks. And at this point I have become very irritated with the Euro repair shop and call them this morning to voice my frustration rationally and with only facts as my talking point.

I calmly state:

- it is apparent that they did no such cleaning

- advised us to do incorrect repairs

- took advantage of my wife in the situation

- and my primary concern was not necessarily getting my money back, but simply to call them out on their flagrant disregard for business ethics and customer service.

This was met with instant agitation in the voice, but as I kept my calm the customer service was able to keep her calm as well; and for this I commend her, not necessarily her company but she is an extremely professional individual. We begin to see how we can sort this out, forming a rudimentary plan to ask my mechanic to take it to the Euro repair shops branch near him and review the situation with the foreman at that branch. This turns out to be a bit of an imposition. I inform her that we are going to have the engine bay professionally and fully detailed and steam cleaned to pinpoint the problems. She is adamant that I do not do this because then she cannot verify her technicians notes. She bases her argument on being unable and unwilling to accept the opinion of a competitor. I inform her of our connection with this mechanic, that he is not a competitor and laughed in my face when I told him we had previously brought the Disco to the Euro repair shop. He had informed me of the countless bad reviews and the fact that almost all of the dealerships retail and wholesale avoided their business like a plague as they were extremely inefficient and unethical. This becomes an impasse, and my wife's boss (the aforementioned board-member of the Motor Vehicle Commision of the State of Tennessee) steps in to intervene.

At this point the matter has been settled and the Euro repair shop has burned yet another bridge both on an individual customer and an entire used car wholesale network. This could have been a moment that would have grown their business. But instead, petty unethical business practices have cost them and not just the amount they charged to piddle around our Land Rover and recommend BS repairs.

In short, don't take advantage of people. You may never know what or who you may be attempting to cheat.

This is the third installment in the annals of Land Rover repairs that I don't have the time to do right now, so it ended up going to see a shady big box style repair shop. Part 2 is here —>

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and the beginning: Part 1 is here ——>

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bob and john > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 14:01

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oh boi

this one I HAVE to hear

spanfucker retire bitch > bob and john 12/05/2014 at 14:01

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This. I need details.

OPPOsaurus WRX > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 14:02

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please elaborate, i'mm getting the popcorn

Doge_Supreme drives a BRZ > bob and john 12/05/2014 at 14:02

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I too need to hear about this. Scummy repair shops need to pay.

scoob > OPPOsaurus WRX 12/05/2014 at 14:08

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Milky > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 14:10

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Textured Soy Protein > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 14:11

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If they're well known for ripping people off, why would you go there in the first place?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Textured Soy Protein 12/05/2014 at 14:13

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IIRC he didn't make the choice to go there (wife did) and he didn't know the reputation at the time.

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > Textured Soy Protein 12/05/2014 at 14:59

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What the Ramblin man said. We moved to a new city and don't have the network we had when we lived and grew up in Memphis.

Brian Silvestro > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 15:16

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but did you write a yelp review doe

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > Brian Silvestro 12/05/2014 at 15:20

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This will probably be my yelp review, minus the personal information. I just like the Oppo community. It is too bad there are not any local Oppos in Nashville. Seems to be a notheast/California/Texas thing mostly. Everyone else is a basic bitch and still on facebook

Brian Silvestro > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 15:20

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lol, basic bitch on facebook.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 15:40

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nice, I love seeing sketchy shops get called out. My dad is a mechanic and prides himself in his honesty and not taking advantage of people.

One of the things our family hates most is a dishonest mechanic.

Besides, if you do honest work it's a bigger gain long term than cheating people in the short term. It's simply better for your business (and bank account). If you can't be a good person just to be a good person, you'd think they'd want to be a good person to make more money.

thebigbossyboss > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 16:50

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Holy shit bro, I knew shit was crooked from the word go when you mentioned the price of the high pressure line. I mean I know they aren't "free" but they aren't near a thousand bucks. Mine was about $80.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/05/2014 at 19:21

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Unless you get a discount at the LR dealer, I suggest Atlantic British, Lucky8 and Rovers North for getting your parts (unless emergency of course). Much cheaper even with shipping.

If you have to a some point change the t-case gaskets get your self a 04 t-case with the locking mechanism. They're petty cheap these days.

R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 12/05/2014 at 23:50

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I've been getting parts and advice from Justin and Eric at Lucky8 for at least 6 years. Great guys, wish that I had the time and money to finish my rig and go to one of their events.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > R Saldana [|Oo|======|oO|] - BTC/ETH/LTC Prophet 12/06/2014 at 12:04

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We drink a lot... It's fun. All you really need is a bit of a lift, center locking differential, some decent tires and you're good to go. There are plenty of stock trucks that run these events without taking any serious damage (apart from the odd dent in a door from getting to close to a tree).